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Washington State

It might be the wisest play call Luke Falk makes all year.

This summer, he took several of his Washington State offensive linemen out to a new pizza joint in Pullman, buying them each a pie.

"That was like $12 per person," 310-pound, 6-foot-5 Joe Dahl said. "He was really breaking the bank there. I liked it."

Falk needs his line to have his back as he and the Cougars attempt to bounce back from a 3-9 season in 2014. The Cougars, picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 North, played competitive games but often came up on the wrong end of close decisions.

Among their nail-biters that went sideways: a 7-point loss to Oregon, a 1-point loss in a shootout with Cal, and a 3-point defeat to Rutgers.

"I thought we took a step on offense, led in a lot of national categories, but we've got to steadily improve," coach Mike Leach said. "Defense and special teams, we've got to improve there."

It's now entering Year 4 for Leach, who in the offseason added facilities that put Washington State's amenities in line with other teams in the conference. It's still an upward climb, however. Leach has many returning starters, but admitted, "some of them were probably pressed into service before it was probably ideal."

That includes Falk, who took over for Connor Halliday after the senior suffered a season-ending injury. The Logan-born former walk-on is now doing battle to keep his starting spot from a freshman quarterback, and teammates say he's kept the same workmanlike approach that initially earned him a scholarship.

"He's never going to change how hard he works based on his results," Dahl said. "He wants to be the best. He's never going to stop working hard."

The Cougars feel this season, that goes for the rest of them as well.

Washington State outtakes

Mike Leach was his typical quotable self throughout the afternoon.

• On where to take a date: "If you go to Washington State, we've got five of America's greatest Rivers around there. That would be a great place. We've got dunes, mountains. You can hunt rattlesnakes, if you want to. You can fish for sturgeon. I tell you what, if you took her sturgeon fishing I don't believe she'd ever forget it."

• On touring Warner Bros Studios: "They have everything from Batman helmets to some cool brass knuckles that the Joker has to Catwoman outfits, and some definite villains. Then you can go upstairs to the Harry Potter exhibit and they'll stick a wizard hat on you and tell you what tribe you're in or whatever, or the fraternity or whatever. I can't remember. Mine was Huffle-something."

• On libraries: "So then I had never been to a library before, but I heard there were libraries, and I was pretty young. I was probably, I don't know, first or second grade. I'm like, what is this? You can get a book and take it with you? So I asked my mom, why haven't I heard of this? We have to go."

Oregon

Royce Freeman learned a lot from Marcus Mariota. Like how to handle himself in front of the media.

The sophomore running back learned quickly. On Friday morning, he carried himself with characteristic soft-spokeness, and not a hint of overconfidence.

The Ducks hope that's not all he's learned.

Freeman is one of the biggest pieces returning for the Ducks, who lose a Heisman winner and much more leadership from their national runner-up program. Coach Mark Helfrich isn't looking for another Mariota, necessarily.

"The key for replacing one of the all-time greats like Marcus is everyone has to do their job a little bit better," he said. "We don't need anybody to be Superman."

Oregon is capable of stepping up, voted once again to win the Pac-12 North. They have a cadre of players who were able to experience the first College Football Playoff and go through extra practices together. They have a lot of NFL Draft picks to replace, but they're unintimidated by the challenge.

It's a bit of a change for Oregon in that for the first time in years, they haven't been picked to win the conference. Does that make them an underdog?

Not exactly, Rodney Hardrick said.

"We don't worry about it, and it hasn't affected us in the past," he said. "We just buy into our culture, do what we need to do, and at the end of the day, you look up and see where you are. With our culture, we always have a path to success."

Oregon tidbits

• Mark Helfrich deferred talking about expected transfer Vernon Adams, who is having difficulty officially getting eligible for the fall. He said he'd only speak about players "currently on campus."

• Helfrich added he thinks all schedules should be standardized between conferences, with the same amount of conference games and a conference championship. "Changing the number of teams in the playoff is easy, but making that stuff all the same will help."

— Kyle Goon

USC

For a team based in Hollywood, the Trojans seem to fight glamor.

They don't and won't change their uniforms every week, Steve Sarkisian said. Even five-star prospects are finding tough sledding in the depth chart, Su'a Cravens said.

Quarterback Cody Kessler, who played as well as any passer not named Mariota last season, said he doesn't mind not being taken seriously as a major award candidate, even though his statistics might suggest otherwise.

"People always were making a huge case last year, 'You're underrated, you're not getting the credit you deserve,' but I couldn't care less," he said. "My biggest thing is team success."

It's in this vein of thinking that the Trojans tried to play down their preseason hype. They were voted to win the Pac-12 on the strength of returning playmakers and a No. 1-rated recruiting class. But they haven't achieved anything yet, they persisted.

Their 2014 record aligns with that point of view: It's been years since they've beaten crosstown rival UCLA. They lost games on late drives to Arizona State and Utah. They were bowled over by Boston College.

Some things are definitely going their way: They bring back Kessler, and dynamic playmakers Juju Smith, Adoree Jackson and Cravens. Now off sanctions, their depth is building back up. They hope added talent will help them go the distance more effectively than when they faded in fourth-quarter losses.

Work in progress, Sarkisian reiterated over and over.

"At this point, it's kind of like a beauty contest," he said. "I don't think our guys really care about that."

USC outtakes

• Steve Sarkisian said he will play cornerback Adoree Jackson on offense. Jackson, who competes in track for USC, is an electrifying athlete: "I'd be foolish not to give him the ball. … He's one of those guys, when the ball is in his hands, you hold your breath."

• Adoree Jackson talked a bit about his relationship with Kyle Whittingham, who he's related to by marriage. "We don't talk on a day-to-day basis, but when a game is coming up, he'll tell my aunt something to tell me. Then I'll see him on the sideline and he'll smirk at me."

• Cody Kessler loses a great deal of his receiving talent from last year, but incoming recruits have something the previous generation didn't have: "We've finally got some tall guys at receiver. I love that. I'm pumped."

— Kyle Goon

Cal

Jared Goff claims he has "the best job in the country." The junior said it's his receivers that make him look so good.

Maybe. Maybe he can give himself some credit, too.

"We're very confident in Jared," coach Sonny Dykes said, perhaps in the understatement of the morning.

For good reason. The junior went through bumps in his first two years as a starter, but now Cal emerges with perhaps the best returning starting quarterback in the Pac-12. After throwing for almost 4,000 yards and completing 62 percent of his passes, Goff is expected to be a premier performer again, lining the Heisman, Davey O'Brien and Walter Camp watchlists.

For his part, Goff said he's been a little taken aback by the increased attention, but his low-key media session seemed to confirm his take that he hasn't changed all that much.

"I can't think about that now," he said. "We've got to win games right now, that's what I've focused on."

Cal outtakes

• Sonny Dykes talked a little bit about his battles with Gary Andersen at Utah State while Dykes coached Louisiana Tech. He pointed out that former WAC coaches Mike MacIntyre and Chris Petersen have also found homes in the league: "It's been fun coming up through the ranks with those guys.

• Cal's expected starting center, Matt Cochran, departed from the program abruptly this week. Dykes declined to offer much more, saying it was a "personal issue" and that a replacement was still being figured out.

• Jared Goff said his parents still haven't adjusted to his Heisman hype. "They're like, 'I don't know why they think you're cool.' To them, I'm still just their son."

— Kyle Goon

Arizona

Maybe it's the movie studio setting that made Rich Rodriguez think to make a cinema reference.

Fielding a question about living down losses to Oregon and Boise State to finish out an otherwise strong 2014 campaign, the Arizona head coach told an anecdote from The Lion King.

"There's a point in the movie where the monkey hits the lion over the head, I think," he said. "The lion says, 'What'd you do that for?' The monkey says, 'It doesn't matter, it's in the past."

Translating from RichRod speak: Last year doesn't matter any more. The challenges of the current season are too great to worry about defeats in 2014.

Even after winning the Pac-12 South last year, the Wildcats are looking uphill as the season begins. They were voted fourth in the South by the media in a preseason poll, despite returning a quarterback, solid receivers and a tremendous running back. They also have one of the best defenders in the country back in the fold, linebacker Scooby Wright.

But they have a murderous schedule against the South, and they do it without a bye until the end of the regular season. They haven't talked about it much, but they recognize it will be a tough proposition.

"We know it's there, and we had a great summer as far as conditioning," safety Will Parks said. "We didn't emphasize it, but we know it's there."

Losses in the Pac-12 championship and the Fiesta Bowl were discouraging for the Wildcats, but their ambitions are still as high as ever. Rodriguez was upbeat throughout his Friday morning sessions, cracking wise and even acknowledging, "I think I'm mellowing out as I get older."

But don't be fooled: The Wildcats are still sharpening their claws.

Arizona outtakes

• Rich Rodriguez was on his game with other movie references as well. Talking about his odds in the Pac-12 South after being voted to finish fourth, he reached for Dumb and Dumber: "So you're saying there's a chance?"

• Will Parks talked about his admiration for his award-winning teammate Scooby Wright, who apparently has more than one kind of lunchpail mentality. When he went to an awards ceremony in Philadelphia after last season, Wright told his teammates the only thing on his mind during the presentation was a cheesesteak earlier in the day.

• Rodriguez didn't miss a chance to ask the media, "Did y'all know it's the Pac-12's 100th anniversary?" He repeated the question several times throughout his session, then coaxed Cal's Sonny Dykes to ask it one more time on his behalf.

— Kyle Goon

The second half of Pac-12 media days is out to a shuffling start after addresses from Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans. But the one thing everyone wants to know, she did address, albeit briefly.

Murphy-Stephans said that the Pac-12 Networks are excited to move forward in their long-stagnant discussions with DirecTV after they were acquired by AT&T this month.

Said Murphy-Stephans: "We will not rest until we have complete distribution for our fans."

It wasn't earth-shattering news, but it was the most relevant item in her review of the the Pac-12 Networks for the print media Friday morning.

There were precious few other developments to report. The Network will air all conference games in their "Football in 60" format — games distilled to relevant highlights and lasting only an hour — even if they air on other networks. The network is also airing a new show with analyst Mike Yam.

New full-time vice president of officiating David Coleman set an agenda for his tenure, which focuses on training and accountability for recently embattled Pac-12 refs. He outlined several points of emphasis in the coming season for the NCAA: fouls for forcibly pulling opponents off a pile, sideline warnings and targeting among others.

Coleman also noted that the Pac-12 will outfit eight-man officiating crews next season. Fans can say goodbye to "overbuilt facemasks," which Coleman said have been penalized in the interest of safety.

— Kyle Goon

Twitter: @kylegoon