Roundup: Football and volleyball seasons beginning

Football season is here, y'all, and Oregon State lifts the lid on 2017 with a road date at Colorado State on Saturday (11:30 a.m. PT, CBS Sports Network). Here's an Oregon State-Colorado State game preview from The Oregonian/OregonLive. 

Stanford football opens its season Saturday night (well really Sunday afternoon) in Australia against Rice (7 p.m. PT, ESPN), and if this game were 15 years ago, you'd be able to hear Bob Murphy on the radio call for Stanford. Murphy died Tuesday at the age of 86 after having suffered from Alzheimer's and was a Stanford legend, having been a pitcher for the baseball team, sports information director and longtime play-by-play voice. Rest in peace.

The women's volleyball season begins Friday, so here's a Washington women's volleyball season primer from The Seattle Times. The Huskies, always a national championship contender, kick things off against Pittsburgh at home.

Great stuff from USC football practice Thursday, as a 10-year-old battling leukemia caught a touchdown pass from San Darnold. USC's The Ripsit Blog has the story.

Check out the Oregon football uniforms designed by three cancer patients at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital (GoDucks.com). The Ducks will wear these threads Sept. 9 against Nebraska.

Check out this Arizona football schedule breakdown courtesy of Michael Lev.

Here's a story on Arizona State backup quarterback Blake Barnett, who will likely begin the season as the No. 2 guy in Tempe behind Manny Wilkins (The Arizona Republic). Officially, the QB competition isn't over yet, but it is Wilkins' to lose.

So ESPN ranked Washington State 13th in terms of happiest fan base (CougCenter with the link). Agree or disagree, Coug fans?

Barton Simmons of CBS Sports believes that UCLA defensive end Jaelen Phillips and cornerback Darnay Holmes are two of five freshmen to watch out for in the Pac-12 this year.

Take some time to read this position-by-position Cal football breakdown, courtesy of Rusty Simmons.

Brian Howell features Colorado receiver Johnny Huntley, a sophomore who might redshirt this season because of the depths of the Buffs' receiving corps.

Utah safety Chase Hansen has been forced to think about how long he can play football after an undisclosed injury has kept him out of most of fall camp. Christopher Kamrani of The Salt Lake Tribune has the story.