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          Pac-12 Blog

          Pac-12 morning links

          • Kevin Gemmell, ESPN Staff WriterAug 27, 2014, 08:00 AM ET
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            • Pac-12 reporter
            • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
            • Graduate of the Santa Clara University
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          Well, I'm not crazy about the plutonium or nicotine, but it is very nice to see Bart eating his vegetables.

          Leading off

          If the first day of Week 1 is any indication of how the season will go, it's going to be an odd season.

          The big story in the Pac-12, well, the country, was the peculiar circumstances surrounding USC cornerback Josh Shaw. News broke early in the day that the story of how he originally injured his ankles -- leaping from a balcony and rescuing his nephew from a pool -- might be exaggerated, or possibly fabricated.

          Here are some of the latest stories (as of late Tuesday night).

          The story was fantastical when it was true. If it's false, it's even more bizarre. Plenty of hearsay and conjecture still floating around for anyone to put all of the pieces together yet. Be sure to follow ESPNLA's Arash Markazi for the latest.

          More predictions

          Yesterday was also prediction day. The Pac-12 blog came out with 10 bold predictions for the conference (I did three of them, if you can guess which three, I'll give you a "you're awesome" shout out on Twitter), and Fox Sports had its own set of predictions for college football -- three of their 10 involved the Pac-12 in one form or another.

          One of them is that Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday will attempt 100 passes in a game. It's bold, but it might not be that crazy. Recall last year he hit 89 pass attempts against Oregon. Last year the Cougars averaged 58.1 pass attempts per game -- so take that for what it's worth.

          However, Halliday does own most of the school's single-game pass attempt records. (Here's a little something I pulled from the WSU media guide).

          • 89 Connor Halliday Oregon 10/19/13

          • 67 Connor Halliday California 10/5/13

          • 66 Drew Bledsoe Montana 9/5/92

          • 65 Connor Halliday Auburn 8/31/13

          • 62 Connor Halliday Utah 11/23/13

          • 60 Connor Halliday Colorado 9/22/12

          • 60 Connor Halliday Oregon 9/29/12

          • 59 Alex Brink Oregon State 10/28/05

          • 59 Jeff Tuel Stanford 10/27/12

          • 59 Connor Halliday Washington 10/29/13

          Thoughts? Does he get to 100? I know CougarBrian will be anxious to weigh in.

          Going, going, gone

          Of all the preseason teams you'd like to see your favorite players on, this is not one of them. Athlon released its "All Gone" team, which picks the best players by position who are gone for the year.

          Three Pac-12 players made the list. Proceed with caution ... and possibly some tissues if you're the emotional type.

          Best of the best

          NFL.com released its top 20 players in college football, and six from the Pac-12 are on the list (a much better list than the previous one).

          It's the usual suspects:

          As always, take lists with the grainy salt in which they are intended. I've seen plenty that have Hundley as a top 10 or top five player. Others have Mariota at No. 1. The good news is games start this week, and we can start putting some production to the lists.

          News/notes/practice reports

          Just for fun

          An Oregon season hype video. I love these.

          Click here, and productivity across the state of Oregon will instantly drop by 96 percent.

          As the Huskies prepare for their season opener at Hawaii, the Pac-12 blog has no qualms saying it is officially jealous of Seattle Times writer Adam Jude. Cheers.