With the second bye behind them and USC’s season at a crossroads, Lincoln Riley has spent the better part of two weeks focusing his team on what’s in front of them — a stretch of three winnable games — and not behind them — a demoralizing defeat at Notre Dame.
In doing so, the Trojans coach borrowed a well-worn rallying cry, one that traces back 2,000 years. Riley told his team, they had to “burn the boats.”
“We’ve put ourselves in great position, and we’ve got to be a really forward-focused team right now,” Riley said. “Things can get pretty fun from here if you really get on a run. This team is capable of that. They know it. We know it.”
Considering the stakes, it’s an apt enough metaphor. Any hope of USC staying alive in the College Football Playoff conversation hinges on leaving Lincoln, Neb., with a win. And that will, at the very least, require presenting a much better product than before the bye, when USC’s defense gave up over 300 yards on the ground to Notre Dame.
That loss has left a notably bitter taste with the Trojans — especially on defense. This week, sophomore linebacker Jadyn Walker said he felt the group “didn’t come out ready to play” and wasn’t “hungry” enough against Notre Dame. Defensive tackle Jide Abasiri said fixing USC’s issues on defense meant “having our minds right.” For the second time in three weeks, USC returned to the basics on defense during the bye in an effort to iron out those issues.
“You study for a test, you’re not gonna be nervous,” Abasiri said. “Just keep studying, I guess.”
The time for studying is over. The final exam for USC and its defense is a five-game gauntlet, starting on the road in one of the Big Ten’s more hostile environments. It’s just as much a critical test for the team as its coach, who has won just two true road games — at Purdue and at UCLA — during the last two calendar years.
“We continue to put ourselves in position to win these, and I feel like we’re doing the things on a daily basis that ultimately lead to winning,” Riley said. “We’re here and we’re pushing that notion, and I just see us getting closer and closer to that as we go on. That’s where my confidence is.”
Here’s what you should watch for when No. 23 USC (5-2 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) faces Nebraska (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PDT (NBC, Peacock).
A heavy dose of Emmett Johnson
Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson carries the ball against Northwestern on Oct. 25.
(Bonnie Ryan / Associated Press)
After watching Notre Dame’s duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price steamroll USC’s defensive front, Nebraska offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen surely smells blood in the water. In Emmett Johnson, he has one of the Big Ten’s best backs, a bruising tackle-breaker who has become a bigger part of the Husker offense as the season has worn on.
He’ll no doubt be a huge part of the plans for Holgorsen, who knows Riley better than most any other coach in college football, save maybe his brother, Garrett, at Clemson. Presumably, Holgorsen will hope to keep the ball out of USC’s hands, grinding out long drives with Johnson.
“We set ourselves up the rest of the season to see a lot of run game,” safety Bishop Fitzgerald said. “This week, making sure we can stop that will be huge for us.”
Johnson isn’t easy to bring down. His 44 missed tackles forced, per PFF, ranks third in the Power Four among running backs.
“He runs really hard,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s usually always going to break the first tackle. He just plays with an edge. He’s not necessarily a blazer, but once he hits that edge, he can make a guy miss and he can get a lot of yards. So I think it’s about stopping him and surrounding the ball.”
It’s just that easy. Or maybe not.
Pick up the pressure
USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn stands on the sideline during the third quarter of a win over Michigan State on Sept. 20.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
USC led the nation in sacks through the first month of the season. But in both of the Trojans’ losses, the pass rush — or lack thereof — was part of the problem. After producing 24 pressures in a win over Michigan State, USC tallied just 25 in its next three games combined.
Nebraska offers a golden opportunity to get that right. The Huskers have allowed 26 sacks, second-most in the Big Ten.
“I do think we’ve shown growth and we’ve gotten better,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said of the pass rush. “But we’re not satisfied.”
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola has been sharper this season than when he came to the Coliseum in 2024. His completion rate is up almost 6%, and he already has 17 passing touchdowns, compared to just 13 last season.
But Raiola has a tendency to hold the ball too long. At times, that has paid off with big plays. Other times, it has derailed drives.
“It puts a lot of pressure on us,” Lynn said. “When he’s holding onto the ball, he’s not looking to scramble. He’s keeping his eyes downfield.”
The key to counteracting that for USC? Putting as much pressure on him as possible.
Something has gotta give
USC has the top passing offense in the nation, averaging 10 yards per attempt and 326 yards per game. Nebraska boasts one of the nation’s best pass defenses, with just one opposing quarterback even reaching the 160-yard mark against them.
The Huskers have yet to face a quarterback quite like Jayden Maiava. Maiava’s first start at USC came last season against Nebraska, and he has improved leaps and bounds since — notably in his ability to avoid crippling mistakes.
That’ll be at a premium against a Nebraska defense that has swallowed up quarterbacks this season.
“He’s making a lot of right decisions right now,” Riley said this week of Maiava. “If he keeps doing that, we’re going to have a chance to win every game.”
Oct. 17 (UPI) — A nine-year, $335 million restoration of the U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel has President Donald Trump calling for a federal investigation into the matter.
The president in a social media post on Thursday called the cadet chapel in Colorado Springs, Colo., a “construction disaster” since it was built in 1962 and said the current renovation is projected to be finished in 2028.
“The earlier stories are that it leaked on day one, and that was the good part,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent,” he explained. “The renovation, which essentially has been going on since the day it was built, is now projected to go on until 2028.”
He said a newly revised budget adds $90 million to the renovation cost, which now is $335 million from its prior $247 million budget.
“This mess should be investigated,” Trump added. “Very unfair to the cadets — a complete architectural catastrophe!”
The Defense Department in August awarded a contract that exceeds $88 million to the JE Dunn Construction Co. to renovate the chapel, which is projected to be finished in November 2028, The Hill reported.
Officials at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center are overseeing the renovation project and said the additional funds will cover additional costs after encountering unexpected problems.
The chapel has been closed since October 2019 as the restoration project began, but the discovery of asbestos and other issues has delayed the renovation and greatly raised its cost from an original estimate of $158 million, according to KOAA-TV.
The current construction cost estimate is nearly half the cost to renovate the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was completed twice as fast.
The latest nearly $90 million project allocation from the Defense Department boosted the total cost by 36% from $247 million.
The project “ensures the long-term structural integrity and watertightness of the Cadet Chapel and will resolve issues that have plagued the building since its opening 60 years ago,” the AFCEC said.
The facility leaked water from the moment it opened in 1962 and underwent numerous “Band-Aid fixes” over the years, USAFA architect Duane Boyle said during an April 2024 news conference.
The 150-foot-tall, 52,000-square-foot chapel is comprised of 17 triangular spires that give it an aircraft-like appearance.
It was one of the first modernist-style structures built in the United States and is “one of the most seminal pieces of modern architecture in the United States,” Neal Evers, Colorado University-Boulder Environmental Design Department professor, told KOAA-TV.
He said the chapel was designed and built when modernist-style architecture “was really taking off in the ’50s.”
Evers said it’s unfair to compare the project’s cost and time to other restoration projects, but he acknowledged it is a “problem” when the initial five-year timeline is extended to nearly 10.
He stood taller than any other player on the field. His wingspan likely stretches far beyond any other wideout in the Mission League or, possibly, the Southern Section.
Tyran Stokes appeared as a man among men as he stretched and worked his way through pregame drills, cameras lined up along the sideline aimed at the senior as if he was back on the AAU basketball circuit — and for good reason.
The comparison was hard not to make during Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s 57-14 victory over Culver City (3-2) on Friday night.
Is this what LeBron James looked like on the football field?
James, who played at St. Vincent–St. Mary High in Akron, Ohio, during his sophomore and junior yearsin 2000 and 2001, used his 6-foot-7 frame to earn all-state honors, the future four-time NBA most valuable player even garnering attention from Notre Dame and Urban Meyer, then a wide receivers coach for the Fighting Irish, according to ESPN. At 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, Stokes is larger — and already plays for Notre Dame; well, the Knights of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (3-2).
The No. 1 high school senior in the nation — according to multiple college basketball recruiting sites — wanted more. Stokes jostled his love of a second sport, football, becoming a wide receiver and defensive end on the football team earlier in September, just months before his final season of basketball at begins.
Basketball standout Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame comes up short an attempt to make his first catch Friday against Culver City.
(Craig Weston)
“He improves our practice atmosphere, he improves our game atmosphere, he improves our mindset and our competitive spirit in the room,” Notre Dame coach Evan Yabu said, noting Stokes has been a “pleasure” to have on the team.
Towering over defensive backs, Stokes was a go-to target for senior quarterback Wyatt Brown — who put the game out of reach in the first half with a three-touchdown effort — anytime he appeared on the field. Brown finished 21-for-33 passing with 301 yards and five touchdowns. On the ground, he tallied 79 yards and one touchdown.
His final pass was the one that Notre Dame will remember.
Matched up on 5-foot-8 Culver City defensive back Derrick Huezo Jr., Stokes burst forward and created 15 yards of separation. Huezo could only shrug as he trailed Stokes.
The now-two=sport star took the ball 45 yards to the house to cement the final score.
On Stokes’ first play, in Notre Dame’s second drive of the first quarter, Brown caught Stokes across the middle of the field.
The ball slipped through Stokes’ hands.
He wouldn’t let that happen when it mattered most, the clock ticking on his first game. Stokes finishes with two receptions for 57 yards (he was targeted eight times).
“I know he’s a big-time hooper,” Brown said. “But when he came over here, he was very humble and open about learning — which is a testament to him.”
Stokes politely declined all interview requests following the game — so it goes being the most-sought-after basketball recruit in the nation.
But any kid — or fan — who asked for a picture, he waited and obliged.
The moment wasn’t just big for him, but for the whole school — Stokes, one of the last to trot to the locker room to get ready for a bus ride back to Sherman Oaks.
A dozen years before he charted a bold, new path for the USC football program, Chad Bowden was living on the pull-out couch of a cramped studio apartment in Hollywood with no clue where his life was headed.
Bowden couldn’t have dreamed up the role he’d one day occupy a few miles down the street at USC, where as the Trojans football general manager, Bowden has infused the program with new energy while putting together the top recruiting class in America.
So how did Bowden rise from that couch to being held up as one of the most consequential arrivals at USC since Pete Carroll himself?
Bowden thought that he might play college football. A few small schools had offered him opportunities to play linebacker coming out of high school in Cincinnati. But Bowden’s father, former baseball general manager Jim Bowden, didn’t think it was the right move. He worried about how his son would handle the rest of the college experience.
“He felt like it was best for me, from a maturity standpoint, to go right into working,” Bowden says.
USC football general manager Chad Bowden looks across the field during preseason camp.
(William Liang/For The Times)
Which is what led him to the tiny apartment off Highland Avenue. He split the place with Jac Collinsworth, his close high school friend, the two of them packed like sardines into a single room that doubled as the kitchen and dining space. Neither seemed to mind the close quarters. Everything became a competition, with each of them pushing the other.
“Both of us were highly motivated guys,” says Collinsworth, whose father is the famed commentator, Cris Collinsworth. “Plus we had [Chad’s] dad in our ear.”
So every morning, they would wake before sunrise to race each other to L.A. Fitness. After, they’d race back up the hill to devour the usual breakfast of egg whites — sometimes mashing in bananas for sweetness. Some days, they’d throw in a motivational video on YouTube to get the blood pumping again, before racing off to try to be the first in the office.
They were both staying up late, getting up early, grinding all day in between. But after a while, it felt to Bowden like he was running in place. He’d tried an internship with a sports agency, only to realize the agency life wasn’t for him. Then he sold Google ads for a company called Linktech, whiling away his days cold-calling strangers who weren’t exactly happy to hear from him. It gave him perspective, he says. But not much else.
It was important to Bowden to find his path as soon as possible. He’d always planned for success at a young age, Jac Collinsworth says. His father, after all, was hired by the Cincinnati Reds as the youngest GM in baseball history back in 1992, and Bowden had practically grown up in that Reds clubhouse. He rode in Ken Griffey Jr’s Lamborghini. He was in the draft rooms, the trade talks, the contract negotiations. Once, he even called out a Reds player’s lack of hustle on the basepaths — and ended up stuffed in a garbage can.
His childhood was intertwined with the game. Even dinnertime could turn on a night’s result. When the Reds won a game, father and son would go out to a local steakhouse for dinner. When they lost, Chad says, they would only eat Triscuits and cheese.
“[Chad] knew that he was going to have to work twice as hard to get that respect from his dad,” Collinsworth says.
As hard as he was working, Bowden didn’t seem to be getting any closer to finding his way in L.A. Evan Dreyer was worried about him.
Dreyer had coached Bowden as a freshman football player at Anderson High in Cincinnati, and they’d stayed in touch since. So when Dreyer was out in L.A., he checked in on his favorite former player.
“Chad needed somebody to look him in the eye and say, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Dreyer says.
He called Bowden back soon after and offered him a job as his defensive coordinator at Western Brown High, back in Ohio.
Bowden was just 20 years old. He had no coaching experience, aside from filling in for a few weeks as an assistant baseball coach for Dreyer at 14. But Dreyer knew how much Bowden loved football. And he had no doubt that Bowden was bound for great things. He saw it in Bowden even before high school, as early as the fifth grade, when all of the kid’s energy was zeroed in on being the best possible water boy he could be. He sprinted full speed down the sideline to retrieve a loose ball. He didn’t care for school, but memorized the stats of opposing players. It was clear he took pride in the job.
USC general manager Chad Bowden, center, attends a team practice.
(USC Athletics)
But that was when football first swept Bowden up. Now, years later, Dreyer was offering him a chance to get his foot in the door.
“He called me and was like, ‘What are you doing with your life? Football is everything to you.’” Bowden says. “I just kind of sat there and said, ‘What am I doing?”
So took Dreyer up on the offer. The only problem? He had no idea what he was doing as a defensive coordinator.
The team went 1-9. The next year, he followed Dreyer to another high school, and it didn’t get much better. He dialed up blitz after blitz, just hoping for the best. One night, his defense gave up almost 80 points, and a frustrated Bowden was ejected from the game.
Still, he wasn’t one to sit idly by, waiting on a problem to solve itself. Even if there was no obvious — or rational — solution. One week, when his defense gave up over 400 rushing yards, he responded by buying huge tubs of peanut butter, convinced more sandwiches could be the key to bulking up his defensive front.
Once, he babysat for Dreyer’s 3-year old daughter and upon finding out she loved school buses, set out to stop one in the street in order to give her a ride.
There were no half-measures with Bowden, on or off the football field. He preferred to take matters into his own hands if he had to.
“That’s the best way to understand Chad,” Collinsworth said. “He will move a mountain to make something happen.”
He seemed to be in constant motion, attending school at the University of Cincinnati in addition to coaching.
After two seasons coaching high school football, Bowden decided to try a new direction. A friend of his father helped hook him up with an opportunity to shadow the senior vice president of the Miami Dolphins, who eventually helped connect him with Brian Mason, the new recruiting coordinator at Cincinnati.
Mason hired Bowden as a student intern, helping out with Cincinnati’s recruiting. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression on the rest of the staff.
Some staffers, Mason says, were admittedly “thrown off a little bit by his energy” when they first met him. But there was no doubting Bowden’s work ethic as an intern. When Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell gave him a task, coaches remember Bowden sprinting down the hallway to complete it.
“We had to tell him to leave the office, even as a student intern,” Mason said. “He’d go 100 miles per hour to get things done.”
Mason played a critical role helping Bowden focus that energy. He surrounded him with structure and taught Bowden how to be better organized without tamping down his enthusiasm.
“I owe a lot of what happened in my life to Brian Mason,” Bowden says. “Brian did such a great job of understanding that I was crazy. But he also saw the good in me.”
Mason connected Bowden with Marcus Freeman, who at the time was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator. Bowden asked if he could sit in on meetings with Freeman and Fickell to absorb as much knowledge as he could.
Bowden didn’t stay quiet in those meetings for long. “I never shut up after that,” he says.
It was out of that back-and-forth banter that Bowden and Freeman formed a close bond. Both, according to their fellow coaches, seemed uniquely suited for keeping the other in balance. Where Freeman was the more measured and thoughtful of the two, Bowden was bold and daring. He would push the envelope, and Freeman would rein him back in if need be.
“Like yin and yang,” said Mason, who also worked with both at Notre Dame.
Bowden quickly rose through the ranks at Cincinnati, from defensive quality control assistant to recruiting director. Along the way, there was “tough love” from Freeman that, Bowden says, was exactly what he needed to hear.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and his team line up to enter the field against USC at the Coliseum on Nov. 30.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“He gave me what I needed to be the best version of me,” he said. “‘If this is what you want to be, this is what you need to do.’”
When Freeman left in 2021 to be Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, he brought along Bowden, who took a lesser role in South Bend. A year later, Freeman was promoted to head coach and Bowden became his recruiting director and right-hand man.
The recruiting operation quickly took on Bowden’s personality.
“We were flying fast,” says Chris O’Leary, who coached safeties at Notre Dame. “Whether it was offers, calling kids, it was rapid fire all the time. Every day was life or death.”
When it came to talking to recruits, Gerad Parker, who coached tight ends at Notre Dame, likened Bowden to “the crazy uncle at the birthday party.” During official visits, he orchestrated NBA style entrances for recruits and their families. Sometimes he showed up in costume. He memorably dressed up as a leprechaun, another time as an FBI agent.
A leprechaun costume at Notre Dame might seem silly, but Parker said Bowden owned it.
“It’s like going into character when you’re working at Disney,” Parker said. “Those people don’t roll their eyes because they’re in a Cinderella costume. They are Cinderella.”
Of course, not all of his ideas got past the cutting room floor. For one, Freeman refused Bowden’s request to jump out of a helicopter to impress recruits.
“He might bring a list of five ideas, right? And four of them are crazy,” Mason said. “He brought up helicopters on multiple occasions.”
Whatever others thought of his methods, Bowden’s approach was working. He was relentless in building relationships. Recruits raved about his impact. Notre Dame pulled in a trio of top-12 classes that would serve as the bedrock of a run to the national title game.
Michigan had already pursued Bowden to be its general manager before that 2024 run. He turned it down, in order to continue on with Freeman.
By the following January, Bowden decided to change directions. Four days after Notre Dame lost to Ohio State in the national championship, he was named USC’s new football general manager.
At the time, Bowden called the decision “a no-brainer.” While talking with reporters in March, he said “some things that were out of my control” at Notre Dame.
But to those who once worked with both Freeman and Bowden, it was unexpected..
“That had to weigh heavy on Chad,” said Parker, the Irish tight ends coach.
“[They were] like brothers,” said O’Leary, the safeties coach. “I know there’s a lot of layers behind it. But yeah, I was surprised to see him leave Notre Dame.”
By choosing USC, Bowden was once again striking out on his own, walking away from the world he knew best for the promise of building something bigger and better. Fittingly, it would bring him back to the city where his search for a career began.
In seven months at USC, he has completely revamped the front office operation with his hand-picked staff, repaired relationships with local coaches and power brokers and reinvigorated USC’s entire recruiting strategy. The Trojans’ 2026 class has soared to the top of the national recruiting rankings, with 32 commitments and climbing. And boosters are buying in, once again crowding the sidelines of football practices.
Staff members will tell you that Bowden’s impact in that short time at USC runs deeper. That his energy and his willingness to test limits and challenge norms has set a tone for the entire department.
When USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen approached Bowden during a recent football practice, she found him busy scribbling down notes.
“He had 15 things from that practice that he noticed or ideas that he had,” she said.
“He’s the eyes and ears of a program in a way that really takes the pressure off of everyone. He’s just been great within the university community, within the athletic department, with donors, with former players. We could not be more pleased with the progress that he’s made and his team has made and the impact that he’s having on USC football.”
July 22 (UPI) — The Catholic Church’s Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem called on regional and world leaders to end the violence in Gaza after Thursday’s deadly church shelling.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Patriarch Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and other clergy toured the remains of the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
They called for an end to the war during a press conference held afterward at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center in Israel.
“We entered a place of devastation, but also of wonderful humanity,” Pizzaballa told media.
“We walked through the dust of ruins, past collapsed buildings and tents everywhere: in courtyards, alleyways, on the streets and on the beach — tents that have become homes for those who have lost everything,” Pizzaballa said.
“And yet, in the midst of all this, we encountered something deeper than the destruction: the dignity of the human spirit that refuses to be extinguished,” he continued.
“We met mothers preparing food for others, nurses treating wounds with gentleness, and people of all faiths still praying to the God who sees and never forgets.”
Pizzaballa called on regional and world leaders to find a way to restore “life, dignity and all lost humanity” in Gaza.
“It is time to end this nonsense, to end the war and put the common good of people as the top priority,” he said.
Patriarch Theophilos III called Gaza a “land bruised by prolonged affliction and pierced by the cries of its people” after touring the church’s grounds.
“We entered as servants of the suffering Body of Christ, walking among the wounded, the bereaved, the displaced and the faithful whose dignity remains unbroken despite their agony,” Theophilos III said.
“We encountered a people crushed by the weight of war, yet carrying within them the image of God,” he said.
“Among the broken walls of the Church of the Holy Family and the wounded hearts of its faithful, we witnessed both profound grief and unyielding hope.”
Theophilos III said, “Silence in the face of suffering is a betrayal of conscience,” and called on the international community to make peace in Gaza.
Two were killed and several injured, including a priest who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, when the IDF shelled the church.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday apologized for Israel Defense Forces shelling the Catholic church, which is the only one in Gaza.
He said a “stray ammunition” struck the church, and Israeli officials are investigating the matter.
Local residents and displaced Gazans were using the church for shelter when it was struck.
1 of 6 | Paris officials spent $1.6 billion to clean up the Seine in time for last year’s 2024 Olympics, but despite the cash infusion, some races had to be postponed because of water quality issues. File Photo by Paul Hanna/UPI | License Photo
July 5 (UPI) — The famed Seine river in Paris opened to the public for swimming on Saturday for the first time in over a 100 years, a key victory for outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The waterway was last swimmable in 1923, with a ban in place since that year because high levels of bacteria made it unsafe for people.
In a show of confidence, Hidalgo herself famously took to the water ahead of the Olympics for a swim to prove the river was swimmable.
“Swimming in the Seine, some have dreamed of it, many have doubted it, and we have done it,” she said on Facebook at the time. “After a 100-year ban, athletes will take their turn in a few days during the Games! It will be next summer for Parisians.”
Hidalgo’s prediction came true on a seasonal basis. Three designated swimming areas opened Saturday morning, each with lounging areas, outdoor furniture, showers and changing facilities, while lifeguards patrol the river.
One of the swimming areas is not far from the Eiffel Tower, while a second is close to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which re-opened last year after a devastating fire. The third is in the eastern part of Paris.
The mayor, who was elected in 2014 and will leave office next year after a failed bid at the presidency, has spent her time in office pushing green initiatives in the city.
Water quality in the Seine has gradually improved over the last 20 years. At its lowest point, people swimming in the river would get sick because of the high bacteria count.
Plans to re-open the Seine to public swimming have been circulating since former French President and then-Paris Mayor Jacques René Chirac campaigned on the promise in 1988.
A planned race across the city was canceled in 2012 because the water was “manifestly insufficient quality for swimming.”
The Dodgers now have 15 pitchers on the injured list. This team, with all of its talent, is going nowhere without frontline pitching. Andrew Friedman realized this when he emptied Fort Knox during the offseason. But, like previous seasons, they are dropping like flies, with shoulder and forearm issues.
Other MLB teams don’t seem to have these issues, at least not to this degree.
At what point do we begin to look at the training staff, starting with pitching coach Mark Prior? What is it that he’s asking (and teaching) these guys to do with their arms, to get that extra ‘something’ out of them? Too often that extra something becomes nothing at all.
Rodger Howard Westlake Village
The underperforming, injury-plagued — and very well-paid — Dodger pitching staff illustrates the true financial advantage of big-market teams willing and able to spend. Yes, the Dodgers can afford to sign and pay frontline players, but, just as important, they can also afford to set aside or simply eat the contracts of those expensive players if they become hurt or ineffective, and replace them with additional highly (over)paid players. It’s almost a lock that, if their staff isn’t healthier and more reliable come August, the Dodgers will probably trade for pitching help and take on even more salary. Small-market teams such as the Reds, Guardians and Pirates can’t sign many top-tier players in the first place, let alone replace them if they don’t pan out.
John Merryman Redondo Beach
Instead of spending hundreds of millions on pitchers to sit on the injury list for the majority of every year, I recommend the Dodgers instead allocate those funds to put nine All-Star offensive players in the lineup. Then just do what the team always winds up doing anyway — rely on inexpensive, lower-tier and journeyman pitchers for the season.
It would be nice if the Dodgers could schedule a special day to honor Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor, giving fans and teammates a chance to provide a proper farewell for this pair of beloved, true-blue Dodgers.
Anthony Moretti Lomita
I’m sure Taylor and Barnes are nice guys, but they’ve been making millions of dollars and haven’t performed for years. I don’t think anyone has to feel sorry for them.
Mike Schaller Temple City
Fans of ’70s-era sci-fi movies can see clear parallels between the classic “Logan’s Run” and the Dodgers’ front office behavior. Like the movie’s plot, the Dodgers have concluded that former impact players now over age 30 are expendable and must be immediately eliminated. The struggling Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández must be taking note.
With the contract between USC and Notre Dame set to expire and one of college football’s most storied rivalries in serious danger of ending, officials at USC extended an offer to Notre Dame earlier this month in hopes of continuing the historic series for at least one more season — through the fall of 2026 — a person familiar with the negotiations not authorized to discuss them publicly told The Times.
The future of the rivalry beyond that, in the eyes of USC’s leaders, hinges in large part on what happens with the format of the College Football Playoff — namely, the number of automatic qualifiers guaranteed to the Big Ten in future playoff fields. And until those questions are answered, USC leaders agree the best course forward for its century-old rivalry with Notre Dame would be to continue their arrangement one season at a time.
Anything else would be “a strategically bad decision,” a USC source said.
That timeline is where the two rivals find themselves at an impasse. Notre Dame is seeking a long-term extension of the series, and in an interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this week, Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua not so subtly suggested that it was USC putting the rivalry at risk.
“I think Southern Cal and Notre Dame should play every year for as long as college football is played,” he told SI’s Pat Forde, “and SC knows that’s how we feel.”
The two blueblood programs have played 95 times since 1924, when the story goes that the wife of legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne convinced her husband to schedule the series so she could visit Southern California every other year. In the century since, only World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic have stood in the way of USC and Notre Dame meeting on the football field. Between them, the two rivals boast 16 national titles, more than any other teams that play an annual college football series.
They’re scheduled to meet again in October in South Bend. What happens to the historic series after that matchup may come down to who blinks in a high-stakes game of chicken between the two schools.
USC has no plans to budge on its position without clarity over whether the Big Ten will have four automatic qualifiers in any future playoff format, a source told The Times. With nine conference games already built into the schedule and the possibility of an annual crossover matchup with the Southeastern Conference still on their radar, USC officials see no reason to commit long term to the Notre Dame matchup without assurances they wouldn’t be punished for scheduling such a marquee nonconference matchup.
The demands of Big Ten travel have also been a part of the conversation at USC, to the point officials broached the potential with Notre Dame of moving the game to the first month of the season. The hope was to better balance its future slate of travel to the Midwest and East Coast. Last season, in their Big Ten debut, the Trojans lost all four of their Big Ten road trips.
But Notre Dame was not receptive to the idea of moving the game, which traditionally has been played in the latter half of the football season.
The Irish agreed earlier this month to a 12-year home-and-home scheduling agreement with Clemson. But while that deal seemed like a precursor to moving on from the USC series, Sports Illustrated reported this week that it was not expected to stand in the way of continuing with the Trojans.
Uncertainty has loomed over the rivalry since last summer when USC coach Lincoln Riley was first asked about its future at Big Ten media days.
“I know it means a lot to a lot of people,” Riley said. “The purist in you [says] no doubt. Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship vs. keep that [game], shoot, then you got to look at it.
“And listen, we’re not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There have been a lot of other teams sacrificing rivalry games. And I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But as we get into this playoff structure, and if it changes or not, we’re in this new conference, we’re going to learn something about this as we go and what the right and the best track is to winning a national championship, that’s going to evolve.”
Those comments led many to point fingers at Riley for laying the groundwork for the rivalry’s possible demise. But as the two sides now stand at an impasse, a person familiar with the discussion at USC insisted that any decision on the series and its future would come from athletic director Jennifer Cohen.
She’ll have plenty to weigh on that front in the coming months, with both schools likely to dig in their heels for the long haul, slinging mud at one another in the meantime.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High was supposed to be a year or two away from softball prominence with its collection of six talented freshmen.
Well, the Knights have already arrived after a 9-7 victory over Trinity League champion Orange Lutheran on Thursday in an opening game of the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs in which freshman Jackie Morales hit three home runs.
Notre Dame, the Mission League champion, was leading most of the game until Orange Lutheran scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 7-6 lead. Morales tied the score with a home run in the top of the seventh. Then the Knights scored two more runs on an RBI single from freshman Keira Luderer and an RBI single from junior Ellayne Tellez-Perez.
Orange Lutheran was the Division 1 runner-up last season. For Notre Dame to go on the road and win is quite an accomplishment for coach Justin Siegel and the Knights.
“Big players show up in big situations and Jackie Morales has been a big player for us all season,” Siegel said.
Huntington Beach 8, Charter Oak 7: The Oilers hung on for the Division 1 win. Tea Gutierrez and Maleah Humble each had three hits.
