Roundup: Colorado is the frontrunner in the Pac-12 South
Chantel Jennings believes Colorado is the frontrunner to win the Pac-12 South. At 2-0, the Buffs are in first place in the South but have yet to play a southern foe.
Ted Miller writes that Washington knows it needs to beat Oregon before it can say it has really arrived, as the Ducks have beaten the Dawgs 12 straight times. Also, after picking apart Stanford’s defense, Jake Browning is No. 1 in David Lombardi’s Pac-12 quarterback power rankings.
Utah center J.J. Dielman is out for the year with a leg injury, reports Josh Furlong of KSL.com. He got injured in the first quarter of the Cal game last Saturday, making him the third Ute this season to go out for the year with an injury (tight end Siale Fakailoatonga, defensive end Kylie Fitts).
Ryan Thorburn of The Register-Guard reports that Oregon linebacker Johnny Ragin is out for the year with a leg injury he suffered in the loss to Washington State. Ragin is the team’s leading tackler.
Rich Rodriguez is not sure who will play quarterback for Arizona against Utah, writes Zack Rosenblatt of the Arizona Daily Star. Zach Werlinger and Khalil Tate both played QB against UCLA after Brandon Dawkins went down with a rib injury.
After injuring his left leg against USC, Arizona State quarterback Manny Wilkins will not miss much time, according to head coach Todd Graham. While he is out of the boot, Wilkins’ status for the UCLA game is uncertain (Doug Haller puts it at doubtful).
Here with some Oregon State basketball tidbits for us, Danny Moran tells us that Tres Tinkle is nearing a return to the court after missing the end of last season with a broken right foot. His pops, head coach Wayne Tinkle, says he’ll probably be cleared to go 5-on-5 next week.
Folks, I’ve got news for you – Washington State women’s volleyball is for real. The 10th-ranked Cougs have already defeated three top-10 teams in conference play en route to a 4-0 league start, and Taylor Mims was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .462 with 13 kills and eight blocks against Stanford and eight kills and five blocks in a sweep over Cal.
David Lombardi believes that Cal can play spoiler in the Pac-12. The Golden Bears have already done some damage by ruining up-to-then Utah’s perfect season.
Zach Helfand of the Los Angeles Times writes that Sam Darnold’s play is validating Clay Helton’s trust in the quarterback. Darnold completed 23-of-33 passes for 352 yards and three scores in the win over Arizona State.
Jon Wilner grades Stanford’s loss to Washington, and it isn’t pretty. The Cardinal averaged just 1.0 yards per rush against the Dawgs.
Thuc Nhi Nguyen takes a first look at the UCLA-Arizona State game through a Bruins reporter lens.