With officiating controversies in the Pac-12 and elsewhere becoming topical this week, coaches addressed the state of how college football referees are performing, but don't ask Washington State's Mike Leach to talk about it anytime soon. Plus, Stanford and Oregon clash as they hit their stride, while other teams chase bowl eligibility.

Arizona State's Todd Graham

The Pac-12 acknowledged an officiating error from the Arizona State loss to Washington State this weekend, but Graham did not elaborate on whether he approved of the accountability. "I don't worry about things I can't control. My job is to coach and that's what I do. I let them do their job," he said. 

Graham called ASU's fourth-quarter struggles during its three-game skid a "head-scratcher," but the common denominator in the Sun Devils' 4-5 season is the turnover margin. "We've been ahead of all three games," Graham said. "I think we've won 27 games when leading at halftime, and we've lost two the last three weeks. We led in the fourth quarter in the last three of them."

Asked if he would be in favor of a Pac-12 team finishing the season 5-7 and still making a bowl game, Graham admitted that, as a coach, he would accept a bowl bid to allow for extra practice time. But putting on his fan cap, Graham "wouldn't be in favor of that. There's a certain standard you have to keep."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Todd Graham's full session]

Washington State's Mike Leach

Though the Cougars benefited from a "fifth down" that the conference acknowledged was incorrect in a 38-24 win against Arizona State on Saturday, Leach didn't want to get into his thoughts on college football officiating. "As much as I would love to comment on officiating, and I could go on for hours ... I'm not interested in paying the price," Leach said. "If I ever do, I'll put on a heck of a press conference. I'll even include audio-visuals."

Washington State reached bowl eligibility with its win against Arizona State. "It's important to get the extra practices and it's exciting to play another game," Leach said.

Leach believes there are many reasons recruits from California – WSU plays at UCLA this week – or elsewhere would want to play in the Palouse. "We have the best facilities in the conference so I think a lot of them have interest in coming up here," the Cougs coach said.

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Mike Leach's full session]

UCLA's Jim Mora

Mora discussed how his ideas have meshed so well with defensive coordinator Tom Bradley's. "It's really fun and it kind of starts the first day you get together," Mora said. "You do a lot of similar things that are called differently. When we talk, there is familiarity in what we're talking about, having a feel for what's worked in the past and how that can fit the current players on or roster."

Discussions with UCLA players about their decisions to enter the NFL Draft early depend on the player involved. Mora's goal is to be "honest as I can with those guys. Ultimately, it's their decision, their family's decision. I think it's important to be honest with them and take out the bias (as a coach wanting players to return)," he said.

On quarterback Josh Rosen's ability to read plays and see concepts: "What's remarkable about him is he can come off the field after a series and can tell you exactly what went on."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Jim Mora's full session]

Stanford's David Shaw

What's the deal with the surging Ducks that visit The Farm this week? "I think the big thing is they've gotten back healthy. Quarterback's gotten healthy," Shaw said of Oregon's Vernon Adams Jr. "Some people forget, he was pretty much a national story before he got to Oregon. He's back to doing those things that caught everybody's eye. Think they're healthy at the skill positions now, getting Devon Allen back on the field – all their receivers, runners."

Shaw isn't afraid to let you in on a secret regarding one of his trick plays. Running back Christian McCaffrey's touchdown pass to Austin Hooper in a 42-10 win against Colorado last weekend came as the Buffs loaded the box...too much. "It's been in the offense probably for a year. It was a premier opportunity, we were trying to put a team away, against a team that was really loading the box," Shaw said.

.@CMccaffrey5 28-yard touchdown PASS to Austin Hooper. He can do it all! #GoStanford #BeatCU pic.twitter.com/9VvhtGAWJ1

— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) November 7, 2015

While officiating mistakes across the country and in the Pac-12 have been storylines of late, Shaw believes that referees aren't any better or worse than they've been. He said leagues have held their officials more accountable, and that's a good thing. "I think all the leagues have worked every single year to improve their training, to improve their personnel. I feel like in our conference it's gotten better," he said. "I seriously doubt that it's worse now than it has before. Now as you see the conference holding the officials accountable, it looks bad."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of David Shaw's full session]

Oregon's Mark Helfrich

Another year, another Stanford-Oregon showdown that should be quite compelling. The Cardinal defense looks pretty textbook compared to past years. "It's just simply their production, how they've limited people points-wise. They're really versatile," Helfrich said. "They always play a ton of coverages really well. They tackle really well. Kind of a rinse-repeat kind of thing when you look at them, just different names on their jerseys."

Helfrich is tired of playing against Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan. "He can go any time as far as we're concerned," the Oregon coach said. "He and (running back Christian) McCaffrey and their front have done so many good things in so many different ways. The element of run-pass is alive and well."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Mark Helfrich's full session]

Washington's Chris Petersen

Washington fell to Utah, 34-23, this past week and heads to ASU with a 4-5 record. Is bowl eligibility on the mind? "I haven't even paid attention to it. I really haven't," Petersen said.

The Huskies' defense has been steady and strong all year, while the offense has taken steps forward. "But I think everybody's frustrated because they're working so hard," Petersen said of the losses. "They are playing hard and they have gotten better. If you can stick to that process, eventually you're going to get some more wins."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Chris Petersen's full session]

Arizona's Rich Rodriguez

A 38-30 loss to USC dropped Arizona to 5-5 on the season, and Rodriguez said the first thing that's bit the Wildcats – after the injury bug – has been a lack of execution. "It's been execution at key times," he said. "I've said for a couple years now, we're not deep enough or talented enough to play poor and win. We played well at times but we didn't play well enough in the fourth quarter."

This week's matchup against Utah makes things no easier. The Wildcats, who have struggled defensively at times this season, will need multiple bodies to defend Utes running back Devontae Booker. "We better get more people to the ball than one guy. He's such a talented guy and he's a big guy. We have to be aggressive in our tackling," Rodriguez said.

It doesn't sound like Arizona's Scooby Wright is thinking about his career beyond this season. At this point, Rodriguez said the star linebacker, who is out with a foot injury, is focusing on rehabbing. He'll look at his NFL intentions following this season. "I talked to him this morning, saw him in the weight room," Rodriguez said. "As I told him, whenever the training staff and you feel (healthy) .... you'll let the coaches know. He's not there yet."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Rich Rodriguez's full session]

Utah's Kyle Whittingham

Utah is focused on winning the Pac-12 South. At 8-1 on the year, the Utes head to Arizona hoping to keep rolling toward a potential Pac-12 Football Championship Game invite and, potentially, a College Football Playoff berth. The latter is not guaranteed, however. " I don't think there's any guarantee there, but I think if we take care of our business, we've got a good shot," Whittingham said.

The Wildcats beat the Utes in the past three meetings, making Arizona's down season hardly a reason for Utah to feel optimistic. In fact, they're using the losing skid to Rich Rodriguez's team as motivation. "They've kicked our butt the last three years. We've had no answer for the run game," Whittingham said. "If there's an elephant in the room, address it."

Whittingham sees the allowance of more practice time for bowl eligible teams as a practice that hurts college football. Good teams get more time to improve while bad ones aren't permitted to do the same. "It's almost the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," he said.

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Kyle Whittingham's full session]

Oregon State's Gary Andersen

Oregon State found itself on the bad end of a 41-0 loss to UCLA this past week and turns around to face a desperate California team on Saturday. "I don't think they lost any fight, I think they competed like crazy," Andersen said of the Beavers' loss to the Bruins. "It was our own execution that got in the way, especially on the offensive side of the football. If you can't score points in this league, you'll never be in a good spot to do anything good.

Andersen said his players signed up for a season where they expected to find some challenges. "It's a tough life lesson. I think it's important we challenge them in these moments," he said. "They signed up to play for these seniors."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Gary Andersen's full session]

Colorado's Mike MacIntyre

MacIntyre said Colorado must improve on third downs and in the red zone. What he's looking for can be described as looking for his Buffs to "make a play," he said.

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Mike MacIntyre's full session]

Cal's Sonny Dykes

Has Dykes been using positivity or acted as a disciplinarian as the Golden Bears have dropped four games in a row following a 5-0 start? "You've got to have perspective, and perspective for us is we've lost to four teams that I think have been in the top-8 at some point in the season," he said.

A week after Cal fell, 44-28, to Oregon, Dykes said Ducks running back Royce Freeman, who went for 180 rushing yards, is right there with all the Pac-12's best backs. "This league has really good running backs. He's a lot like all the guys in the league," Dykes said.

Dykes, on how conferences should handle officiating errors: "Number one, I think they have a really difficult job. We get held to a very high level of accountability ... You want them to be held to that same standard."

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Sonny Dykes' full session]

USC's Clay Helton

Helton praised the Pac-12 officials he's dealt with so far this season, adding that there's been little controversy. "We've been very fortunate," he said.

[Right click and "Save Link As" to download audio of Clay Helton's full session]