Roundup: Fresh face under center for Colorado football

Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day was fun, so let’s put a link dump at the top of the link dump for all media day links, shall we? Here’s the Pac-12 preseason media poll (Arizona is picked to win it)… Here are Dana O’Neil’s impressions of Pac-12 media day… You can take a look behind the scenes at Pac-12 basketball media day behind the scenes… Your landing page for all things Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day… Annnnd here’s the AP write-up of things by Janie McCauley.

Alright, football time. Hope you don’t party too hard Friday night, because Colorado gets us started at 11 a.m. PT/noon MT with a matchup against Charleston Southern on los Pac-12 Networks. Of course the big news in Boulder is that there’s a new dude leading the team under center, as true freshman Sefo Liufau is ready to step in as the Buffs’ starting quarterback.

The biggest game of the day on the West Coast, unquestionably, is the one on The Farm between No. 9 UCLA and No. 13 Stanford (12:30 p.m. PT, ABC or ESPN2). The Bruins are off to a 5-0 start, and Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports says that young stars like Myles Jack show that UCLA is no flash in the pan. And some awesome scheduling news to boot- UCLA and Michigan will play in 2022 (Ann Arbor) and 2023 (Rose Bowl).

This game could very well go down to the wire, so Stanford fans should be worried that kicker Jordan Williamson is questionable because of a leg injury. The backup is redshirt frosh Conrad Ukropina, who ironically enough is from Pasadena. Also, David Lombardi of The Bootleg tells us how to beat UCLA.

Next game on the slate is a juicy North-South battle between Washington and Arizona State at 3:00 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks. Here’s Todd Graham with his thoughts on the Huskies; it’ll be good for him that Jaxon Hood is on the road back (the nose tackle says he is closer to 90 percent as he is working his way back from a partial tear in his hamstring).

On the Husky side of things, Steve Sarkisian expects to play more backups at Arizona State as a result of the high temperatures in Tempe, while Erik Kohler is returning to the UW offensive line at just the right time.

Just 90 minutes after things get going in Tempe, USC will visit Notre Dame for a 4:30 p.m. PT kick on NBC. After having a huge game against ‘Zona (seven catches, 161 yards and a TD), Nelson Agholor could have a big role against Notre Dame.

In a must-win game for two teams looking to climb up the Pac-12 South ladder, Arizona welcomes Utah to Tucson (7:00 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks), and Arizona Daily Star’s Greg Hansen points out the age difference in players at Utah and Arizona, saying that maturity helps the Utes in a game that separates boys from men.

But hey, Czech this out: The Utes aren’t buying into the theory that older is better. First time Utah has taken a trip outside of the Beehive State all year.

It was only a matter of time, right? Oregon will wear pink helmets for the Washington State game Saturday night (7:00 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1) to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With the black uniforms, these look super-duper tight. I could swear we were just talking about how cool Oregon uniforms have been throughout the years…

The Cougars have let close games turn into not-so-close games rather quickly this year, and Jacob Thorpe writes that the Cougars are feeling the weight of adversity. And, playing in Autzen this weekend, there’s more than a very good chance that Washington State will be trailing at some point in the contest. How can it respond to an early deficit should it arise?

Our nightcap this weekend will be Oregon State at Cal (7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN 2), and Lindsay Schnell pens an article about Beaver defensive tackle Mana Rosa filling in well after his eligibility scare.

Lining up on the other side of the line of scrimmage is Cal offensive lineman Mark Brazinski, who is getting a chance on the field.