USC quarterback Husan Longstreet enters the portal
From Ryan Kartje: When Husan Longstreet arrived at USC a year ago, the expectation was the five-star freshman would be the Trojans’ future at quarterback.
But after just one season at USC, Longstreet is leaving.
The true freshman passer and former top prospect officially entered the NCAA transfer portal Thursday, throwing the Trojans’ future plans at football’s most important position into question. USC has just two quarterbacks currently on the roster, one being a true freshman in Jonas Williams.
There’s no doubt, however, who will remain USC’s quarterback next season. Returning starter Jayden Maiava, who led the Big Ten in passing yards last season (3,711) announced his intent last month to play another season at USC, as opposed to declaring for the NFL draft.
That left Longstreet with a choice: Spend another season on the sideline or search for opportunity elsewhere.
Here’s what UCLA needs to fix
From Ben Bolch: When his team lost three consecutive games during what was shaping up as a rocky debut season, Mick Cronin made players and coaches go through practices without the UCLA logo on their tank tops and shorts.
There’s currently no need to strip anyone of anything.
This already looks nothing like what UCLA basketball is supposed to be.
The defense is lagging, the roster is lacking and nobody seems to know what to do about it.
A second consecutive loss has dropped the Bruins squarely into bubble territory for the NCAA tournament, somewhere a team that wears these four letters across its chest should never be. They are a middling 10-5 with no compelling victories and a .500 record early in Big Ten play.
Here are five fixes designed to get a team that entered the season ranked No. 12 playing closer to expectations:
Dodgers avoid arbitration
From Benjamin Royer: The Dodgers won’t be heading to an arbitration hearing after all.
Outfielder Alex Call (one-year, $1.6 million) and relief pitchers Anthony Banda (one-year, $1.625 million) and Brock Stewart (one-year, $1.3 million) each avoided arbitration, coming to an agreement with the Dodgers before Thursday’s MLB arbitration deadline, people familiar with the situation but unauthorized to speak publicly confirmed to The Times.
Ducks lose eighth in a row
Jalen Chatfield’s first goal of the season was a tiebreaker and goalie Frederik Andersen snapped a personal nine-game losing streak as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ducks 5-2 on Thursday night.
Chatfield, a defenseman playing in his 300th career game, scored during the Hurricanes’ three-goal second period. He also had an assist.
Ryan Poehling and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks (21-20-3), who have an eight-game losing streak (0-7-1). Ville Husso stopped 30 shots.
Former employee sues Ducks and NHL for sexual harassment and discrimination
Chloe Kim injured
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim said Thursday that she dislocated her shoulder in training and doesn’t know whether she will be able to compete at the Winter Games in Italy next month.
Kim posted footage of her fall from earlier this week on the halfpipe in Laax, Switzerland, where the world’s top snowboarders compete later this month in a key pre-Olympic tune-up. She landed a jump cleanly but lost an edge and went skittering across the pipe, face down.
Kim, who did not say which shoulder she hurt, said she is “trying to stay optimistic” about competing at the Olympics but “[doesn’t] have much clarity now.” The 25-year-old said she has an MRI scheduled for Friday that will reveal the extent of the damage.
How Puka Nacua became the best pass catcher
From Gary Klein: The spectacular one-handed catch looked like the kind of play that could only be made with sudden adjustment. A reaction with no thought or practice required.
But that’s not how it went down for Rams star receiver Puka Nacua.
Nacua’s fourth-down touchdown catch against the Arizona Cardinals in the regular-season season finale had its roots in a conversation with quarterback Matthew Stafford.
“Just trusting the technique is something that actually me and Matthew talked about in the week before in a rep during practice,” Nacua said. “The angle departure that we were looking at.
“It’s crazy how some of those things come to life on Sundays.”
Stafford and Nacua were the NFL’s top connection this season.
NFL playoffs schedule
NFL wild-card picks: Rams get revenge on Panthers; Packers beat Bears
All times Pacific
Wild-card round
NFC
Saturday
No. 5 Rams at No. 4 Carolina, 1:30 p.m., FOX, FOX Deportes
No. 7 Green Bay at No. 2 Chicago, 5 p.m., Prime Video
Sunday
No. 6 San Francisco at No. 3 Philadelphia, 1:30 p.m., FOX, FOX Deportes
AFC
Sunday
No. 6 Buffalo at No. 3 Jacksonville, 10 a.m., CBS, Paramount+
No. 7 Chargers at No. 2 New England, 5 p.m., NBC, Peacock, Universo
Monday
No. 5 Houston at No. 4 Pittsburgh, 5 p.m., ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes; ManningCast-ESPN2
Divisional round
Jan. 17 and 18, TBA
Conference championships
Sunday, Jan. 25, TBA
Super Bowl
Sunday, Feb. 8, NBC, Time TBA
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1942 — Joe Louis knocks out Buddy Baer with four seconds left in the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York to retain the world heavyweight title.
1977 — Oakland wins its first NFL title nd the Minnesota Vikings drop their fourth Super Bowl as the Raiders post a 32-14 triumph.
1988 — Anthony Carter catches 10 passes for an NFL postseason-record 227 yards to lead the Minnesota Vikings to a 36-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers and advanced to the NFC title game.
1991 — Dean Smith collects his 700th career coaching victory as North Carolina routs Maryland 105-73. Smith is the sixth Division I basketball coach to reach the 700-win plateau and does so in the shortest time.
1996 — The Toronto Raptors set an NBA record by not making a free throw in a 92-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The expansion Raptors shoots 0-for-3 from the foul line.
2004 — Brian Boucher of Phoenix posts his fifth consecutive shutout in a 2-0 win over Minnesota. He stops 21 shots and passes Bill Durnan’s NHL mark of 309:21, early in the third period.
2006 — Kobe Bryant of the Lakers scores 45 points against Indiana, making him the first player since Wilt Chamberlain — in November of 1964 — to score at least that many in four straight games.
2007 — Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mark McGwire, whose 583 home runs ranked seventh on the career list, does not make it on his first ballot.
2008 — Golf Channel suspends anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks for saying a week earlier that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”
2010 — Peyton Manning becomes the first player to win The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player honors four times.
2010 — Detroit’s Ben Gordon scores 20 points, including the 10 millionth point in NBA history, in a 104-04 loss to Philadelphia.
2012 — Jeremy Shelley kicks five field goals and Trent Richardson breaks a 34-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter as No. 2 Alabama beats No. 1 LSU 21-0 — the first shutout in BCS title game history.
2013 — No one is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. For the second time in four decades, baseball writers fail to give any player the 75 percent required for induction to Cooperstown. Craig Biggio, 20th on the career list with 3,060 hits, appears on 68.2% of the 569 ballots, the highest total but 39 votes shy.
2016 — Quarterback Carson Wentz, out since mid-October with a broke wrist, returns to lead North Dakota State to an unprecedented fifth straight FCS championship with a 37-10 victory over top seed Jacksonville State.
2016 — Chris Boswell kicks a 35-yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining as the Steelers somehow pull out an 18-16 victory over Cincinnati in the AFC wild-card game. Pittsburgh moves into field goal position after a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Bengals, one on linebacker Vontaze Burfict and another on Adam Jones.
2017 — College Football National Championship, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa: No. 2 Clemson beats No. 1 Alabama, 35-31.
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. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
