Roundup: Reports indicate Sam Darnold expected to return to USC

Zach Barnett of NBC Sports’ CollegeFootballTalk shares a report from NFL Draft analyst Benjamin Allbright that USC quarterback Sam Darnold is expected to return to USC in 2018. Just a couple of months ago, people were hailing Darnold as the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Former Arizona men’s basketball assistant Book Richardson will appeal Arizona’s decision to fire him, according to his lawyer (Arizona Daily Star). Richardson faces federal bribery and fraud charges and could be looking at 60 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.

At the end of this Tom FitzGerald article on the Stanford running back’s Heisman chances, you find out that Bryce Love is day to day with an ankle injury he suffered in the Oregon game Oct. 14. Stanford plays at Oregon State Thursday night.

Colorado cornerback Isaiah Oliver is expected to play against Cal, according to Adam Munsterteiger of BuffStampede (linked here by Ralphie Report). Oliver was injured in the loss to Washington State.

UCLA defensive lineman Matt Dickerson is having surgery on his collarbone, and head coach Jim Mora said he could potentially return this season (Diehards.com).

This is nerdy, but fun for college football fans who also appreciate a good map - Reddit user nbingham196 has created a college football imperialism map based on teams "claiming" territory for each win. CougCenter is reporting WSU could win back its territory this weekend with a win over Arizona, reclaiming parts of the map lost to Cal in Week 6.

The Arizona Cardinals have added Mike Bercovici to their practice squad following Carson Palmer’s injury (Palmer broke his arm Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams). The former Sun Devil has spent each of the last two preseasons with the San Diego-Los Angeles Chargers (NBC Sports).

Markelle Fultz’s agent gave conflicting stories about Fultz’s shoulder injury, and Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports breaks it down for us. At first, agent Raymond Brothers said Fultz had fluid drained out of the back of his shoulder, but then later said that he had a cortisone shot (meaning fluid was put into his shoulder). Either way, Fultz has clearly been bothered by that shoulder (just look at his free-throw shooting form).

Danny Moran reports that Oregon State football strength and conditioning coach Evan Simon has left for a job at Davidson College. Simon had worked with Gary Andersen at Utah, Utah State and Wisconsin, but Moran notes that he had planned to leave Oregon State before Andersen walked away.

Utah football’s struggles during its three-game losing skid are chronicled here in this Associated Press article (we can only assume it’s a Kareem Copeland joint, but since there isn’t a byline for this one, we can’t say for sure).

Jon Wilner grades Cal’s loss to Arizona, giving the Golden Bears a B- for their efforts in a one-point double-overtime loss to Arizona.

An intriguing question posed by Molly Blue of The Oregonian/OregonLive – would you rather build a college football team around Royce Freeman or LaMichael James? I think I’d take Rolls Royce, but James was so damn explosive; it’s a tough call (Freeman passed James as the school’s all-time leading rusher in the loss to UCLA last weekend).