Awards, awards, awards. Plenty of ‘em were handed out on Wednesday, as the Pac-12 announced its all-conference teams and “of the year” winners. Stanford’s David Shaw won Pac-12 Coach of the Year, USC’s Marqise Lee won Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, Arizona State’s Will Sutton was nabbed Pac-12 Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota brought home Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year and USC’s Leonard Williams earned Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. Congrats to all those who got a listing in the official release.
Did you think we were done giving props? There were weekly honors to hand out, too. Arizona State’s Brandon Magee was named Defensive Player of the Week, while Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor and Washington State’s Andrew Furney took home Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week honors, respectively.
Magee wasn’t the only Sun Devil deserving of that Defensive Player of the Week honor, according to the revered Doug Haller. More on that and other things in his column on what we learned from Arizona State’s win over Arizona in the Territorial Cup.
After that loss, all Arizona can do is bide its time until a bowl game is announced. Finals are on the horizon in Tucson, so there’s that to make the waiting game go faster…or slower.
Same thing for Oregon State as far as a bowl game is concerned, but there is a game this Saturday for the Beavers when Nicholls State finally makes its way to Corvallis, just three months after the original scheduled date. Will it be the Alamo Bowl or Holiday Bowl? The Beavers are happy with either.
Remember all the talk about Kansas State backing out of its commitment to play Oregon this year? Well, it’s looking like we might see the Ducks and Wildcats play each other, after all. If you want to see that matchup happen, root for Kansas State to beat Texas this week, and then there’s a good chance Oregon will face K-State in the Fiesta Bowl.
An emotional Jon Embree spoke at the Colorado press conference and had some words of encouragement for his former players.
The Golden Bears are in hot pursuit of a coach as well. What are some names to consider in Cal’s coaching search? California Golden Blogs gives you a few (or a dozen) to ponder.
Washington State’s season is officially over, so let’s revisit year one of the Mike Leach Era in Pullman.
The Cougars did win the Apple Cup, but it was marred afterward when Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins was punched by a fan after the game.
Oh yeah, isn’t there a conference championship game to be played? UCLA head coach Jim Mora has really started something, but finishing is what matters, and that means beating Stanford for a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Meanwhile, Jon Wilner gave Stanford an A+ for beating UCLA 35-17 on the road to secure its spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Although the regular season ended on a good note for the Utes, inconsistencies hampered Utah in 2012.
Trojan fan, here are some notes and quotes from USC’s loss to Notre Dame to hold you over until your team’s bowl game is announced this Sunday.