Roundup: Arizona State gets it done

Arizona State made the Pac-12 8-3 on the young season after cruising to a season-opening win past Sacramento State 55-0 Thursday night in Tempe. As the Sun Devils took the field, they got to see the Pat Tillman portrait at the end of Arizona State’s tunnel.

There is one conference battle set to go down this weekend when Washington State takes on USC at The Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. PT Saturday night (Fox Sports 1), and the Cougars are aiming higher than respectable. Close losses won’t cut it for this bunch; they’re trying to win some more games.

And now for the Trojan perspective on things… They seem pretty confident about a W down in Los Angeles, as Conquest Chronicles believes that the Trojans’ winning ways present an ingrained edge over Washington State. USC has not lost to the Cougs since 2002.

At the same time the Cougs and Trojans are battling in Southern California, the Wildcats will take their talents to Sin City to face UNLV on CBS Sports Network. Here’s the Arizona-UNLV Game Day Central page from ArizonaWildcats.com. It has everything you need -- rosters, game notes, media guides, but no RichRod wearing a cowboy hat, unfortunately.

Before ALLLLL of that happens, Utah gets the Saturday ceremonies started with an 11 a.m. PT kickoff against Weber State (Pac-12 Networks), and the Utes are determined to not be the next FCS victim after more than a handful of FBS schools lost to FCS powers the previous weekend, including Oregon State. What would help the Utes’ cause is if Sean Fitzgerald is as ready to step into a bigger role as he says he is; the receiver will take Kenneth Scott’s place in the starting lineup with Scott done for the season.

Mark Helfrich takes his boys to Virginia to face the Cavaliers at 12:30 p.m. PT on ABC or ESPN2 (depending on where you live), and after seeing Virginia’s “vanilla” game plan, the Ducks are ready to adjust on the fly. And, since the Ducks are so transparent with their books, let’s take a look inside Oregon’s finances.

Cal will look to make it a .500 season and give Sonny Dykes his first win as a head coach in Strawberry Canyon when the Bears square off against Portland State at 2 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Networks. Here’s a preview of the Portland State offense, courtesy of the folks at California Golden Blogs. And one more Golden Bear link for the road, because San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon turned down a $24,000 offer from Nnamdi Asomugha to switch numbers. Dixon wants that No. 24, yo.

Among some of the more important questions surrounding Colorado’s bout with Central Arkansas at 5 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Networks is who will earn the honor to carry around some heavy machinery in practice next week? Parker Orms was the first recipient of the Buffs “Sledgehammer Award,” given to the player who makes the biggest clean hit on an opponent during a game; Orms will also being carrying the sledgehammer out on to the field for the Central Arkansas game. ‘Tis a tradition Mike MacIntyre brought with him from the 408.

There are some eager Beavers in Corvallis for an upcoming chance at redemption against Hawai’i at 5 p.m. PT Saturday on the Pac-12 Networks, and Brandin Cooks is walking the talk at practice. Didn’t get a chance to watch the Rainbow Warriors in action against USC? Well here’s a chance to get acquainted with them thanks to these five questions about Hawai’i with Stephen Tsai of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. If you read the article (or the rest of this graf), you’ll learn that former Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn is helping Norm Chow call plays.

Finally, the season opener will be here for the Cardinal with an 8 p.m. PT kickoff against San Jose State on the Pac-12 Networks (last team in the nation to kick things off). Many around the country think Stanford provides the non-SEC world its best chance to knock off the likes of Alabama or LSU, but David Shaw doesn’t want his team compared to an SEC squad. Will Stanford get a chance to play in its first-ever and last BCS National Championship Game? Not according to Jon Wilner, who has the Card going 12-1 and reaching the Rose Bowl.

No game for the Huskies this week, so let’s talk about how the Keith Price of old returned in Washington’s win over Boise State. Made ya forget that he threw a pick in his first pass of the season, didn’t he?

No game for the Bru Cru this week either, so let’s bask in the warmth of a 38-point victory just a little longer, okay? Twelve Bruins caught passes against Nevada, leading to this catchy headline from the Los Angeles Times: UCLA receivers are sharing the gift of grab. Haha, get it? (In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with something that clever.) [Editor's note: Definitely not.]