The preseason Amway Coaches Poll came out Thursday, and Washington leads the Pac-12 at No. 6. Additionally, Stanford is in at No. 13 and USC is at No. 15 to round out the trio of Pac-12 teams ranked. Oregon, Utah, Washington State and Arizona are receiving votes.

Oregon has named Chelsea Gamble its women’s lacrosse head coach, AD Rob Mullens announced Wednesday. Gamble was an assistant at Stanford the last four years, helping the Cardinal claim in inaugural Pac-12 Tournament title last season.

ESPN’s Mike Greenberg is reporting that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will face off in a one-on-one showdown Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas. This has been discussed for a while, and it has been previously reported that a payout would be around $10 million.

Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press tells us that Nneka Ogwumike is returning to action for the Los Angeles Sparks and is expected to play in the big game against the Minnesota Lynx Thursday night. Ogwumike missed the last three games before the All-Star break due to a flu-like illness that included severe fatigue.

Avert your eyes, Cardinal fans – “The Play” bobblehead will be given to the first 10,000 fans at Big Game this year (Nov. 17 in Berkeley). Of course, if “The Play” happened in the 21st century, replay would have ruled Kevin Moen down well before he reached the end zone and Stanford would have won, but that’s neither here nor there…

John Canzano ponders whether or not Urban Meyer will still be Ohio State’s coach when Oregon State plays the Buckeyes to open the 2018 season. Brett McMurphy reported Wednesday morning that a longtime Meyer assistant’s ex-wife believes that Meyer knew about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Meyer’s assistant, Zach Smith. Meyer is currently on paid administrative leave.

You should know that three UCLA soccer players will participate in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup – Ashley Sanchez and Viviana Villacorta will play for USA, while Maricarmen Reyes will play for Mexico.

USC linebacker Tayler Katoa is leaving the team to take a two-year LDS mission (247Sports). Katoa said on Twitter that he will be back with the Trojans in 2020.

Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea will be inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 1, it was announced Wednesday. Pat Tillman and Mark Grace are also part of the Hall of Fame class.

CUBuffs.com gives us this article featuring New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning talking about what Colorado can expect from its new QB coach Kurt Roper. Manning was coached by Roper at Ole Miss.

Kurt Kragthorpe features Utah wide receiver Britain Covey, who returned to the team this year after a two-year church mission to Chile.

Chris Park has been named a senior associate athletic director at Washington State, AD Patrick Chun announced Wednesday. Park spent the last six years at UTEP.