Roundup: A rosy evening for Sam Darnold and USC
What a game, what a game – USC defeated Penn State 52-49 in the Rose Bowl Monday night, and our own Alex Espinoza writes that this was a Rose Bowl for the ages in his game recap. Meanwhile, Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports notes that USC and Penn State provided the best bowl game of the season (hard to argue with that). In case you missed all the action, here is the Rose Bowl highlight package.
Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reports that Washington receiver John Ross will declare for the NFL Draft (hat tip to ESPN). He had quite the 2016, catching 81 passes for 1,150 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Utah has hired Troy Taylor as its offensive coordinator, reports Kyle Goon. Taylor, the former Eastern Washington offensive coordinator, replaces the co-offensive coordinators Aaron Roderick (fired) and Jim Harding (named “assistant head coach”).
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports that Michigan passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch is UCLA’s top choice to become the Bruins’ offensive coordinator. Former UCLA OC Kennedy Polamalu was fired in November in large part due to the team finishing 127th in the nation (out of 128 teams) in rushing yards per game.
Former Sun Devil Brock Osweiler will start at quarterback for the Houston Texans in their first-round playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. Osweiler had lost his starting job to Tom Savage, but Savage suffered a concussion in the regular-season finale.
Gina Mizell reports that Oregon State offensive linemen Sean Harlow and Gavin Andrews will play in the East-West Shrine Game, which is going down Jan. 21 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Washington State women’s basketball rookie Chanelle Molina was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after averaging 14 points per game during the Cougs’ three-game road swing to begin conference play.
Oregon men’s basketball is now ranked 15th in the AP Top 25 after sending UCLA and USC to their first losses of the season (The Oregonian/OregonLive). The Ducks are on a roll, having won 11 straight games and establishing themselves as the guys to beat in the Pac-12 yet again.
Bruce Pascoe tells us about how Parker Jackson-Cartwright is helping Arizona men’s basketball despite not hitting his shots as he makes his way back from a high-ankle sprain injury.
Nik Jam of California Golden Blogs recaps Cal women’s basketball's split of the Arizona schools. Any time you can get a road split in conference play, you’re doing something right, and it’s especially promising (and heartbreaking) when you take a top-20 team on the road to double overtime.
Pat Rooney looks ahead to Colorado men’s basketball’s next game at Arizona. The Buffs are obviously hoping for better fortune in Tucson after getting blown out at Utah.
Tom FitzGerald looks at some questions for Stanford football heading into the 2017 season; namely, will Solomon Thomas return to The Farm and will Keller Chryst still be the starting quarterback? Maybe we’ll see highly-regarded recruit K.J. Costello under center next year.