Player Notes

Jim Mora’s phone was littered with messages of “good job” and “atta boy” after the UConn football team blew a 14-point first quarter lead and lost to Utah State, 31-20, to kick off his first season as head coach last August. Fans and supporters of the Huskies were happy just to watch their team be competitive , it was a rarity then.This year it’s a different story. Mora and the Huskies, disappointed ...

BOULDER — One question, Mickey Andrews. Just one. Is this thing gonna work?“He told me when they started their offseason program,” Andrews, one of Deion Sanders’ oldest and most beloved mentors, recalled by phone when I asked about the 2023 Buffs. “He told me, ‘Coach, there’s just not many guys out here that show they want to win bad enough.’“You can’t fake winning. It’s just like toughness. Can’t ...

Amid all the continued chatter regarding the collapse of the Pac-12 and where California will end up once realignment is finished, head football coach Justin Wilcox has been pleased with how well his players have been able to insulate themselves from all of the outside noise.“All of us are so focused on what’s right in front of us,” Wilcox told reporters Tuesday. “It’s significant, we all realize that. ...

This is the staple of a Hugh Freeze football team.Freeze is an offensive-minded coach. He has developed NFL quarterbacks and produced high-paced schemes that produce big numbers on the scoreboard.But a new job, a new school and a team roster gives him a challenge he hasn’t seen in his head coaching career. He is combining a roster that is roughly half returnees and half newcomers. Those new faces are ...

8/30/2023Record roster turnover at least made Kenny Dillingham’s initial offseason rebuild controllable.While that recruiting work made him busy, he at least could target the right players to join the Arizona State football program during a hard reset. But changing that culture once the players were on the ground in Tempe was a deeper challenge.A decision for ASU to leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12 ...

Arizona RepublicAn Arizona state senator is calling for the Arizona Board of Regents to investigate Arizona State University Athletic Director Ray Anderson.An Arizona state senator is calling on the Arizona Board of Regents to investigate Arizona State Athletic Director Ray Anderson for a "raft of improprieties and frankly embarrassing issues."The senator, Republican T.J. Shope Jr. from Coolidge, sent ...

To start off his appearance on the SEC teleconference, Nick Saban again talked about how this Saturday is an opportunity for Alabama to form an identity for the 2023 season.It’s less about filling in any gaps from last year’s roster. While the Tide had three players selected in the first 12 picks of the NFL Draft (Bryce Young, Will Anderson and Jahmyr Gibbs), there isn’t a like-for-like replacement ...

PUBLISHED August 27, 2023 at 4:38 p.m. | UPDATED: August 28, 2023 at 4:09 a.m.In the Coliseum parking lot adjacent to BMO Stadium, planting their rows of cardinal-and-yellow tarps on a sweltering Saturday afternoon tarmac, the Psychos convened.Grills sizzled in front of USC-branded lawn chairs, a plain sign atop a red-draped plastic serving table reading “9,031 DAYS SINCE UCLA WON THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP.” ...

Austin American-StatesmanTexas football coach Steve Sarkisian takes his 11th-ranked Longhorns into their season opener on Saturday against Rice. The Longhorns are heavy favorites.Takeaways from Texas coach Steve Sarkisian's first game-week Monday press conference:Is it too early to talk about Bama?The answer: Yes, it is. At least for Sarkisian.One of the first questions he fielded was whether anything ...

Aug. 28, 2023Always have hope, we are taught.Except in college football, where all that hope gets gobbled up by the same handful of powerhouse programs year after year. Who needs hope when you have an elite Blue-Chip Ratio?But before the Georgia Bulldogs cruise to a three-peat out of an all-SEC four-team College Football Playoff, let’s do our best to mine some optimism for the schools that need it ...