Roundup: Oregon State tabs Gary Andersen

GREAT move in Corvallis, as Oregon State hired Gary Andersen as its new football coach. Andersen had successful stints at Utah State and Wisconsin, most recently leading the Badgers to the Big Ten championship game. Ted Miller of ESPN says Gary Andersen is a good hire for Oregon State, albeit a surprise name.

Huge win for Krystkowiak and Co. in Provo, taking down BYU 65-61 behind a double-double from Delon Wright. Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune writes about the toughness Utah men’s basketball displayed in its win over BYU. Kudos to Utah defensive end Nate Orchard for winning the Ted Hendricks Award for the nation’s top DE.

The hardware keeps coming in for Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III, who won the Rotary Lombardi Award Wednesday.

Continuing with award winners, Stanford senior safety Jordan Richards won the Pop Warner College Football Award, beating out Marcus Mariota, Nebraska RB Ameer Abdullah and Florida center Max Garcia.

Yeah, the Heisman Trophy is a pretty big deal, but these toddlers think Marcus Mariota will win the Maxwell Award as well; they know their stuff more than anybody I know (just go with the best mascot every time).

Jeff Nusser of CougCenter gives us his takeaways from the Washington State men’s basketball loss to Gonzaga (81-66). But hey, Washington State women’s basketball beat the Zags 59-58 Tuesday to improve to 7-2.

Brian Howell breaks down a tough 62-60 loss for Colorado men’s basketball to Colorado State Wednesday night. The Buffs dropped to 5-3 overall on the season.

Total grinder in Berkeley, as Tyrone Wallace came up big again for Cal in a 45-42 win over Wyoming at Haas Pavilion. Wallace went steal-and-dunk late in the game to help close the casket on the Cowboys.

The Bruins beat UC Riverside Wednesday night, but UCLA men’s basketball coach Steve Alford says his team lacks toughness. Here’s the UCLA-UC Riverside game recap from Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News.

Washington football coach Chris Petersen sees the progress his team has made throughout his short tenure on Montlake, according to Mason Kelley of GoHuskies.com.

Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News asks us if it will be considered a successful season for USC if it beats Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.

Esteemed reporter Doug Haller gives out his 2014 awards for Arizona State football.