Anthony Boyles, TV and bubble screens the topics today. ...

Q: Maybe there's nothing to elaborate on more than what coach Sark said about Anthony Boyles, but I was wondering how quick he is - obviously his hands have to be good since he's a WR, but am curious about his speed at closing and quickness.

A: As the coaches said, two days is hard to make any definitive judgments, especially since none of UW's starting WRs practiced those two days --- they'll be able to tell a lot more next week when those guys return to practice and Boyles goes up aginst them.

But he did seem to show some good closing speed on the couple of passes he batted down on Tuesday, and he obviously did something in that practice to impress the coaches because he got a lot more time in practice on Wednesday. What I thought stood out the most was his size and long arms --- seemed like he was able to recover pretty quickly. As Sarkisian said Wednesday, he's intriguing at that spot and based on what we saw the last two days, I imagine that's where Boyles will continue to stay for a little while.

Q: Ever since I purchased the sports package on Comcast, I've been glued to the college football stations dedicated to various conferences (ie: Big Ten Network, SEC coaches shows/ACC coaches shows, etc.). With a new commissioner in place, what (if any) plans are in place for a Pac 10 Network? From a marketing standpoint, it seems like a no-brainer, especially considering the weak national perception of our conference has anyway. We need more exposure, and a network devoted to this would be great.

A: Thanks for the question, though I think I would disagree that the conference has a weak national perception --- I don't disagree that the conference maybe doesn't always get its due. But lots of people are ranking it No. 1 in the country this year, and if not No. 1, then No. 2. I still think the biggest thing that hurts the conference is geography --- lots of people back east just don't see a lot of games out here due to the time difference. And not sure a Pac-10 Network will change that.

But to answer your question, new commish Larry Scott has indeed said he will explore options for a Pac-10 Network to see if it makes sense. In reality, much of what you say you see elsewhere --- coaches shows and all that --- is available on the various Fox Sports Networks. There are the Husky and Cougar All-Access shows, and the Mike Riley press conference show, and lots of stuff on USC and UCLA, etc. (Oregon does all of its stuff on Comcast, and if you get that, you know there's no shortage of Duck programming there). What a network would do is consolidate all of that into one place, and maybe that would increase the viewership. But I still question how much interest there is in, say, the Mike Riley press conference show outside of the audience that is already served by FSN-NW.

I would agree that from a perception standpoint, it would probably help the conference to have its own network. And again, maybe having it all organized in one spot would help increase viewership somewhat. But guess I'm still not sure thousands more people will start watching some of this stuff just because it's on a Pac-10 Network as opposed to being available on whatever their local FSN station is.

Q: Could you tell me about the bubble screen.Why is it not pass interference when one WR is blocking a CB when the ball is in the air? My guess is because it's not past the line of scrimage.

A: Timely question based on all the teams that seem to be using that play these days. Here's a really good explainer of the play and its origins from ESPN.com --- in fact, that entire series of stories ESPN did a few years ago was great and worth checking out if you have any technical questions about football. As that story notes, in college football, rececievers are allowed to block downfield while the ball is in the air as long as it is not past the line of scrimmage --- so exactly as you thought. That's different from the NFL where, as this story notes, receivers cannot start blocking downfield until the ball is caught (though as the story notes, it's often not called if the ball has left the QB's hand).

All for now.