Pac-12 Notebook: Ka'Deem Carey preparing to carry Wildcats

Arizona RB Ka'Deem Carey is looking to go "beast mode" against Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl. (AP)

• If Arizona Wildcats RB Ka'Deem Carey is starting to look like another former prominent Pac-12 running back, blame a tiny energy drink. Carey is friendly and tame off the field, but he turns into a monster on the field, sending opposing defenses into the corner, sucking their thumbs, in the same mold of former Cal running back Marshawn Lynch.
  
  He even borrowed a familiar phrase.
  
  "It's like I turn into The Hulk or something," he told Ryan Finley of the Arizona Daily Star. "I drink a little 5-hour Energy, and it's just like, 'Ahhhh!' … I go into beast mode. I get mad at the other team for showing up."
  
  Once Carey is ready for action, he lets his teammates know. Loudly. They'll hear it one more time this year on Saturday, as the Wildcats prepare to face Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl.
  
  "It's a rah-rah speech, and coming from Ka'Deem, you laugh at first," Arizona's Marquis Flowers told Finley. "But then you know he's serious. He goes out there and 'puts on' for the whole team. We know we're going to have to go out there and match his effort, match his intensity."
  
  
• All the presents in the world won't make this a December to remember for the Utah Utes. With expectations raised after frequent high-value bowl berths in the 2000s, the Utes failed to qualify for the postseason in 2012 at 5-7. That makes this month a bit awkward for a program used to preparing for one last game.
  
  "It was disappointing," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told the Salt Lake Tribune's Lya Wodraska. "We expect to go to bowl games. That is the standard here, and we know we have our work cut out for us this offseason."

• UCLA has not had a Heisman contender for a long, long time, but Brett Hundley got there in a hurry. The redshirt freshman quarterback will return for his sophomore season as a candidate for the coveted trophy, Ryan Kartje of the Orange County Register writes. He and Oregon redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota were both given 15-to-1 odds to win the Heisman next year, far behind Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller, both at 7-to-2.
  
  
• Caught in the awkward spot between current and former programs, new Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre is working on assembling his new coaching staff. Now he just has to wait on his old staff, as John Henderson of the Denver Post writes.
  
  With MacIntyre's former squad, San Jose State, preparing for the Military Bowl against Bowling Green, the Buffaloes wait in earnest to find out who among that staff will join MacIntyre in Boulder. Henderson writes that MacIntyre is interested in bringing along defensive coordinator Kent Baer, offensive coordinator Brian Lingren to Boulder, and defensive line coach Jim Jeffcoat to join his new staff.

• Like Colorado, Cal is undergoing a staff overhaul. Unlike MacIntyre, though, Sonny Dykes doesn't have to worry about a pesky bowl game to deal with, even though his former Louisiana Tech squad went 10-2 and led the nation in scoring. Dykes, though, is making a quick impact at Cal: The last of the holdovers from Jeff Tedford's staff, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Jim Michalczik, was let go, Jeff Faraudo of the San Jose Mercury News writes.
  
  
• As two Pac-12 schools deal with coaching changes, one fanbase should be pleased that it appears they won't have to. Oregon State coach Mike Riley told ESPN's Joe Schad that he "has not interviewed, isn't scheduled to interview and has no interest in Wisconsin."

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