The Ralphie Report sat down with the SB Nation Utah Utes blog, Block U, for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game. It wasn't easy because we have been raised since birth to hate each other, but somehow we were able to put our disdain for the other's schools aside for a moment. 

You can check out my answers to their questions here.

 Hate week. Rivalry week. Tradition. History. It's the one week each year where we... what's that? We're not actually rivals? Well then, since conference realignment has brought us together I guess we will have to do the best we can. How do most Utah fans feel about Colorado?

 I think most Ute fans are indifferent toward Colorado. That might sound more harsh than it actually is. They just don't see it as a rivalry and the fact your team isn't really contending for the Pac-12 South right now makes it that much easier to ignore what they've done this season. But boy if you win Friday, coupled with Cal knocking off ASU and USC beating UCLA, we'll be mighty pissed and that definitely could spark some true hatred!

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the SB Nation UCLA Bruins blog, Bruins Nation for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game. You may not know it, but Bruins Nation was the first non-baseball site on the SB Nation network way back when (knowing that won me a free copy of NCAA '12 at the SB Nation conference in August). Thanks to Greg for answering our questions. He has been on the site all week so make sure and say hello.

 This season has been up and down for the Bruins, with a blowout loss to Arizona being followed up by two wins to put the Bruins back into the hunt for a South Division championship. How do most UCLA fans feel about the year so far? Disappointed or about what was expected?

 While the W-L record may be only a game or two worse than what some expected, they way the Bruins have played has been a huge disappointment. We expected this was the year that the staff and talent would finally put things together. We thought wrong. The offensive play calling has been predictable and conservative. The defense is poor in fundamentals like tackling and pursuit angles, and the scheme has been soft and doesn't make obvious adjustments. There are too many silly undisciplined penalties (10 in the first half against Utah last week). The use of personnel has been questionable, with more talented younger players sitting on the bench behind older players. Our wins include squeakers over San Jose St and WSU and OSU, while the losses have included blowouts against Texas, Stanford, Utah, and the debacle against Arizona. Given that this is Neuheisel's 4th year, and with the talent that has come to Westwood in the last 3 years, we had reason to expect a better record than we have. Had we beaten Houston and Arizona, we would be 7-3 and this team would be viewed quite differently, but the performance of the team and coaching staff has been a far bigger disappointment than the record would suggest.

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the SB Nation Arizona Wildcats blog, Arizona Desert Swarm for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game. Thanks to Kevin for answering our questions. 

 Let's get the Stoops stuff out of the way first. What was the general reaction from fans and students when he was let go?

 People generally felt it was long overdue. There have been critics throughout his entire tenure at Arizona, and of course not having a FBS win in nearly 365 days won't do anything to shut them up. Tucson is an odd place, though. Stoops took the Wildcats out of the dump and had them nearly in Rose Bowl contention. It wasn't that long ago that they were playing Oregon on ESPN GameDay for the Rose Bowl. So it's just weird how quickly attitudes changes. The local newspaper definitely wrote a lot about he wasn't involved in the community, so that had a lot to do with it. That won't make boosters like you, obviously.

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the USC site Neon Tommy (part of the school of journalism) for a little Q&A session leading up to tonight's game. Bob and I have been so busy this week that we weren't able to ask them any questions (although some may be coming over later from Conquest Chronicles) but I thought you may be interested in our responses to their questions.

You can check out the full story here. Note that they incorrectly credited my on the answers, that was all Bob. 

NT: After last week's blowout loss to Arizona State, Colorado coach Jon Embree was very vocal about his frustrations with the Buffaloes, complaining that some of his players are too comfortable with losing. What effect has Embree's words had on the team leading up to Colorado's meeting with USC?

 He has been mentioning this sort of thing throughout the year whether it is comments about the lack of good players on the current CU roster or the overall lack of respect for the program within the team. This is a guy who cut players in the offseason because of these frustrations. Bottom line, words are words and the Buffs don't have the talent on any level to compete with the rest of the Pac-12 especially on the speed side of things. Factoring in that the Buffs have a ton of injuries right now, many are ready to turn the page on this season and hope that Embree can bring in the talent needed to compete.

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the SB Nation Arizona St. Sun Devils blog, House of Sparky for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game. Thanks to Cory and Nikil for answering our questions. 

You can check out our answers to their questions here.

 Prior to the season Arizona State was a rather overwhelming favorite to win the Pac-12 South. Things have gone relatively according to plan with losses to Illinois and Oregon and the inside track on the division. How do Sun Devil fans feel about the season so far and what are their expectations for the rest of the year?

 ASU fans feel pretty good at this point, though the Oregon loss did leave a nasty taste heading into the bye week. ASU fans believe that this team has the potential to run the table from here on out but also realize that recent ASU teams have been very mistake-prone. If the Sun Devils come out focused and disciplined out of the bye week, they should be able to pick up plenty of wins and finish off a solid season. Fans are expecting a Pac-12 South title.

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Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

This week we had a guest "discusser" join us, so say hello to Zach Bell (yes, he is Bob's brother). We're trying to convince him to help us with some of our basketball coverage this year so make sure and tell him how great his responses are (which they actually are). 

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) Illinois was able to beat this Arizona State this season by sending a ton of pressure at Brock Osweiler and generating six sacks and two interceptions in a low scoring affair. With both Rodney Stewart and Paul Richardson (most likely) out on Saturday, is this a game plan that Buffaloes defense could emulate?

Zach: I don't think it is a plan they could emulate but the Buffs don't have much of a choice. With a decimated secondary, if they allow Osweiler to stand back in the pocket, he is going to have a career day. The Buffs are going to need to bring some pressure on Osweiler who is still prone to making mistakes. The second part of the Illinois game is the important part: low scoring. If Colorado continues with their trend of slow starts on offense and can't get the running game going, this matchup could turn as ugly as the Washington game. If the Buffs can sustain some drives and make some plays, there is hope.

Ash: Not only 'could', but 'must.' We've gotta bring the big guy down and then turn around and play keep-away to prevent over-exposure to their offense.

David: Yes, in that I believe they'll try to put as much pressure on Osweiler as possble, but no, because we don't have quite the individual talent up front that Illinois possesses. But if we can get that pressure from blitzes, then I think we'll do okay.

Jon: With a healthy defense I think this could be doable, but I'm not sure the Buffs will be able to get enough pressure on Osweiler to make it happen. The secondary would have to be great in coverage to give our pass rushers enough time.

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the SBNation Oregon blog, Addicted To Quack (they also joined our podcast for the week) for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game.

 What went wrong for the Oregon offense in the National Championship game against Auburn and the week 1 game against LSU and do you feel like Chip Kelly has made progress correcting those mistakes for the next time the Ducks see a team that talented (Stanford?)?

The biggest mistakes against LSU were just youth. The young offensive line got pushed around by a bigger LSU defensive line, and DeAnthony Thomas was a true frosh playing in his first game and fumbled the ball twice deep in his own territory. Despite giving up 40 points, the defense actually played pretty well (LSU only drove the field once, the rest of their drives started in Oregon territory). I think experience has corrected a lot of those mistakes, and I think Oregon is more talented top to bottom than Stanford.

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The Ralphie Report sat down with the great SBNation Washington blog, UW Dawg Pound for a little Q&A session leading up to tomorrow's game.

Check out our answers to their questions (and there were a lot) here.

 After five games, is this where you expected Washington to be?

 I think we are exactly where I thought we would be. It would be nice to be 5-0 but coming out of Lincoln, Nebraska with a win isn't easy to do. The one surprise is we expected the defense to take the lead this season and that hasn't exactly happened. The performance of the offense offense...in particular the passing game has been a pleasant surprise.

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