Lorenzo Romar on the Arizona loss, Scott Suggs and the massive changes and improvement by Arizona State:

Apparently, all the surprise in Pac-12 play took place Thursday. Saturday went as expected. Here’s what we learned:

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What we saw Saturday:

> The Cougs collapse. Washington State lost in Pullman to Colorado, 35-34. Colorado, one of the worst teams in the country up to this point, came back from 17 points down in the fourth quarter. Washington State had two narrows wins previously — 24-20 over Eastern Washington and 35-27 over UNLV — which it had trouble closing out. After asking to be punished for letting the game get close late, the Cougars finally were. Saturday, once up 31-14 in the fourth quarter, the Cougars ran 18 more offensive plays. They passed on 12 of them. Big win for Jon Embree and Colorado.

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Though the Huskies are off, there is plenty to watch this Saturday. Here’s the rundown of Pac-12 games. Get what you need to do out of the way early, so you can watch Arizona at Oregon at 7:30 p.m.

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With the football team off, we’ll shift to basketball.

Washington continued the revamping of its coaching staff when it hired Lamont Smith just before the team left for Europe. Smith previously worked with Lorenzo Romar as a grad assistant at Saint Louis from 1999-2001.

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Penn State offensive tackle Ryan Nowicki, a 6-foot-5 and 285-pound redshirt freshman, is set to be one of the first players to leave the Nittany Lions football program since the NCAA handed down stiff sanctions earlier this week.

Richard Obert of the Arizona Republic first reported that Nowicki planned to leave Penn State. Nowicki’s father played at Purdue and the family’s Big Ten ties could lead him to Illiniois, which visited the lineman, and perhaps other players, today in Happy Valley.

Obert’s source said Illinois is the favorite, but Washington and Arizona State are also in the mix. Nowicki, who has four years of eligibility remaining, is expected to visit Washington this week on Thursday or Friday.

ex-Cactus HS OL Ryan Nowicki, who is leaving Penn State: Met with Illinois today, will visit Washington Thur/Fri, fly to Champaign Saturday

— Richard Obert (@azc_obert) July 25, 2012

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ASU Head Coach Herb Sendek

On the game

I think our guys had really good intentions; our hearts were in the right place. Obviously that spurt at the end of the first half really hurt us. I know it’s a broken record, but it’s been the same problem for us; turnovers. We had 19 turnovers in the game, which helps to fuel their transition game. The second thing that has become a constant for us is free throw shooting. We’re struggling to stay above 60% in the conference, and tonight we were 11-21 from the line. Although Washington …

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COACH HERB SENDEK

On confidence and skill:

“Well I don’t think the two are separable, one goes hand in hand with the other. Through our hard work and diligence, you gain greater confidence and your belief system is bolstered. The best way to be confident for the test is to prepare well, not to cram the night before. I think our psyche will continue to improve as our work ethic, preparation, and diligence to get better every day continues.”

On road games:

“We haven’t been as good as the people we’ve played on the road. Our performance …

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