GOOD:
— Coach Dana Altman continued his effort to stockpile big men for the 2014-2015 basketball season, as Oregon picked up a commitment from four-star center Michael Chandler on Tuesday night. The news was first broken on Twitter by Brad Winton of JucoRecruiting.com. Chandler was considered a top-50 prospect out of high school before failing to qualify academically at University of Central Florida in 2011, and so he elected to play junior college ball at NW Florida State. Talent on the basketball court was never an issue for the 6-foot-1o, 24o-pounder, who will provide Altman with another option on a front line that will be without Mike Moser, Waverly Austin and Richard Armadi after this season.
— Marcus Mariota gained the respect of at least one UCLA defender this past weekend. On Monday morning, several sources reported that UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr praised Mariota for asking a referee not to call a late hit after UCLA linebacker Jordan Zumwalt knocked Oregon’s quarterback out of bounds. As Ducks fans may recall, Zumwalt showed plenty of emotion during the second quarter of Saturday’s game. Zumwalt motioned with his hands that he had put De’Anthony Thomas to sleep following a jarring hit for a loss on the Oregon running back, then waved goodbye to Thomas two plays later after another tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
— Oregon goalkeeper Abby Steele made a tremendous save on a penalty kick in the 50th minute of Monday night’s 1-0 win against No. 12 California. At the time, Steele’s save preserved a scoreless tie, allowing the Ducks to take the lead shortly after when Maryn Beutler scored from 25 yards out in the 55th minute. Monday’s contest was the final home game of the season for the Ducks, and the Oregon women went out in style, defeating a ranked team for the first time since 2011.
BAD:
— Stanford’s defense suffered a major blow on Tuesday when it was announced that senior defensive end and team captain Ben Gardner will miss the remainder of the season with a left pectoral muscle tear. Gardner suffered the injury in the third quarter of last week’s game against Oregon State and will undergo surgery on Thursday. Gardner had been a second-team All-Pac-12 selection each of the past two seasons and ranked second on the team in sacks (4.5) and third in tackles for loss (7.5) in 2013. Fellow defensive end Henry Anderson has been out with a knee injury since early September and his status for Stanford’s Nov. 7 showdown against Oregon is currently unclear.
— Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL during Monday night’s game against St. Louis. Rice has dealt with numerous injuries during his three-year stint with the Seahawks, including a concussion and shoulder injuries that forced him to miss seven games in 2011. While Rice wasn’t having the most productive of seasons, his loss makes the return of Percy Harvin even more crucial for the current NFC West leaders.
UGLY:
— In case you missed it, Oregon football fans were put on blast Tuesday, as an anonymous former Ducks football player reportedly sent a letter to the Oregonian’s John Canzano, telling Oregon football fans to “go (expletive) yourselves.” In the letter to Canzano, the player said that he attended his first Ducks football game as a spectator this past Saturday and claimed to be verbally attacked by a group of drunk fans after he challenged them about criticism that they yelled at individual Oregon players.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch