Roundup: Rivalry games in the Bay and LA
There are a couple of rivalry games in California Saturday, starting with Big Game in the afternoon (2:30 p.m. PT, just like Cal wanted). Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News whips up this column on why Big Game is so important to Bay Area sports fans. This is a great read.
Rusty Simmons writes that Cal’s Texas-bred quarterback Davis Webb has followed Big Game since before he got to Berkeley.
It’s also UCLA-USC week, and Joey Kaufman of the Los Angeles Daily News features the Boermeester family, as Matt is a kicker for USC while his father Peter was an All-Pac-10 kicker for UCLA (pops will be donning some Cardinal and Gold for the game).
Meanwhile, Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Daily News writes about Mike Fafaul’s long-shot journey to UCLA. Fafaul did not receive a college scholarship offer before walking on at UCLA and is now, of course, the Bruins’ starting quarterback with Josh Rosen out for the year.
Huge game in Boulder on Saturday with Washington State visiting Colorado, and Brian Howell tells us that the Buffs and Cougs have followed a similar path to Saturday’s game, as both teams have struggled mightily in the Pac-12 for years before turning it around (Washington State one year sooner than Colorado).
Chantel Jennings writes that defensive lineman Robert Barber’s return will be a big boost to the Washington State run defense after a judge stayed his suspension that kept him out in recent weeks.
So this isn’t directly a Washington link, but Huskies fans are happy to know that Houston defeated No. 5 Louisville Thursday night, effectively ending the Cardinals’ chances of making the College Football Playoff (Graham Watson, Yahoo! Sports). As long as the Dawgs take care of Arizona State, they should at least move back up to No. 5.
Nice – Oregon State wide receiver Seth Collins has been upgraded to “good condition” at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, where he is being treated for an illness.
As the Utes get ready for Oregon, Salt Lake Tribune columnist Kurt Kragthorpe proclaims that Oregon has lost its “mythical nature” in the Pac-12. I’m reminded me of a John Canzano article in 2012 when the 7-0 Oregon State Beavers were getting ready to take on a middling Washington team and he said that the Huskies had no shot of beating the Beavs (Washington won the game)…
Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic is of the opinion that Todd Graham needs more time at Arizona State to whip the program back into its 2013-14 form.
Oregon men’s basketball got a bounce-back victory over Valparaiso Thursday night after Tuesday’s loss at Baylor, defeating the Crusaders 76-54 behind Chris Boucher’s 25 points, nine boards and three blocks.
Bruce Pascoe gives us the scouting report for Arizona men’s basketball’s game against Sacred Heart Friday night. The No. 10 Wildcats will look to improve to 3-0 on the season when the Pioneers enter the hallowed halls of McKale Center.