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Pacific-10 Conference news everywhere. Coaches are starting to realize what the heck is going on in their camps as the second week reaches the midway point:

ARIZONA: Not much of a quarterback battle anymore. Wildcats will go with Scott until further notice.

ARIZONA STATE: Three forced turnovers later, Nixon gets Pac-10's first defensive player of the week honors.

CALIFORNIA: The Bears say they've looked at the film on Eastern Washington, and drawn one conclusion – the Eages are not "crummy."

OREGON: The famous "Punch" in Boise has the Ducks shuffling personnel to add to depth at running back.

OREGON STATE: The Beavers think more playing time is coming for Moevao in the second week of the season.

STANFORD: Cardinal's victory has a price. The team loses one of its starting offensive tackles for up to two months with a broken foot.

UCLA: Former USC assistant now at Tennessee has stirred up emotions this week by dissing the Bruins before the teams' matchup.

USC: Barkley, to Ohio State, on "The Horseshoe – site of this week's top-10 showdown with the Buckeyes. "Bring it on," he said.

WASHINGTON STATE: Coach Paul Wulff told me at the Pac-10 media day that the "weeding-out" process is taking longer than maybe the entire Palouse population thought, and it is still ongoing with the dismissal of receiver Kevin Norrell after his DUI arrest. Wulff said he anticipated two full years – into 2010 spring ball – and that those players not fully on board would be out.

Editor's note: Don Ruiz filled in for me at today's practice – in time for true freshman and other newcomers to be allowed by UW coach Steve Sarkisian to talk to the media. He filed a story on receiver James Johnson. Here are some interesting tidbits:

Did you know the talk of the Husky receiving corps, the 18-year-old who got 20 more snaps in the first game against No. 11 Louisiana State (which did not move up in the top-25 poll this week) – the weapon who has created more buzz in Montlake than any first-year player – has 13 brothers and sisters?

"Eight brothers, five girls, and everybody kind of went their own way," Johnson told a large contingent of media after practice.

Johnson lived in dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles – until his mother moved him down to San Diego to live with his oldest brother, Greg Taylor. Taylor is now Johnson's legal guardian.

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Not much happened in the hour-long workout the Washington Huskies held in the indoor Dempsey Center – the first of its kind since the preseason and regular season began.

With coach Steve Sarkisian stating earlier Monday that a secondary shake-up was underway, particularly at safety, four guys shuffled in and out with the first-string unit – Nate Williams (who can start at both), Greg Walker (who did not play in the fourth quarter Saturday), Victor Aiyewa (the biggest impact defensive back Saturday as a reserve) and Justin Glenn (moved from cornerback).

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Predictably, coach Steve Sarkisian was still pretty wound up late Saturday night, after his Huskies dropped a close 31-23 decision to No. 11 Louisiana State, and into early Sunday morning.

And, like coaches tend to do, Sarkisian went over the game's critical plays. And he didn't have to just in his head – he went home and watched a replay of it.

"A lot of energy and emotion goes into a ballgame, and there is a tremendous natural high about competing at that level and the energy from the stadium and I didn't want to go to sleep," Sarkisian said.

What time did he finally settle into bed?

"4:30," he answered. "My wife woke me up the next morning because we had family in town and the kids were up. We'll catch up with sleep in the next week or so."

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A template is finally in the books. Opponents now have an official scouting report on the Washington Huskies football team under new coach Steve Sarkisian.

Plan on giving our insight about what unfolded in 60 minutes, a few grades. But first, one journalistic explanation about late deadlines.

A 7:38 p.m. start might be fan-friendly, but is no ally to the deadlines. On Saturday, four reporters were in the press box to write two pages worth of content – with 90 percent of it quote-less. In fact, three of the stories were filed before the game ended right before 11 p.m.

As far as the game story, in last night's situation, I know going that in a nationally-televised game on ESPN, the best-case scenario for an ending is what happened – 11 p.m. Consequently, I had been writing a running account of the game, with a few minutes to polish it up before sending it at a strict deadline of 11:15 p.m.

Two TNT reporters were on the field at the end of the game, with hopes of grabbing a player/coach quote for the main bar. Nobody was talking, but Don Ruiz fetched a quote from UW athletic director Scott Woodward, which was the best we could get (and I'm not complaining … Woodward is a pretty accommodating guy).

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Except for the University of Washington's close game against No. 11, not much suspense in any of the other Pacific-10 Conference games Saturday:

ARIZONA: A whole lot happened in Tucson – debuts, lightning delays and missed opportunities in the red zone – as the Wildcats trim Central Michigan.

ARIZONA STATE: Nixon has a night defensive backs only dream of in season-opening drubbing of Idaho State in Tempe.

CALIFORNIA: It takes just one 73-yard scoring jaunt by Best, and the rest of it falls into place for the Bears against Maryland.

OREGON STATE: It was a Rodgers' sibling field day for the Beavers against punchless Portland State on Saturday.

STANFORD: All the stars produced, and Luck's debut was nothing short of sterling as the Cardinal routed WSU on the road.

UCLA: Offense hogs the spotlight – and playing time – in Bruins' easy triumph over San Diego State at The Rose Bowl.

USC: The Trojans offense is more than Barkley and McKnight. A forgotten weapon re-emerged for USC in the wallop of San Jose State.

WASHINGTON STATE: Personally, I wouldn't recommend any Cougars news except from my man at the Spokesman-Review – Vince Grippi – and his first glance states WSU has made progress from last season, even after a 39-13 loss to Stanford in Pullman. FYI . . . by season's end, people are going to realize the Cardinal is pretty damn good!

This report was filed by The News Tribune's Doug Pacey, who was part of the four-man coverage team Saturday night in the UW's season-opening 31-23 loss to No. 11 Louisiana State:

Coach Steve Sarkisian just finished up his first post-game press conference. The outcome of the game – a 31-23 LSU victory – might have been closer than what many Huskies fans had dared to hope for, but Sarkisian made it clear that wasn’t the priority.

"I’ll say first that there are no moral victories, but I’m very proud of our football team," he said. "They played hard, they played physical, they fought through adversity, they competed until the last second on the clock. That’s all we could have asked for coming into this ball game. I think the initial goal I set earlier in the weeks is that when this game was done, that other football team respected us. I have a feeling they respect the Washington Husky football team."

He was right-on. Washington earned the Tigers’ respect.

"I’ve got to give props to Washington," LSU running back Charles Scott said. "They came out played a hell of a game, they made a stand against us, and they dominated. We just had to fight back, make a few adjustments, and overcome some stuff that we’re not used to seeing."

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Wow, the crowds are large. What was I expecting? Not sure. But a trio of News Tribune reporters - myself, Don Ruiz (men's basketball writer and Doug Pacey – went down to the east-side practice field where food and beer booths, suites and a whole lot of goodness was set up for Husky (and LSU fans, for that matter) to enjoy as a pre-function event.

Former players were parading around as if this was the norm – and it should be. Excitement brimmed over. And UW and LSU fans, alike, behaved.

At 5:45 p.m., another tradition unfolded – the UW team arrived on buses on a side street just east of the Dempsey Center. And as players waited to get off the bus, the began to rock the buses. And when I mean, rock them, I mean swaying you'd see in a Kansas twister.

Coach Steve Sarkisian got off in a three-piece grey-colored suit, bombarded by television cameras (and he wore a tie). Rows outlined the path the players came through on, maybe 5- or 6-deep. And they appreciated the energy. In fact, when quarterback Jake Locker made his way through, he raised his arms and encouraged the volume to be louder.

And in a few minutes, they made their way through a private entrance onto the field at Husky Stadium, where they are now. It's getting closer. …

First this morning, the game-day links. Nothing will totally absorb the "black-eye" moment the Pacific-10 Conference suffered Thursday night on LeGarrette Blount's post-game punch of a Boise State player, but a few rousing performances could help salvage a good first week:

ARIZONA: Somebody has been drinking the Kool-Aid of Wildcats' football. Oh yeah, it's the coach, who thinks his team has no weakness.

ARIZONA STATE: Dennis Erickson might know the best tonic to get the Sun Devils going in 2009 – playing his former neighbor at Idaho State. Erickson used to coach at Idaho.

CALIFORNIA: If the Bears didn't totally believe before, they do now. They think they've reached the same elite level as Pac-10 counterpart USC. A pretty rosy outlook.

OREGON STATE: New Beavers secondary won't be eased into 2009. Portland State will pass, pass and pass, until the final whistle.

STANFORD: Cardinal hopes to end eight-year bowl skid with a little bit of "Luck" – or a whole lot of it with the true freshman quarterback.

UCLA: As many as 10 new players will take to the Bruins lineup to open the season at The Rose Bowl against San Diego State.

USC: San Jose State plans on bringing the heat at Trojans' touted freshman quarterback Matt Barkley.

WASHINGTON STATE: Like every other coach in America this weekend, Paul Wulff has a clean slate – one he hopes to fill with wins and not losses.

From Dennis Dodd, the college football writer from CBS Sports. He takes a well-thought out approach to the LeGarrette Blount situation from Thursday night in Boise, Idaho.

BOISE, Idaho – The person you feel for the most is Mike Bellotti.

With one punch, LeGarrette Blount burned down a lot of what Bellotti had built up in his 20 years at Oregon. The much-loved Ducks' coach-turned-athletic director had to cringe when the player he recruited disgraced himself, the program and perhaps ruined Oregon's season.

The season-long suspension for Blount was the right thing to do, the only thing to do. Blount crossed a line that had rarely, if ever, had been crossed. Blount's actions were so punk, so street that Oregon had to cut its losses. Consequences? Minor compared to the fallout from, say, a three-game suspension.

Better Oregon takes the one-year hit without its best runner and finish 5-7 – which more looks likely now – than suffer fallout from any possible return by Blount.

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Counting down the final hours of first-week preparation, if there were things University of Washington coach Steve Sarkisian wanted to tidy up – like a heavy dosage of special-teams drilling – he did just that Thursday.

And there were plenty of things that sure looked sharp in the final practice before No. 11 Louisiana State rolls into Seattle for the Saturday kickoff at Husky Stadium:

• A day after quarterback Jake Locker pressed, misfired and looked out of whack, the junior from Ferndale came back poised, relaxed and arguably had his best day since preseason started throwing the ball.

Not only did his passes have zip, they had touch and accuracy.

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One Pacific-10 Conference school is in action today (Oregon) while the rest of them are wrapping up practices in preparation for first-week opponents:

Here's what we got for you:

ARIZONA: A patsy in Central Michigan? The Wildcats have struggled against multi-faceted quarterbacks, and this opponent has a good one.

ARIZONA STATE: After weeks of battling for the starting quarterback job, Sullivan is ready to take off in Sun Devils offense.

CALIFORNIA: Bookend defensive ends are different in personalities, but similarly dangerous coming off the edge for the Bears.

OREGON: In Chip We Trust? Only if the Ducks beat Boise State tonight on the road.

OREGON STATE: Backup offensive lineman has departed from the team just days away from the season opener.

STANFORD: Rare that a third-stringer creates such a stir around camp. But see what this player has battled through.

UCLA: Bruins defensive line is rounding into form at the right time.

USC: The usual lofty ambitions still apply, and the Trojans think they are legitimate BCS title contenders.

WASHINGTON STATE: Lots of good tidbits from this post. And the Spokesman-Review alludes to three areas the Cougars need to shore up – mostly for the future. They are team speed, depth and playmaking – all vitals to challenge for a conference title. WSU has little of all three, thus making the Cougars likely the 10th team in the Pac-10 this season.

Senior Harry Coleman is "The Hitman" of the Louisiana State University defense. He comes in at ball-carriers from all angles.

And he can do it from two lines of defense.

Right now, the Franklin, La. native is playing the position he came in to LSU as in 2005 – outside linebacker – under new defensive coordinator John Chavis.

At 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, he's a bit of a tweener, especially in the rough-and-tumble Southeastern Conference. But the Tigers have depth in the secondary, leaving Coleman to do what he does best – roam, stick and finish off plays.

"The switch back has been no problem for me," Coleman said. "I feel like I'm at home playing linebacker."

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We're getting close!! Oregon is in action Thursday night to kick off Pacific-10 Conference games in 2009. Here are articles from up and down the West Coast:

ARIZONA: The Wildcats' best receiving threat might be sidelined this weekend with back issues. He's also the reigning Pac-10 first-team tight end.

ARIZONA STATE: As if the preseason hasn't been rocky enough with injuries and unresolved position battles, the Sun Devils suspended up to six players for team violations, including Taylor, a starting receiver.

CALIFORNIA: Solid Bay Area column about how a Heisman Trophy hopeful running back's offensive line isn't about to get caught up in all the hype that comes with the nation's top award. They'll just block for him.

OREGON: Ducks talk about the lessons learned from last year's close loss to Boise State in Eugene.

OREGON STATE: Interesting defensive end the Beavers have in the fold. He has read-a-thons and likes to lift 300-pound rocks a la strongman-competition. Nice.

STANFORD: Never a bad thing when a team's star has big aspirations, and predicts great things for the Cardinal in 2009.

UCLA: Much of the way Carter instructs the Bruins defense is in the same manner he grew up, hearing a single mom raise a family.

USC: Short on bodies, the Trojans will rotate in a few newcomers at defensive end against San Jose State in their season opener.

WASHINGTON STATE: As usual, thorough in nature, the Spokesman Review rounds up plenty of tidbits from Tuesday workouts. A short summary: James Montgomery, Dwight Tardy and Lo Mitz will rotate in at tailback against Stanford on Saturday … Backup center Andrew Roxas (who has started plenty the past two seasons) has a viral case of hepatitis, and has seen a specialist about it in Los Angeles. … A pair of true freshmen, receiver Gino Simone and defensive lineman Travis Long, will start, and a third, linebacker Darren Markle, will see playing time. For more, read my man, Vince Grippi's post.

Editor's note: I was not at practice Tuesday, instead finishing up some UW season preview work in Tacoma. Ryan Divish, who has staffed some Husky football and basketball games in the past, and is regularly our national baseball writer, spelled me. Here is his report:

• Tight end Kavario Middleton (hamstring) and cornerback Justin Glenn (knee) were back practicing at full speed. Both took part in contact portions of the practice.

Glenn and Desmond Trufant and Adam Long all took turns rotating in with the second-team defense along as Vonzell McDowell and Quinton Richardson took first-offense repetitions.

• Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara (shoulder) was still wearing the red practice jersey.

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Steve Sarkisian came from Southern California, with lots of background and history with one of the elite programs in college football, to the University of Washington where he has no track record as a play-caller.

John Chavis spent more than a decade at Tennessee before moving to Louisiana State last winter in an effort to return the Tigers' defense to prominence.

So, what scouting film does LSU watch this week? USC, of course. And some UW.

And the Huskies? The Vols and LSU.

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