Steve Greenberg of The Sporting News writes that time and patience is important when letting Rich Rodriguez do his thing. We all have talked about that. But there are a few interesting details given about the hiring of Rodriguez.

Athletic director Greg Byrne had shared a meal with the then-Michigan coach a few years back, and RichRod was on his mind while he contemplated dumping Mike Stoops, according to Greenberg. He called Rodriguez the day after Stoops was let go.

• The University of Arizona somehow failed to show up on the Associated Press' top-25 party school list. RichRod's WVU Mountaineers landed the No. 1 spot with Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia rounding out the top five. Not one Pac-12 school made the cut, and that leaves a taste of East Coast bias in my mouth.
• Greg Hansen has a comparative take on Tucson -- and in a sense, the whole Pac-12 -- and its fair-weather fans. Winning is all that matters out here, and that's making it hard to fill Arizona Stadium. Heck, even the Oregon Ducks are struggling to sell out their opener.
• Backup quarterback BJ Denker is apparently a "vanilla Vick."
• A neat story on the unheralded walk-on linebacker, Shadow Williams, by Anthony Gimino.
• Gimino also released Lindy's rankings for college basketball. The Arizona Wildcats come in at No. 18 and are picked to finish second in the Pac-12 to UCLA, who is ranked by the magazine this preseason as the No. 10 squad in the nation.
• Maddux Sports gives their preview of the Wildcats' football season, and they point out that Athlon Magazine predicts UA to finish 6-6 this year. Not bad considering all we know.