Roundup: Cal men's soccer at the top
I’m sure the J.R. Eskilsons of the world didn’t see this coming a month ago, but Cal men’s soccer is the No. 1 team in the country according to TopDrawerSoccer.com and Soccer America. No. 2 by the NSCAA as well. BOOM, baby. In some good news for Mike Montgomery’s squad, Justin Cobbs is expected to be healthy for the season. Lastly, not many teams probably think this, but Cal football says it’s looking forward to playing Oregon in Eugene.
You know what makes that statement by the Cal football team seem a little more unexpected? The fact that Oregon’s Pac-12 opener is a statistical mismatch: Cal ranks 121st in total defense; Oregon ranks second in total offense.
Going back to Top Drawer Soccer, the website tabbed Courtney Verloo as its National Player of the Week after she registered a hat trick against Santa Clara Sunday night. Also, head coach Paul Ratcliffe is straight cheesin’ in the pic in the link. On the gridiron, Stanford will be without all-Pac-12 safety Ed Reynolds for the first half of its game against Washington State as he serves the back-end penalty of a targeting ejection, and David Shaw is not disputing Reynolds’ half-game suspension.
Ortege Jenkins made one of the most iconic plays in Wildcat history to help beat Washington in Seattle in 1998, and 15 years later, the Leap by the Lake still soars in Arizona history. Video of the play is at the bottom of the linked article, and the accompanying music makes it seem like the play happened 25 years ago. Either way, it’s one heck of a play.
Monster Pac-12 South game this weekend between the Forks and Troy. So if you’re an ASU supporter, you’ll probably want to take a look at USC, courtesy of the Arizona Republic. As Uncle Ted writes, Arizona State-USC has a must-win feel to it. Nobody wants to start out 0-2 in conference play.
Well, the biggest news in the college football world yesterday was that the NCAA is easing off its punishment of Penn State, relaxing scholarship restrictions. Interested in what USC thinks about it? Lucky for you, Pat Haden released this statement on the Penn State reduction. Ripsit Blog, about as good as they come.
The Bruins are set to begin funding for a new football facility, which has an estimated cost of around $50 million.
Mike MacIntyre has already reversed a lot of negative things from the previous regimes in Boulder, but with the Buffs preparing for their first road trip under MacIntyre, he’ll have to try to undo another one when Colorado visits Corvallis: the Buffs are 2-25 in true road games since 2008.
What’s this -- a feature on a Portland State punter next to the Beaver logo? I’ll make an exception for former Oregon State punter Kyle Loomis and his journey from OSU to the Army to Portland State. Great read here from Ian Ruder of “Special to The Oregonian” fame.
Ain’t beating your rival on the road the bestest thing in the whole wide world? Certainly it’s up there, but Utah’s euphoria after beating BYU is short-lived because it faces a tough road ahead: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona and USC in a four-week stretch.
You probably didn’t realize this since Washington is off to such a great start, but the Huskies are the most penalized team in college football with averages of 12 flags per game for nearly 100 yards (tied with SMU for most penalties per game; have most penalty yards per game all to themselves).
It’s cool that the upcoming game against Stanford is the annual Seattle Game for the Cougars’ fan base and all, but the Washington State football team is focused only on the Cardinal.