In NCAA women’s soccer tournament first-round play in
Pullman tonight/Friday, on WSU Lower Soccer Field, the Cougs of WSU beat the
Griz of Montana, 5-1. (The two teams played on the same field Sept 14 with WSU
winning, 3-1). Griz season over. Cougs advance to second round.
…………….
WSU1 35:48 GOAL WSU Brianna Alger (FIRST GOAL), Assist Hailey
Smith, goal 2 for season.0-1
WSU2 48:33 GOAL WSU Morgan Weaver, Assist by Shayna
Whieldon, goal 13 for season. 0-2
WSU2 60:59 GOAL WSU Alysha Overland, Assist by Hailey
Smith, goal 3 for season. 0-3
WSU2 63:02 GOAL WSU Hailey Smith, Assist by El
Hernandez-Repreza, goal number 2 for season. 0-4
WSU2 82:29 GOAL WSU Gracie Armstrong, goal number 1 for
season. 0-5
MONT2 84:59 GOAL MONT Kennedy Yost, goal
number 5 for season.
::::::::::::::
Apple Cup traffic on main route to Pullman will have lengthy
detour as bridge project hits delays
Apple Cup traffic on main route to Pullman will have lengthy
detour as bridge project hits delays
November 9, 2018 Pullman Radio News
The bridge project that is causing major delays for cross
state traffic heading to and from Pullman has hit construction delays. The
Washington Department of Transportation is replacing the deck on a State Route
26 bridge near US Highway 395. A 14 mile detour is in place through Connell.
The work was initially scheduled to be complete the day
before Thanksgiving. That would have removed the long detour just before the
Apple Cup in Pullman 2 days later during the long holiday weekend.
The delay means the detour will be in place for the
Washington State University, University of Washington football game. WSDOT
officials now say the work and detour will likely continue into December.
::::::::::::::::::::
WSU Regents to consider taking on
new debt for Cougar Baseball Clubhouse
By Evan Ellis, Pullman Radio News, Nov 9, 2018 at 12:08 pm
Washington State University administration wants to move
ahead with a new athletics facility without full funding.
The request to the WSU Regents goes against President Kirk
Schulz's policy requiring full funding before a capital project can proceed. A
regents committee will hear the plan during its meeting in Pullman next week.
The administration is asking the regents to move forward
with design and construction of the long planned for clubhouse for Cougar
baseball. The $10 million facility at Bailey-Brayton Field would include a
locker room, pitching lab, an academic area, team meeting rooms and space for
equipment and training. A total of $4 million in donations has been secured for
the project, Cougar Athletics has commitments for another $2.5 million. That
still leaves the project $43.5 million short.
To make up for the shortfall, administrators are asking the
regents to finance the $3.5 million gap through the sale of bonds. The report
to the regents shows that officials anticipate that the remaining millions will
be donated by 2025. To mitigate the risk of falling short on covering the debt,
the project will not move forward unless the $2.5 million in pledges is
collected by August 1st of next year. The plan then calls for construction to
begin in August with construction lasting a year.
This appears to mark the first time that Schulz has gone
against his policy regarding a traditional construction project. The regents
did approve taking on new debt last Spring to fund a critical new $30 million
payroll and finance computer system. That project replaced a failing system
that was 38 years old.
Cougar Athletics is working to eliminate its annual budget
deficit. The department expects to end yearly deficit spending by 2023 when its
accumulated debt will total $85 million. Schulz has stated several times that
Cougar Athletics will pay back that debt over time.
The WSU Regents Institutional Infrastructure Committee will
hear the clubhouse debt financing plan as an informational item during its
meeting on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018,at 1:15 in CUB room 208.
:::::::::::::::::
#19 Volleyball WSU downs #21 UCLA Bruins for just the fourth time overall in
Los Angeles, 3-1
LOS ANGELES – The No. 19 ranked Washington State Cougars
(19-6, 10-5 Pac-12) completed the season sweep of No. 21 UCLA with a four-set
victory on the road Thursday evening.
Set scores from the match were: 25-19, 27-29, 28-26, and
25-21 in favor of the Cougars.
These two ranked Pac-12 squads traded points early on in set
number one, until the Bruins (12-10, 7-8 Pac-12) were able to get out in front
of the Cougars with a 3-0 run. Washington State began chipping away at the UCLA
lead with multiple 3-0 runs of their own with kills from both McKenna Woodford,
and Taylor Mims, along with a service ace by Abby Phillips. WSU trailed the
Bruins 15-14 midway through the opening round, but the Cougars went on to
create a 12-4 overall run to take set number one over UCLA at 25-19. The
Cougars hit .333 overall in the set with huge kills from Claire Martin, Ashley
Brown, Jocelyn Urias, Penny Tusa, Woodford, and Mims.
The second set of play featured the Cougars in control early
on, after multiple kills from Tusa, and a service ace by Olivia Coale, saw WSU
leading 10-6 against the Bruins. UCLA began cutting into the Cougar lead, but
Urias gave the Washington State offense a boost with multiple kills midway
through the second round of play. A 6-2 run by WSU pushed the Cougar advantage
out to 22-17, but UCLA countered right back with a 5-0 run of their own to tie
up the set at 22-22. These two programs went on to trade points down the
stretch, until the Bruins capped off the set win with a 3-0 run at 29-27.
Washington State and UCLA picked right back up where they
left off in set two, as each traded points and saw multiple ties to begin set
three, however a 4-0 scoring run from the Bruins saw the home squad in front at
11-8. The Cougars fought right back with a 9-2 run to jump ahead of the Bruins
at 18-16, with some offensive help from Martin, Mims, Tusa, and Woodford. UCLA
and WSU once again began trading points late in this contest, until the Cougars
broke through with back-to-back scores on kills from Mims, and Tusa for the set
victory.
The Cougars jumped all over the Bruins to start set number
four with a 5-1 run with clutch kills from Martin, Brown, and Mims. WSU
continued to extend that lead with a 5-0 run midway through the set as Woodford
led the way with a pair of kills. UCLA created a couple small runs of their own
to get back into this match, ultimately tying the set up at 19-19 overall.
Washington State held strong however with a 6-2 run to end the match after
kills from both Tusa and Woodford sealed the road victory for WSU at 25-21.
QUOTE OF THE MATCH "A lot of back-and-forth a hard,
hard fought victory against a great team," said head coach Jen Greeny.
"We always talk about it, especially anytime you're on the road in this conference,
and you can get a win, it's huge."
NOTES
Penny Tusa recorded 16 total digs on the night, a
season-high for the sophomore. Tusa added 14 kills, and three aces to her stat
sheet as well.
Alexis Dirige posted a team-high 26 digs also to help lead
the defensive effort for the Cougars.
McKenna Woodford led the offensive attack with 15 kills on
the night, and added 10 digs of her own.
Taylor Mims found herself in double-digit kills with 14
overall, with a kill percentage of .378 in the contest.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Washington State will next face the No. 13 ranked Trojans of
Southern California, Sunday, November 11 in Los Angeles with first serve
scheduled for 1:30 p.m. PT.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WSU football
Two minute drill: Keys to victory for Washington State
against Colorado
Fri., Nov. 9, 2018, 2:14 p.m. by Spokane S-R/Theo Lawson
PAC-12 FOOTBALL = At Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado
➤Saturday, Nov. 10: Washington State Cougars at Colorado
Buffaloes, 12:30 p.m. PST TV: ESPN
Don’t take your eyes off …
Without Laviska Shenault Jr. on the field, senior wide
receiver Juwann Winfree has emerged as a reliable target for quarterback Steven
Montez and Colorado’s passing game. The fifth-year senior from New Jersey
hasn’t been terribly consistent for the Buffaloes since he arrived at CU in
2014 and comes into Saturday’s game with only 51 career receptions, 693 yards
and five touchdown. But his penchant for having the occasional big game should
be enough to catch WSU’s eye. Winfree was the centerpiece of CU’s passing
attack last week against Arizona, catching eight passes for 101 yards. He also
exploded in a 2017 game against USC, with five receptions for 163 yards and two
touchdowns.
When WSU has the ball …
Tay Martin hasn’t been quite as involved in the passing game
lately and the wide receiver’s numbers indicate a steep dropoff in play. It’s
possible WSU’s coaches have seen the same thing, because Martin’s backup at the
“X” receiver, Calvin Jackson Jr., has seen a significant increase in playing
time the last two weeks and actually outperformed Martin in each of the last
two games. Since his 119-yard, two-touchdown game against Oregon State, Martin
has caught 12 passes for 39 yards and no TDs in the last three games. Jackson,
meanwhile, has five receptions for 50 yards in the last two games after not
appearing against Stanford.
When Colorado has the ball …
Will the Buffaloes have Shenault Jr. back from his injury?
Or Jay MacIntyre? Or J.D. Nixon? Colorado’s passing numbers have taken a turn
for the worst since it lost three of its top wide receivers, even if players
like Winfree have been able to pitch in here and there. That hasn’t caused the
Buffaloes to abandon their plans, though, or run the ball with Travon McMillian
more than they had been with the receiver trio healthy. McMillian only got 11
carries last week at Arizona and CU may elect to go to the air more often in
this game, given that the Cougars rank third in the Pac-12, allowing just 131
rushing yards per game.
Did you know?
Longtime linebacker Peyton Pelluer will make school history
simply by stepping onto the field for the first defensive snap of Saturday’s
game. The sixth-year senior will tie the WSU record for career games played – a
record that currently is shared by a few of Pelluer’s former teammates, wide
receiver Gabe Marks and defensive lineman Daniel Ekuale, who each played in 51
games. Pelluer will break the record next Saturday at home against Arizona with
his 52nd career game. If the Cougars were to win the Pac-12 North, appear in
the championship game and somehow advance to the College Football Playoff,
Pelluer could appear in as many as 56 games.
:::::::::::::::::
WSU football
Who is Max Borghi? Washington State running back returns to
Colorado, where he fell in love with football
Fri., Nov. 9, 2018, 5 a.m.
By Theo Lawson of the Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN – Max Borghi was born to play football.
Anybody might jump to that conclusion watching Washington
State’s true freshman move up and down the field with a leather ball tucked
between his arms. Already this season, Borghi’s thundering runs have netted the
Cougars six touchdowns on the ground, while his soft hands have been
responsible for another three through the air. Everything Borghi does on a
football field seems to comes second-nature – like it was passed down from
somebody with the same last name.
If Borghi told you he was a third- or fourth-generation
running back, you’d have no choice but to believe it – and yet it wouldn’t be
any further from the truth.
Max Borghi, born Massimiliano Borghi, is the son an Italian
immigrant who spent his childhood kicking a soccer ball through the streets of
Varese, a northern suburb of Milan. Steve Borghi wasn’t introduced to American
football until his family moved to New York in elementary school and seeing the
sport on a television for the first time was a befuddling experience he still
remembers with vivid detail.
“Picture a kid looking on the screen and seeing all these
people, I thought those dudes were super huge people with huge muscles,” Steve
said. “I didn’t know they had pads on. I’d never seen anything like it in my
life, I was never exposed to it.”
Steve’s spouse, Julie, was raised in Colorado and
occasionally watched the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon with her father,
but had no vested interest in football as a lifelong gymnast.
Julie received a cheerleading scholarship to Florida
Atlantic University – that’s where she met Steve, and the couple spent nine
years together in the Sunshine State. That’s where they conceived their first child,
Marco, before eventually relocating to Colorado and giving birth to another
son.
Forecasting the challenges of writing “Massimiliano” on
every school paper and test, Steve and Julie shortened their second child’s
name by five syllables, to “Max.” Unknowningly at the time, that decision would
also make like easier for ESPN commentators, who have to call Borghi’s name at
least a dozen times whenever the Cougars are on national television.
Steve and Julie Borghi are still stunned their middle child
has become an overnight sensation for the country’s 10th-ranked college
football team. They never pushed Max toward the sport, but now he’s on the
verge of breaking WSU’s freshman scoring record, which would require Borghi to
score four more touchdowns in the final four, possibly five games, this season.
Deon Burnett currenly has it with 12 TDs.
A village-sized crowd of family members, friends, former
teammates and coaches will make a short drive to Folsom Field Saturday
afternoon to see Borghi chip away at that record when WSU (8-1, 5-1,) takes on
Colorado (5-4, 2-4) at 12:30 p.m. PT (ESPN) in Boulder.
“I’ll probably have a couple-hundred (fans),” said the
Pomona High graduate, whose parents live less than 20 minutes away from the CU
campus. Borghi was also once verbally committed to play for the Buffaloes.
“I’ve been looking forward to this game since the start of the season.
Obviously I take it week by week, but this one’s going to be big.”
Little league legend
Michael Marquez is the one who convinced Steve and Julie
Borghi to buy their son his first football helmet. And he’s still waiting on a
royalty check.
“I tell (Max) all the time, I say, ‘I’m waiting for my
money, dude,’ ” Marquez said. “I talked him into playing football and now he’s
got a full-ride scholarship, he’s probably going to get some time in the NFL.
‘Where’s my payday?’ (Max) laughed: ‘That’s a little league violation.’”
A promising soccer career had already started to take shape
for Borghi in the second grade when he befriended Ryan Marquez, another young
multisport athlete who should’ve been playing two or three levels above his age
group. Ryan’s father Michael, a former CU tailback who had a cup of coffee with
the NFL’s Broncos, was coaching a local little league football team called the
Arvada Buffaloes.
Borghi popped with his natural athleticism, outpacing
everyone on the soccer field, but Marquez felt his skills were better suited
for the gridiron. So he made a pitch to Steve and Julie Borghi.
“We weren’t thinking about football,” Julie said. “It kills
Max because all his friends know everything about football and we know nothing
about football.”
But Borghi pleaded to play on the same team as Ryan, so
Steve and Julie caved in and purchased a used helmet from the local sporting
goods store. That decision kickstarted one of the most decorated football
careers by a running back in Colorado’s history.
“It was like a bobblehead out there – the helmet was so big
in second grade, it would droop down and you wouldn’t see his face,” Steve
said. “Picture the whole helmet hanging down and this kid running around the
field super fast and outrunning all these kids. So right away you could see he
had a knack for it. He was always a step ahead of the other kids in terms of
speed.”
The holy grail of the Jeffco (Jefferson County) Midget
Football Association is the Carnation Bowl. While Borghi and Ryan Marquez
played on the same Arvada Buffaloes little league team, the duo advanced to
that game every season. And more notable than that, since they were 7 years old,
Borghi and Marquez have never started a season together that didn’t end with an
appearance in a championship game.
At this point, there was no slowing Borghi’s legend.
Some of those youth games were divided by total number of
plays, rather than timed quarters. Teams would get between 20-30 plays per half
and in one particular game, the Arvada Buffaloes were trailing by five points,
on their own 1-yard line and down to their last play. Marquez, at quarterback,
whipped a pass between two defenders. On the other end of the throw was his
good buddy, Borghi, who caught the ball and gashed the defense for a 99-yard
touchdown to win the game.
Borghi became notorious for making plays like that with the
state’s eye watching. He started to get recognized in strange places –
something Julie and Steve Borghi weren’t quite prepared for while their son was
still in middle school.
“I remember we were in Hawaii and someone came up us to
randomly and was like, ‘Are you Max Borghi?’ And he was in sixth grade,” Julie
recalled. “We all looked around like, ‘What the heck? He’s not that great.’
They had heard about him because he’d done something at some game.”
A quick jump
Borghi’s swift running and crisp cutting had given the
running back some level of popularity by the time he arrived at Pomona High
School to play for Jay Madden’s football program.
Pomona isn’t the closest high school to Borghi’s Arvada
home, but he, Marquez and a handful of the Arvada Buffaloes decided to play for
Madden and Pomona, rather than attend Arvada West or Ralston Valley. Michael
Marquez and Madden were longtime friends and former Pomona High teammates, and
the group of incoming freshmen wanted to deliver the Panthers their first state
title in three decades.
Borghi was a varsity-level player when he stepped on campus
at Pomona, but Madden wanted to get his freshman team off to a good start, so
that’s where Borghi began. The Panthers ran toss plays to Borghi on the first
snap of each of the first four freshman team games. He scored on all four.
Borghi was promoted to varsity for the fifth game of the
season. A few games later, against Columbine, he rushed for five touchdowns –
“on about seven carries,” Madden added.
“We used him at pretty much everything,” Madden said. “But
literally people quit kicking off to us, they’d kick it out of bounds. They’d
punt it out of bounds. We’re in the state championship game his sophomore year
and the other team kicked it out of bounds four times to make sure he didn’t
touch it. So he changed the game without touching the ball and he’s always been
that way.”
He turned in some impressive higlights along the way. Madden
estimates a Borghi hurdle against Ralston Valley harvested “about 25,000 likes”
on Twitter, although the 90-yard touchdown got called back because hurdling
isn’t permitted at the high school level.
“But it was still worth it,” Madden said.
Borghi rushed for 670 yards and eight touchdowns as a
freshman. His sophomore encore was a near-1,000-yard season. Borghi recorded
998 yards on the ground and nine touchdowns, to go with 503 receiving yards and
five touchdowns. Pomona lost in the state title game 29-26 to Valor Christian.
The Panthers were favored to win the championship Borghi’s
next season, but Pomona’s junior running back – already with 824 rushing yards
and 15 touchdowns – felt his knee buckle on a reverse play during the state
quarterfinal game. The audible sound of Borghi’s ACL tear could be heard from
the Pomona sideline. Julie Borghi was coaching the Panthers cheer team.
“I don’t know how well I coached that game,” she said. “I
was in shock a little bit.”
During their “redemption tour” as Madden labeled it, the
Panthers still managed to reach the state title game for the second year
running, but with their do-it-all running back and a few other key pieces,
Pomona once again bowed to Valor.
Finding a mentor
During Borghi’s eighth-grade year, his father took him to
Mile High Stadium in Denver to watch one of those dominant Valor Christian
teams play in the state title game. Not unlike everyone else in Colorado at the
time, Borghi was mesmerized by Valor’s senior running back, a Stanford commit
who whizzed through Fairview’s defense for 140 yards and four touchdowns to win
the 5A championship.
Christian McCaffrey was the greatest thing Colorado had ever
seen on a high school football field and he finished his Valor career with 140
touchdowns. McCaffrey instantly had a fan in Borghi, who closely followed his
college career and eventually cited Stanford as his “dream school” because of
his affinity for the Cardinal’s running back.
It was a chance encounter that eventually connected the two.
Borghi had been seeing a clinician at CU while rehabbing his
ACL, but was later referred to Loren Landow, an esteemed strength and
conditioning coach in Colorado who owned a state of the art performance center
in Centennial and specialized in preparing NFL hopefuls for the Combine.
Landow, now the head strength and conditioning coach for the Broncos, has
worked with hundreds of NFL players and other athletes, including Olympic
swimmer Missy Franklin.
He didn’t often work with high school-aged athletes, but
realized Borghi was a rare breed and invited him to rehab at his facility.
During one of his visits, Landow lined up a surprise meeting for Borghi – with
McCaffrey.
“He thought Max and
Christian were cut from the same cloth and I don’t think it was the way they
were physically,” Julie Borghi said. “I think it’s the way they were as people
kind of. So he wanted them to meet, which was a blessing.”
McCaffrey and Borghi worked out together a handful of times
as McCaffrey was prepping for the NFL and Borghi was recovering from his
injury. That was valuable for Borghi, but more importantly, the Pomona running
back – who at this point was a highly-coveted college prospect – also leaned on
McCaffrey’s mentorship while he went through the recruiting process.
There are unmistakable similarities between the two on the
field, as well. Both are speedsters who demonstrate impressive field vision and
show solid pass-catching abilities. Most who’ve seen both players seem to think
Borghi is quicker.
“I think Max is definitely faster, that’s without a doubt,”
Madden said. “… Their running styles are very similar and the way they burst
onto the scene in Colorado, that hasn’t happened in a long time. “
It’s not just their running styles, either.
“They look a lot alike,” Julie Borghi said.
When Max and his father took an official visit to Stanford,
the two were walking on the field pregame when a group of middle-aged women
began shouting at the recruit: “‘Oh look, it’s Christian. Hey Christian,’”
Steve recalled. “And he was like, ‘No, my name’s not Christian.’ ”
Champs at last
Landow’s recovery plan got Borghi back onto the field one
month earlier than expected and the Pomona tailback, who’d been elusive and
fast but never truly powerful, transformed his running style and started to
embrace the physicality of his position.
“He started to enjoy that part of the game,” Madden said.
“He started to enjoy running through people instead of around people.”
“He came back with a fury and he really got after it. As the
season went on, those last seven or eight games, he played as good as any
running back Colorado’s produced in a long time.”
Borghi led the Panthers to their third straight title game.
In it, he rushed for 247 yards on 31 carries, scoring three touchdowns to lead
Pomona past Eaglecrest 56-49 in the highest-scoring 5A title game the state had
ever seen.
Marquez, the Pomona quarterback, Borghi and Washington State
wide receiver commit Billy Pospisil were known as the Panthers’ “big three.”
They combined for 779 yards of offense in the state title game.
Borghi cemented his Pomona legacy with 1,690 rushing yards
and 27 touchdowns as a senior. He also returned a punt and a kick for a touchdown.
This Saturday, the Panthers have a playoff game against
Arvada West at noon. It won’t stop them from taking a caravan of coaches over
to Boulder following their high school game to see Borghi play the Buffaloes.
Madden and his crew hope to make it there by the second quarter of the WSU-CU
game.
“Every coach is going to be there if we can get there. So
that’s 15 right there,” Madden said. “My whole family’s going to be there, so
that’s five more. We’re excited to see him and he hopes to tear it.”
Borghi’s estimation of a few-hundred? Maybe it isn’t so much
of an exaggeration. Nor is his legend in the state of Colorado.
Pursuing Borghi
Borghi’s first college offer came from Central Michigan.
Then the Colorado schools jumped on board – first Colorado State, then CU. By
his senior year, the Pomona tailback was flush with options.
He’d eyeballed Colorado at a fairly young age – not a
surprise given his little league coach played there and his midget team was
named the Buffaloes. Borghi attended Colorado’s junior days and Marquez’s
access to the CU facilities allowed the running back to train there from time
to time.
“That whole Buffs connection was in his head since he was a
little kid,” Steve Borghi said. “He got what he wanted, that long term goal was
to be on that team.”
Max pledged to CU and Mike MacIntyre on Feb. 17, 2017. But
the Buffaloes tapered their recruiting efforts after that. Understanding that a
verbal commitment isn’t a binding agreement, most schools continue to pelt
their commits with mail and phone calls. Curiously, CU didn’t follow through on
that front when it came to Borghi.
“They stopped paying attention to Max and you’ve got to
spoil these guys,” Marquez said. “Mike Leach was calling him every day.”
It may not have been the sole reason for Borghi’s
decommitment, but the running back rewarded the loyalty shown by Leach and
primary WSU recruiter Jim Mastro when he committed to the Cougars on June 30.
“I thought Max was a heck of a player, always have,”
MacIntyre said earlier this week. “We offered him really early, he was
committed to us and then he changed his mind. That happens in the recruiting
world. I’m so happy his knee is completely healthy and he’s able to go.
“I knew wherever he went he’d be a good football player. I
was hoping he’d come here, but he decided not to. He’s a good football player
and he’s a really good kid.”
Still, even with a verbal commitment to WSU, Borghi had a
choice to make as Signing Day neared. Stanford came in with heavy interest late
in the recruiting process and the opportunity to play at the school where his
idol and mentor, McCaffrey, had starred at was plenty alluring.
Borghi didn’t give any hints as to which Pac-12 North school
he was leaning toward – not even to his parents, who were told their son wanted
to make his decision a surprise. So, two days after the Early Signing Period
commenced, Borghi decorated a dining room table and dresser at his Arvada home
with a WSU flag and a few-dozen letters he’d received from the Cougars.
“He wouldn’t tell us at all,” Julie said.
Later that day after inking his letter of intent with WSU,
Borghi told The Spokesman-Review: “I woke up and I knew I was ready to sign.”
Sensational start
Mastro’s no longer with the Cougars. In January, about a
month after he’d secured Borghi’s signature, the longtime WSU running backs
coach left for the same position at Oregon.
But he was prophetic when it came to WSU’s prized running
back recruit: “Weirder things have happened but I’d say there’s a zero percent
chance he redshirts next year,” Mastro told the S-R in December. “He’s too
talented, too physically gifted and he’s going to have spring ball under his
belt, so that’s huge.”
Borghi enrolled early at WSU – an idea that former Pomona
teammate and current CU offensive lineman Jake Moretti planted in his head –
and quickly rose up the Cougars’ running back depth chart.
He had a few head-turning runs during spring camp and was
frequently shedding tackles from his older teammates on the other side of the
ball. It didn’t take Leach and his staff long into fall camp to decide Borghi
would become part of the running back rotation, alongside junior James
Williams.
“Looked promising right away in fall camp, right away,”
Leach said. “He had consistency and was very coachable to the point where you
tell him something once and he pretty well takes care of it. I would say about
halfway through camp, we knew he was going to start.”
“I don’t know where his ceiling is at because we’re kind of
in the business of not having ceilings. I think he’ll continue to get better
and better.”
If it’s any indication of what he’ll pull off this weekend
against the Buffaloes, Borghi’s already excelled in the games that mean the
most to him.
Against Oregon and Mastro, he was able to squeeze out 91
yards on 17 offensive touches and caught one touchdown pass. The next week at
Stanford, the school he could’ve wound up playing for, Borghi hauled in another
TD.
In Pomona, Colorado, they’re calling it a good start.
“I don’t think there’s anything Max can’t do. I really don’t,”
Madden said. “I’m telling you, he has nine touchdowns but he’s just scratched
the surface. He’s going to strt using that power, but he’s also going to start
making people miss. And when he starts doing that, it’s going to get kind of
scary.”
Said Steve Borghi: “It’s kind of like if you dangle a carrot
in front of him, he’ll go after it. … For sure he wants to win the Heisman.”
:::::::
Pac-12 notes: Utah breaking in new QB
Utes in contention for their first Pac-12 South division
title
By Brian Howell BuffZone.com
Posted: 11/08/2018
03:45:02 PM MST
Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham has never really
been one to look too far ahead, so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear what he
had to say about the crazy race for the Pac-12 South title.
"We are just focused on Oregon this week," he said
during his weekly press conference with Utah media on Monday. "I guess
there are dozens of possible scenarios of what could happen, so why waste your
time with it? We just know that our task is to try and get a win this week and
let the chips fall where they may."
While the South title is a goal for the Utes (6-3, 4-3
Pac-12), who have never won it, Whittingham has a more pressing concern this
week. As his team prepares to host Oregon (6-3, 3-3), he's getting a new
quarterback ready.
Redshirt freshman Jason Shelley will get his first career
start on Saturday, after junior Tyler Huntley broke his collarbone in a 38-20
loss to Arizona State last weekend.
Shelley has played sparingly this season, completing six of
14 passes for 99 yards and an interception.
"First of all, the team has to rally around him and
embrace him," Whittingham said. "It is not just about the
quarterback; everyone around him has to be better. The defense has to be better
and everyone has to do their part in picking up the slack. Losing Tyler, he was
a heck of a player, so we have to make sure Jason knows we have complete
confidence in him and I believe he does."
Huntley, in his second season as the starter, was playing
extremely well, especially during a recent four-game winning streak. Now, the
Utes will lean on Shelley.
"He has a very calm demeanor about him,"
Whittingham said. "Nothing really gets him flustered, he is cool under
pressure. He ran this type of offense in high school very efficiently and did a
great job. This is his element, the spread offense. We are excited to see what
he can do. We will have a full week of getting him the No. 1 reps and see what
happens."
Whittingham added that, depending on Utah's bowl schedule,
there is a chance Huntley could play in the postseason.
As for the Oregon at Utah matchup, that might be the most
intriguing game in the conference this weekend.
Utah has lost its grip on the top of the South, but can
certainly still win it by playing well down the stretch — and that starts
Saturday. Utah's final two conference games are against the Ducks and at
Colorado (5-4, 2-4).
Oregon, which is 4-1 against the Utes since 2013, needs a
lot of help to win the North, but is still one of the top teams in that
division.
Wacky South
How crazy is the South division? With three weeks to play,
last-place UCLA (2-7, 2-4), which started 0-5, is not mathematically out of the
race.
OK, so it would take the miracle of miracles to get them
there, but in this conference, it's probably not wise to count them out just
yet.
The team with the clearest path is Arizona State. The Sun
Devils (5-4, 3-3) are the only team that doesn't need any help to win the
South. Win their last three games — vs. UCLA, at Oregon and at Arizona — and
they take the division.
USC (5-4, 4-3), of course, still has a shot and may have the
easiest remaining schedule. They've got California (5-4, 2-4) and UCLA in their
last two Pac-12 games and don't leave Los Angeles the rest of the regular
season.
Arizona (5-5, 4-3) put itself in position for run by winning
its last two, but has to play at Washington State and home against ASU in its
final two games.
Colorado is also alive, but has to win its last three and
get a lot of help along the way.
Notable
Since a 37-7 loss to UCLA on Oct. 13, Cal has allowed just
36 points in its last three games combined. The Bears are 2-1 in those games,
with the loss coming in the final minute at Washington State. ... ASU's N'Keal
Harry has at least one catch in each of his 34 career games. ... Stanford (5-4,
3-3) is just 1-4 in its last five games. In the last 10 seasons, the Cardinal
have gone this deep into a season still seeking bowl eligibility just once, in
2014.
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