Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal

The big game this weekend takes place in Eugene with Oregon facing Stanford, and Cristobal was asked if he saw any comparisons between the Cardinal and Alabama, where Cristobal spent four years as an assistant to Nick Saban before joining forces with Willie Taggart in Eugene last year (and taking over the program when Taggart left for Florida State). And yes, Cristobal sees comparisons. "They’re known for being physical. They certainly do a great job at the line of scrimmages on both sides of the ball. A lot of discipline. Massive guys. They take a lot of pride in that," he said. "Yeah, there’s a lot of overlap to some of the stuff at my last stop and certainly some of the things we’re implementing now, so a ton of respect to the way they play football.”

Where did Cristobal see the most progress from his team over the course of the Ducks' non-conference schedule? "We got to play a lot of guys, so you get a much more thorough evaluation of your roster. Unlike the NFL, there are no preseason games so we jump right into the season," he said. "We were fortunate to have most of the games in control and be able to play a lot of guys. … It has certainly helped us out a lot on special teams, where we’ve seen some improvement.”

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

Stanford head coach David Shaw

Not much of a surprise here since this was the thought going into the game, but Shaw all but confirmed it on Tuesday – running back Bryce Love will play against Oregon Saturday night after missing last Saturday's win over UC Davis. "Bryce is great. We put him through a workout pregame on Saturday and he was awesome. He was ready to go. He’s fired up for this weekend," Saw said. "That game against USC was a physical game. He took a lot of shots – 22 carries, many of them between the tackles. It was good to let him recover, feel good; he's ready to go."

Shaw gave out some grades for his offensive line through the first quarter of the season. "In pass protection – B to B+, run blocking – B to B-," he said. "The main issue in run blocking is we’ve played against a couple of extreme coordinators that have decided to try to take away the run, so it has opened up the passing game. So we’ve blocked some really difficult looks sometimes better than others, but all in all, I think we’re doing well, I think we’ve gotten better each week, and hopefully we’ll improve this week.”

The Ducks are no strangers to the Cardinal, and Shaw mentioned many ways Oregon can give opponents headaches. "These guys are athletic. Defensively, they are long, they are fast. They are big up front," he said. "Offensively, with the quarterback back, Justin Herbert, who is special – he’s got weapons all around him, but he’s a weapon himself. When nobody’s open, this big, tall, long guy can run. He can get out in space. So you have to defend him as a runner, defend him as a passer, he’s got weapons and he’s as good of a deep ball thrower in college football.”

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

UCLA head coach Chip Kelly

One writer asked for Kelly's response to Dorian Thompson-Robinson's father, who criticized Kelly and staff during the Bruins' 38-14 loss to Fresno State. "I have no response. Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Kelly said. "That is the great thing about sports. When you win, people say good things. When you don’t win, they don’t say good things. That’s life. We all have to play better here. On the offensive side of the ball, we didn’t do a very good job on Saturday. We gotta call better plays. We gotta execute better. We’re all in this together.”

In addition to complimenting Thompson-Robinson after giving his response to the question about Thompson-Robinson's father criticizing him ("Dorian is awesome to coach," he said), Kelly also gave us an update on quarterback Wilton Speight, who started out the year as the team's starter before getting injured in the opener against Cincinnati. "He’s progressing. He’s day-to-day right now. And we’ll see how he is. We’ll be on the field tomorrow, so we’ll see what he can do tomorrow,” Kelly said, while adding that he doesn't know yet if Speight will be good to go for the Bruins' game at Colorado on Sept. 28 (UCLA has a bye this week).

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

Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin

Penalties have been an issue for the Wildcats, increasing in number every game. Despite blowing away Southern Utah 62-31, Arizona was flagged 10 times, up from eight penalties against Houston and four against BYU. "We’ve had that discussion. It’s something that obviously we take very seriously. And it has been addressed," Sumlin said. "It was sloppy play. We play a lot of different people but that’s something that we have to clean up and something that is being addressed in practice.”

Sumlin has seen a lot of progress with his offensive line over the first three games, especially so now that Layth Freikh is back in the mix at left tackle (he was suspended for the first two games). "He's our most experienced lineman," Sumlin said of Freikh. "He brings attidue and experience to a left tackle position that was manned by a true freshman before .. There was obviously some improvement, but getting into conference play, we'd like to take another step this week."

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

Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards

In reviewing the last two games – the win over Michigan State and loss to San Diego State – Edwards has noticed that his team has had troubles in the second and third quarters. "For some reason, we haven't been able to put up enogugh points and we haven't been able to hold them either, so we have to take a long look at why that has happened to us," Edwards said.

Edwards' thoughts on Washington – "They’re a complete football team. They’re very complete. Coach Petersen has done a nice job of building that program. They’re a veteran group; have a lot of players that have played on both sides of the ball. They’re playing at home, which is a tough venue. … We understand that we’re going to have to be at our best. Defensively, they do a nice job of not allowing points. … They have a really good secondary; they’re very athletic.”

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

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox

Wilcox was asked if he thought schools should have a couple of extra scholarships available to deal with mounting injuries. "Everybody has the same number of scholarships; everybody has injury issues to deal with," he said. "There’s a process that everybody goes through when those things happen, but I don’t know if they’ll add scholarships.”

He was also asked if he thought the Pac-12 faced a unique challenge that other Power Five conferences didn't; Wilcox didn't think so. "There are probably challenges in every conference. We have great players and great coaches out here, and I’m sure teams in other conferences would feel the same way," he said.

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

USC head coach Clay Helton

Helton has really been pleased with watching the progress of true freshman quarterback JT Daniels, who skipped his senior year of high school to be a Trojan. "One thing I’ve really enjoyed seeing is seeing the QB progress each week. I love how he walked into a really hostile atmosphere last week – with over 100,000 fans, loud, crazy – and just his demeanor and the way he took charge, I thought was terrific. Especially in the first half, what he was doing on third downs with his accuracy, with getting the ball out, just watching him grow has been a lot of fun," Helton said.

Helton was also effusive in his praise of Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew (the Trojans host Washington State Friday night). "You come into the game thinking, ‘finally, Luke Falk is gone,' and maybe you’re going to catch a break, but Gardner Minshew is just as good," he said. "What I’ve been extremely impressed with is not only is he making great decisions – I mean, he’s completing the ball for 70 percent – but you can tell the confidence that the staff has in him. They’re throwing 58 passes a game right now and the kid is completing 70 percent, 412 yards a game, and you look at it, they’ve attempted almost 180 passes and only had 2 sacks. So the kid is making great decisions and getting the ball out on time and not taking sacks. So he’s a special talent; I know Coach Leach has to be ecstatic to have him on his team.”

What makes it difficult to prepare for Washington State's defense? "They show great burst off the line, that’s one thing that jumps off the tape. They’re doing a great job of tackles for loss and sacks right now with 10 sacks already in three games. You can see their specialty rush guys that come in for them on third downs and do a great job for them," Helton said. "They’ve got not only good scheme but terrific pass rushers that put a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”

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

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham

Whittingham discussed the team's offensive struggles with the media on Tuesday. "We’ve got a few issues going on with our offense right now – too many drops, our throw game, we’re not efficient enough there primarily because of that. We’ve hurt ourselves with some penalties and we’re turning the ball over too much, so we got a lot to keep us busy, but we feel like we’ve got good players on offense, we’ve just got to find our identitiy, get into a rhythm," Whittingham said. "Hopefully we can get some things figured out this week.”

Whittingham was quick to not blame quarterback Tyler Huntley entirely for the team's lack of offensive production. "Tyler Huntley is our guy, and to his defense, we’ve had quite a few balls that have been good throws, thrown where they are supposed to be and just haven’t been able to complete them," he said.

That said, the defense has been on point, and Whittingham discussed his team's ability to limit Washington. "Physically, we can stand toe-to-toe with anybody," he said. "We don’t get pushed around up front, we got a secondary that is very talented, active linebackers. We think we have a chance to be a pretty good defense when it’s all said and done.”

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

Washington, head coach Chris Petersen

Petersen was asked about the growth of star running back Myles Gaskin. "He’s been one of our best players for four years. We learned that quickly about him as a freshman. He played at such a high level even when he was younger," he said. "I think he’s stronger, I think he’s more patient – his vision is better, but it was always good. I just always say that if the guys up front can  just get the play started and keep the guys covered, Myles is always going to get positive yards. He’s very unique in terms of how patient he is, his vision and then the strength that comes with it.”

He was also asked if he had talked with former Husky Vita Vea, first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who has yet to play in a game this year after injuring a calf muscle in the first padded practice of training camp. "I haven't talked to him, and I'm surprised he's not playing by now. There's no question," Petersen said. "I hope it's soon."

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

Washington State, head coach Mike Leach

Leach was asked about what set Gardner Minshew apart from the rest of the quarterbacks in training camp that made him the starter. "I think the team just responded well to him. I thought they all did a good job, but the team responded really well to Gardner and he has a little more experience,” he said.

When asked what stood out to him about USC, the Cougs' next opponent, Leach was quick to mention the Trojans' team speed and called quarterback JT Daniels "a real talented guy."

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

Oregon State, head coach Jonathan Smith

Jermar Jefferson has been a revelation at running back for the Beavs, backing up a 238-yard performance against Souther Utah by ripping off 106 yards on the ground and two touchdowns in the 37-35 loss to Nevada. Smith said he knew in fall camp that Jefferson could be lethal even as a freshman. "We got into some live scrimmages and just even some of the team reps and he had some flashes," he said. "You never totally know – games are different – but even in camp, I could remember thinking like the second or third week thinking, 'Dude, this guy, he’s pretty close to being ready' and as he continued on, I was like, ‘Ok, we gotta play this guy.’”

For now, Smith seems to be pretty pleased with using two quarterbacks in Jake Luton and Conor Blount. Both threw for a touchdown pass and attempted at least 20 passes apiece in the game against Nevada. "I’m not against what we’re doing. I feel good that we have two quarterbacks that we feel like we could move the ball with and we’ve needed both of them," he said. "So the competition in practice, it steps up because they’re knowing that the other guy is getting reps and he could be getting in the game. They do bring a little bit different things to the table, they have some of the same skill sets, so we don’t particularly call different plays but they are a little bit different.”

With the Beavs getting ready to play Arizona, Smith had plenty of good things to say about Khalil Tate. "He’s throwing the ball from the pocket, and I think he’s doing it well," Smith said. "What’s scary about that is he can beat you now spreading the ball, throwing it out on time, and there’s always the factor of him on a pass play pulling it and going and let alone what he can do in the run game.”

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