Roundup: Devils are in the details at Arizona State

Check out this great feature by Kevin Gemmell on Todd Graham and Arizona State, because the devils are in the details at ASU.  Gotta love what dude has done in Tempe-- the folks in charge down there certainly do, because Arizona State has reportedly extended Graham’s contract through 2018.

Send your prayers out to one of the best coaches to ever do it in the Conference of Champions, as former Washington coach Don James will start chemotherapy. Also, you should probably take a look inside the great unknown that is Bishop Sankey thanks to the one and only UW Director of Writing (the artist also known as Gregg Bell).

Yeah it's early in the season, but Oregon’s Marcus Mariota is the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman, ahead of Johnny Football, A.J. McCarron, Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston (all quarterbacks, btw).

UCLA will honor Nick Pasquale at Saturday’s game against New Mexico State, and his No. 36 jersey will be on the Rose Bowl turf for the rest of the 2013 campaign.

By becoming the first USC running back to open a season with three straight 100-yard rushing games since 1981, Tre Madden is evoking memories of Marcus Allen, the last Trojan back to do it. And if you ask the Hall of Famer, Allen likes what he sees in this Madden kid.

Kyle Whittingham said Utah players in a video meant no disrespect. This video of a mock baptism involving Utah football players hit Twitter earlier this week (just in time for the BYU game, which is at least partly why this video is picking up steam), though it was actually filmed several weeks back.

It was a hotly contested battle between Sean Mannion and Cody Vaz for the starting quarterback gig at Oregon State, but Mannion is proving the Beavers’ QB choice correct. His 412 passing yards per game rank second in the nation -- das good.

The team might not have been able to make the trip to Colorado last weekend because of the flood, but Fresno State is partnering with Red Cross to collect donations for the flood victims at its home game against Boise State Friday night.  This generous move didn’t go unnoticed by one Kyle Ringo, who writes that Fresno State’s classy move will benefit the Boulder flood victims.

Tough to lose a guy like second-team all-Pac-12 defensive end Henry Anderson for a game as big as the one coming up for Stanford, but there is an opportunity to be had for the next man up. In this case, Anderson’s injury moves Josh Mauro into the starting lineup against Arizona State; though if you ask David Shaw, he considers Mauro a starter already. Dude had a huge game against Army.

As fun as it has been to watch Cal’s Bear Raid attack, it has been a very difficult go of things for Andy Buh’s defense. Luckily, Cal’s weak defense gets a timely extra week with a bye this Saturday.

Newbies tend to understandably get really excited when scoring their first collegiate touchdown, but freshman Samajie Grant is unfazed by his success after housing one against UTSA last weekend.

Sure, you probably know that the Washington State football team is off to a 2-1 start with a win over a ranked opponent on the road already under its belt, but women’s soccer and women’s volleyball are also undefeated. So, you could say that Cougars Athletics are off to a strong start, like Alexis Williams penned for WSUCougars.com.