Roundup: First College Football Playoff rankings out Tuesday
The first-ever College Football Playoff Top 25 will be announced late Tuesday afternoon, and CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm predicts that Arizona will be No. 8 in the CFP Top 25; he has Oregon at No. 10 (word?), Arizona State 13th, Utah 17th and UCLA 23rd. His predicted top 4? Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn and Ole Miss.
With respect to the people making the decisions for the CFP top 25, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden doesn’t think Condoleezza Rice should be on the selection committee. Former Auburn coach Pat Dye said the same thing about the Stanford professor last year.
The Pac-12 is guaranteeing four-year scholarships for student-athletes, among other changes passed by the conference Monday (better healthcare benefits and more relaxed transfer rules as well).
David Lombardi discusses the problems Oregon has had with Stanford over the last couple of seasons. As good as these teams have been over the years, Lombo points out that this is the first time in the rivalry that the nation’s most-efficient defense (Stanford) will play against the nation’s most efficient quarterback (take a guess).
Kyle Bonagura takes a look at what Cal needs to do to achieve bowl eligibility. HUGE game against Oregon State Saturday night.
Like I was saying, the Cal game is a big one for Oregon State, writes Kevin Hampton of the Corvallis Gazette-Times. The Beavers are on the hunt for six wins as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I interest you in the Jordan Simone Show? The Arizona State defensive back “interviews” Mike Bercovici and Todd Graham in this lil’ video clip. Funny stuff.
After three straight gut-check victories, Utah now has to try to snap a 10-game losing streak to Arizona State. It looked like the Utes would break that losing skid last year, but the Sun Devils erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit in Salt Lake City to make sure that streak hit double digits.
Sounds like we might see more of Shaq Thompson at running back for Washington after reading this Christian Caple piece. Thompson carried the pigskin 21 times for 98 yards against Arizona State Saturday night. Chris Petersen is taking a week-by-week approach with Shaq at RB.
Jacob Thorpe points out that while the season hasn’t gone swimmingly for the Cougs, Washington State can still make a bowl game, but they’ll need to beat USC, Oregon State, Arizona State and Washington in succession.
If you missed "Pac-12 Sports Report" last night, here’s a little bit of UCLA men’s soccer player Abu Danladi’s journey from Ghana to Westwood.
Colorado running back Tony Jones has joined the Buffs’ “1,000-500 club,” amassing at least 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards for his career.
USC cornerback Adoree Jackson talks about his 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Utah.