Media Day Intermission Updates

Just some quick bullet points (dots, as it were) for those of you who haven't been able to follow.

• Larry Scott and the Pac-12 came out with their new practice and player safety rules, which we'll have more on later.
• The conference is in favor of providing the full cost of attendance for athletes.
• Pac-12 in their nonconference schedule will play 15 teams that played in bowl games last season, 4 of those were in BCS bowls. That is not inlcuding 12-0 Ohio State either.
• 9 game conference schedule and strength of nonconference scheduling is a point of pride for the Pac-12
• Mike Leach is a great interview as always. Says Connor Halliday would be his starting QB today, though he's not sure about what would be the case a couple months from now. Don't think he meant that someone is going to challenge Halliday, just that he's going to promote competition.
• He hates the ejection rule for hits on defenseless players, likens it to the old "halo-rule" on punt returns. Too much guesswork.
• He's writing a book, and he's learned that books are forever. Marriages he says, on the other hand, are temporary
• I really like Sonny Dykes, though I hate to admit it. He thinks that Cal could surprise some people, and I agree. They've got talent, and he's a really good coach. Could play spoiler in the Pac-12 North.
• He addressed the player safety comments of Nick Saban and Bret Bielema. Said that he'd like to see a formal study on it before making a definitive statement, and that most injuries occur in confined spaces, not so much in the open.
• His ultimate point was that Saban and all coaches really just want to dictate the style of play for any game. They all have styles that they're comfortable playing, and they want to do what they can to play the game that way.
• Sark seemed more businesslike than ever before. Little less joking and smiling than we're used to. His players mirrored him.
• Someone asked about recruiting SoCal players with Keith Price and Sean Parker both being LA products, and Sark said the hardest part is getting them on the plane. Once they see UW, they love it.
• No update on Austin Seferian-Jenkins or Kasen Williams. Don't expect one until close to August 31st.
• Says that he thinks the team has improved even though the record has stayed at 7-6, but it's on them to go out and prove that they're not a 7-6 team any more. Says the main way that gets accomplished in 2013 is that they're a better team.
• Mark Helfrich isn't admitting that Oregon will pass more in 2013. He says they want to score, and it doesn't matter how. If that means passing more, then they will, but the run game has been pretty effective for them.
• David Shaw called Keith Price a budding superstar, and spoke very highly of Kevin Hogan and Marcus Mariota. Thinks the Pac-12 is every bit the QB league it has ever been.

I'm covering it live, and you can get second half updates as they happen from the site twitter, https://twitter.com/UWSBN or click the follow button at the top of the page.