Roundup: Coach of the Week at UCLA, National Player of the Week at USC

UCLA football coach Jim Mora was named the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week after leading the Bruins to a thumping of Arizona in Tucson last weekend.

USC women’s volleyball outside hitter Samantha Bricio was named espnW National Player of the Week after ripping off 27 kills and five aces in a five-set thriller over Stanford last Sunday (speaking of which, some match between Stanford and Arizona last night on the Pac-12 Networks). Good feature on Bricio from Vicki L. Friedman in the first link in this graf.

Really good stuff here from pro basketball player Dorell Wright, who writes a letter to his younger brother, Delon Wright, the former Utah basketball star who will be a rookie with the Toronto Raptors this year. This shows up in The Players’ Tribune.

Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey appeared on The Jim Rome Show Wednesday and told Romey and the clones that he had posters of teammate Barry J. Sanders’ dad (Barry Sanders) on his wall growing up.

Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press writes that Oregon faces a reality check as it prepares for Colorado. The Ducks are unranked for the first time since 2009. Also, there is some concern that Oregon wide receiver Byron Marshall might be out for the year with a leg injury.

John Marshall of the Associated Press reports that new Arizona State basketball coach Bobby Hurley is “trying to make the pieces fit” in his first year at the helm in Tempe. He’s trying to get the Sun Devils to really play fast, but that might take a while.

Gina Mizell reports that Oregon State football players Caleb Smith and Deltron Sands are out for the season. The Beavs will apply for medical redshirts for both players, Mizell continues.

Zack Rosenblatt of the Arizona Daily Star features Arizona backup quarterback Jerrard Randall, who could potentially start Saturday night at Stanford if Anu Solomon (concussion) is unable to go. Randall, who was rated higher than Marcus Mariota and Johnny Manziel out of high school, is explosive – he has four touchdown runs this year, all of which have gone for at least 39 yards.

Colorado football wants to reverse its conference fortunes, notes Brian Howell. The Buffs have won just four Pac-12 games in their first four seasons in the conference.

Jacob Thorpe opines that Washington State must stop Cal’s running game to contain its Air Raid offense.

The Seattle Times notes that Washington volleyball will put its undefeated record on the line against USC and UCLA this weekend. The Dawgs are one of three undefeated teams in the Pac-12 (USC and ASU are the others) and five in the nation (Penn State and Kansas are the non-Pac-12ers).

Czech out this video of Cal football going on the road. First-class seats for the O-linemen.