Roundup: Is McCaffrey the front-runner for the Heisman?

Jon Wilner poses this question – has Christian McCaffrey become the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy? Polling data suggests it’ll be a close one. McCaffrey is going up against ‘Bama RB Derrick Henry and Clemson QB Deshaun Watson.

According to multiple media reports, Cal and Sonny Dykes have agreed to an extension. It still needs to be approved by the U.C. Board of Regents.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott wants the Big 12 to play a conference championship game. Big 12 regular season champ Oklahoma went into the clubhouse a week early with a secure spot in the College Football Playoff while Clemson, Alabama and Michigan State had to sweat it out in a conference title game (along with Stanford).

With rumors flowing around in Provo, a trusted source tells Gina Mizell that Oregon State defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake has not interviewed for the BYU head coaching vacancy. Sitake has deep roots in the Beehive state, having played fullback at BYU and coached at Utah for a decade.

Gary Klein reports that USC is in contact with the NCAA with respect to Reggie Bush interacting with USC players at the Pac-12 Football Championship Game. As part of its sanctions, USC was ordered to disassociate itself with the former Trojan running back.

Jack Wang lets us know that UCLA paid its assistant football coaches nearly $4 million this year, which tops all Pac-12 public schools.

Sweet – Doug Haller conducts this Q&A with Dick Vitale about Bobby Hurley and Arizona State. Dickie V will be on the broadcast assignment from ASU’s game at Kentucky on Saturday.

It was very close for much of the game, but Arizona men’s basketball pulled away from Fresno State late for an 85-72 win (AP recap from John Marshall). Freshman Allonzo Trier scored 27 points to pace Arizona, while Gabe York provided the clutchness late. Unfortunately, Kadeem Allen went down with a leg injury.

Percy Allen notes that Washington basketball player Andrew Andrews is getting compared to former Husky Isaiah Thomas. I wouldn’t mind being compared to that guy – we both like to shoot, I’m sure he writes left-handed like me, we both went to Pac-12 schools… I think it stops there.

Have yourself a game – Emily Potter dropped 28 points and 19 rebounds to lead Utah women’s basketball to a 74-58 win over Creighton. That’s puttin’ in some serious work.

Behind 18 points from Haley Smith, Colorado women’s basketball defeated Northern Arizona 90-66 to snap a three-game losing streak and get back to .500 at 4-4 (Brian Howell on the gamer). Mizzou is up next on the ledger.

David Lombardi notes how busy Oregon football has been this week despite not playing its bowl game until January (new unis and talk of another FCS transfer coming to town).

Brian Anderson of CougCenter takes an early look at the Miami Hurricanes, Washington State’s Sun Bowl opponent. SB Nation sites love them some football analytics, and I’d be lying if I told you I understood what any of them meant.

Also, let’s wish a happy birthday to your faithful roundup curator. If you’re interested in getting him headphones, an iTunes gift card (he'll accept multiple gift cards) or toy mice for his cat to commemorate No. 29, let him know on Twitter @kevo408.