Roundup: Utes enter training camp with 'something to prove'

Happy August, folks. The college football season begins this month, and Utah football gets things rolling Wednesday. Kyle Whittingham says the Utes are opening camp “with something to prove,” per Kurt Kragthorpe. The Utes are the only team in the Pac-12 South to not play in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game despite being one of the more consistent teams in that division over the last few years.

UCLA gymnast Christine Peng-Peng Lee was named Pac-12 Co-Woman of the Year alongside Stanford thrower Valarie Allman, it was announced Tuesday. Lee, the Honda Sport Award winner for gymnastics, won the Pac-12 and NCAA balance beam titles and provided the NCAA team title-clinching perfect 10 on the beam in the last routine of the night at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

While doing the “car wash” at ESPN on Tuesday, Stanford football coach David Shaw said that the College Football Playoff selection committee should pay greater attention to schedule structures of teams – like when teams have byes, for example. Those November byes or games against FCS opponents a week ahead of rivalry games in the SEC sure make things easier as opposed to playing Notre Dame followed by seven straight conference opponents.

Former Washington defensive lineman and Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-rounder Vita Vea has a strained left calf but is not expected to miss any regular season games (ESPN). It was initially thought that Vea suffered a torn Achilles, so this is better news than originally feared.

Doug Haller features former Arizona State football coach Todd Graham, catching us up on what he’s been up to lately. Graham is currently out of a job but wants to get back in the biz. He is still studying film and meeting with coaching friends all over.

Oregon men’s basketball has agreed to a three-game series with Boise State, The Register-Guard reports. Bit of an interesting format: the teams will play two games this year – Dec. 15 in Eugene, Dec. 29 in Boise, per the article – followed by one game in Eugene in the 2019-20 season.

Oregon State is leaning toward having stadium-wide alcohol sales at Reser Stadium, John Canzano reports.

Joey Kaufman features USC quarterback Jack Sears as he continues his series on the USC quarterback battle. This isn’t the first time Sears will be trying to replace Sam Darnold as the starting QB; he was Darnold’s successor at San Clemente High School as well.

Jeff Collier of CougCenter gets us caught up with Cougs in NFL training camps.

Always good to get some skiing news in the middle of the summer – Jana Weinberger has been named the head Nordic coach at Colorado, the school announced Tuesday. Weinberger was a two-time national champion skier for the Buffs and has been an assistant in Boulder for more than a decade. Not that this blogger knows anything about skiing but seems like a good fit.

Denise Wescott has been named an assistant coach for Cal women’s lacrosse, head coach Brooke Eubanks announced Tuesday. Wescott has been the head coach at Monmouth, Mount St. Mary’s, Delaware, Rutgers and Drew University while also having served as head honcho for the German national team. Pretty monster credentials for an assistant coach.

Arizona softball head coach Mike Candrea has been elected to the 2018 Arizona Sports Hall of Fame class, it was announced Wednesday. He is one of six inductees, and they will be honored Novemeber 1 in Scottsdale.