CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State fired coach Trent Bray on Sunday after the team fell to 0-7, its worst start to a season since 1991.
Robb Akey will be the interim head coach for the rest of the seson pending a national search for Bray’s successor, athletic director Scott Barnes said.
“I want to thank Coach Bray for the energy and determination he brought to the role. A former student-athlete, proud graduate, and dedicated mentor, Trent’s connection to Oregon State runs deep — he will always be a Beaver,” Barnes said. “This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable and after evaluating every aspect of the football program, I believe it is in the best interests of OSU football student-athletes, our fans and our university.”
The move came a day after backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for Wake Forest and the visiting Demon Deacons beat Oregon State 39-14 in front of a listless home crowd. The Beavers haven’t started this poorly since 1991, when they started 0-10.
After the game, Bray said he planned to keep showing up “until they tell me I can’t.”
“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it,” Bray said after the game. “It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”
A week ago, Oregon State fired special teams coach Jamie Christian and Barnes said he and Bray were evaluating the program with an eye toward making immediate changes.
The buyout of Bray’s contract will be paid “exclusively using donor-generated funds,” the school said.
Akey is a veteran coach with experience in college and as an NFL assistant.
During the game’s first series, the lifelong fan saw No. 15 on the UCLA defense surge into the Nevada Las Vegas backfield. Morales wondered about the identity of this fast, feisty edge rusher and looked him up. It was Anthony Jones, a transfer from Michigan State.
Later, Morales watched No. 3 in coverage and commenced another search. It was defensive back Robert Stafford III, a transfer from Miami (Fla.).
UNLV’s Var’Keyes Gumms (30) stiff arms UCLA’s Cole Martin (21) while scoring a receiving touchdown at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nev.
(Ian Maule / Getty Images)
Curious about the starting offensive linemen, Morales went back to his phone once more. He discovered a group that included three new starters in left tackle Courtland Ford and guards Eugene Brooks and Julian Armella — all transfers.
“I didn’t recognize any of the numbers,” Morales said.
Similar bewilderment was playing out in the San Diego living room of Ted Zeigler. Watching the game on his 65-inch television, the self-described hardcore Bruins fan also had the roster pulled up on his phone for ready reference, alternating between one screen and the other.
“This adds another dimension to watching the game that I wasn’t looking for,” Zeigler said. “I just feel disinterested.”
It’s hard to be a UCLA fan these days for reasons that go beyond the team’s 0-2 record. Few recognize more than a handful of names on a roster laden with 57 new players, including 37 transfers in their first season with the team.
The days of starting lineups rife with Bruins who have been in the program for two or three years may have gone the way of New Year’s Day bowl appearances for a team stuck in a decade-long funk.
All the new faces are a function of unlimited transfers in college football — Jones is attending his fourth college in as many years, after previous stops at Michigan State, Indiana and Oregon — and a need to restock the roster after the Bruins lost every starter on defense and seven on offense.
UCLA is hardly the only team experiencing such massive turnover, though that disclaimer has done little to lessen the growing detachment some fans feel watching a team only recognizable because of its uniforms.
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava looks to pass during a game against UNLV at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nev.
(Ian Maule / Getty Images)
“College football’s changed,” Bruins coach DeShaun Foster said. “It’s not the same game it was when I played, it’s not the same game that it was when I started coaching and it’s evolving every day, basically.”
For Foster’s team, those changes have involved a curious lack of marketing of newcomers who presumably want to build their brands in an era when they are paid for their name, image and likeness.
From the start of training camp, Foster severely restricted media access. Reporters were allowed to observe stretching, individual drills and a handful of plays involving the offense facing the defense — and even those glimpses of team periods have been eliminated in recent weeks. Requests for feature story interviews involving players and a staff including eight new assistant coaches have largely been not just denied but ignored.
“It’s tough,” Foster said when asked about granting interviews for human-interest stories, “but we’re trying to win games.”
So where does that leave the fans? Some say they’re watching as much out of habit as interest, especially since they know so little about the team they have long loved.
“Foster shielding the media from camp and everything,” said Vic Deverian, a UCLA graduate and longtime season ticket-holder, “you didn’t get a chance to know who the players were, who looked good in practice — you didn’t know any of that stuff. So it’s kind of like going on a lot of blind dates — it’s like, I don’t know who you are but this is where I’m supposed to be on Saturday and I’m going to watch UCLA, but I don’t recognize these players at all.”
Among the new players Deverian has developed a fondness for in the season’s early going are slot receiver Mikey Matthews, quarterback Nico Iamaleava and running back Anthony Woods.
“He’s a talented running back,” Deverian said of Woods, who arrived at UCLA after previous stops at Utah and Idaho. “He needs to get the ball more.”
Utah linebacker Trey Reynolds (37) intercepts the ball as UCLA receiver Kwazi Gilmer (3) tries to stop him on Aug. 31 at the Rose Bowl.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
But how many of the new players will make more than a cameo appearance as Bruins? Iamaleava said in July that he hoped to head to the NFL after this season and as many as 33 players will have exhausted their eligibility by season’s end, possibly leading to another large group of transfers.
Foster said he didn’t want to dip so heavily into the transfer portal in future seasons, which would require extensive player retention and success in high school recruiting.
“If you can get guys and develop them, then they understand your culture, you know?” Foster said. “But when you’re getting new guys and you don’t have them for as long as you would like, they’re still learning the culture, you know?”
Longtime fan and UCLA graduate Travis Fuller said he felt especially close to the team growing up watching stars such as Cade McNown, Marcedes Lewis and Drew Olson because they spent multiple years in blue and gold, developing into widely known personalities.
Now, a high turnover rate is compounded by a lack of success for a program that hasn’t won much since coach Jim Mora guided the Bruins to a 10-3 season in 2014 while setting attendance records at the Rose Bowl.
Contrast that with what could be a record-low crowd Friday night when UCLA faces New Mexico (1-1) at the Rose Bowl given the confluence of weekday traffic, an opponent from the Mountain West Conference and a winless, largely anonymous batch of Bruins.
Lifelong fan Scott Detki, who acknowledged feeling more detached from the Bruins than usual, said he would be driven to learn about a successful team.
“I would be more attached if the team was actually winning,” Detki said, “because that would inspire me to be like, ‘Oh, who’s this guy? Where did he come from?’ It almost leads to more questions on what their story was.”
Then again, maybe there’s an upside to all of this unfamiliarity. As the Bruins fell behind by 23 points against UNLV last weekend, Morales found some comfort in knowing so little about his favorite team.
“It maybe made it a little easier to watch because I couldn’t get mad at any of the players,” Morales said with a laugh. “I don’t know who’s who, so I don’t know who I’m upset with.”
ARLINGTON, Texas — Zach Neto homered on the game’s first pitch and the Angels, with manager Ron Washington present for the first time in more than two months, beat the Texas Rangers and All-Star pitcher Jacob deGrom 4-0 on Monday night.
José Soriano (9-9) struck out six over 5⅓ innings and gave up four hits in his first start since coming off the paternity list. Four relievers finished off the Angels’ sixth shutout this season.
Washington hasn’t managed the Angels since June 19, and revealed before the game that he is recovering from quadruple bypass heart surgery eight weeks ago. He won’t return to managing this season, but wants to be with the Angels, and watched from a booth upstairs after being with them pregame.
DeGrom (10-6) is 0-4 in five starts since his last win July 22, and the right-hander was pitching for the first time in 10 days after Texas skipped his last scheduled start because of shoulder fatigue. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out seven, walked two and hit a batter over five innings. He gave up two runs and three hits.
Travis d’Arnaud had an RBI single in the Angels fourth, and Luis Rengifo had an RBI double in the sixth. Logan O’Hoppe led off the ninth with his 19th homer.
Key moment: Texas was coming off consecutive shutout wins and a three-game sweep over Cleveland before Neto’s leadoff homer extended his single-season franchise record to nine. He has 22 homers overall.
Key stat: Soriano faced the minimum 12 batters through the first four innings, benefiting from double plays after surrending leadoff singles in the third and fourth innings.
Up next: A matchup of left-handers Tuesday when Yusei Kikuchi (6-8, 3.42 ERA) pitches for the Angels and Patrick Corbin (6-9, 4.61) goes for Texas.
TAMPA, Fla. — Blake Snell nearly had a flawless return from the injured list on Saturday afternoon.
If only the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t have slugger Yandy Díaz, or a quirky short right-field wall at their temporary home at Steinbrenner Field.
Making his first start since the second week of the season, when he went down with a shoulder injury that shelved him, Snell largely looked like the ace the Dodgers thought they were getting when they signed him to a $182-million contract this offseason.
Over a five-inning outing that included eight strikeouts, no walks and a whole bunch of flailing swings by the Rays, the veteran left-hander flashed his two-time Cy Young Award-winning stuff and tantalizing late-season potential for this year.
However, in the Dodgers’ 4-0 loss to the Rays, Snell gave up three runs on a pair of long balls to Díaz — who twice took advantage of the ballpark’s short porch in right field.
“I thought, to be quite frank, he was a victim of this ballpark,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “There were a couple fly balls to right field that just went out. … Unfortunately, got a little bit of bad luck.”
After the Rays’ permanent home, Tropicana Field in nearby St. Petersburg, had its canvas roof shredded during Hurricane Milton this winter, the club relocated to Steinbrenner Field for this season; using the New York Yankees’ open-air, Tampa-based spring training park for its home schedule.
Since the 10,000-seat venue was modeled after Yankee Stadium in New York, its defining feature is a short right-field wall (similar to the one in the Bronx) that measures at just 314 feet down the line — eight feet shorter than the dimensions at Tropicana Field.
In the bottom of the first inning, Díaz took full advantage, golfing a 3-1 fastball the other way for a solo home run. According to MLB’s Statcast system, the ball traveled only 326 feet, and would have stayed in play at each of the league’s other 29 stadiums. But not here, and especially not on a sweltering summer afternoon with a first-pitch temperature of 91 degrees.
“I was surprised,” Roberts said of watching Díaz’s ball land in the first row of seats.
“They took advantage of the field,” added right fielder Teoscar Hernández.
Indeed, Díaz repeated the act two innings later; snapping the groove Snell had settled into after retiring seven of the next eight batters, including five on strikeouts.
On a 1-1 fastball that was up in the zone, Díaz launched one to the opposite field again, hitting a two-run blast on a 341-foot fly ball that would’ve been a homer in only two other parks (Yankee Stadium, and Daikin Park in Houston).
“The first homer to Yandy, that was not a good pitch,” Snell said. “On the second homer, I thought that was a really good pitch to him, and it was. Just a good result for him.”
Still, on the whole, Snell offered plenty of promise in his return to action Saturday.
First and foremost, he filled up the strike zone, eliminating his habit of nibbling around the plate by throwing 57 strikes in 86 pitches.
“I was in the zone more than I thought I would’ve been,” he said. “You’re just trying to feel it out again, so I like that.”
And, in another positive development, many of those strikes were of the swing-and-miss variety.
Snell racked up 19 total whiffs, tied for third-most by a Dodgers pitcher in a game this season. Seven came on 12 total swings against his changeup, a key offspeed pitch that showed no signs of rust after his four-month layoff. Five more were courtesy of his slider, with the Rays coming up empty on all five swings against it.
“I was in the zone, I was confident, I knew what I wanted to do,” Snell said. “Overall, first start back, emotions, there’s a lot that I’m dealing with to get better. … But definitely something to build on, learn from.”
In the big picture, after all, the Dodgers’ main priorities for Snell are: 1) Stay healthy; 2) Pitch better than he did at the start of the season, when his bothersome shoulder contributed to two underwhelming outings that marred the beginning of his Dodgers career.
Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz watches his solo home run off Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning Saturday.
(Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)
Down the stretch this season, the Dodgers’ biggest strength might be their rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is in the Cy Young Award conversation. Tyler Glasnow has looked improved since returning from his own shoulder injury. Shohei Ohtani has quickly rediscovered his premium stuff coming off a second career Tommy John procedure. And even Clayton Kershaw has been productive in his 18th season.
The biggest linchpin, though, likely remains Snell — whom the Dodgers targeted this offseason in hopes of avoiding the tightrope they walked last October, when their injury-ravaged rotation was almost completely depleted by the start of the postseason.
“Last year, we found a way to do it, not having that [rotation depth],” Roberts said. “But having the starters healthy, pitching the way they’re capable of, makes it a better quality of life for everyone.”
While the Dodgers had managed in Snell’s absence, maintaining a narrow lead in the National League West despite another prolonged stretch of patchwork pitching, Roberts acknowledged they had missed his “presence” over the first two-thirds of the season.
And after watching from afar how well Snell finished last year — when he rebounded from another extended early-season IL stint with the San Francisco Giants by posting a 1.23 ERA over his last 12 starts, including his first no-hitter exactly one year ago Saturday — Roberts was hopeful the 32-year-old could mount a similar “heater” now.
“He’s really focused,” Roberts said. “I love where his head’s at.”
The results on Saturday might not have been enough to compensate for the Dodgers’ quiet day at the plate — with their lineup managing only six hits and squandering its best opportunity to rally on Hernández’s bases-loaded, inning-ending double-play grounder in the top of the sixth.
But it nonetheless raised hopes about the potential of the team’s late-season rotation, offering a long-awaited glimpse of the kind of dominance Snell could provide to the Dodgers’ push to defend their World Series championship.
“I thought Blake threw the baseball really well today,” Roberts said. “Just kind of seeing him out there, competing, making pitches, it just makes you feel better going forward.”
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Djordje Mihailovic and Calvin Harris scored four-minutes apart in the first half and the Colorado Rapids beat the Galaxy2-0 on Wednesday night in a game delayed two hours due to weather.
Colorado (7-8-4) snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Galaxy (1-13-5) lost to the Rapids for the first time since May 6, 2023.
Mihailovic headed in Sam Vines’ cross for his eighth goal of the season to end Colorado’s a 261-minute goal drought. Harris, in his first start of the season, scored his second goal in 12 appearances.
Harris nearly made it 3-0 in the 55th on a shot that hit off the post.
Rookie Nico Hansen, standing in for the injured Zack Steffen since May 17, recorded his third clean sheet in just seven starts.
