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PHILADELPHIA — On the mound, he self-destructed in a second inning that nearly placed the game out of his team’s reach.

In the batter’s box, he struck out four times for only the seventh time in his career.

A two-way player for the first time in a postseason game, Shohei Ohtani didn’t save the Dodgers on Saturday night.

Instead, Ohtani was the one being saved in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.

He was saved by Tyler Glasnow, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki, who combined to shut down the lethal Phillies lineup over the last three innings.

He was saved by a two-run double by Kike Hernández in the sixth inning that reduced their deficit to 3-2.

He was saved by a three-run blast by Teoscar Hernández in the seventh that moved them in front, 5-3.

Ohtani said in Japanese of Hernandez’s go-ahead homer: “It was a wonderful moment. I think it was the kind of moment that made you think, ‘This is the postseason.’”

The victory cleared a path for the Dodgers to defend a World Series title that once felt indefensible. By stealing the road win necessary to advance, the Dodgers have taken control of this best-of-five series against the Phillies, who could be the greatest obstacle in their World Series defense.

The Dodgers should have the edge in starting pitching over the next two games, as Blake Snell is scheduled to start Game 2 on Monday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

If a fifth game is required to decide this NLDS, Ohtani will be able to pitch on six-days’ rest.

Who could have imagined the Dodgers would be in this position after a game in which Ohtani staggered through a three-run second inning that left him looking as if he was eaten alive by the notoriously hostile Citizens Bank Park crowd?

“He’s not always going to be perfect,” Roberts said.

That being said, Roberts was quick to point out Ohtani’s contributions.

How after that brutal second inning, Ohtani pitched four scoreless innings to keep the Dodgers within striking distance. How Ohtani showed bunt and stepped out of the batter’s box in his ninth-inning at-bat as part of a plan to buy more time for Sasaki to warm up to close the game.

Ohtani sounded particularly proud of how he struck out NL home run king Kyle Schwarber for the third out of the fifth inning. The Phillies stranded two runners.

“I think it might have been a scene that decided the direction of the game,” Ohtani said.

The Dodgers scored two runs in the next innings and three in the inning after that.

“To kind of look at the at-bats that he took tonight and how he struggled offensively, but to separate that and just be a pitcher and weather that [second] inning and to go out there and give us six innings and keep us in the ballgame, I just don’t know any human that can manage those emotions,” Roberts said.

The comeback was necessary because of a second inning that started with a walk by Alec Bohm. Midway through the at-bat of the next hitter, Brandon Marsh, the Citizens Bank Park crowd started to taunt Ohtani.

Sho-hei!

Sho-hei!

Marsh singled. Ohtani responded by reaching back and throwing a 100.2-mph fastball over the heart of the plate to J.T. Realmuto, who launched a rocket into right-center field.

Heavy-footed right fielder Teoscar Hernandez failed to cut off the ball, which skipped to the outfield wall. Bohm and Marsh scored.

Realmuto reached third and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader.

Just like that, the Dodgers were down, 3-0.

This was not the start envisioned by the Dodgers, who set up Ohtani to be the star of this series.

The Dodgers didn’t send Ohtani to the mound in either of their two games of the previous round against the Cincinnati Reds.

By starting Snell and Yamamoto in the wild-card series, the Dodgers were able to save Ohtani for Game 1 of their series against the more formidable Phillies.

The Dodgers entered the NLDS reveling in the history about to be made by Ohtani, the most valuable player as a designated hitter last season back in the October spotlight to pitch in the postseason for the first time.

“I think as he takes the mound for the bottom half [of the first inning], I’m going to take a moment just to appreciate him doing something unprecedented,” Roberts said before the game.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman went as far to make the case that Ohtani was underrated.

“I just don’t think the human brain can comprehend what he does and how difficult it is and how he is elite at both,” Friedman said. “The passion he has for hitting and the passion he has for pitching, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough passion to go around, but there is with him.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch last season as he was recovering from an elbow operation he underwent in 2023. Friedman recalled the diligence with which he rehabilitated.

“It wasn’t just about pitching for him,” Friedman said. “It was about pitching really well.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch really well on Saturday night, but he will have a chance to pitch really well in the days and weeks ahead.

His team gifted him the opportunity.

With Dorsey grad Mustard providing a rousing halftime concert aided by a Super Bowl-like sound system and Nike supplying players with much-appreciated sports apparel, the rivalry football game between host Crenshaw and Dorsey on Friday night was both loud and hip. The school colors blue and green were worn proudly by both sides.

On the field, Crenshaw (5-1) came away with a 12-8 victory on the strength of a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by Kyion Rattler and a 20-yard touchdown reception by Deonce’ Lewis, both in the first half, for a 12-0 halftime lead.

Lewis provided a spark with big catch after big catch from quarterback Danniel Flowers. Lewis had five receptions for 77 yards.

This was a Coliseum League opener to determine which team might be able to give King/Drew competition for first place. Dorsey (2-4) hadn’t scored in its previous two games before Makhi McCluster ran three yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Absent from the game was Crenshaw coach Robert Garrett, who missed his first Dorsey-Crenshaw game since he took over as head coach in 1988. Garrett is on administrative leave, receiving full pay and assigned to home. He went to Friday’s Sierra Canyon-Gardena Serra game in Chatsworth to watch a couple players on both teams with Crenshaw ties, including the brother of former Crenshaw standout De’Anthony Thomas.

Garrett’s longtime assistants have been running the team, with Terrence Whitehead the interim coach.

“We miss him so much,” Lewis said of Garrett, who prepared the team through the summer. “That’s all we play for. Without him, none of this is possible. We have to keep going. The other coaches are stepping up. I’m very proud of them.”

As long as Garrett eventually returns as head coach, every Crenshaw victory this season will count toward his pursuit of 300 career victories, according to CalHiSports.com. He’s at 295 career wins, the winningest coach in City Section history. But when his administrative leave will be resolved remains uncertain.

Dorsey wide receiver Mario McWilliams cuts across the field for extra yardage against Crenshaw.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

For now, Crenshaw is progressing. The team that struggled with player turnout in recent years had 30 players on Friday listed as suiting up. Three players from eight-man power Animo Robinson have made an impact in the transition to 11-man football.

“They’re great add ons,” Lewis said.

Also contributing has been sophomore defensive lineman Jeremiah Alexander, who was playing drums in the school band at this time last year. Garrett got him to come out, and Alexander had a sack before being taken out because of an injury.

Dorsey put the pressure on Crenshaw in the second half behind two sacks from Saul Avila-Machado.

Crenshaw got the ball back clinging its 12-8 lead with 4:53 left and was able to run out the clock thanks to clutch completions by Flowers to De’Andre Kirkpatrick for nine yards and Lewis for 20 yards.

Lewis said it was “cool” that Mustard performed at halftime, but he and his teammates were too busy with football to listen. “We have to show the City is still alive,” he said.

Crenshaw wide receiver Deance’ Lewis (11) makes a catch against Dorsey defenders Jordan Young (12) and Jordan Johnson (16).

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Napheesa Collier covered a lot of bumpy ground in her lengthy end-of-season statement. Yes, officiating in WNBA games is substandard. Sure, the collective bargaining agreement is about to expire and negotiations could cripple the league’s extraordinary popularity.

But let’s not bury the lead. It was a comment Collier attributed to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert in response to the paltry rookie contracts forced on stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers that could have lasting impact.

During Indiana Fever exit interviews Thursday, Clark said she was unaware of Collier’s unabashed finger-pointing, which went like this:

“I … asked how [Engelbert] planned to fix the fact that players like Caitlin, Angel and Paige, who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years,” Collier said Tuesday. “Her response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’”

Collier added that Engelbert told her, “players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.”

Reporters filled in Clark on what Collier said. Then Clark took a breath and responded.

“First of all, I have great respect for [Collier],” Clark said. “I think she made a lot of very valid points. I think what people need to understand is we need great leadership in all levels. … This is a moment we have to capitalize on…. Phee said it all.”

She alluded to the increasing income opportunities afforded women players, even at the college level with NIL money.

“I think that’s probably the way in which the league has changed over the course of the last few years,” she said. “These kids in what they’re making in college these days is insane, and it’s probably more than what I was making.

“Young women are beginning to build their brands in college and bringing that to the WNBA. We are in the biggest moment in WNBA history. There’s no denying that, everybody knows that.”

Clark missed the last 19 regular-season games and the Fever’s spirited playoff run because of a right groin strain and a bone bruise in her left ankle. She said that although it was “probably one of the worst sprains I’ve ever dealt with,” it is “very reasonable” that she could be back to five-on-five play by the end of October.

Asked where she might play during the long WNBA offseason, Clark demurred, smiling as she said she’ll look at all opportunities. She did mention that USA Basketball would likely be her top priority.

Otherwise, Clark’s focus seems to be on the WNBA, with CBA negotiations looming.

“I want the league to be something kids and adults — everyone — can be proud of,” she said. “I hope that’s what my legacy can be.”

Clark’s teammate Lexie Hull, an alternate team representative in CBA negotiations, also spoke about the future of the WNBA. Neither player sounded as if a strike or lockout would benefit anyone.

“We’re still headed forward and up,” Hull said. “The growth of the sport has shown you can’t set a bar because we continue to reach farther and expand. It’s so exciting to be a player at this pivotal time in the sport.

“I’m really hopeful that will be valued, especially with CBA negotiations coming up. We’ll see how the league values us as players and as drivers of that growth.”

In the spring of 2020, Doug Caines was burned out and finished coaching football.

“The COVID season probably broke me,” he said.

He had been head coach at Dos Pueblos High since 2018. He had been head coach at Santa Barbara from 2012-14. He remained at Dos Pueblos as a media arts teacher and focused on his own kids.

Then, in 2023, he was approached about becoming the girls’ flag football coach in the first season of the sport. It changed his life.

“Honestly, I’ve never had this much fun coaching football,” he said. “Man is it fun. The girls are just coachable and want to play and most are other athletes first.”

Dos Pueblos flag football receiver Brooklyn Hedricks, left, and quarterback Kacey Hurley.

(Michael Owen Baker/For The Times)

That feeling of fun, players wanting to learn and parents watching to enjoy the game instead of worrying about college recruiters best describes the third season of flag football. Everyone realizes this purity probably won’t last for long. Players are already getting offered flag football scholarships to colleges. High schools have started to seek out players.

Yet for now, the participants are enjoying just having the chance to play a sport that used to be reserved for boys.

“Before freshman year, I had never played and never heard of it,” said star Dos Pueblos receiver/defensive back Brooklyn Hendricks, whose father, George, is head baseball coach and also an assistant flag coach.

Dos Pueblos head coach Doug Caines, center, talks with his players during halftime.

(Michael Owen Baker/For The Times)

She was a travel ball player for years in softball. Her parents spent lots of time and money taking her to games around the country. Guess what has happened in her junior year of high school?

“Softball was my best sport, but flag football honestly is my best,” she said. “To get a scholarship offer is crazy.”

Dos Pueblos is 18-2 and part of a strong group of teams from Ventura County and the Santa Barbara area ready to challenge the powerful teams in Orange County. Dos Pueblos’ took 18-1 Orange Lutheran to overtime before losing.

“That was the most intense game I’ve played in,” Hendricks said. “It was such a battle back and forth. It was so much fun.”

Besides Hendricks, who has more than 30 interceptions in her flag football career, quarterback Kacey Hurley has been a key contributor. Last season Hurley was the center snapping the ball to the quarterback. Now she’s the one firing spirals, with 49 touchdown passes so far.

The regular season ends on Oct. 15. The playoffs are Oct. 21, 25, 28 and Nov. 1 with the championship games on Nov. 8.

Caines has been revitalized and rejuvenated.

“It’s been magical,” he said. “The first year was so fun. No expectations. Everything was new — the first game, the first touchdown, the first interception. We’ve been able to keep that going.”

Based on Caines’ coaching experience, a real trend in the coming years could be veteran 11-man football coaches switching to flag football to get back to the days of players learning from scratch and appreciating every moment at practice and games.

Meanwhile, the players will keep having strange dances before and after games, applying eyeblack like it’s makeup and, most of all, having fun playing a sport that isn’t their main one but could be one day.

“This team has great chemistry,” Hendricks said. “There’s never any drama. We have a good set of coaches, We focus on having more fun. We love a win. That’s great. But it’s more of a family.”

They’re still together … for now.

UCLA’s football team appeared to have a full roster of players at its disposal Monday after the Bruins reached the four-game threshold for redshirting and the halfway point of the 30-day window for entering the transfer portal following the dismissal of coach DeShaun Foster.

Interim coach Tim Skipper said no player had informed him of an intention to redshirt or transfer, though there’s still time to mull those decisions before the Bruins (0-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) face No. 7 Penn State (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

Once a player participates in a fifth game, he can no longer redshirt.

Giving any player considering such a move pause might be the situation at Virginia Tech. An attorney tweeted that he was representing a redshirting Hokies player whose decision, in the eyes of the school, constituted “ ‘opting out’ and fraudulent misrepresentation under the NCAA’s bylaws, justifying immediate termination of scholarships and revenue-sharing payments under the House settlement. Redshirting is a standard practice to preserve eligibility, not voluntary withdrawal from a program, and schools cannot void revenue-sharing payments on pay-for-play grounds.”

As of last weekend, three Virginia Tech players had reportedly entered the transfer portal and two had decided to redshirt.

What fate might await the Bruins in the coming days and weeks?

“It’s going to be fluid through the rest of the season,” Skipper said. “You know, as far as when you get to your fourth game, you decide [whether] to keep going. But my whole thing on that is that’s the rules, and if guys decide to do that, we’re not holding them hostage. They can go ahead and do that.

“We’re coaching them hard. We’re showing them a blueprint to go win games, and that’s what we’re going to do. And people that want to be a part of it stay, and then guys that choose to go the other way, they go the other way. But right now that’s not been a big emphasis in anything that we’re doing day to day. It’s getting better and trying to get us a win.”

Another fluid situation

UCLA didn’t just change the coach running its defense, it also changed the defense. The in-season overhaul led to only a portion of the playbook being installed in the first game under Kevin Coyle.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the full playbook will be installed in a matter of weeks.

“Northwestern compared to Penn State, as far as what they do schematically, is totally different,” Skipper said, referring to last week’s opponent versus the next one. “So we’re going to have to have a different plan and do different things. Probably how we are right now, we’ll never just have the whole playbook in. We’re going to game-plan as we go week to week because we’re going to play so many different offenses, so many different looks.”

Penn State uses more pre-snap motion than Northwestern, presenting different challenges. The Nittany Lions also are a lot more potent than the Wildcats, averaging 39 points per game.

Skipper said he was pleased with Coyle’s playcalling debut during UCLA’s 17-14 loss to the Wildcats, noting that the team had given up an average of 36 points during its first three defeats. The Bruins also allowed 314 yards of offense, well below the average of 431 they had given up previously.

Etc.

UCLA moved Garrett DiGiorgio to right guard against Northwestern while using Reuben Unije and Courtland Ford at tackle before Unije went down because of an unspecified injury. The Bruins then put DiGiorgio back at right tackle and used Julian Armella at right guard. The extent of Unije’s injury was not immediately known. … Freshman linebacker Scott Taylor made his first career tackle against the Wildcats while enjoying more extensive playing time. “Scott’s a guy that’s flashed,” Skipper said. “He makes plays every day, whether it’s special teams or on defense, and I think he’s getting better and better and better. I think he can definitely be a guy that will keep having major contributions to the team.”

DECLAN RICE was rewarded for his brutal shift as Arsenal battled back to beat Newcastle.

However, Cristhian Mosquera failed to make the most of his chance after he was thrust into the starting XI alongside Gabriel Magalhaes.

8

8

Arsenal were stunned in the first half after falling behind after a Nick Woltemade header in the 34th minute.

Mikel Arteta‘s side had dominated much of the first half and were denied a penalty by a VAR decision.

The visitors avoided defeat as Mikel Merino was the hero, nodding in an equaliser in the 84th minute.

The turnaround was complete as Gabriel scored in the winner in the dying seconds of the match.

Scroll down to see how SunSport’s Gary Stonehouse rated the Arsenal players’ performances…

DAVID RAYA – 6

Had very little to do and was let down by Gabriel for the goal.

Swept up well when needed.

JURRIEN TIMBER – 8

Strong performance from the Dutchman up against Anthony Gordon and he wasn’t found wanting once the game turned into a physical battle.

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Should have done better with a header when presented with a great chance to equalise but a strong performance from the full-back.

CRISTHIAN MOSQUERA – 4

His mis-kick gifted Newcastle the corner that led to their opener and he didn’t recover.

Struggled once the game turned into a scrap and by half-time his manager had seen enough as he was replaced by William Saliba.

GABRIEL – 6

8

Looked rattled up against Woltemade and his weak attempt to buy a foul allowed the German to nod home.

His head had gone after that and he was fortunate when no VAR check caught his swing at Woltemade before the break.

Looked a lot more confident and composed once Saliba joined him in the backline and he put a difficult afternoon behind him by holding off Dan Burn to head home the winner at the death.

RICCARDO CALAFIORI – 6

Marshalled Jacob Murphy well in the first half but offered little going up the other way.

Was fuming when the referee put a stop to him using a towel for a long throw.

Got hooked midway through the second half as the Gunners had to go for it, but not before going into the book for a daft foul.

EBERECHI EZE – 6

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8

Forced Pope into an early save and unleashed another great strike before the break.

Was a constant threat throughout but he was bought to get goals in these big games and he failed to do that.

MARTIN ZUBIMENDI – 6

Struggled with the pace of the game at times and also failed to provide enough protection defensively, fortunately, he had Rice alongside him to help.

He did produce a fantastic outside of the boot pass to put it on a plate for Timber but that was the highlight of his afternoon.

DECLAN RICE – 8

8

Tried his best to make things happen and did brilliantly to track Jacob Murphy and deny him a second.

Covered a lot of ground and got his reward when Merino capitalised on his brilliant cross.

BUKAYO SAKA – 6

Enjoyed a good battle against Dan Burn but the Toon defender just about edged it.

Helped out full-back Timber really well but just wasn’t his day up the other end.

LEANDRO TROSSARD – 6

8

Another who tried his best to make something happen but he just couldn’t make it click.

Replaced late on without really causing too much of a threat.

VICTOR GYOKERES – 6

Headed straight at Nick Pope early on and then became the pantomime villain after being denied the penalty.

Rarely had a sniff after that as he struggled against the imposing Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman.

SUBS

WILLIAM SALIBA (for Mosquera, 46) – 7

Helped manage the physicality of Woltemade a lot better than the man he replaced.

The Gunners looked a lot more composed defensively while he was on the pitch.

GABRIEL MARTINELLI (for Saka, 70) – 6

Struggled to really get involved upon his arrival. Had one long-ranger late on but that was about it.

MIKEL MERINO (for Calafiori, 70) – 7

8

Injected fresh life into the middle to keep Arsenal’s hopes of a comeback going and produced a great header to equalise. 

MARTIN ODEGAARD (for Zubimendi, 82) – 6

Could see Arsenal’s confidence grow as soon as he got on and he provided the magic for a winner. His brilliant corner was placed perfectly for Gabriel to head home.

MYLES LEWIS-SKELLY (for Trossard, 88) – 5

His pace was a threat during the closing stages but failed to carve open a clear-cut opportunity.

The Dodgers are not the norm in baseball. For the majority of teams in the major leagues, the last week of the regular season is the last week until spring training.

As the Angels played out their final week, the Angel Stadium store featured a “Thank You Fans” sale, with up to 50% off caps, T-shirts, polo shirts, jackets, even authentic Mike Trout jerseys.

Inside the clubhouse, the reminders for players had the feel of the final week of school: return your team-issued iPad; order your gloves for next season; take your exit physical.

As the Dodgers play out their final week of the regular season, on the road, the Dodger Stadium store is stocking up on blue “October Baseball” T-shirts, the same ones the players wore last week, when they clinched a postseason spot.

On Thursday, the Dodgers clinched the National League West, again. On Tuesday, the Dodgers will make their 13th consecutive postseason appearance, one shy of the major league record. Only once in those 13 seasons did the Dodgers fail to win the NL West: in 2021, when they won 106 games and the San Francisco Giants won 107.

For the Angels and their decorated closer, and for 17 other teams, Tuesday will be the second day of the offseason. That is the norm in baseball, at least outside Chavez Ravine, the Bronx, and recently Milwaukee.

Kenley Jansen played October baseball for the Dodgers from 2013-21, and for the Atlanta Braves in 2022.

In 2023, the first time in 11 years Jansen did not appear in the postseason, his family alerted him that the Dodgers’ playoff opener was on television, with good friend Clayton Kershaw pitching.

Jansen had no interest in watching.

“I’m like, guys, I’m not on the Dodgers anymore,’ ” he said this week at Angel Stadium.

He wanted to be around his family. His friends and family members wanted to be around him, which they assumed meant around baseball.

“I get it,” he said. “I still feel like I’m going to get those calls: Did you watch that game?”

He appreciates how difficult it is to get to the playoffs. In his first two full seasons, the Dodgers vs. the rest of the league at Dodger Stadium was a sideshow to the main event: Frank McCourt vs. Major League Baseball in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Never mind whether the Dodgers would make the playoffs. Would the players get paid?

“We went from the bankrupt Dodgers to getting into the playoffs every year,” Jansen said. “I think it was the core group, the leadership that we had, plus the front office and the ownership wanting to win a championship every year. They make it competitive.

“They’ve got to keep that train going.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, center, celebrates with teammates in the locker room after the Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday to clinch the NL West division title.

(Darryl Webb / Associated Press)

In Anaheim, for the first time in 50 years, the Angels are bound for a second consecutive last-place finish. Their last postseason appearance: 11 years ago. Their last winning record: 10 years ago.

This playoff drought included the stretch in which Trout and Shohei Ohtani played together. The Dodgers are more — much more — than Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

“For me, on the other side now, I see how hard it is to get in the playoffs,” Jansen said. “It’s not easy. You’ve got to have depth — not only here in the big leagues, but depth in the system — to give yourself a chance to win the division.”

It’s too bad the Dodgers and Angels could not complete a trade to get Jansen back to Los Angeles, where he would immediately have become the Dodgers’ most reliable right-handed reliever.

Jansen has a 2.64 ERA this season, and he has converted 28 of 29 save opportunities. He hasn’t given up a hit in more than a month.

But the Angels didn’t sell at the trade deadline, declaring they were in serious contention without buying any serious upgrades.

Dodgers fans should take it from Jansen: Don’t take this golden era for granted. Take a few days to appreciate it. On Wednesday, Jansen said, he’ll start his offseason workouts.

On Tuesday, the Dodgers will start the playoffs, trying to become baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years. The percentages are not in their favor: As of Thursday, Baseball Prospectus gives the Dodgers a 9.6% chance to win the World Series, a smaller chance than the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners.

The Angels have been so bad for so long that a division championship would be cause for great celebration. The Dodgers have been so good for so long that nothing but a World Series championship would suffice.

And so, on Tuesday, the days of gratitude can end, and Dodgers fans can resume reflexively criticizing their manager and grimacing about whether they can trust anyone in their bullpen.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes was not considered for the upcoming Ashes series on fitness grounds and seems likely to miss out on a new central contract.

That may mean the end of a fantastic 12-year Test career, so we thought we’d mark it with a delightfully difficult quiz.

Woakes is one of 72 players to have scored 1,000 runs and taken 100 wickets in men’s Tests since World War Two. Can you name the other 71?

We’ve given you each player’s nationality, Test career span, total Test wickets and total Test runs as a hint. You’ve got 30 minutes, good luck!

A winless football team went bowling. It’s true.

With his players in need of a refreshing change that would still allow them to compete, UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper took the Bruins to a bowling alley last week on one of their days off from practicing.

“I also wanted to get out of the [football practice] building, to be honest, even for me and the coaches’ sake,” Skipper said Monday. “We’ve been locked in working and grinding and all that stuff, so we needed to get away and just kind of take a deep breath and compete in a different way.”

While it was the sort of team bonding exercise usually carried out in the offseason or during training camp, throwing a few strikes together could be the thing to help spare players from walking out on the rest of the season after an 0-3 start that led to the dismissal of their coach.

A week into the 30-day transfer portal window that opened for players, Skipper said no one had left the team. Additional incentive to stay could come Saturday.

A victory over Northwestern (1-2 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) in UCLA’s conference opener at Martin Stadium in Evanston, Ill., could be doubly important for a team that needs a confidence boost — and reason for players with an available redshirt season to keep playing after the four-game cutoff for preserving eligibility.

“I think the discussions might come up a little bit more after the game,” Skipper said of redshirting. “But, to me, it’s always good to win for everything, just morale and every single area that you’re in. You deal with that as it comes, but right now the guys have been attacking and everybody seems like they want to play and are eager to do that.”

Skipper said coaches have commenced a deep dive into the roster to search for players who could provide additional help after the team struggled so mightily in its first three games. As the Bruins shift from what Skipper labeled a mini-training camp last week into game mode, they will see if those new discoveries can handle the opportunity to make a bigger contribution.

UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper is trying to keep his players motivated amid the Bruins’ 0-3 start.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Nobody appears to be giving up given the energy and personal pride Skipper has seen from his players.

“Everybody has a number out there, but you also have a last name on the back of your jersey,” Skipper said. “So, that last name needs to matter and you need to represent it in a positive way, and that’s what this is all going to come down to. I don’t care what we’re doing, whether we’re bowling or playing football, whatever — compete to win.”

A defensive boost

Skipper said Kevin Coyle had arrived on campus after having coached for Syracuse in its victory over Clemson last weekend.

A senior defensive analyst with the Orange who is expected to serve in a similar capacity at UCLA after the Bruins persuaded him to make a cross-country move early in the season, Coyle has been a longtime mentor to his new boss.

Coyle, 69, was Fresno State’s defensive coordinator when Skipper was a star middle linebacker for the Bulldogs from 1997 to 2000. The duo also worked together last season at Fresno State when Skipper was the interim head coach.

Now Coyle will boost a UCLA staff that needs help after the departure of defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe last week in what was termed a mutual parting of ways.

“He is kind of like ‘The Godfather’ to me for football,” Skipper said of Coyle. “Did a lot of teaching me the game. It’s where I originally first started learning how to play sound, good defense. So to have the opportunity to get him here is major.”

Without offering specifics, Skipper said the UCLA defensive staff had simulated the way it would call games as part of a new collaborative approach.

How good is Son Heung-min? On the night LAFC celebrated Carlos Vela’s induction into the team’s ring of honor, Vela asked for Son’s autograph.

And he’s not the only one. Small crowds of fans have begun gathering outside LAFC’s training center at Cal State Los Angeles, some waiting for hours, to request Son’s signature on scraps of paper, photos and plush likenesses of the South Korean star in a Tottenham uniform.

On a recent afternoon, Son stopped his car and obliged every one of them.

Forget, for a moment, what he’s done on the field — which isn’t easy to forget since he’s scored six times and assisted on three other goals in seven games, only one of which LAFC lost.

The transformation Son has brought everywhere else since joining the team seven weeks ago has been breathtaking.

He arrived just as the dog days of summer were becoming ferocious. LAFC had been eliminated from the FIFA Club World Cup and the Leagues Cup, had won just four of its last 12 games in all competition and faced a severely compacted fixture schedule going forward.

Yet by dint of personality alone, Son immediately lightened the mood.

“He brings a smile to work every day,” coach Steve Cherundolo said.

A month later he was even more effusive.

“What I’m most impressed [with] is how Sonny treats people. His fans and his teammates,” Cherundolo said. “He’s an incredible human being. He’s very gracious. He’s patient. And he’s just a fine human being.”

That’s why everyone from teammates to security guards at the team’s training center use superlatives like humble, special, gracious, down to earth — and, yes, nice — when describing Son.

Midfielder Timothy Tillman, who was born in Germany, said Son, who played there for five years, surprised him when he began speaking to him in “very good” German.

“I love that he’s talking German with me. Having someone speak in German on the team feels good,” said Tillman, who quickly added what’s become the rote reaction to Son.

“I really, really like him,” he said. “I like that he’s here.”

LAFC’s Son Heung-Min forms a rectangle with his fingers after scoring against Real Salt Lake on Sept. 17.

(Chris Gardner / Getty Images)

Being kind hardly qualifies one for the Nobel Prize. Nor does being liked and appreciated by your co-workers. In many ways, those things seem like the bare minimum we should expect from one another.

But those traits are, many times, rare among superstar athletes — or celebrities in any field. Vela, an MLS MVP and the league’s single-season scoring champion, was often moody and aloof during his seven years at LAFC. Zlatan Ibrahimovic dominated the score sheet during his two seasons in MLS, yet he wasn’t shy about harshly criticizing teammates, which may be one reason why the Galaxy won fewer than half the games he played in.

Son, on the other hand, lifts everyone around him. Last spring, as he neared his final season in the Premier League with Tottenham, an English journalist — who rated players on charity, personality and sportsmanship — christened Son the nicest player in soccer history. (Speaking of sportsmanship, in 2019 when a dangerous Son challenge fractured the ankle of Everton’s André Gomes, Son broke into tears on the pitch. After apologizing — profusely and repeatedly — to Gomes, Son refused to celebrate two Champions League goals against Red Star Belgrade, choosing instead to look into the TV cameras with his palms pressed together in prayer for Gomes’ recovery.)

Now that Son, 33, is playing in the U.S., MLS is getting its first up-close look at what fans in South Korea, England and Germany have known about the player for years. And Son’s kindness and humanity is proving contagious.

Last week teammate Denis Bouanga, who is in the race for the MLS Golden Boot, declined to shoot at an open net, instead slipping the ball to Son, who scored to complete his first MLS hat trick.

“I could have scored. The goal was open,” Bouanga admitted through a translator. “It was good for him to have the feeling to score a hat trick. We celebrated together.”

On Sunday, Son returned the favor, setting up two of Bouanga’s three goals. Bouanga’s second hat trick in three games gave him 22 goals for the season and tied him with Lionel Messi for the league lead. It also made him the first player in MLS history to score at least 20 times in three successive seasons.

“Sonny is a very good player and a very good pal on the field and outside the field,” Bouanga added. “This connection that we have, this chemistry, it was automatic.”

Transformative too: Bouanga and Son have combined for all 12 goals in their team’s last three games — all wins — becoming the first teammates to score hat tricks in three straight games. The most potent attacking duo in the league has also given LAFC (14-7-8) a firm grip on a home playoff berth and made it a legitimate MLS Cup contender.

Son, predictably, deflected the praise, saying that he appreciated the welcome he’s received.

“What should I say? I never expected, to be honest, that welcome or support,” he said after Sunday’s win. “It seems very crazy. But I love that. I’m a very, very happy guy, lucky guy, having this amazing support behind me. I want to give always something back.

“I just want to say thank you.”

That’s exactly what everyone at LAFC has been saying since Son arrived.

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

NEW YORK — Robot umpires are getting called up to the big leagues next season.

Major League Baseball’s 11-man competition committee on Tuesday approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System in the major leagues in 2026.

Human plate umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game and get additional appeals in extra innings. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter — signaled by tapping their helmet or cap — and a team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards.

Adding the robot umps is likely to cut down on ejections. MLB said 61.5% of ejections among players, managers and coaches last year were related to balls and strikes, as were 60.3% this season through Sunday. The figures include ejections for derogatory comments, throwing equipment while protesting calls and inappropriate conduct.

Big league umpires call roughly 94% of pitches correctly, according to UmpScorecards.

“Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.”

ABS, which utilizes Hawk-Eye cameras, has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019. The independent Atlantic League trialed the system at its 2019 All-Star Game and MLB installed the technology for that’s year Arizona Fall League of top prospects. The ABS was tried at eight of nine ballparks of the Low-A Southeast League in 2021, then moved up to Triple-A in 2022.

At Triple-A at the start of the 2023 season, half the games used the robots for ball/strike calls and half had a human making decisions subject to appeals by teams to the ABS.

MLB switched Triple-A to an all-challenge system on June 26, 2024, then used the challenge system this year at 13 spring training ballparks hosting 19 teams for a total of 288 exhibition games. Teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182) challenges.

At Triple-A this season, the average challenges per game increased to 4.2 from 3.9 through Sunday and the success rate dropped to 49.5% from 50.6%. Defenses were successful in 53.7% of challenges this year and offenses in 45%.

In the first test at the big League All-Star Game, four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in July.

Teams in Triple-A do not get additional challenges in extra innings. The proposal approved Tuesday included a provision granting teams one additional challenge each inning if they don’t have challenges remaining.

MLB has experimented with different shapes and interpretations of the strike zone with ABS, including versions that were three-dimensional. Currently, it calls strikes solely based on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and the back. The top of the strike zone is 53.5% of batter height and the bottom 27%.

This will be MLB’s first major rule change since sweeping adjustments in 2024. Those included a pitch clock, restrictions on defensive shifts, pitcher disengagements such as pickoff attempts and larger bases.

The challenge system introduces ABS without eliminating pitch framing, a subtle art where catchers use their body and glove to try making borderline pitches look like strikes. Framing has become a critical skill for big league catchers, and there was concern that full-blown ABS would make some strong defensive catchers obsolete. Not that everyone loves it.

“The idea that people get paid for cheating, for stealing strikes, for moving a pitch that’s not a strike into the zone to fool the official and make it a strike is beyond my comprehension,” former manager Bobby Valentine said.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy, a big league catcher from 1978-87, maintained old-school umpires such as Bruce Froemming and Billy Williams never would have accepted pitch framing. He said they would have told him: “‘If you do that again, you’ll never get a strike.’ I’m cutting out some words.”

Management officials on the competition committee include Seattle chairman John Stanton, St. Louis CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., San Francisco chairman Greg Johnson, Colorado CEO Dick Monfort, Toronto CEO Mark Shapiro and Boston chairman Tom Werner.

Players include Arizona’s Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen, Detroit’s Casey Mize, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh and the New York Yankees’ Austin Slater, with the Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ at Detroit’s Casey Mize as alternates. The union representatives make their decisions based on input from players on the 30 teams.

Bill Miller is the umpire representative.

Blum writes for the Associated Press.

On a play-action pass, Chargers running back Najee Harris crumpled to the turf before the fake handoff could fully develop, immediately grabbing his left ankle and tossing aside his helmet in pain.

Needing assistance, trainers helped Harris to the sideline, as he was unable to put any weight on his leg, before he was carted to the locker room in the second quarter of a 23-20 win over the Denver Broncos at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

Harris, who spent the lead-up to his first season in L.A. recovering from an offseason eye injury in a fireworks accident, was expected to be a key piece of a one-two punch with rookie Omarion Hampton.

Now, he appears to be sidelined for the season with an Achilles injury, according to head coach Jim Harbaugh, who called the diagnosis “preliminary” as Harris underwent postgame imaging.

“Not good,” Harbaugh said of his emotions as the play unfolded. “[I was] just hoping for the best — maybe a high ankle, something else that wouldn’t be long-term.”

Speaking at the podium with a somber tone, Harbaugh said he met with Harris at halftime and described the running back’s demeanor as “cold-blooded,” adding that he told him: “You’ll be back, kid.”

The injury appeared clear on film, according to Dr. Dan Ginader, physical therapist and author of “The Pain-Free Body,” who reviewed video of the play.

“When looking at the calf of the back plant leg, you can see the muscle sort of ‘jump’ which is indicative of a complete tear of the Achilles,” Ginader said. “Players who have suffered this injury often describe it as being hit in the heel with a shovel. … When you see the muscle jump and see the player crumble to the floor, you can be pretty sure it’s a complete tear.”

Before going down, Harris had been featured early Sunday, carrying six times for 28 yards. Durable throughout his career, he had appeared in all 71 games across five NFL seasons before the injury.

If it’s a complete tear, the earliest Harris could return is about eight months, Ginader said, though most players don’t feel fully themselves “until at least 12 months” post-surgery. For a skill player, he added, “it takes longer to be able to come back at full force.”

With Harris out, Hampton is expected to shoulder a bigger role moving forward. Hampton, who calls Harris a mentor, admitted the loss stings.

“It definitely hurts,” Hampton said.

Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly told reporters Thursday that he does not game plan with team minority owner and Fox NFL broadcaster Tom Brady — at least not “on a weekly basis” — despite a report during “Monday Night Football” this week that suggested otherwise.

During the first quarter of the Chargers-Raiders game at Allegiant Stadium, ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported from the sideline that “Chip Kelly told us that he talks to Brady two to three times a week. They go through film. They go through the game plan.”

After the game, Raiders coach Pete Carroll called the report “not accurate” and said that while he and Kelly speak with Brady “regularly,” those conversations are “about life and football and whatever.”

Kelly was asked about the ESPN report during media availability Thursday. His response echoed Carroll’s.

“I’ve spent a lot of time just talking football with [Brady], but it’s not on a — we don’t talk about game plans,” the former UCLA coach said. “We spent a lot of time over the summer, a couple Zooms … and we would just talk ball, you know, ‘What did you like against this?’ So really, when I use Tom, and I just use him as a resource of, ‘Hey, you know, when you faced a Mike Zimmer-type defense, what did you like protection-wise and play-wise?’

“But on a weekly basis, he’s not game planning with us or talking to us.”

Kelly later added: “In terms of weekly game plans, like, that’s not a collaboration that we do. I mean, he’s also a busy guy, so I haven’t even thought of using him to do that, and I don’t think you can, so — you know, our staff does all that.

“But he’s been a guy that I could talk football with, just shooting it about, ‘Hey, have you ever faced a two-trap defense?’ and, ‘With the inverted, Tampa two that everybody’s running now, what was your best thoughts about that?,’ things like that. But we don’t talk game plan at all or any of that stuff in terms of on a weekly basis.”

The Times reached out to ESPN for comments from Schrager or the network on the matter. A network representative declined to comment.

During Schrager’s report, “Monday Night Football” showed a live shot of Brady sitting in the Raiders coaches’ booth and wearing a headset. Kelly told reporters Thursday that he thinks Brady did the same thing during the Raiders’ preseason game last month against the San Francisco 49ers, also at Allegiant Stadium.

“But he doesn’t talk to the coaches when he’s up there,” Kelly said. “I think he just — he’s watching football.”

NFL chief spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement Tuesday that Brady was doing nothing wrong.

“There are no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting in the coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game,” McCarthy said. “Brady was sitting in the booth in his capacity as a limited partner.”

Brady faces a number of NFL-imposed restrictions on what he’s allowed to do as a broadcaster given his dual status as a team minority owner. Last season, Brady’s first in both roles, he was prohibited from attending the weekly production meetings during which the Fox crew meets with coaches and players ahead of that week’s game.

That restriction was eased going into this season.

“Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings,” McCarthy said in his statement. “He may attend production meetings remotely but may not attend in person at the team facility or hotel. He may also conduct an interview off site with a player like he did last year a couple times, including for the Super Bowl.

“Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams, it’s up to the club, coach or players to determine what they say in those sessions.”

It’s Viva Las Vegas for the top girls volleyball teams in Southern California. They’ll be in Las Vegas this weekend for the 30th Durango Classic that will be played at four sites beginning Friday.

Seven of MaxPreps’ top 10 teams nationally are scheduled to compete, including Sierra Canyon, Mater Dei, Redondo Union, Marymount and Mira Costa.

Sierra Canyon is ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section power rankings after knocking off Redondo Union last week.

It’s also one of the first chances to see teams strengthened by players who had to sit out the first half of the season after transferring without moving. The sit-out period ended Sept. 13. …

The Ivy League football season begins on Saturday, and there are 39 players from Southern Section high school teams listed on Ivy League rosters.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

U.S. tennis star Taylor Townsend wasn’t prepared for some of the food she would be offered while taking part in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals tournament in Shenzen, China.

She apparently was also not expecting the backlash she faced after she posted her criticism of some of the local dishes — which included bullfrogs, turtles, sea cucumbers and, in her words, “an animal lung” that was “sliced up” and on a skewer — on Instagram.

Those posts have since been removed, and Townsend has posted a video on her Instagram Story in which the world’s top-ranked doubles player apologizes “sincerely from the bottom of my heart.”

“I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things that I love so much about what I do,” Townsend said.

“I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here … and everyone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all.”

The 29-year-old Townsend’s name was in the headlines during last month’s U.S. Open. After Taylor defeated Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the second round of the singles competition, the players appeared to have a heated discussion.

Afterward, Townsend told reporters that Ostapenko “told me I have no education, no class.”

Ostapenko later apologized on her Instagram Story and explained that English isn’t her native language. “So when I said education,” Ostapenko wrote, “I was speaking only about what I believe [is] tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.”

Townsend is one of six players representing the U.S. in the international team tournament in Shenzen. Earlier this week, she posted video of some of the food she and her teammates had been offered, apparently as part of a buffet. She also added a video of herself from later in the evening in which she criticized some of the offerings.

“I’m honestly just so shocked I like what I saw in the dinner buffet … These people are literally killing frogs. Bull frogs. Aren’t those poisonous? Like, aren’t those the ones that be giving you warts and boils and stuff?” Townsend said. “And turtles? And the fact that, like, it’s all stewed up with, like, chilies and peppers and onions and like, ‘Oh, you really made this a dish?’

“And then you got the sea cucumbers just staring there, like with the noodles, the only thing that we eat. So all in all, gotta give this like a solid 2 out of 10 so far, because this is crazy.”

One portion of the video, which showed portions of the buffet spread, featured the caption, “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen … and people are eating this,” followed by emojis of a melting face and a face screaming in fear.

The comments went viral on Chinese social media, with many commenters slamming Townsend as culturally insensitive.

Townsend’s apology comes as the U.S. prepares to face Kazakhstan on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

“I just truly wanted to apologize,” Townsend said in the new video. “There’s no excuse, there’s no words, and for me, I just — I will be better.”

The fallout from UCLA coach DeShaun Foster’s dismissal deepened Wednesday when interim coach Tim Skipper disclosed that defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe had agreed to “mutually part ways” with the team, depriving the Bruins of one of their most respected assistant coaches.

Meeting with reporters for the first time since he was selected to coach the team for the rest of the season, Skipper said he didn’t know the specifics of Malloe’s departure. One person close to the coaching staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, told The Times that Malloe couldn’t get past blaming himself for the team’s 0-3 start, even suggesting that he be fired instead of Foster, so it was agreed that it would be best if he took time to regroup and focus on himself.

UCLA interim head football coach Tim Skipper claps as players participate in practice at Drake Stadium on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

It’s believed that Skipper will be given the resources needed to bolster his coaching staff if he wanted to bring in another assistant. In the meantime, Skipper said the team would take a collaborative approach among remaining staff to coaching the defense.

Malloe was a favorite of players and was known for demanding as much from himself as anyone on the team, choking up early last season when he discussed the need to fix the Bruins’ defense. After Malloe made two personnel switches, moving Oluwafami Oladejo from linebacker to edge rusher while elevating linebacker Carson Schwesinger into the starting lineup, UCLA’s defense went on to be a team strength.

Even though UCLA’s defense struggled in the early going this season, giving up 36 points and 431 yards per game, Malloe remained universally adored by players.

“I know some of the defensive guys loved him so much, and sorry to see him go,” offensive tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said. “Initial reaction as a man, he’s a great person, great family person, and he brought so much value to this team. It’s just unfortunate that I feel like he felt somewhat responsible, along with Foster as well. All we can do is support him on his next step, and hopefully he can come back and see the guys at some point.”

There were no immediate roster defections, Skipper saying that every player was accounted for going into one of the team’s longest practices of the season. Players will have 30 days to enter the transfer portal after their coach bid them farewell during an emotional meeting Sunday morning.

DiGiorgio said Foster told the players who were able to attend the hastily arranged meeting early in the team’s bye week to keep their heads up and keep pushing. Making things all the more difficult was the culpability that some players beared for the team’s fortunes.

“I felt somewhat accountable as a player and as a captain,” DiGiorgio said, “of letting him down as head coach.”

UCLA interim head football coach Tim Skipper talks with media before practice at Drake Stadium on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Skipper acknowledged the strain of replacing a close friend who had visited his parents’ house and eaten his mother’s cooking, saying he considered Foster part of his family.

“It definitely wasn’t just great feelings and things like that,” Skipper said of the situation, “but we both know we’ve got to move on.”

This is the second time in as many seasons that Skipper will serve as an interim coach after taking over for Jeff Tedford in July 2024 and guiding Fresno State to a 6-7 record that included an appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Having served in an inconspicuous role since his arrival as special assistant to the head coach in the middle of July, Skipper spent part of the last few days introducing himself to players and letting them know about his history as a former middle linebacker at Fresno State who has made coaching stops at eight schools.

First impressions have been positive.

“His initial energy and just the way he is in meetings,” DiGiorgio said, “I think he’s trying to uplift us as athletes and he’s not really trying to focus too much on what happened but more on the future and what we can do.”

Skipper was upbeat in his first public remarks since taking over for Foster, shaking every reporter’s hand before encouraging them to call him “Skip,” his preferred nickname. He said he would treat this bye week as a sort of mini-training camp before shifting into game preparation mode for the Bruins’ Big Ten Conference opener against Northwestern on Sept. 27.

“We are completely resetting,” Skipper said. “We’re not going to dwell on the past, we’re not going to dream about the future. We’re going to worry about right now.”

How do the Bruins go from the Big Ten’s only winless team to one that can start having success?

“We need to change our style of play, as far as how hard and how fast and how physical we play, OK?” Skipper said. “Starting with me and the rest of the staff, we have to make sure we simplify things so guys can play full speed ahead and there’s less thinking. That’s kind of my whole motto.”

Rediscovering the joy in football is part of that new approach. DiGiorgio said players are starting to play music in the locker room again, the offensive lineman bringing in his own portable sound system for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve got to be able to come out here and not treat practice as practice,” DiGiorgio said, “but more as something that we get to do and we have the ability to be on this team.”

DiGiorgio said players would also meet with athletic director Martin Jarmond every Sunday to talk about how things are going with the team and try to build momentum for the rest of the season. Jarmond received public support for the coaching change Wednesday in a statement from Chancellor Julio Frenk provided to The Times.

“At a top university like UCLA, a successful football program plays a powerful role in building community and strengthening connections,” Frenk said in the statement. “I support Martin Jarmond’s decision to replace the football coach. As the leader of our athletics program, he will oversee the process of hiring a new head coach who will elevate UCLA football to national prominence and uphold our commitment to ensuring the best experience for our student-athletes.”

As far as the rest of this season goes, Skipper said he wouldn’t measure success by wins and losses but style of play.

“We need to get out there and give a product that everybody’s proud of,” Skipper said, “that’s exactly all I’m worried about.”

Maybe the national team turned a corner in last week’s 2-0 win over Japan.

Maybe the change to a 3-4-2-1 formation unlocked the lively and innovative play that had been missing in the team’s first year under coach Mauricio Pochettino. Maybe Pochettino and his players have finally found the chemistry and coordination that was so obviously missing.

And maybe, just maybe, the U.S. really can make a deep run in next summer’s World Cup, the first to be played in the U.S. in 32 years.

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

One game can’t totally erase the dysfunctional and dispassionate performances that have marked much of the brief Pochettino era, one which included four consecutive losses at home and two losses in as many games with Mexico.

Nor can it make up for a player pool that has seemingly grown thin and ever-changing or speed the learning curve for a successful club coach who has struggled with the transition to the international game.

But it can buy the team and its coach some time.

“Touch the right buttons and we start to perform,” Pochettino said last September, shortly after he took the U.S. job. Just now, however, is he finding those buttons.

The win over Japan clearly lifts a huge weight off Pochettino and his players, but the reprieve may be temporary. If the U.S. regresses in friendlies with Ecuador and Australia next month, the angst and despair that have hovered over the team most of the year will return.

What it all means is Pochettino and the USMNT have reached a fork in the road. And the path they take will likely shape U.S. Soccer’s future for years, if not decades.

A World Cup the federation has been pointing to for years is just nine months away and much is riding on the U.S. team’s performance. A deep run in the tournament will engage and ignite the country, open the wallets of deep-pocketed sponsors and do more for the sport in the U.S. than any event since the last World Cup held here. That one led to the formation of MLS, which has grown into the largest first-tier professional league in the world, and the establishment of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, which has invested more than $100 million at the grassroots level, impacting nearly 100 million kids.

The coherent performance against Japan — albeit a young, inexperience Japanese “B” team — brought hope that a successful path, the longest one at the fork in the road, is still open.

But three days before beating Japan, the U.S. was thoroughly outplayed by South Korea in a 2-0 loss — the team’s sixth loss in 14 games this year — that raised alarm. According to The Athletic, the performance dropped the U.S. to 48th in the world in the Elo Ratings, a results-based formula for measuring all men’s national teams. It was the lowest ranking in 28 years for the Americans.

If the USMNT follows the South Korea path in the World Cup, its tournament run could be short, ending in the first two rounds and likely stunting both interest and investment in soccer in the U.S.

With just three international breaks remaining before the World Cup, there is reason for both hope and concern.

Pochettino’s lineup choices remain as unsettled as his tactical approach — although the Japan game may help settle that. As Stuart Holden, World Cup midfielder turned Fox Sports analyst, noted, the change to a three-man backline solved many problems.

Against Japan, Holden said, the center backs played with noticeable confidence and aggression. The formation also freed wingbacks Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman to be more creative and allowed attackers Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun, the team’s game-changers, to be more impactful.

There was much to like in the new approach and for the first time in his tenure, it seemed as if Pochettino had finally found a game plan that suited his players, with Balogun among those who benefited most: his goal, off an assist from Pulisic, was his first for the U.S. in nearly 14 months while his start was his first under Pochettino.

The other goal went to Alex Zendejas, who was called up for the first time this year despite having one of the best two-year runs of any USMNT attacker, scoring 16 goals and contributing 15 assists to help Mexico’s Club América to three straight Liga MX titles.

Another player who stepped up when given the opportunity was Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan, who played an inspired 90 minutes, leading all players with 83 touches.

Pochettino welcomed the result but continued to argue it wasn’t the most important thing.

“It’s the process,” he told reporters.

“When you are strong in your ideas and your belief, it’s about never giv[ing] up.”

So which team is the real national team? The one that beat Japan or the one that was humiliated by South Korea? And what will the USMNT’s destiny be in the World Cup? A long, profitable run that changes the trajectory of soccer in the U.S. or a short, disappointing one that sets the sport’s progress back years?

The October games with Ecuador and Australia could go a long way toward determining that. There’s a lot riding on the answer.

World Cup ticket update

More than 1.5 million people registered for the chance to buy World Cup tickets in the first 24 hours of the tournament’s initial presale lottery, according to FIFA. Online applications came from 210 countries, FIFA said, with the three host countries — the U.S., Mexico and Canada — leading the way.

The presale draw, which began last Wednesday and will end Friday at 8 a.m. Pacific time, is the first phase of ticket sales for the tournament. After a random selection process, successful applicants will be notified via email starting from Sept. 29 and will be given a date and time slot to purchase tickets, starting at $60, beginning Oct. 1. When fans enter the window won’t affect their chances of winning.

Subsequent ticket sales phases will begin in October. Further details on the timeline and products are available at FIFA.com/tickets.

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

The Fresno State football players wanted to be heard after so much frustration, so much uncertainty.

A season that had started with their coach leaving the job because of health problems, only to deteriorate further with four losses in six games during a maddening midseason stretch, was now back firmly on the upswing.

Their temporary coach having steadied them through every challenge, including his own uncertain future, those players yearned to preserve what might have been the best part of a burdensome season.

“We want Skip!” the players chanted in the locker room last November after a victory over Colorado State that made them eligible for a bowl game. “We want Skip!”

Tim Skipper, the interim coach who was practically a Fresno State lifer after having starred as a speck of a linebacker for the Bulldogs before going on to coach for them in various capacities, was making the best of what he had to work with once more.

It wasn’t the first or last time he would be needed in that capacity. The Bulldogs had tapped him to serve as the acting coach for a bowl game the previous season after coach Jeff Tedford’s first bout of health issues, and now UCLA is turning to Skipper to lead its team after the dismissal of coach DeShaun Foster on Sunday after the Bruins’ 0-3 start.

It’s an especially difficult spot given Skipper’s ties to his longtime friend, who hired him before this season as a special assistant to the head coach and once called himself “an honorary Skipper.” Skipper’s father, Jim, was Foster’s running backs coach with the Carolina Panthers. Skipper’s brother, Kelly, had been Foster’s running backs coach at UCLA.

“You know, DeShaun is kind of like family,” Jim Skipper said. “Tim’s got his work cut out, he knows that. But he’s up for the challenge. He’s been an underdog his whole life.”

This might be Tim Skipper’s greatest test, far greater than the six consecutive plays inside the three-yard line that the middle linebacker helped Fresno State stymie Ohio State during a goal-line stand in 2000. Among the biggest difficulties facing Skipper are rallying team morale and keeping the roster intact after a winless start that led to the firing of the coach who brought these players into the program. There’s also an offense and a defense that rank among the worst in the country and a persistent penalty problem.

“I know from the outside, people may look and say, the talent’s not changing, this imposing schedule isn’t changing, how can anyone expect different results?” said Paul Loeffler, Fresno State’s radio play-by-play announcer. “But I would say he’s a guy who can foster belief in young men because he believes. He’s relentlessly positive and it’s not fake positivity.

“There’s a gravitas there that I think the players would buy into and as hard as it’s going to be for him because of how close he and DeShaun have been for a long time, I think the way he attacks this opportunity will probably be colored by his experience last year.”

It was easy for Fresno State to turn to Skipper in July 2024 given his performance in guiding the Bulldogs to a 37-10 victory over New Mexico State in the New Mexico Bowl at the end of the previous season. The bowl triumph was welcome relief from a three-game losing streak and worries about Tedford after the coach stepped aside to address health issues.

After the game, Skipper dedicated the victory to his boss.

“He did a wonderful job getting our team prepared and ready for the bowl,” said Terry Tumey, the former UCLA nose guard who appointed Skipper as interim coach in December 2023 when Tumey was Fresno State’s athletic director. “This is a much larger stage, of course, but it’s not a foreign proposition for him to be in an interim situation and kind of taking over and kind of keeping things at bay as the administration figures out its next direction.”

Less than a year ago, Skipper made Fresno State seriously consider giving him the Bulldogs’ permanent job. The team got off to a 5-2 start before second-half slipups against Hawaii and Air Force were followed by a loss to UCLA in which the Bulldogs managed just a field goal after halftime.

Four days later, Fresno State athletic director Garrett Klassy hired USC linebackers coach Matt Entz as the Bulldogs’ new coach. Skipper eventually found a landing spot on Foster’s staff.

“He’s just somebody that’s very knowledgeable and he knows me,” Foster said in July. “So it’s just somebody that I know I can trust, and I’m just excited to be able to add somebody with that type of knowledge to our team.”

Given a new, unexpected opportunity as Foster’s replacement, Skipper, 47, might use any lingering disappointment from his last interim stop as motivation.

“Knowing Tim,” Tumey said, “he’s going to want to prove that he has what it takes to be a head coach, whether it’s this opportunity or somewhere else, and so he has something to prove too. I think our entire program at UCLA, we all have something to prove.”

Skipper’s lengthy coaching career has included stops at Western New Mexico, Sacramento State, Colorado State, Florida, Nevada Las Vegas and Central Michigan in addition to multiple stints at Fresno State. He’s mostly coached on defense but has spent four seasons as a running backs coach.

Scheduled to meet with the UCLA media for the first time on Wednesday morning, Skipper is known for a magnetic personality that allows him to quickly build trust among players. He’s already instituted one meaningful change in allowing photos and videos to be taken at practices after his predecessor had barred that custom.

“He’s so genuine, he’s so engaging, he’s got a million-dollar smile and he’s just present,” Loeffler said, “so I think he’s got a gift in terms of connecting.”

But he’s no softie. Pat Hill, the legendary former Fresno State coach known for backing up his “Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere” mantra with victories over major-conference opponents, said his onetime star defender who still ranks as the second-leading tackler in school history will rise to his latest challenge.

“When he walks into a room, take away the stature — he’s a small guy, he’s 5 feet 8 — but he commands the room and he will get the respect of the team immediately,” Hill said. “I guarantee the team will play with more emotion and they will play harder now.

“I don’t know what the wins and losses will be with the people they have, I really don’t know enough about it, but from a standpoint of leadership and getting a message to the team, he’ll be outstanding.”

Tumey said the expectations going into UCLA’s Big Ten opener against Northwestern on Sept. 27 should be for Skipper to stabilize the program, make sure the Bruins are competitive in conference play and support his players.

But what if UCLA starts unexpectedly rolling off one victory after another?

“Hey, stranger things have happened,” Tumey said. “I was a part of that 0-3-1 football team that ended up going to the Rose Bowl [in 1986]. So you never know.”

Tom Brady was shown sitting in the Las Vegas Raiders coaching booth while wearing a headset during the team’s “Monday Night Football” game against the Chargers at Allegiant Stadium.

Brady is a minority owner of the Raiders. He also works as a booth analyst for NFL games broadcast on Fox, and the NFL has placed certain restrictions on him to prevent any conflicts of interest concerning his dual roles.

Yet the phrase “conflict of interest” has come up quite a bit on social media — go ahead, search it on X (formerly Twitter) — regarding the optics of an NFL broadcaster hanging out with Raiders coaches and apparently communicating with others in the organization through a headset,

The NFL said Tuesday, however, that Brady doesn’t appear to have done anything wrong.

“There are no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting in the coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game. Brady was sitting in the booth in his capacity as a limited partner,” NFL chief spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement emailed to The Times. “All personnel sitting in the booth must abide by policies that prohibit the use of electronic devices other than league-issued equipment such as a Microsoft Surface Tablet for the Sideline Viewing System.”

Also during the Raiders’ 20-9 loss to the Chargers, ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported that Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly told him that Brady speaks with Kelly multiple times a week to discuss game plans and break down film. Asked about the report after the game, Raiders coach Pete Carroll said it is “not accurate.”

“We have conversations — I talk to Tom, Chip talks to Tom — regularly,” Carroll said. “We have a tremendous asset and we all get along well and we respect each other. And so we just talk about life and football and whatever. … He has great insight and so we’re lucky to have him as an owner.”

During the 2024 season, Brady’s first as both a broadcaster and a team owner, he was not allowed to attend the weekly production meetings during which the Fox crew meets with coaches and players ahead of that week’s game. That restriction was lifted going into this season.

While McCarthy did not specifically answer a question from The Times about Kelly’s reported comment about his talks with Brady, it would appear that the NFL is confident that the restrictions it has in place would prevent Brady from acquiring any information any non-owner wouldn’t be able to gather.

“Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings,” McCarthy said in his statement. “He may attend production meetings remotely but may not attend in person at the team facility or hotel. He may also conduct an interview off site with a player like he did last year a couple times, including for the Super Bowl. Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams, it’s up to the club, coach or players to determine what they say in those sessions.”

Eight football transfer students from Long Beach Millikan have been declared ineligible in the latest crackdown by the Southern Section, according to the section’s transfer portal.

Last week, Bishop Montgomery had 19 players declared ineligible. Several of those players have moved to Arizona to try to get eligible. The Millikan players received a two-year suspension for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information.

Millikan previously announced it had forfeited two games for use of ineligible players. The team is 0-4.

In 2022, Millikan had to forfeit four games for an ineligible player and coach Romeo Pellum was briefly suspended by the school.

The Southern Section has been paying closer attention to transfer students for the last two years since requirements for paperwork went from two items to six, allowing for greater scrutiny.