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From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The crowd gasped. Justin Herbert yelled.
The sight of the Chargers’ quarterback absorbing a bone-shaking hit while scrambling made fans at SoFi Stadium hold their breath and nearby teammates rush to his aid, but Herbert popped right back up to his feet, extended the ball in his right hand and shouted as he emphatically signaled first down.
Herbert used both his arm and his legs to guide the Chargers in the right direction Sunday in a 26-8 win over the New Orleans Saints.
The quarterback threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns to Ladd McConkey and rushed for 49 more yards, including a career-high 38-yard run in the second quarter that seemed to set the tone for an offense still struggling to find steady footing.
After failing to score a touchdown in a loss to the Arizona Cardinals last Monday, Herbert said the Chargers (4-3) still were searching for their offensive identity. However long the discovery process takes for first-year offensive coordinator Greg Roman, the search will undoubtedly circle back to Herbert.
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The Dodgers breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sunday.
After Shohei Ohtani left Game 2 of the World Series with a partially dislocated left shoulder, the team is optimistic that he’ll be back in the lineup for Game 3 on Monday, manager Dave Roberts said.
“He’s got to still go through the workout [today] and swing the bat,” Roberts said Sunday, ahead of the Dodgers’ off-day workout at Yankee Stadium. “But today feels better than yesterday, and our assumption is tomorrow’s going to feel better than today. So with that, that’s what I’m banking on.”
Ohtani got hurt in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ Game 2 win on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, when he jammed his left arm while sliding into second base on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt.
While the rest of the team flew to New York immediately after the victory, which gave the Dodgers a two-games-to-none lead over the Yankees in the World Series, Ohtani stayed back in Los Angeles to get an MRI exam. He flew to New York on Sunday morning and joined the team at the ballpark for their workout.
Roberts didn’t have — or at least didn’t offer — specifics on what the MRI of Ohtani’s shoulder revealed.
‘We’ve all been battle-tested.’ Dodgers’ relievers rely on each other to seal wins
Shaikin: Yoshinobu Yamamoto proves there is still strength in Dodgers’ starting pitching
WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
All games on Fox
All games at 5:08 p.m.
Dodgers vs. NY Yankees
at Dodgers 6, New York 3 (10) (box score)
at Dodgers 4, New York 2 (box score)
Monday at New York
Tuesday at New York
*Wednesday at New York
*Friday at Dodgers
*Saturday at Dodgers
*-if necessary
UCLA-USC SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: When Jane Alukonis was hired as the women’s soccer coach at USC three years ago, part of her mission was to bring the school an outright conference championship such as those she won as an assistant at UCLA.
She never imagined that title would come in the expanded Big Ten, the conference the Trojans joined last summer after three decades in the Pac-12.
“I’m very happy with this,” Alukonis said Sunday after the Trojans’ 1-0 win over UCLA at Dignity Health Sports Park. “The Pac-12 would have been nice as well. I have [two] of those. But the Big Ten is so much bigger and more competitive.
“So I’m very, very happy, especially because it’s the first one for our university. We knew we had to come out and get it and give back to the school that gives a lot to us.”
The win — and the title — came on Maile Hayes’ goal in the 36th minute. The senior forward ran on to a nice feed from Helena Sampaio and one-timed a right-footed shot through the legs of UCLA keeper Ryan Campbell.
LAFC
From Kevin Baxter: No MLS coach has won more regular-season games over the past three years than LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo. But that’s really been just an opening act, an appetizer. Because where Cherundolo and his team shine brightest is in the playoffs, which they opened again Sunday with a methodical 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps before a sold-out crowd of 22,298 at BMO Stadium.
With the win, on goals from Denis Bouanga and Cristian Olivera, LAFC goes into the second game of the best-of-three playoff next weekend needing a victory to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. If Vancouver wins, the series will return to BMO Stadium on Nov. 8 for the third and deciding game.
Since taking over LAFC, Cherundolo has lost just once in nine postseason games, winning one MLS Cup and losing by a goal in another. If he gets his team back to the championship game again this fall, he’ll become just the third man in league history — and the first in 17 years — to take his team to the final in three consecutive seasons.
DUCKS
Stefan Noesen scored twice in the second period, Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves and the New Jersey Devils downed the Ducks 6-2 on Sunday.
Jack Hughes, Paul Cotter, Nico Hischier and Erik Haula also scored for the Devils, who scored four goals in the second period.
Hughes tied the contest at 1 1:15 into the second after Anaheim’s Brock McGinn scored in the first period. Noesen put New Jersey (6-4-2) ahead 2-1 at 4:42 of the middle period and scored again on a power play with 2:37 left in the period.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1950 — Nevada punter Pat Brady boots an NCAA record 99-yard punt in a 34-7 loss to Loyola Marymount.
1962 — New York Giants quarterback Y.A. Title passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns, and Del Schofner catches 11 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown in a 49-34 victory over the Washington Redskins.
1973 — Gail Goodrich scores 49 points and seven-foot center Elmore Smith sets an NBA record with 17 blocked shots as the Lakers beat Portland 111-98.
1973 — With jockey Eddie Maple substituting for suspended Ron Turcotte, Secretariat concludes his racing career with a victory in the Canadian International Championship Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto.
1989 — Tony Alford of Colorado State rushes for 310 yards in 28 carries to break a Western Athletic Conference record and scores three touchdowns in a 50-10 win over Utah.
1989 — Central State crushes Lane 101-0. Lane concedes with 11:26 to play in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Henderson Mosley runs for three touchdowns and passes for six.
1990 — Jennifer Capriati, 14, beats Zina Garrison in three sets to capture the Puerto Rico Open and become the youngest player to qualify for the Virginia Slims Championship.
1993 — Ron Francis becomes the 38th NHL player to score 1,000 points with a goal in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 7-3 loss to the Quebec Nordiques.
1995 — Cigar completes an undefeated season of 10 straight wins with a rousing 2½-length victory under Jerry Bailey in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Cigar, the 3-to-5 favorite, covers the 1 1/4 miles in a time of 1:59 2/5 to beat L’Carriere and give Bailey his third consecutive Classic win.
1997 — Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer are hired as full-time NBA referees, marking the first time in major pro sports in the United States that females will officiate regular-season games in an all-male league.
2010 — Caroline Wozniacki wraps up the year-end No. 1 ranking after rallying to beat Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the WTA Championships. The 20-year-old from Denmark is the 10th woman to end the season on top and the youngest since Martina Hingis in 1997.
2016 — Russell Westbrook has 51 points and a triple-double and scores the winning points in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 113-110 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns. It’s the first 50-point triple-double since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had one in 1975. Westbrook finishes with 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
2017 — J.T. Barrett caps the greatest game of his career with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Baugh with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter and No. 6 Ohio State rallies from 11 down in the final five minutes to hand No. 2 Penn State its first loss, 39-38.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.