Arizona receiver Juron Criner didn’t participate in Tuesday’s practice due to an undisclosed illness, according to head coach Mike Stoops. It’s Criner’s second missed practice in as many days leading up to Thursday’s showdown with No. 9 Oklahoma State.
“If he’s ready to go, he’ll play,” Stoops said. “I’m not going to speculate.”
Although Stoops is unsure of whether or not Criner will play, he’ll make the trip to Oklahoma State.
He caught six passes for 151 yards and a score in Saturday’s season-opener against NAU.
In last year’s Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State, Criner was limited to 47 yards on nine catches.
— Alex Williams
Pac-12 roundup: Beavers lose to FCS, now play top-10
It was a disappointing opening week for the Oregon State Beavers as they suffered an upset loss at home to FCS school Sacramento State 29-28 in overtime on Saturday.
Despite freshman running back Malcolm Agnew filling in for the departed Jacquizz Rodgers with three touchdowns on an impeccable 223 yards rushing, the Beavers could not contain the surprisingly dominant passing attack of Sacramento State.
Now, for head coach Mike Riley, it’s time to head back to the drawing board, considering the Beavers are headed to Madison, Wisc., to take on the No. 8 Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.
“First thing you do is you got to get past that game and look at it,” Riley said in a weekly conference call. “That’s what I had to do first, and then we’re on to the next one and helping our team grow.
“We’ve got a big, big opponent this week so we’ve got a lot of stuff to do to be able to try to find a way to compete in that game.”
First Pac-12 game for CU not really Pac-12 game
A loss at Hawaii wasn’t quite what head coach Jon Embree was hoping for in his first game at the helm of the Buffaloes, but with the California Golden Bears looming on the horizon this weekend, Colorado will have to move past it fast.
What’s interesting about this game is that while it’s a match up of Pac-12 opponents, it is not technically a Pac-12 game as it won’t count in the overall conference standings. That does not mean that nothing is at stake for the Buffaloes.
Last year in Berkeley, Calif., the Bears destroyed the Buffs, 52-7,cq and Colorado wants redemption.
Despite it being his first year, Embree said he is definitely aware of the implications of this matchup.
“One of the first things I heard about when I got hired here was about the Cal game,” he said in a weekly conference call. “They were good working in the weight room coming off of the loss. They seem to be focused.
Chow returns to UCLA
This year marks not only Utah’s first season in a new conference, but offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s homecoming.
Chow, who was the offensive coordinator at UCLA for the last three years, lettered for three years as an offensive guard at the University of Utah.
He jumped at head coach Kyle Whittingham’s offer to come coach at his alma mater.
“It’s coming home for him,” Whittingham said in a weekly conference call. “He’s a great addition to our staff on a lot of different levels, not only from a schematic standpoint, but for recruiting as well. Just the knowledge of the Pac-12 (that he has), it’s been a big plus for us in that regard.”
UCLA hot seat ever warm for Neuheisel
The Bruins had a tough task coming into week one, and the dynamic Houston Cougars’ offense proved too much for them to contain. Head coach Rick Neuheisel has been in the hot seat since the end of last season, and the defense will have to keep up if the Bruins want to get the win against San Jose State this weekend.
“There’s a lot going on. Game day is a completely different animal than practice,” Neuheisel said in a weekly conference call. “The opening game, especially when you are playing guys who are getting their first real taste of a game, you find out things about people that you didn’t necessarily know in practice.
—Dan Kohler
