Full Pac-12 podium transcript: Jim Mora, Anthony Barr, Xavier Su’a-Filo

COACH JIM MORA: First of all, thanks to everybody for coming out today. We’re excited to be here and I’m excited to be sitting between these two fine, young men, great student‑athletes, the pillars of our program, both great players, better young men. I think they are great ambassadors for UCLA and college football in general. We’re excited about the direction of our program.

We made some progress last year, and I think these two guys would tell you we’re nowhere close to where we want to be. We have a vision, we’re headed in the right direction but we have challenges we have to overcome this year in order to become the team that we desire to be.

First and foremost in those challenges is we have a very depleted secondary and we’re going to be playing four players back there, or five or six, whatever package we’re in that really haven’t played, ever, at this level. So that will be a challenge. Our schedule is a challenge. This conference that we play in is a challenge, but I think these young men would tell you that being the competitors that they are and we are as a football team we relish those challenges. We can’t wait for those challenges, we embrace ’em and look forward to ’em and we’re going to rise up to ’em. We’re excited to be here, welcome your questions, and thank you.

Q: Coach, as a new coach last season you made some risky moves, maybe because of the fact that you were new. Can we expect similar risky moves in place this season? Continue reading “Full Pac-12 podium transcript: Jim Mora, Anthony Barr, Xavier Su’a-Filo” »

Larry Scott: Pac-12 fans should drop DirecTV

CULVER CITY — Any Pac-12 fans that still have DirecTV should mark the date their contract expires.

Commissioner Larry Scott said at Friday’s Pac-12 Media Day that negotiations for the satellite provider to carry the Pac-12 Network are still at the same “impasse” that existed last year. He made it clear that the conference will not be able to reach an agreement with DirecTV for the upcoming football season, and said he wanted to say so now to allow fans an opportunity to switch.

“I urge our fans that are intent on not missing their team’s games this fall to drop DirecTV and switch to one of the many providers that have it,” Scott said. “All of our coaches and athletic directors that previously had DirecTV have now switched to a provider that has it and they are urging their fans to do the same.” Continue reading “Larry Scott: Pac-12 fans should drop DirecTV” »

UCLA picked to win Pac-12 South

Here are the full results of the Pac-12 preseason media poll, with first-place votes in parentheses. Few surprises down the line, as Oregon was named both the North Division and conference favorite. UCLA was named the South Division favorite, and also receive three votes as the Pac-12 champion.

South Division
1. UCLA (12) … 130
2. Arizona State (9) … 124
3. USC (4) … 113
4. Arizona … 73
5. Utah … 58
6. Colorado … 27

North Division
1. Oregon (14) … 139
2. Stanford (11) … 134
3. Oregon State … 91
4. Washington … 81
5. Cal … 45
6. Washington State … 32

Pac-12 Champion: Oregon (13 votes)
Others: Stanford (8), UCLA (3)