When the Spartans play San Diego State Saturday night at Spartan Stadium, they will be honoring seniors who were part one of Brennan’s first recruiting classes and pivotal to this season’s turnaround.

“It’s an emotional day for the guys who actually are realizing it’s their last game at (Spartan) stadium,” Brennan said. “The guys we’re talking about are really special guys that have been very impactful on and off the field. I hope there’s just a lot of people here to celebrate the seniors that are playing their last game.”

Among the 17 seniors are running back Kairee Robinson, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, offensive lineman Jaime Navarro and Anthony Pardue, twin defensive backs Tre and Andrew Jenkins, safety Chase Williams and defensive lineman Noah Lavulo.

Many of the seniors have been with Brennan since they were freshman in 2018, a class that has defined Brennan’s tenure at SJSU.

That class included Robinson, Navarro, Pardue and the Jenkins twins. They all were essential pieces to the team that won the Mountain West championship in 2020 and helped SJSU earn a bowl game appearance in 2022.

The countdown to the last home game of their college careers has been in the minds of Tre and Andrew Jenkins since the season started..

“We kind of knew that going into the season that for all the seniors, we know it’s our last season,” Andrew said. “So we already had those conversations with our best friends, me and Tre have been having those tough conversations to know that we got to enjoy these moments.”

After starting the season 1-5, the Spartans have won four straight to move into a three-way tie for third place in the Mountain West.

SJSU (5-5, 4-2 MW) trails Air Force and UNLV (both 5-1 in conference) with two regular season games remaining, so a few things need to break their way, but there suddenly is a path for the team to get back to the conference championship game for the second time in four years..

The Spartans have leaned on their senior playmakers to get them to this point. Robinson, Andrew Jenkins, Navarro and Lavulo are all having career years.

Robinson has rushed for 919 yards and 15 touchdowns. He recently broke the SJSU record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown held by Tyler Ervin in 2015, and is tied for the single-season rushing touchdown record with Johnny Johnson (1988) and Deonce Whitaker (2000).

Lavulo has been a standout on the defensive line, totaling 35 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks — all career highs.

“I think playing better football right now is a collective effort and everybody is all in on it,” Brennan said. “That’s why it’s really fun to be a part of it and to just see how hard the players are working and how much they care.”

Robinson says the only thing that has mattered this season is getting to the conference title game.

“I haven’t tried to think about it too much,” Robinson said of his record-breaking personal accomplishments. “I’m just focused on getting an opportunity to make it to the conference championship and focusing on this year and this moment.”

Seats are already filling up at Spartan Stadium in anticipation for senior day. The Jenkins twins reserved 30 seats and are looking for more. Robinson said there will be a whole section reserved for all of his relatives.

“It’s going to be a big crew for sure,” Robinson said. “All from Antioch.”

As emotional as Saturday’s game will be, the end might not be so near for SJSU’s seniors. There will still be one more regular season game and the potential for the Mountain West championship game and a bowl game still out there.

“I still think their legacy is still being written,” Brennan said. “We still have a lot of football to play. Maybe ask me that question. In two weeks.”

“It’s gonna be a little strange,” Taylor said. “I think once the game gets going, it’ll feel pretty normal to go into a kind of competition mode, but yeah, it’ll be a different experience for sure.”

Taylor was Cal’s quarterback from 1986-89 and started two Big Games, which resulted in a tie in 1988 and a loss in 1989. He graduated as the program’s all-time leading passer with 8,126 yards.

He soon turned to coaching, and had stints coaching receivers, quarterbacks and tight ends at Cal from 1996-99, even serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator in 1999. When he stepped away from coaching, he worked as an analyst on Cal radio broadcasts from 2005-11.

“Just being a part of Cal for so long and having such a love for the university and what it’s given me, I’ll always have a lot of gratitude for the university, the program there, and I always will love Cal,” Taylor said. “Now being on the other side of it, this is my family – the Stanford Cardinal – and excited to be able to go into a battle.”

Taylor’s playing career featured two of the most memorable games in the rivalry, which has been played 125 times on the football field. As a freshman, Taylor was sidelined with a broken jaw when 1-9 Cal upset 16th-ranked Stanford in the final game for coach Joe Kapp, who knew he was being fired after the season. Taylor’s junior year, when he made his first start against the Cardinal, Stanford’s Tuan Van Le blocked a 20-yard field goal at the end to preserve a 19-19 tie – the last tie in Big Game history.

“I remember neither team really knew what to do,” Taylor said about the tie. “Because typically, your memories of The Big Game my freshman year is Joe Kapp being carried off the field, it was a huge upset and everybody’s on the field and you celebrate and you run around with the Axe and it’s just great energy. And if you lose the game you saunter off, and you’re not really that excited. So once we all realized it was a tie and there was going to be no celebration for either team, we just kind of walked off and left. It was very strange.”

But Taylor had another strong memory from the tie game, and it wasn’t something that happened between the lines. He remembered looking at the south endzone and seeing a scuffle between the mascots, Oski the Bear and the Stanford Tree.

“It was a legitimate fight,” Taylor said. “They were trying to hurt each other. It was in between series and I remember Oski trying to tear the Tree apart and I remember Oski pointed his finger – one of those four fingers he has – at the Tree, like ‘This isn’t over,’ you know? I’m like, this is bizarre. I was living in a cartoon world or something.”

And now Taylor will experience the rivalry from the other sideline.

“Obviously every game is really important, but there’s a different energy around the Bay Area, and people are a little bit more interested in this game,” Taylor said. “There’s no other rivalry like Cal-Stanford where I think the universities have so much respect for each other and what they stand for, and being obviously so close in proximity, and we’ve had wild games that have taken place here. People on the national stage still remember The Play. So it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

A new threat has emerged in the Pac-12’s pursuit of its second consecutive Heisman Trophy, and he’s a former friend.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels produced a record-setting game and joined the group of betting favorites three weeks before ballots are due.

Daniels grew up in Southern California and was a three-year starter for Arizona State before moving to Baton Rouge ahead of the 2022 season.

He spent most of the past two months as a second-level Heisman candidate but improved his prospects substantially last weekend in a victory over Florida, becoming the first quarterback in FBS history to have at least 350 yards passing and 200 yards rushing.

The performance forced oddsmakers to adjust their lines.

As of Monday, BetMGM listed Oregon quarterback Bo Nix as the 10-to-11 favorite (i.e., less than 1-to-1).

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the betting favorite in prior weeks, is just under 4-to-1.

Then comes Daniels at a solid 4-to-1, followed by Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. at 11-to-2.

That, folks, is the top tier.

Unlike the other frontrunners, however, Daniels has no chance to impress voters on championship weekend. LSU has been eliminated from the SEC title race.

1. Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.

Last week: 1
Key stats: 353.3 yards per game, 9.7 yards per attempt, 28 touchdowns
Comment: Penix did nothing wrong in the victory over Utah and remains well-positioned for a trip to New York City for the Heisman ceremony. His prospects for claiming the trophy depend almost entirely on UW reaching the Pac-12 title game — and on Penix delivering a first-class performance in the spotlight.

2. Oregon QB Bo Nix

Last week: 2
Key stats: 184.7 passer rating, 77.7% completion, 9.4 yards per attempt
Comment: Nix continues to produce off-the-charts efficiency and will have a series of games on broadcast TV down the stretch to strut his stuff in front of voters who haven’t been paying attention. But like Penix, his fate hinges on advancing to, and thriving in the conference championship

3. USC QB Caleb Williams

Last week: 3
Key stats: 172.2 passer rating, 67.9 percent completion, 9.4 yards per attempt
Comment: Williams’ second-tier status in the race illustrates the challenges faced by Heisman winners in their quest to repeat. His completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating are better than last year. But USC has more losses and, fair or not, voters are judging Williams by a different standard.

4. Arizona QB Noah Fifita

Last week: 4
Key stats: 158.7 passer rating, 73.7% completion, 16 touchdowns
Comment: Redshirts are eligible for the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year Award, so let’s hand the 2023 edition to Fifita now — he played in three games last season — and move along to other matters.

5. Oregon WR Troy Franklin

Last week: 6
Key stats: 60 catches, 18.2 yards per catch, 11 touchdowns
Comment: Time to start the discussion: Is Franklin the best receiver in Oregon history? If the junior returns next season — hardly a guarantee, in our view — and plays at this level, he will have a great case.

6. Washington WR Rome Odunze

Last week: Not ranked
Key stats: 59 receptions, 18.6 yards per catch, nine touchdowns
Comment: The top category in John Wooden’s famed Pyramid of Success is competitive greatness: Be at your best when your best is required. Against USC, Utah and Oregon, Odunze had 16 catches for 321 yards and four touchdowns.

Also considered (alphabetically): Arizona State WR Elijhah Badger, OSU LB Andrew Chatfield, Arizona WR Jacob Cowing, Oregon DL Brandon Dorlus, Utah DE Jonah Elliss, OSU OL Taliese Fuaga and Joshua Gray, Stanford K Joshua Karty, UCLA Edge Laiatu Latu, Arizona LB Jacob Manu, OSU TB Damien Martinez, Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan, Cal TB Jaydn Ott and Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders

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Just before lunch, Utah visits Arizona with the home team (surprise, surprise) taking aim at a spot in the conference championship.

The Wildcats cannot clinch a spot in Las Vegas with a victory, but their sixth consecutive loss to Utah would make the quest vastly more difficult.

After lunch and up the road, Oregon duels with Arizona State in a stadium that has derailed Duck dreams in the past.

Four years ago, a late-November loss to the Sun Devils ended Oregon’s playoff drive. Another loss would do the same — and knock the Ducks out of their pole position in the race for the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 championship.

Washington (7-0 in conference play) is the frontrunner and would clinch a berth with a victory in either of its last two games.

Oregon (6-1) also controls its destiny: Win out, and the Ducks are in.

Arizona (5-2) must sweep its final two games and needs the Ducks to lose. (Yes, the Wildcats are rooting for ASU this weekend.)

And let’s not forget about Oregon State (5-2), which must win out and requires help because of its head-to-head loss to the Wildcats. (The Beavers are backing Utah this weekend.)

Loads of scenarios exist — far too many for the Hotline’s crack research team and state-of-the-art supercomputer to calculate.

But clarity will begin to emerge Saturday afternoon along the Pac-12’s southern border.

To the picks …

Last week: 2-4
Season: 35-32-1
Five-star special: 6-5

All picks against the spread
Lines taken from BetMGM (via VegasInsider.com)

(All times Pacific)

Colorado at Washington State (Friday)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. on FS1
Line: WSU -4.5 (total: 64.5)
Comment: Welcome to the Look Out, Below! Bowl. The Buffaloes have lost four in a row; the Cougars have dropped their past six (but collected a huge victory off the field on Tuesday). The loser is officially eliminated from the bowl season, so desperation will be palpable. We are typically wary of the road team on Friday night because of the difficult logistics and condensed preparation time. But CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders is playing better than his WSU counterpart, Cam Ward, and that should make the difference.
Pick: Colorado

Utah at Arizona
Kickoff: 11:30 a.m. on Pac-12 Networks
Line: Arizona -1 (total: 44.5)
Comment: We couldn’t help but notice the trajectory of the point spreads in this series and how they track with Arizona’s nadir and subsequent ascent. The Utes were favored by 22 points in 2019 and by 24 points in 2021. (The teams didn’t meet during the pandemic year.) But the line dipped to 17 last season and now, amazingly, has flipped completely. The Wildcats are narrow favorites, which reflects both their four-game winning streak and Utah’s lengthy injury list. From here, Arizona looks well-equipped to deal with Utah at the line of scrimmage — a dramatic change compared to prior meetings.
Pick: Arizona

UCLA at USC
Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. on ABC
Line: USC -6.5 (total: 65.5)
Comment: The last meeting of the crosstown rivals as members of the Pac-12 once looked like a critical matchup in the conference race. But with both teams immersed in late-season fades, the stakes are local, not national. How far will the Trojans tumble in Year Two under Lincoln Riley? Will the Bruins muster a performance that takes Chip Kelly off the Hot Seat? This might be USC quarterback Caleb Williams’ final college appearance (if he turns pro and sits out the bowl game). He’s a generational talent. Enjoy him while you can.
Pick: UCLA

Oregon at Arizona State
Kickoff: 1 p.m. on Fox
Line: Oregon -23.5 (total: 53.5)
Comment: The Hotline called ASU’s stunner in 2019, but we do not foresee a repeat this week. The Sun Devils aren’t as talented as they were back then, and these Ducks are as good, if not better than the Justin Herbert-led outfit. That said, this should be closer than the point spread indicates. Nobody knows Oregon’s personnel and scheme like ASU coach Kenny Dillingham, who served as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator last year. That edge won’t be decisive, but it will help the Devils stay in range.
Pick: Arizona State

Cal at Stanford
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks
Line: Cal -6.5 (total: 55.5)
Comment: A few miles from the Pacific Ocean, these future ACC rivals collide with high stakes for one team and a spoiler opportunity for the other. Cal must win to keep its bowl hopes alive; Stanford was officially eliminated last week. The Cardinal’s first-year coach, Troy Taylor, faces his former team with a wobbly defense and erratic offense (20.9 points per game). The Bears are more proficient at scoring (30.9 ppg) under playcaller Jake Spavital, but in a rivalry game that matches rookie quarterbacks, mistakes (or lack thereof) will determine the outcome.
Pick: Stanford

Washington at Oregon State
Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. on ABC
Line: Oregon State -2.5 (total: 63.5)
Comment: The game of the day in the Pac-12 is one of the biggest games in OSU history, and it speaks volumes about coach Jonathan Smith’s work in Corvallis that his team is favored against an opponent that hasn’t lost in more than a year. The tactics are straightforward: The Beavers will rely on their running game to control the clock and wear down UW’s defense, while Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies’ passing attack soften up the OSU defense, opening up running lanes.
Pick: Washington

Straight-up winners: Colorado, Arizona, USC, Oregon, Stanford and Washington

Five-star special: Colorado. Nothing we’ve seen from WSU in the past six weeks suggests the Cougars can make enough big plays, while avoiding crushing mistakes, to end their losing streak.

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But overtime looms.

The defendants, with Washington running point for the other nine outgoing schools, plan to appeal Whitman County (Wash.) Superior Court Judge Gary Libey’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction that left WSU and OSU as the sole voting members of the Pac-12’s governing board.

As such, the two schools left behind in the realignment game can determine the fate of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and assets.

However, Libey agreed to stay his ruling through the remainder of the week to allow Washington to pursue an appeal.

It’s not over.

It could drag on for weeks, if not months.

Six thoughts on the latest developments:

1. The defendants announced immediately after the ruling that they would appeal to the Washington Supreme Court in Olympia, where UW hopes to receive a more favorable audience.

Libey’s courtroom is 15 miles from Pullman.

Olympia is an hour from Husky Stadium.

However, there’s no guarantee the request for an appeal will be granted — or that the state’s highest court will accept the case. It could be passed to an appellate court in Spokane, according to a person familiar with the Evergreen State’s legal system.

The Hotline won’t begin to guess how the appeal process might unfold. But we know this: Just as it’s better to have the call on the field in your favor before it goes to the replay booth, so would you rather be the plaintiffs than the defendants at this point.

2. The Hotline watched every second of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing (on the livestream) with an eye on the performance of the attorneys — and there were a lot of attorneys:

— Each of the two plaintiffs had its own representation, with Eric MacMichael, from Keker, Van Nest and Peters, taking the lead.

— The Pac-12 and commissioner George Kliavkoff, the named defendants in the case, were represented primarily by Mark Lambert.

— Washington’s lead attorney, Dan Levin, also represented the nine departing, out-of-state schools.

How did they fare?

MacMichael steamrollered his opponents with a clear, concise argument. And admittedly, he had the best material. The plaintiffs based their case on actual events — specifically, the Pac-12’s decision to remove USC and UCLA from the governing board starting in July 2022, after their departures to the Big Ten were announced.

(OSU and WSU have argued all along that the precedent set 16 months ago applies whether two schools are leaving or 10.)

Meanwhile, UW’s case relied on nuanced, nearly inscrutable reading of the bylaws that attempted to show the schools hadn’t abdicated their board seats.

One side leaned into real-world events; the other spent the afternoon talking about the meaning of the phrase “notice of withdrawal.”

In his folksy tone, Libey captured the arguments perfectly when he said: “I grew up where conduct spoke louder than words.”

Meanwhile, the Pac-12’s attorney flopped and flailed with poor material. At one point, he argued that WSU and OSU would be better off with the status quo, with no board control — we burst out laughing at the suggestion.

His performance perfectly reflected a conference office that’s caught in the middle of this internecine fight and a commissioner who, having overseen the collapse of a century-old college sports institution, has no authority or credibility.

3. Not all 10 outbound schools have taken the same approach to the lawsuit. According to a source, there are hardliners within the group that prevented the two sides from reaching a settlement through mediation.

As the proceedings began Tuesday afternoon, Libey expressed disappointment that the factions could not agree on a division of the 2023-24 revenue and assets that satisfied both sides.

Perhaps his ruling will prompt the hardliners to accept, for example, $25 million or $30 million per campus in revenue distributions. (Full revenue shares would be $35 million, according to financial data cited in court documents.)

That would ensure the plaintiffs have cash to fortify their futures and give the defendants support for operations during their final year in the conference.

A settlement makes the most sense, by far. As one source noted: “This is basically a divorce hearing. It will come down to what the alimony payment is.”

And it’s worth noting: The conference isn’t currently in possession of the full $420 million in 2023-24 revenue. The cash is paid by media partners on a schedule throughout the year.

4. For all the focus on the revenue due the conference in 2023-24 and another $100 million (or more) in assets that await WSU and OSU starting next summer, the schools are equally concerned about the size and nature of the liabilities.

Between Kliavkoff’s contract, the rent on the Pac-12 production studio in San Ramon and potential damages in a series of lawsuits — the Pac-12 is the sole defendant in some and one of several defendants in others — the conference could be on the hook for tens of millions.

When will the bills come due?

What’s the grand total?

How will the costs be divided?

Libey’s ruling should expedite the process of sorting through the details and responsibilities.

5. Perhaps the most significant result of Libey’s ruling (assuming, for a moment, that it holds through the appeal process) is what it means for next year:

It pushes the ‘Pac-2’ much closer to reality.

The Cougars and Beavers are contemplating whether to operate as a two-team conference for the 2024-25 sports season — and possibly the 2025-26 season, as well. It’s permitted under NCAA rules, but the practicality is complicated. And costly.

Atop the list of challenges: Formulating schedules for their sports teams.

In that regard, the Mountain West schools could provide a life raft if the price is right.

We don’t know the specifics of the negotiations between the ‘Pac-2’ and the Mountain West. But control of the Pac-12 board would give the Cougars and Beavers access to the resources needed to align for what a source termed “bridge” seasons.

Starting in the fall of 2026, WSU and OSU must be members of a conference with at least eight schools. That conference could be a rebuilt Pac-12, the Mountain West or a league not yet formed.

6. Our last point addresses one of the first questions to surface following Libey’s ruling:

Will WSU and OSU hoard the entirety of the $420 million in revenue due to the Pac-12 in 2023-24? Or will they adopt a magnanimous approach and share the cash with the outbound schools?

We aren’t sure they have a choice.

“The bylaws dictate reasonable treatment,” a source noted.

Defining “reasonable” will assuredly require more billable hours, but Libey made his opinion clear.

“The (preliminary injunction) is going to be modified to make sure the other 10 are still treated in a fair manner,” he said. “Nobody’s going to take advantage of somebody else.”

If WSU and OSU attempt to bulldoze their way to every last dime, the two sides will wind up right back where they started: in court.

“The notion that (WSU and OSU) would take all the money and divide it between the two — that would put everyone right back in gridlock,” the source said.

“And the hope is to get out of this gridlock.”

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After a two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Whitman County (Wash.) Superior Court Judge Gary Libey granted the schools’ request for a preliminary injunction that confirms they are the only remaining voting members of the shattered conference.

The Pac-12 “will be governed by the two universities that have not submitted their notices of intent to withdraw,” Libey said.

However, Libey stayed his ruling until the end of the week as the defendant, Washington (acting on behalf of all 10 departing members), seeks an appeal from the Washington Supreme Court in Olympia.

But the ruling Tuesday evening begins to clear the way for WSU and OSU to control more than $400 million in revenue for the current fiscal year and whatever long-term assets the conference maintains following the departure of 10 schools next summer.

“We are pleased with the court’s common-sense decision today,” WSU president Kirk Schulz and athletic director Pat Chun said in a statement. “It has always been our view that the future of the Pac-12 should be determined by the remaining members, not by those schools that are leaving the conference.

“This position is consistent with the action the Pac-12 Board of Directors took when the first two schools (USC and UCLA) announced their departure from the conference more than a year ago.”

While ruling in favor of the Cougars and Beavers, Libey attempted to make sure the contentious situation is dealt with equitably, perhaps signaling that some of the 2023-24 revenue should be distributed to the outbound schools.

“This is not a shutout” in favor of WSU and OSU, Libey added. “The (preliminary injunction) is going to be modified to make sure the other 10 are still treated in a fair manner … Nobody’s going to take advantage of somebody else.”

Libey included a stipulation that the 10 outbound schools must be notified of board meetings and allowed to participate — but they are forbidden from voting.

The 10 departing schools released the following statement:

“We are disappointed with the decision and are immediately seeking review in the Washington Supreme Court and requesting to put on hold implementation of this decision. As members of the Pac-12, participating in ongoing and scheduled competitions, we are members of the board under the Pac-12 bylaws.

“We have the right to the revenue earned by our schools during the 2023-2024 academic year, which is necessary in order to operate our athletics programs and to provide mental and physical health services, academic support, and other support programs for our student-athletes.”

Exactly how the Cougars and Beavers plan to distribute the revenue and manage the assets, which could include more than $100 million in revenue from the NCAA Tournament and Rose Bowl, remains unclear. After all, the two schools left behind in the realignment game were not able to plan for their future while waiting for the ruling on their motion for the injunction.

One option is to compete as a two-team conference in 2024-25. The cash could be used to piece together schedules and dangle in front of expansion candidates from the Mountain West Conference.

“Our intentions are to make reasonable business decisions going forward while continuing to seek collaboration and consultation with the departing universities,” OSU president Jayathi Murthy and athletic director Scott Barnes said in a statement.

Libey’s ruling was hardly a surprise, for the preponderance of real-world evidence favored the plaintiffs.

Attorneys for WSU and OSU argued that the 10 outbound schools relinquished their board positions when they agreed to join other conferences and cited the “notice of withdrawal” section in the Pac-12 bylaws.

As evidence, they pointed to the Pac-12’s treatment of USC and UCLA starting last summer, after the schools announced their pending departures to the Big Ten: USC’s president and UCLA’s chancellor were promptly removed from the Pac-12’s governing board — and commissioner George Kliavkoff said as much in multiple subsequent court declarations.

Washington’s attorneys argued the departing schools had not given notice of withdrawal and should remain on the board. Their case was based on an interpretation of language in the bylaws about the “delivery of notice” provision.

Libey didn’t buy it.

“I grew up where conduct spoke louder than words,” he said, alluding to the L.A. schools losing their board seats.

Libey included in his ruling that the conference shall be able to operate in the normal course of business until the stay is lifted.

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For years, Macky told the judge, Shaw’s abuse — along with the crushing reality that university officials didn’t believe her and allowed him to continue treating female athletes despite complaints from dozens of women — damaged her health, her career and her relationships.

Then, in the courtroom Tuesday, she looked up from her notes and faced Shaw directly.

“Scott, you are and have always been a coward,” she said, recounting the moment to the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday. “Your job was to heal people, not betray their
trust.”

Macky, 34, said she was the last of five former athletes from the swimming, water polo, softball and soccer teams who appeared in person to tell the judge the impact of Shaw’s abuse, which included inappropriately touching her under her bra and underwear. Some choked back tears. A sixth spoke by phone. Dozens of others submitted letters to the court.

When they were finished, federal district Judge Beth Labson Freeman sentenced Shaw to the maximum penalty on the federal civil rights charges — two years in federal prison. From the bench, the judge also admonished the university for not properly handling the complaints when they first surfaced, Macky said.

Shaw’s sentencing ends a university scandal that erupted in 2020 and led to the resignation of school President Mary Papazian and Athletic Director Marie Tuite and forced the university to pay more than $5 million to more than two dozen former athletes Shaw treated. After the U.S. Department of Justice conducted its own investigation and issued a scathing report in 2021, the university also pledged to overhaul its Title IX office and put more protections in place to keep students safe.

In addition to the prison term, Shaw, 56, was ordered to serve one year of supervised release after he leaves prison and pay a $15,000 fine, prosecutors said in a news release. He must also pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date.

Shaw previously pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the women’s constitutional rights to bodily integrity when he sexually abused them under the guise of treatment.

As part of a plea agreement, Shaw admitted to violating the civil rights of four students who played on teams by touching their breasts and buttocks without their consent and without a legitimate medical purpose. Although the complaints against Shaw first surfaced among 17 swimmers in 2009, the five-year statute of limitations only allowed crimes to be charged that occurred after 2017.

The most recent abuse occurred in 2020 — more than a decade after SJSU swim coach Sage Hopkins first took his swimmers’ allegations to university officials. At the time, a cursory investigation was conducted by a campus human resources employee who sided with Shaw, believing his treatment was legitimate “trigger point therapy” and the women were overreacting.

The plea deal struck in August came nearly two weeks after a federal jury deadlocked in tense deliberations, leading a judge to declare a mistrial. All but one or two jurors believed he was guilty on the original six charges he faced.

“This sentence should send a clear message that public school officials who exploit their positions of authority to sexually abuse and harass students will face serious consequences for their actions,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate violations of civil rights committed under the guise of legitimate medical treatment by those in positions of power and trust,” she said.

Shaw, who served as the university’s director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer since 2008, voluntarily left the university in 2020 while a renewed investigation was under way and yet another young athlete came forward. He is collecting a state pensionof $2,371 a month.

It was only after the swim coach took his years-long crusade to oust Shaw to the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2019 that the scandal surfaced and a second investigation was launched.

After the six former athletes addressed the court, Shaw turned to the women in the courtroom and apologized, Macky said. He also explained himself in a letter to the court, saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions but said he never touched the women for sexual gratification.

“It took seeing the effect of my actions on the women who testified to make me truly realize that I did a terrible job explaining myself to student-athletes, respecting them and their boundaries, asking them for consent, or offering chaperones to help them be more comfortable with the treatment I was providing them,” Shaw wrote.

Shaw’s apology landed flat with the women in the courtroom, Macky said in an interview Wednesday.

“Accountability would be admitting to all the wrongdoings you did to every single student athlete, including those outside of the statute,” Macky said.

Facing Shaw in the courtroom 14 years after she was first abused, she said, was therapeutic.

Although “I’m certainly never going to forgive him for what he’s done,” she said, “in a way, I feel I’m getting some closure.”

Still, so much of the pain and trauma could have been avoided — especially for Shaw’s most recent victims, she said.

“These things shouldn’t have happened to them,” Macky said, “if the school would have taken us more seriously back in 2009 or 2010.”

Taylor doesn’t disclose specific injury information, but the sophomore appeared to hurt his left hand while being tackled in the second quarter last week against Oregon State. Daniels re-entered the game for the second half, but seemed to aggravate the injury after being tackled again midway through the fourth quarter and never returned.

Daniels has thrown for 1,346 yards in the past five games, the fifth-most in the Pac-12, and his 58 carries over the last three games are the 11th-most by a QB in the FBS in that stretch.

In the last month, Daniels led a 29-point second-half comeback against Colorado and compiled 448 yards against Washington, the second-most total yards in a game by a Stanford QB. But he has struggled in his past two games, throwing for 115 yards on 31 attempts against Washington State and throwing three interceptions against Oregon State.

If Daniels isn’t available, Stanford does have an experienced backup. Sophomore Justin Lamson has started against Oregon and Colorado and has appeared in all but one game this season, mainly as a running option.

Lamson transferred in from Syracuse and was engaged in a quarterback competition with Daniels that went into the season. He has the most carries of any Pac-12 quarterback and leads the Cardinal in carries (110), rushing yards (246) and rushing touchdowns (4). Against Oregon, Lamson had 22 carries, the most by a Pac-12 quarterback in a single game since 2017.

Whoever the starting quarterback is, they will try to reverse a troublesome offensive trend for Stanford (3-7, 2-6 Pac-12) against Cal (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12). The Cardinal hasn’t scored more than 24 points against the Bears since 2016.

Even at full strength, Stanford was going to be challenged this year after quarterback Tanner McKee went pro and four offensive line starters transferred out. But the offense has also been hit by significant injuries.

Top receiver John Humphreys has been out since the season opener, top tight end Benjamin Yurosek hasn’t played since Oct. 13, and Casey Filkins, who has the most yards of any Stanford running back, also won’t play against Cal.

On the season, Stanford is 108th in points per game and tied for 88th in yards per game. First-year coach Troy Taylor came to The Farm as an offensive specialist, but he said he hasn’t been able to fully implement his scheme yet because of the team’s inexperience.

“There’s been adaptations for sure,” Taylor said. “You could see that if you just look at my offense in the past and what we’ve done. You have to adapt and make sure you’re putting your guys in the situation to be successful. So no, I wouldn’t say it’s the offense that you’re gonna see in the future. You’ve seen parts of it. But as we grow and continue to bring in more and more players and develop it’ll look quite a bit different.”

The Bears (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) and Cardinal (3-7, 2-6) meet for the 126th time in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Stanford Stadium, and there remains a lot on the line for Cal.

Wins at Stanford and UCLA the following week would make Cal bowl eligible for the first time since 2019. The Bears’ 42-39 victory over Washington State last Saturday snapped a four-game losing streak and kept that ambition afloat.

Asked during his weekly news conference about the Big Game’s place on the Bay Area sports landscape, Wilcox quipped, “Geez, I don’t know if we have enough time to give it its due.”

He will not pretend it’s just another game.

“This is one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics,” he said. “I think it’s OK to talk about it, the history, The Axe, all that goes into it. I want them to appreciate how much it means to people and how special it is.

“It’s an honor and it’s humbling, but what’s most important is that we practice really well to give ourselves the chance to play good football this weekend.”

The Bears’ mantra is to be 1-0 each week, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of the bigger picture.

“We know what the goal is,” Wilcox said. “But the only way to 2-0 is to go 1-0 this week.”

Defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said the Bears will be all business between now and Saturday.

“The emotions of football ultimately are necessary on game days,” he said, “but the emotion of football the five, six days leading up to that I don’t think is necessarily advantageous for the preparation.”

GENERATING QB PRESSURE: Cal remains one of the Pac-12’s least effective teams sacking the opposing quarterback, with just 16 in 10 games. But they had six of those in their win over WSU, and now face a Stanford team that has allowed 36 sacks, second-most in the conference.

The correlation between getting to the quarterback and finding some level of success slowing down prolific Pac-12 offenses seems clear.

“That’s the way you have to play defense in this conference right now,” Sirmon said. “The offenses are so talented, the quarterbacks, that you have to find disruptive plays.

“That’s really what the game was because we still gave up points but it was about finding those disruptive plays, getting some negative yardage plays on the sacks and ultimately some of the takeaways were the difference.”

The Bears forced four WSU turnovers, with linebacker Cade Uluave and defensive back Nohl Williams each returning a fumble for a touchdown.

EX-CARDINAL ANCHORS CAL’S LINE: Stanford is coached these days by former Cal star quarterback Troy Taylor. But the Bears got some help from Stanford in Barrett Miller, who transferred to Berkeley after four seasons on The Farm.

Miller started 30 games at guard for Stanford from 2019 through ’22, and has been a fixture at left tackle for the Bears. He is believed to be the first former Stanford player to wind up at Cal.

“He’s a very smart, tough, dependable guy. It’s been great having him on the team,” Wilcox said. “He’s been here just a short time but really fit in well. The guys on the team really respect him for how he goes about his business. Shoot, wish we had him for longer.”

INJURY REPORT: Running back Isaiah Ifanse, who rushed for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in the first eight games as Jaydn Ott’s backup, could miss his third straight outing due to injury. Wilcox labeled him day-to-day.

Freshman running back Jaivian Thomas, the Oakland product who injured his neck two weeks ago at Oregon and was briefly hospitalized, is out. He is week-to-week, Wilcox said.

Reserve quarterback Sam Jackson V is unavailable for the third straight week, meaning that Ben Finley remains the backup to redshirt freshman starter Fernando Mendoza.

He doesn’t.

Arizona State’s controversial athletic director announced his resignation Monday, effective immediately.

So ends a nine-year reign that featured the standard array of hits and misses typical of college sports administration, along with a blunder for the ages that will define his legacy in Tempe.

The architect of the Herm Edwards Experiment had a partner, of course: ASU president Michael Crow signed off on all the major decisions, including the bowl ban announced days before the start of the season.

But Crow’s the big boss and has done first-rate work for the university. Anderson was responsible for oversight of the football program and bears responsibility for hiring Edwards, his friend and former business partner, and for the NCAA recruiting transgressions that have engulfed the program for two-and-a-half years.

News of Anderson’s resignation sparked the type of unrestrained joy on social media typically reserved for the dismissal of losing coaches.

But Anderson’s actions, demeanor and decisions over the years alienated many constituents. It’s no coincidence that the school’s NIL arm, the Sun Angel Collective, set a single-day record Monday for new members, according to SunDevilSource.com.

The timing and wording of the announcement were curious. Why Monday instead of immediately following the regular season? Or instead of any day in the past two years?

The “effective immediately” piece certainly suggests it wasn’t Anderson’s call — that he’s going out on Crow’s terms, not his own.

Our presumption is the move connects directly and deeply to the NCAA recruiting violations, as opposed to general mismanagement of football specifically and athletics generally.

ASU has often been described as a “sleeping giant” within college athletics. We view the situation differently. It’s more like the Sun Devils are in a prolonged, medically induced coma resulting from so many self-inflicted wounds over the decades. (ASU has committed nine major NCAA violations over the course of decades, more than any Power Five school.)

Yes, the business model established by Crow — with the massive online education program and the sprawling real estate ventures — has allowed the university to subsidize athletics with more than $20 million annually.

Yes, the huge enrollment (about 60,000 students in Tempe) creates a base of student support for athletics.

And the improvement in high school football across metropolitan Phoenix has led to a bevy of blue-chip prospects within a short drive of campus.

Put another way: ASU has a well-resourced athletic department in a huge media market with an enormous alumni base and in-state talent.

For those reasons and more, including Crow’s willingness to pay his athletic director well — Anderson earned about $1 million annually — the Sun Devils will have a deep, impressive candidate pool.

Make no mistake: It’s a coveted job.

But it’s also more difficult than the view from afar would suggest, with lasting traction in Phoenix’s pro-sports market being ASU’s white whale.

The Sun Devils would be well served to hire a candidate who knows the school and the area, who’s thoroughly engaging and endlessly energetic — the administrative version of football coach Kenny Dillingham, an ASU graduate hired by Anderson and Crow last year.

But at the very least, Crow must hire an athletic director who understands the playing field, who can lean on industry contacts and experience as college sports undergoes unprecedented change.

The Sun Devils are entering the Big 12 next summer, but that’s merely a chapter in the story. Anderson’s replacement must position ASU for the next round of upheaval later this decade or early in the 2030s.

Crow is the wild card in the process.

He hired Anderson, a former sports agent and NFL executive.

He signed off on the Edwards experiment and the ‘New Leadership Model.’

He supported former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott’s failed policies and steered the conference straight toward the cliff.

He justifiably takes immense pride in his reputation as an innovator, in transforming ASU into a post-modern national university.

But in this case, Crow must resist his instincts.

Arizona State needs the anti-Anderson.

It needs someone who will connect with the community, not alienate the constituents.

It needs someone who will prepare for the future, not hire business partners from the past.

It needs someone who will embrace pragmatism, solve problems, shun hubris and position the Sun Devils to thrive in a dynamic landscape.

After all, Anderson’s attempt to reinvent the wheel is the reason ASU football crashed and burned.

The Sun Devils have a chance to thrive if they can just, for once, stay out of their own way.

Here’s an outside-the-box idea for Crow: Hire an AD from inside college sports.

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