Movies have sequels. Some have Squeakquels.
But football, rarely ever, gives teams a do-over.
With that in mind, we present a plotline for the as-yet-unmade "Groundhog Day" redux: Friday night's Pac-12 football championship game.
Six days after punching its ticket to the title game by winning 35-17 at UCLA, the Cardinal (10-2, 8-1) will again face the South division champion Bruins (9-3, 6-3).
Only the location is different: Stanford is hosting the South champions this time around.
Which, depending on how you look at it, makes the league championship game that much more interesting - or boring.
Stanford coach David Shaw, who was named the Pac-12 coach of the year, said Monday a challenge is "fighting complacency" after beating the same team.
"To think UCLA is going to come up here and roll over for us is extremely wrong," Shaw.
UCLA coach Jim Mora said he began thinking about the rematch before the left the field Saturday.
"We certainly need to do a better job of protecting our quarterback," Mora said. "Defensively, we need to eliminate the big runs against us. We did a fairly decent job in a general sense against the big run."
With only six days between games, though, familiarity isn't at all bad.
Mora said getting "the right mix of rest and work" is key this week, while Shaw said the Cardinal will have fewer physical practices.
"I suppose the fact that we're playing each other, as opposed to playing another opponent, helps both teams with your preparation," Mora said.
Stanford and UCLA played each other in the final week, in part, because the Cardinal had to shoehorn Notre Dame into its nonconference schedule and USC played the Irish on Saturday, bumping its tilt with UCLA up one week.
The Pac-12 could mandate only inter-divisional play in the final week to avoid the possibility of a title game rematch, but that could get complicated.
"One of the things I've learned - scheduling is unbelievably difficult," Shaw said. "You're talking about 12 teams with rotating schedules. Us and USC have to have the Notre Dame game. And rivalry games … And, oh yeah, let's make sure North plays North at the end of the year and South plays South. That's so hard to get completely done."
Mora said he wasn't "familiar enough" with the quirks of scheduling to say what changes could be made, but argued the title game wasn't losing its luster because of the circumstances.
"I think, regardless of it's a rematch or not, it's a tremendously interesting and exciting game for everybody," he said. "It's the Pac-12 championship game."
Embree: Good luck on hire
The list of Pac-12 head coaching vacancies grew to two, with Colorado firing Jon Embree after going 4-21 in two seasons. Cal coach Jeff Tedford was fired a week ago.
Monday, both Embree and CU athletic director Mike Bohn spoke to reporters about the surprising move. Coaches rarely are fired after two seasons, and Embree, an alum, inherited a losing program.
"If you just hire the next guy and say you've got two years, keep your fingers crossed," Embree said.
Bohn said he would form a search committee. "Jon's results were extremely revealing in a very short period of time, and the prowess of the Pac-12 conference revealed it a lot faster," Bohn said.
ASU defender honored
Will Sutton was named Arizona State's only first-team All-Pac-12 member Monday, but he received the highest honor afforded a defensive player.
The junior defensive end was named the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Pac-12 with 20 tackles for loss.
USC wide receiver Marqise Lee, who caught a conference-record 112 passes for a conference-best 1,180 yards, was named the top offensive player.
David Shaw of Stanford was named coach of the year for the second-straight season.
Marcus Mariota, who piloted Oregon to a one-loss season, was named the top freshman offensive player. Defensive end Leonard Williams of USC won the defensive award.
Here's a look at the first and second teams:
First Team Offense
QB Marcus Mariota, Fr., Oregon
RB Kenjon Barner, Sr., Oregon
RB Ka'Deem Carey, So., Arizona
WR Marqise Lee, So., USC
WR Markus Wheaton, Sr., Oregon State
TE Zach Ertz, Sr., Stanford
OL Hroniss Grasu, So., Oregon
OL Khaled Holmes, Sr., USC
OL Brian Schwenke, Sr., California
OL Xavier Su'a-Filo, So., UCLA
OL David Yankey, Jr., Stanford
First Team Defense
DL Scott Crichton, So., Oregon State
DL Dion Jordan, Sr., Oregon
DL Star Lotulelei, Sr., Utah
DL Will Sutton, Jr., Arizona State
LB Anthony Barr, Jr., UCLA
LB Trent Murphy, Sr., Stanford
LB Chase Thomas, Sr., Stanford
DB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, So., Oregon
DB Jordan Poyer, Sr., Oregon State
DB Ed Reynolds, Jr., Stanford
DB Desmond Trufant, Sr., Washington
First Team Specialists
PK Vince D'Amato, Jr., California
P Jeff Locke, Sr., UCLA
RS Reggie Dunn, Sr., Utah
ST Jordan Jenkins, Sr., Oregon State
Second Team Offense
QB Matt Scott, Sr., Arizona
RB Johnathan Franklin, Sr., UCLA
RB Stepfan Taylor, Sr., Stanford
WR Austin Hill, So., Arizona
WR Robert Woods, Jr., USC
TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins, So., Washington
OL Jeff Baca, Sr., UCLA
OL David Bakhtiari, Jr., Colorado
OL Sam Brenner, Sr., Utah
OL Kevin Danser, Sr., Stanford
OL Sam Schwartzstein, Sr., Stanford
Second Team Defense
DL Henry Anderson, Jr., Stanford
DL Morgan Breslin, Jr., USC
DL Ben Gardner, Sr., Stanford
DL Datone Jones, Sr., UCLA
LB Kiko Alonso, Sr., Oregon
LB Michael Clay, Sr., Oregon
LB Brandon Magee, Sr., Arizona State
DB Deone Bucannon, Jr., Washington State
DB Alden Darby, Jr., Arizona State
DB T.J. McDonald, Sr., USC
DB Nickell Robey, Jr., USC
Second Team Specialists
PK Andrew Furney, Jr., Washington State
P Josh Hubner, Sr., Arizona State
RS Marqise Lee, So., USC
ST David Allen, Sr., UCLA
Up next
• What: UCLA at Stanford, Pac-12 Championship game
• When: 6 p.m. Friday., Channel 11
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