Pac-12 Notebook: Bowl games means bowl gifts

Arizona RB Ka'Deem Carey finished the season with 1,929 yards, the fifth highest total in Pac-12 history. (US Presswire)

Here are some news and notes from around the Pac-12:

• One of the best rewards of bowl season for the players are bowl gifts. The NCAA allows each bowl to award players up to $550 worth of goodies and gifts. The SportsBusiness Journal compiled a list what each bowl is handing out this postseason and here are some of the Pac-12 highlights: UCLA players will get a Best Buy gift card, a Tourneau watch and a Maui Jim sunglasses gift certificate for playing in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. Arizona State players will get a watch, too as the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl will be giving the team a Fossil watch, a Nike Fuelband and a FoxL wireless portable speaker system among other things. Stanford's first trip to the Rose Bowl since 2000 will earn Cardinal players a Fossil Watch, an Oakley backpack and a gift suite. A gift suite is generally where the players choose from certain items offered by one of the game's sponsors. You can view the entire list of bowl gifts here.
  
  
• Arizona running back Ka'Deem Carey finished up his sophomore season with 172 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats' 49-48 New Mexico Bowl win over Nevada. The 172 yards against the Wolf Pack pushed Carey's season total to 1,929 yards, a number good enough to get his name in the Pac-12 record book, the Tucson Citizen reported. The sophomore's 1,929 yards is the fifth highest single-season total in conference history, trailing only Marcus Allen (2,427 yards, 1981), Charles White (2,050, 1979), J.J. Arrington (2,018, 2004) and Ricky Bell (1,975, 1975).
  
  
• Cal's 3-9 season this year may have had something to do with its schedule. According to Phil Steele's "toughest schedule" rankings released on Monday, the Golden Bears played the toughest schedule in the Pac-12 this season and fifth toughest in the country. However, Cal fans may not want to use that excuse because Stanford fans might laugh at them. The Cardinal finished 11-2 this season and won the Pac-12 title despite playing the sixth toughest schedule in the country, according to Steele. The Pac-12 team with the easiest schedule? Arizona State. Although the Sun Devils played the easiest schedule in the Pac-12, their schedule still ranked the 50th most difficult in the country.
  
  
• USC coach Lane Kiffin has no plans to hire an offensive coordinator for next season, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Kiffin had mentioned during the regular season that he would look at all possibilities as far hiring an OC so that he could manage games from the sideline. However, it now looks like Kiffin has changed his mind, which really shouldn't surprise anyone.
  
  
• Oregon State's next game will be played in San Antonio, a city at least one person in the program is familiar with -- and that person is coach Mike Riley. Riley coached the San Antonio Rough Riders in the World League of American Football, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported. "I really like those teams," he said. "They were a neat age of guys who had been in an NFL camp for a year or just out of college and cut, looking for another opportunity." Riley coached the Rough Riders for two years (1991-92) before leaving San Antonio to become the offensive coordinator at USC. Riley's stint at USC led him to Oregon State, his first college head-coaching position.

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