Good news for Bruins fans this week: Inside College Football’s Randy Cross and Rick Neuheisel chose the Bruins to beat USC at the Rose Bowl this Saturday as their upset picks this week.
Both Cross and Neuheisel might own biased opinions, however, considering that they’re both UCLA legends who beat USC in their time with the Bruins.
Neuheisel served as quarterback for UCLA in the 1983 season, beating USC to help win the PAC-10 championship and advance to the Rose Bowl where UCLA defeated Illinois 45-9. Neuhesiel returned to Brentwood in 2008 as the Bruins’ head coach, where he had a 21-28 record before being fired in 2011.
Cross is a UCLA Hall of Famer who was named an All-American offensive guard with the Bruins back in 1975 while helping UCLA defeat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
Cross spent 13 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, winning three Super Bowls and earning three Pro Bowl nods on the offensive line protecting NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.
“I am going to take the Bruins over USC.” Cross said while in a crown on a throne after his show-best 5-3 prediction record in Week 12.
On the show, Neuheisel is tied for second with a 60-36 record while Cross is in last place with a 56-40 mark on the year.
“I’m going to double down on U-C-L-A.” Neuheisel said.
The Bruins are listed as +4.5 point underdogs to the Trojans for Saturday night’s game that kicks off at 7:30p.m.
The course has a restriction on it requiring it to operate as a golf course that expires in January 2025.
TEMPE, Ariz. — A neighborhood golf course is closing next year and is slated to be redeveloped into housing, but residents are frustrated at the prospect of losing the course and adding density to their area.
Shalimar Golf Club, a nine-hole course that first opened in 1961, is under contract to be sold to BB Living, a Scottsdale-based rental home developer.
Branden Lombardi, president of BB Living, said the course had been for sale for years, with the hopes that another golf operator would purchase it. But when no one did, the course’s owners, Jane and Dick Neuheisel, who bought the course in 1984, approached his company to buy and redevelop it. The Neuheisel’s son, Rick, played at nearby McClintock High School and later led the UCLA Bruins to the 1984 Rose Bowl title.
“If no one else is ready to step in and operate it as a golf course, there is a reason for that,” Lombardi said.
The course has a restriction on it requiring it to operate as a golf course that expires in January 2025. After that, Lombardi said the owners plan to operate it through the remainder of golfing season and close it before summer.
Neighbors seek to preserve course, community gathering space
But neighbors said they want to do everything they can to prevent redevelopment of the course, which has also served as a community gathering space for years.
“I’m a frequenter of the golf course and participated in many events there, celebrations, birthday parties,” Carl Streiff, president of the Shalimar Association, said.
Shalimar Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona, is slated to close at the end of 2025. (The Arizona Republic)
Streiff said the golf course was a draw for people who bought homes in the nearby community and is an amenity to all of Tempe. The course is open to the public to play.
“What we don’t want to see is higher density development that will wipe out our uniqueness, any special trace of the neighborhood,” he said.
Ideally, he said, the community would like some kind of solution that could involve the city partnering with a private business to keep the course open.
“We would like to come up with a way to keep the course,” he said. “What I don’t want to see is things getting nasty, people making accusations. We have a lot of smart people, if we can truly explore what are the options, I’d rather spend time finding a solution than fighting a rezoning.”
Streiff and many of his neighbors have written to the city and spoken during public comment periods at council meetings opposing the rezoning. Neighbors cited the loss of green space, the opportunity for community gatherings, and the outdoor activities that the course provides as reasons they are passionate about its preservation.
“Rezoning and losing the golf course would have a dramatic and negative impact on the neighborhood, adjacent neighborhoods, businesses, the city of Tempe, and the lifestyle that so many enjoy in this historic gem of north Tempe,” Helena Tselos, a resident of the area, wrote in an email to city leaders. “Destroying an iconic piece of Tempe green space in favor of a housing development is not in the best interest of the greater community.”
However, the proposal has not yet been before the City Council for any action.
Developer added for-sale homes to plans
BB Living has not made a formal submittal to the city for rezoning the property yet but has conducted meetings with the neighbors to discuss the project, Lombardi said.
The first proposed plan included almost 400 rental homes and no for-sale product. After hearing concerns from the neighbors about density and no for-sale homes included, BB Living adjusted the plans and partnered with Cachet Homes, a Scottsdale-based luxury homebuilder, to create some for-sale housing in the development.
Shalimar Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona, is slated to close at the end of 2025. (The Arizona Republic)
Now, BB Living is preparing to submit plans for a development that will be about 200 rental homes and about 70 for-sale homes. BB Living’s products are for rent, but most in the development look like detached single-family homes. Each has three or four bedrooms and has an attached garage. Some of the rentals proposed at the development will be attached rental townhomes.
“In Tempe, in particular, there aren’t large land parcels available for development,” Lombardi said. “In central Tempe, there really has been no new residential development in the last 20 years.”
The plan also will include a two-mile public trail system, with some passive amenities like picnic areas and benches that the surrounding neighbors can also use, he said.
Public hearings still to come
Lombardi said regardless of the rezoning, the course will close and already has zoning to be developed into very low-density housing without any need for public hearings.
Tempe officials said it is too early for any recommendations on the site because the formal application has not been submitted.
Lombardi said a formal submittal should be coming in the next couple of weeks, and the group will hold a neighborhood meeting before the end of the year. If granted the rezoning, land development would begin late next year with the expectation to open the new development in 2027.
“We are still very early in the process,” he said. “Everyone will still have a chance to have their voice heard.”
No one really knows how the Week 2 matchup between Michigan football and Texas will go, but one college football analyst is saying take the Longhorns — big.
CBS Sports and SiriusXM Full Ride host Rick Neuheisel is reacting to what he saw in Week 1 with Michigan edging Fresno State, 30-10, but taking all game to do so and Texas destroying Colorado State, 52-0. It’s the biggest nonconference game in 30 years for the Wolverines and the first thing that Neuheisel is looking forward to is just witnessing the atmosphere in Ann Arbor.
“The pomp and circumstance of this game is gonna be off the charts, Neuheisel said. “We’re going to have a complete party before the game because of the two brands doing battle. But what’s happened at Texas is what happened in Athens. Kirby Smart built Alabama in Athens. Steve Sarkisian is building Alabama in Austin.”
That may be true that Sarkisian has learned from Nick Saban during his tenure as the Alabama offensive coordinator. But what Neuheisel might be missing is that Michigan is also built like Georgia — with strong line play on both sides and with the best tight end in college football. However, the offensive line for the Wolverines didn’t look particularly astounding in Week 1.
Perhaps it’s because of that, or just the general sluggishness of Michigan in Week 1, but Neuheisel is predicting a blowout in Ann Arbor — and not by the hands of the defending national champion which hasn’t lost a home game since 2020 or a regular season game since 2021.
“They’re not only gonna win, they’re gonna whip ’em,” Neuheisel said. “Texas is that much faster. They’ve shown they’re physical. They held Colorado State to less than 200 yards. It’s not going to be a close game.”
Texas does have a lot of speed, but so does the Michigan defense. If styles make fights in football, this will certainly be an interesting clash on Saturday.
Rick Neuheisel thinks Dan Lanning won’t be as much of a riverboat gambler.
Rick Neuheisel was a successful college football coach at Colorado and Washington. He won a Rose Bowl. He had multiple teams finish in the top 10. The former coach, now a CBS college football analyst, thinks Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is going to evolve, and that the Ducks will be better in the Big Ten as a result.
I asked Neuheisel, who spent 12 seasons as a head coach in the Pac-12, what kind of growth we might expect from Lanning in season No. 3.
Said Neuheisel: “Wisdom comes with experience, right?”
Lanning was criticized last season after coming up short in Week 7 vs. Washington on three straight ‘go-for-it’ decisions on fourth down. It cost Oregon the game, but I didn’t mind the aggressive mentality. It was over the edge, but on-brand for Lanning, who gambled that afternoon like he was playing with house money.
Neuheisel later said this:
“He’s an emotional guy and a defensive guy,” Neuheisel told me. “There’s an aggression that comes with his personality that wants to be full throttle. There’s got to be times when the prudent decision is to back off the throttle.”
It will be fascinating to see how Lanning handles key in-game decisions this year in the Big Ten.
Wednesday was the day for the UCLA Bruins at Big Ten media day. While the Bruins were at Lucas Oil Stadium, former head coach and also quarterback Rick Neuheisel was in attendance. He was asked about his former team and had great things to say about both Coach DeShaun Foster and also quarterback Ethan Garbers.
He had this to say about Garbers:
“I like Ethan. Ethan was fantastic in that bowl game. Went out there and hit his first nine passes. That’s not easy to do. He got the Bruins back in control of that game, and that’s great confidence to springboard into this season.”
The entire interview can be found here:
Former UCLA QB & head man Rick Neuheisel talking about the beginning of the Deshaun Foster era and what he thinks of Ethan Garbers returning as QB pic.twitter.com/RP9ISTiFeU
Neuheisel played at UCLA and was the starting quarterback for the 1983 team. He went undrafted in 1974 and then came back in 1986 to be a graduate assistant. He was on staff at UCLA until 1993. He then came back after several stops in other places to be the head coach from 2008-2011.
Phil Knight is ready to spend for Oregon football.
Oregon football and Nike founder Phil Knight are in it to win it. And that means, according to a recent report, that the Big Ten program is set to spend in pursuit of a national championship.
That’s the buzz about the Oregon football program following a recent report from Sirius XM that Nike CEO Phil Knight is all-in on funding his program’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) campaign. Knight, the report said, desperately wants a national championship for his alma mater and is committed to providing the financial resources necessary to get there.
During his show on SiriusXM last week, former Washington and UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said that Knight is willing to find whatever it takes to get Oregon a national championship. Knight is the Nike founder is 86 years old.
Whatever Knight is providing, seems to be working. In the immediate, Oregon is finding success, with the second-ranked class in the nation in the transfer portal.
And in high school recruiting, Oregon’s class of 2025 is fourth in the nation (but is the highest in the nation in average in the On3 Industry Rankings). Of their 15 commits in the 2025 class, two are ranked five stars and 12 are four-star recruits.
Rick Neuheisel on ESPN CFB XM said he was at a recent coaches event, and it’s no secret Phil Knight is supplying Oregon unlimited NIL resources. Rick said Phil is 86, he desperately wants to see a championship, so they’re willing to pay whatever it takes.
The implications for high school recruiting are obviously massive. With what is essentially unlimited NIL money, Oregon’s already impressive recruiting will be unstoppable.
Since he stopped playing, former Notre Dame All-American [autotag]Aaron Taylor[/autotag] has had a successful broadcasting career. Most of that has been with CBS Sports, and he’s paid his dues enough that he now will be featured on one of its top college football shows.
Taylor has been announced as an addition to “College Football Today”, the top pregame show on CBS Sports. He’s earned it after many years as the lead college football analyst on the CBS Sports Network. He will join the existing team of Adam Zucker, Brian Jones and Rick Neuheisel.
CBS Sports executive Harold Bryant said the following:
“Aaron’s extensive football IQ has been integral to our coverage for many years, and we look forward to him joining Adam, BJ and Rick on Saturdays given their deep chemistry cemented over the years on ‘Inside College Football’. And as we extend our postgame coverage, Aaron’s personality and analysis will be a welcome addition with more runway to recap the most pivotal games and moments from earlier in the day.”
Meanwhile, Taylor said this, playing up his comparable youth in doing so:
“BJ, Rick, Adam and I have so much respect for the sport and for the platform we’re given to break down all the exciting twists and turns that college football offers. t gives us the freedom to not take ourselves too seriously and have some fun at each other’s expense. I can’t wait to sit with those guys on Saturdays and be the one person at the desk who isn’t battling a receding hairline.”
Remember that the Irish play Purdue on CBS on Sept. 14. That definitely will be the ideal day to watch if you’re an Irish fan, and it will be interesting to see how, if at all, Taylor plays up his alma mater.
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CBS Sports CFB analyst breaks down why he predicts the Tide to upset Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs ride high into this Saturday’s SEC Championship on a 29-game winning streak that has included the last two national championships. The Dawgs are the No. 1 team in the country right now and have their eyes set on a three-peat, but only one man may be able to stop that. That would be none other than the greatest of all time, Nick Saban.
Since taking over as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, Saban is 7-2 against UGA with one of the two losses being only the fourth game he ever coached at the school. The Tide got the best of Georgia in the 2021 SEC Championship, but the Bulldogs got their revenge in the national title as Alabama was without both Jameson Williams and John Metchie in the loss. Saban has had a ton of success in SEC Championship games as he’s posted a 10-1 record and also won a remarkable 16 straight games in Atlanta.
It seems as if the majority of the people in the media are riding with Kirby Smart’s squad this weekend, but not everyone. Rick Neuheisel of CBS Sports predicts that the Crimson Tide will beat Georgia this weekend. Neuheisel believes that the running dimension of Jalen Milroe will cause a lot of problems for the Georgia defense. He goes on to say, “Here comes Milroe who has a couple of 100-yard games under his belt. Tommy Rees has developed a quarterback run game to go along with some big downfield chunks. They’re No. 2 in the country in terms of yards per attempt, there’s reason to believe it on the geographic field why they can win, but the Church of Saban will sing again.”
"The Church of Saban will sing again." 🗣️@CoachNeuheisel is taking Bama & Jalen Milroe's rushing ability to pull the upset against No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship 👀 pic.twitter.com/fyGcXbJOBB
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
Tennessee’s 2022 regular-season schedule featured home games against Ball State (W, 59-10), Akron (W, 63-6), Florida (W, 38-33), Alabama (W, 52-49), UT Martin (W, 65-24), Kentucky (W, 44-6) and Missouri (W, 66-24).
The Vols’ 2022 schedule featured road contests at Pittsburgh (W, 34-27 OT) in the second edition of the Johnny Majors Classic, LSU (W, 40-13), Georgia (L, 27-13), South Carolina (L, 63-38) and Vanderbilt (W, 56-0).
Following Week 13 games, former head coach Rick Neuheisel announced his top college football teams on CBS Sports’ “Inside College Football.” Neuheisel’s top four teams are listed below.
On Sirius XM’s show Full Ride, former college football head coach Rick Neuheisel spoke about Clemson and other teams in the College Football Playoff picture, including Georgia and Tennessee. “I’m just sitting here going, Georgia and Tennessee are …
On Sirius XM’s show Full Ride, former college football head coach Rick Neuheisel spoke about Clemson and other teams in the College Football Playoff picture, including Georgia and Tennessee.
“I’m just sitting here going, Georgia and Tennessee are going to play, right, so one of them’s going to win that game,” said Neuheisel, who served as the head coach at Colorado (1995-98), Washington (1999-2002) and UCLA (2008-11). “And Tennessee’s got a tough game against Kentucky next week. They may get beat by Kentucky before. So, pump the breaks on all this.”
Oregon may be the Pac-12’s best playoff hope, though the Ducks got shellacked by Georgia 49-3 in the season opener back in early September, and Neuheisel doesn’t see the conference fielding a playoff team.
“I don’t think the Pac-12 can get in, Oregon right now leading,” he said. “Everybody can’t forget 49-3, right. 49-3 has diminished the Pac-12. That’s just a fact.”
Neuheisel believes TCU would have the advantage over Clemson as far as strength of schedule if the Horned Frogs go undefeated, but he doesn’t buy that they can finish the season with an unblemished record.
“TCU, if they win out, their schedule has been tougher than Clemson’s,” he said. “But do you really believe TCU’s winning out? No, I don’t believe it. So, let’s just put them aside.”
As for Alabama, Neuheisel can see the one-loss Crimson Tide potentially winning out and winning the SEC to stake its claim for a playoff spot. But he says “something’s amiss” with Nick Saban’s team, which bounced back from its loss to Tennessee two weeks ago with a 30-6 win over Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa this past Saturday.
“Alabama winning all the way through Atlanta? We can see that, although they’ve not looked good,” he said. “They ran for 29 yards against Mississippi State. Something’s amiss there.”
Neuheisel isn’t counting out Clemson as a playoff and national title contender, but he doesn’t think the Tigers are one of the country’s top four teams.
“Clemson might very well get in, might win it. But it’s a plod deal right now because they’ve looked vulnerable,” he said. “Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee and Michigan are the best four teams. End of story.”
Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.
Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!
