Roundup: Utah and UCLA duke it out Friday night at Rice-Eccles
The football slate begins Friday night in the SLC with Utah welcoming UCLA to Rice-Eccles in a matchup of two teams looking to get one win closer to bowl eligibility (6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT, FOX Sports 1), and Dirk Facer of the Deseret News writes that the Utes are “looking for their edge” against UCLA. It’s “Blackout Game” night at Rice-Eccles.
Jon Wilner wonders whether or not UCLA will be able to stop Utah Friday night in this article that also briefly looks at the spat between Jim Mora and Brock Huard. He also has some picks against the spread for Pac-12 games at the end of the article.
The Saturday schedule starts off with a huge Pac-12 North matchup between No. 21 Stanford and No. 25 Washington State in Pullman, so for your Wazzu link, you should really read this story about Frankie Luvu’s family coming from American Samoa to Pullman for his last home game. It’s Senior Day at Martin Stadium, and this will be the first time Luvu’s family has made the trek up to the Palouse to watch him play. Good stuff from Theo Lawson.
Congrats to Stanford men’s soccer for winning its fourth straight Pac-12 title after routing UCLA 5-1 Thursday night on Pac-12 Networks. The Cardinal is 13-2-1 this season and 7-0-1 in conference play with two regular-season games remaining. In other news, KJ Costello will start at quarterback for Stanford against Washington State, replacing Keller Chryst after a disappointing performance against Oregon State.
As the Beavers get ready to face Cal in Berkeley Saturday at 2 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Networks), the big news out of Corvallis is that former UCLA and Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel is interested in the Oregon State job, he told ESPN Thursday. “I’m not going to pursue it… If they reached out to me and thought I might be a fit, I would absolutely entertain a conversation…I’ve made up my mind if that if someone thinks I’m the right fit for a particular situation, I would absolutely entertain and listen to it,” Neuheisel said in part.
Long-time Cal fans might be interested to know that old wooden seats from Memorial Stadium will be on sale Saturday at the Wooden Duck near Interstate 80. Sam Whiting of the San Francisco Chronicle has more details.
Brian Howell gives us the scouting report for Colorado at Arizona State (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks).
And be sure to listen to the Arizona State football Pick Six podcast, as hosts Doug Haller and Jeff Metcalfe preview the Colorado game.
If you’re an Oregon fan, just skip this link… The Seattle Times has an oral history of Washington’s 70-21 thumping of Oregon last year as the Dawgs and Ducks get ready to do battle in Seattle Saturday night (7 p.m. PT, FOX Sports 1). That seven-touchdown triumph snapped a loooong losing streak to Oregon for the Huskies.
Did you know that Oregon co-offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal almost became a U.S. Secret Service agent? Andrew Greif has the story.
Big game for the Wildcats in Troy as they take on USC with first place on the line in the Pac-12 South (7:45 p.m. PT), so get ready for the game by reading this Sports Illustrated article on Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate, who has taken the college football world by storm.
Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports reports that Washington State police want felony charges filed against USC football player Liam Jimmons for pushing a Washington State student to the ground following the Cougars’ 30-27 win over USC on Sept. 30.