Friday, November 9, 2018

News for CougGroup 11/9/2018


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.

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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.                                



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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.

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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.

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#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.

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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.

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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.”

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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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