UCLA

Every college football team with a coaching vacancy wants the next Curt Cignetti. Maybe UCLA can land him.

He’s from the same school that Cignetti took to unprecedented heights before making Indiana a national power, and he’s doing similarly special things.

His name is Bob Chesney, and he was publicly identified by former Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel over the weekend as someone whom UCLA is targeting in a search that appears to be picking up considerable momentum.

If that’s true — and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t, based on Neuheisel’s connections and similar things heard by The Times from others close to the coaching search — then the Bruins might be among the Chesney suitors on the cusp of the coup of the coaching carousel.

Chesney has a profile similar to Cignetti’s. He won big at the Division III, Division II and Football Championship Series levels before taking over at James Madison prior to last season. All he’s done with the Dukes is guide them to a 9-4 record and Boca Raton Bowl victory in Year 1 before putting them on the fringes of College Football Playoff contention with a 9-1 start in Year 2.

He’s relatively young at 48 and has a dynamic presence. Go watch his introductory news conference at James Madison. Some descriptors that come to mind are driven, compassionate, gracious, humorous and principled.

“Transparency and communication are two very important things that every program needs to have,” Chesney said that day, providing a mantra that all organizations should embrace.

Chesney has the kind of personality that could land recruits, galvanize a fan base and drive donations at UCLA, even as someone who has spent his entire life on the East Coast.

Anyone who thinks that is an automatic disqualifier for the UCLA job doesn’t know history. Ever heard the name Red Sanders?

He was a North Carolina native who came to UCLA from Vanderbilt, going on to such massive success in Westwood that the Bruins still give out the Red Sanders Award to their most valuable player each year.

Chesney has to want to come to UCLA, of course, while also being pursued by others as his profile continues to rise, seemingly by the day. All it takes is one phone call from somebody else for even the best plans to get derailed. The surplus of coaching vacancies at Power Four schools and associated moves will make any pursuit a game of dominoes.

UCLA hasn’t hired a sitting head coach since Pepper Rodgers took the job before the 1971 season, leaving Kansas.

The last three times the Bruins made that move, it paid off handsomely. Rodgers went 19-12-1 over three seasons before departing for Georgia Tech, his alma mater. Tommy Prothro (previously at Oregon State) went 41-18-3 over six seasons before landing a job with the Rams. After leaving Vanderbilt, Sanders went 66-19-1 at UCLA, winning a share of the Bruins’ only national championship in 1954, before dying of a heart attack before the 1958 season.

If UCLA intends to go that route, other candidates that the search committee would be smart to consider include San Diego State’s Sean Lewis, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and South Florida’s Alex Golesh. Washington’s Jedd Fisch would be another attractive candidate if there was mutual interest, though Fisch’s reported $10-million buyout that doesn’t drop to $6 million until January — long after the Bruins want to have their coach in place — may be prohibitive.

Luke Duncan throws a pass against Ohio State in the second half.

(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)

With UCLA missing its starting quarterback against the nation’s top-ranked team, a 48-10 loss to Ohio State was entirely predictable.

Quarterbacks: B. Given the circumstances, Luke Duncan filled in admirably for Nico Iamaleava, showing plenty of potential once he was able to sling the ball in the second half.

Running backs: C-. It could have been worse considering the Buckeyes knew the Bruins would rely heavily on the run. Jaivian Thomas, Jalen Berger, Anthony Woods and Anthony Frias II combined for 55 yards and averaged 2.75 yards per carry.

Wide receivers/tight ends: B. Rico Flores II and Kwazi Gilmer each made a big catch, but Gilmer was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at a time his team was losing 27-0.

Offensive line: B+. These guys didn’t give up a sack even with veteran guard Garrett DiGiorgio sidelined by a back injury and right tackle Reuben Unije leaving the game because of another injury.

Defensive line: C+. There’s little shame in getting outclassed by one of the nation’s top offensive lines.

Linebackers: B. Jalen Woods recorded the team’s first sack since the Michigan State game more than a month ago.

Defensive backs: C. Didn’t make much of an impression outside of Cole Martin getting hurdled on a touchdown run.

Special teams: D. Mateen Bhaghani did his thing, making another field goal, but giving up a 100-yard kickoff return was unacceptable.

Coaching: C. Somewhat understandably, Tim Skipper & Co. unveiled a game plan so conservative that it might appear on the GOP ticket for midterm elections in 2026.

Olympic sport the week: Men’s water polo

Frederico Jucá Carsalade looks to pass against USC.

(UCLA)

They got it done.

In a rematch they badly wanted to win, the UCLA Bruins edged rival USC on Saturday to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo title.

With two goals in the final two minutes, including a go-ahead goal from Ryder Dodd with 1:09 left, the visiting Bruins rallied for an epic 14-13 victory over the Trojans, avenging a loss to their rivals from earlier in the season.

From left, Trey Doten, Max Matthews, Marcell Szécsi, Nick Tovani, and Wade Sherlock cheer against USC.

(UCLA)

Dodd finished with four goals for UCLA (22-1), which earned the top seeding in the MPSF tournament at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center. The Bruins will face either eighth-seeded Penn State Behrend or ninth-seeded Connecticut College on Friday afternoon in their opening game.

Opinion time

Which possible football coaching candidate excites you most?

James Madison’s Bob Chesney

San Diego State’s Sean Lewis

Tulane’s Jon Sumrall

South Florida’s Alex Golesh

Washington’s Jedd Fisch

Click here to vote in our survey.

Poll results

We asked, “If UCLA plays its football games at SoFi Stadium in 2026, will you go?”

After 768 votes, the results:

No, it’s a big mistake, 60.9%
Yes, sounds like fun, 39.1%

In case you missed it

Gabriela Jaquez and No. 3 UCLA dominate in victory over South Florida

With Nico Iamaleava out, UCLA is trounced by top-ranked Ohio State

Kenny Easley, one of the most dominant defenders in UCLA and NFL history, dies at 66

Nico Iamaleava will not play for UCLA vs. Ohio State because of a concussion

No. 15 UCLA can’t stop Jaden Bradley late, falling to No. 5 Arizona for first loss

‘Oh my gosh, you’re a baby.’ Meet Meila Brewer, UCLA’s 16-year-old soccer star

UCLA baseball signs pitcher Fabio Bundi from Zurich, Switzerland

Judge denies Rose Bowl temporary restraining order blocking UCLA from SoFi Stadium deal

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on X @latbbolch. To order an autographed copy of my book, “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” send me an email. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Going into the first start of his career, Luke Duncan would be facing the nation’s top-ranked team in one of the most intimidating environments in college football with an offensive line missing its most veteran starter.

It went about as well as one might expect.

Don’t blame Duncan, the UCLA backup quarterback who did his best with a conservative game plan in the absence of Nico Iamaleava. It was just that the Bruins were so thoroughly outclassed that they basically had no chance with their star quarterback sidelined by concussion symptoms he experienced earlier in the week.

Ohio State scored on its first five drives on the way to a 48-10 victory on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, the highlights for the Bruins sporadic enough to be counted on one hand.

There was a sack by linebacker Jalen Woods to end a Buckeyes drive early in the third quarter, forcing them to punt. There was a fourth-down stop on Ohio State’s next drive that gave the ball back to the Bruins. Duncan finally put his team on the board late in the third quarter when he found Kwazi Gilmer cutting across the field for an 18-yard touchdown.

“He got more and more comfortable, that’s what I was proud to see of him,” UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said of Duncan. “That’s a tough deal and just proud of that kid for fighting. He never blinked an eye and just kept moving forward, so he’ll build off of that.”

There was little to celebrate for the Bruins (3-7 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) on a night they were outgained, 440-222, in total yardage even after tightening up considerably on defense in the second half.

Duncan increasingly found a rhythm after halftime and completed 16 of 23 passes for 154 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The redshirt sophomore was never sacked, an offensive line that was missing guard Garrett DiGiorgio holding up against the Buckeyes’ pressure.

“It was nice to get in that rhythm,” Duncan said, “and just wish we could have started earlier.”

Ohio State defensive lineman Kenyatta Jackson, top, tackles UCLA running back Jaivian Thomas during the first half Saturday.

(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)

Playcaller Jerry Neuheisel tried to help Duncan with a game plan that called for lots of short passes and a few direct snaps to running backs. It led to a relatively efficient performance from a quarterback who had not previously thrown a pass at the college level but did not help the Bruins build any momentum as they managed only two first downs in the first half.

“He had his little package of plays that we had for him,” Skipper said. “We were trying to get him going, you know, get him to ease into the game.”

UCLA didn’t cross midfield until wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. hauled in a 51-yard pass late in the third quarter. The Bruins eventually scored on Gilmer’s touchdown, but the momentum was only momentary given that the Buckeyes (10-0, 7-0) returned the resulting kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown as Lorenzo Styles Jr. successfully navigated the coverage.

“It was a no-DNA touchdown,” Skipper said, “I don’t think anybody touched him.”

Ohio State’s offense produced most of the memorable moments in building a 27-0 halftime lead. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith snagged a pass with one hand near the sideline, drawing audible amazement from the crowd of 104,168. Running back James Peoples hurdled UCLA defensive back Cole Martin on a 19-yard touchdown run, thrilling those fans anew.

Ohio State running back James Peoples, top, hurdles over UCLA defensive back Cole Martin to score a touchdown during the first half Saturday.

(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)

Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse for a team facing a 24-0 deficit in the final minute before halftime, Will Karoll’s punt went off the side of his foot and into the body of an Ohio State player. The Buckeyes kicked a field goal two plays later.

There was little slowing Ohio State’s offense. Running back Bo Jackson rushed for 112 yards and one touchdown and quarterback Julian Sayin completed his first 11 passes on the way to throwing for 184 yards and one touchdown before giving way to a backup midway through the fourth quarter.

The Bruins waved the white flag in the final two minutes, allowing Madden Iamaleava to make his collegiate debut in relief of Duncan.

Duncan said he found out he was starting Friday during a team meeting on the field, going on to lead the offense through a mock game.

“I gave him the [best] advice ever — just throw the ball to our color jersey,” Skipper cracked, “that’s all I told him.”

As Duncan warmed up more than two hours before kickoff, Nico Iamaleava stood behind his understudy, wearing sunglasses and the hood of his windbreaker pulled over his head. Duncan appeared confident and poised as he took underhanded tosses from a team manager and fired passes, even bopping his head ever so slightly as Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” blared over the stadium loudspeakers.

Duncan said Iamaleava rewatched plays on an iPad with him during the game, helping Duncan diagnose the Buckeyes’ defense. Other teammates encouraged Duncan, even after the score became lopsided.

“The whole O-line was cheering me on the whole time, and nobody got negative,” Duncan said. “It’s just a great group. No one gave up.”

Iamaleava was ruled out after he absorbed a series of punishing hits the previous weekend against Nebraska.

There was no relief in what he would see Saturday night.

LAS VEGAS — Gabriela Jaquez scored 17 points to lead six UCLA players in double figures, and the No. 3 Bruins dominated from the beginning to beat South Florida 94-61 on Saturday night in the WBCA Challenge.

Charlisse Leger-Walker added 16 points for the Bruins, including 12 in the first quarter.

Katie Davidson led South Florida (2-2) with 16 points, and Stefanie Ingram scored 13.

UCLA controlled the entire game and was especially effective inside in outscoring the Bulls 56-18 in the lane. The Bruins also made 61% of their shots.

They scored the game’s first 14 points and led 29-8 after the first quarter. Underscoring the total team dominance, usual standouts Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts combined for just two points. They later made their presence felt with Betts scoring 14 points and Rice 12.

UCLA is showing all signs of a team that looks primed to return to the Final Four for the second year a row. In addition to this victory, the Bruins beat two ranked teams this past week — No. 6 Oklahoma 73-59 and No. 11 North Carolina 78-60 — by double digits.

They will have a chance to build on their resume when the Bruins return to Las Vegas in two weeks to play in the Players Era in which three of the four teams are ranked in the top four.

South Florida is playing under interim coach Michele Woods-Baxter, though she is in her 18th season in the program. She stepped into that role when the WNBA’s Dallas Wings hired Jose Fernandez, the Bulls’ coach for 25 seasons, before South Florida’s season opened.

Up next for UCLA: hosts Southern on Nov. 23.

On a flight to Houston to play in his first college football game, Kenny Easley was told that he would split time at free safety with a veteran UCLA teammate.

“That’s what happened,” Easley told The Times in 2017, recounting the story 40 years later. “Michael Coulter started the game and played the first two quarters, I played the second two and Michael never played again.”

Such was the dominance of a player who would be called The Enforcer for the way he inflicted his will on college and NFL opponents. Easley finished that first season with nine interceptions and 93 tackles, school records for a true freshman, and was just getting started on the way to becoming the first player in Pac-10 history to be selected for the conference’s first team all four seasons.

Easley, one of the most revered players in school history, died Friday from unspecified causes, the school announced. He was 66. Easley had long battled kidney issues that forced the five-time Pro Bowler to retire prematurely in 1987 after spending all seven of his NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Seahawks legend Kenny Easley,” the team said in a statement. “Kenny embodied what it meant to be a Seahawk through his leadership, toughness, intensity and fearlessness. His intimidating nature and athletic grace made him one of the best players of all-time.”

Much of that resolve was forged thanks to a childhood game that Easley called dynamite pigskin. A pack of kids would gather on the athletic fields in Easley’s hometown of Chesapeake, Va., and a football would be tossed into the air.

Safety Kenny Easley also returned punts for UCLA.

(Courtesy UCLA Athletics)

Whoever caught it would take off running and everybody else would try to catch him until the ball carrier found himself hopelessly surrounded, forcing him to throw the ball back into the air, where the game earned its dynamite nickname. The game would go on for hours until everyone was bruised and exhausted.

One of the nation’s top prospects out of high school, Easley appeared bound for Michigan, telling everyone he was going to play for the Wolverines. But on the day of his college announcement, Easley blurted out that he was going to play for UCLA, his other finalist, during a ceremony at his high school auditorium.

“So just like that, the proverbial genie is out of the bottle and it’s on videotape that I’m going to UCLA,” Easley would recall many years later. He suspected he changed his mind because the Bruins had said from the start they were recruiting him to play free safety while Michigan wanted him as a quarterback, his other high school position.

Easley tallied 19 interceptions during four college seasons, which remains a school record. Having made 13 interceptions during his first two seasons, Easley developed a ready explanation for why he couldn’t sustain that pace.

“They didn’t throw the ball down the middle,” he said of opposing quarterbacks. “If I was playing against Kenny Easley, I wouldn’t throw the ball down the middle either.”

Easley also returned punts and was a punishing hitter, logging 105 tackles during his senior season in 1980. He would finish ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy that year. His 374 career tackles remain the fifth most in UCLA history and he became the second player from the school to earn consensus All-American honors three times, joining linebacker Jerry Robinson.

“Kenny Easley was the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my life,” Robinson wrote in an email to The Times. “No matter what he was doing, whether it was sports or life, he was in it to win it! Whether it was football, basketball, pick-up softball games, playing cards, high diving into the swimming pool or golf, everything he did he wanted to be the best at it. And he was the best at it. He was the greatest all-around athlete that I have ever played with. RIP ‘Force 5’.”

The Seahawks selected Easley with the fourth pick in the 1981 draft, and he went on to make 32 interceptions in seven seasons. But his time with the franchise ended acrimoniously after he accused the team of providing medicine that led to his kidney problems. The sides would later resolve their differences. Easley was named one of the 50 greatest players in franchise history.

Elected into the college and pro football halls of fame, Easley had his No. 5 jersey retired by UCLA in 1991 and was also enshrined in the school’s athletics hall of fame.

All those hits finally caught up with Nico Iamaleava.

After absorbing one punishing blow after another, the UCLA quarterback will miss Saturday’s game against top-ranked Ohio State at Ohio Stadium because of concussion symptoms related to hits he sustained last weekend against Nebraska, a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly said.

Iamaleava was participating in the early portion of practice Tuesday, the last session observed by reporters this week.

His absence against the Buckeyes presumably means that top backup Luke Duncan, a redshirt sophomore who has never thrown a pass at the college level, will make his first career start.

Iamaleava’s ability to take hits and keep on playing had been a major topic of discussion early this week between reporters and UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper. The quarterback was easily his team’s leading rusher, his average of 52.7 yards per game nearly doubling the output of running back Jaivian Thomas (30.8), the team’s second-leading rusher.

Skipper had praised Iamaleava’s fearlessness, saying the 6-foot-6, 215-pound redshirt sophomore didn’t want to slide or run out of bounds.

“Nico’s the first like tall, skinny dude that I know that will lower the pads on you and is not afraid, he’s going to always be going forward and getting yards and things like that,” Skipper said Monday. “He’s got little legs and skinny arms but has no fear at all.”

Skipper also acknowledged the need to preserve Iamaleava’s availability by preventing him from taking more hits than necessary.

“Obviously, he’s your starting quarterback,” Skipper said. “You don’t want him taking big hits and things like that, but if they’re going to give him running lanes, you might as well take them. I kid with him all the time, ‘Hey every now and then, you might want to slide a little bit.’ But you know, when you have a natural runner like he is, you kind of just let them go do their thing.”

Immediately after UCLA’s 28-21 loss to Nebraska, Iamaleava did not indicate that all the hits he had taken impacted his performance. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while also running 15 times for 86 yards.

“Yeah man, shoot, I’ve played football a long time and I’ve gotten hit a lot of times in many games,” Iamaleava said. “So, I don’t think it affected me in that way. Overall, we just gotta play better as a whole and finish games.”

When I broke into journalism years ago as a fledgling Whittier-based high school sports reporter, one of my favorite side hobbies was asking locals what made their city famous.

Downey was always an interesting test case.

Some said Downey’s claim to fame is the oldest standing McDonald’s, or the Stonewood Mall, with some students boasting the rivalry between Downey and Warren high schools. Some have also cited the title of the “Mexican Beverly Hills,” which I and colleague Gustavo Arellano have always considered more appropriate for Whittier.

What wasn’t mentioned enough about Downey, particularly among the high school-aged students I spoke with, was the city’s ties to the Space Shuttle program. It was somewhat remarkable given the city’s “Home of the Apollo” nickname.

Downey’s reputation, especially among its younger residents, may reset soon thanks to a groundbreaking this Monday to announce the latest upgrade to the Columbia Memorial Space Center, a space museum that opened in 2008.

Benjamin Dickow, the center‘s president and executive director, spoke with The Times about what to expect Monday and beyond.

What’s happening Monday?

Astronaut Garrett Reisman, former Rockwell International and Boeing employees and area dignitaries will take part in a groundbreaking for an about 40,000-square-foot expansion to the existing museum.

The museum’s centerpiece will be a 122-foot-long, 35-foot-tall Downey-made space shuttle mock-up named the “Inspiration,” which is not available yet for public display.

The event begins at 10 a.m., rain or shine, and is located at 12400 Columbia Way in Downey.

For more information, check out https://www.columbiaspacescience.org/

A rendering of the completed front entrance of the museum.

(Nadia Gonzalez, on behalf of the Columbia Memorial Space Center)

Space Center changes and expansion

Dickow said the center was in the middle of completing the first of three phases, to be finished before the L.A. Olympics.

“Once the major construction really gets going, it’s about an 18-month process,” he said, “but if something happens with the shuttle, it’s going to add some time.”

Part of the first phase began in October 2024, when the partially-covered wood and plastic model was paraded down Bellflower Boulevard from a city maintenance yard to a temporary housing unit.

The expansion, known as the Downey Space Shuttle Exhibit and Education Building, would include a new two-story, 29,000-square-foot space shuttle museum, event courtyard, STEM building and courtyard, children’s outdoor classroom, pavilion, lawn and other amenities.

The space shuttle mock-up is also undergoing a “process of rehab and refurbishment,” according to Dickow, but is in “generally great shape.”

“The main work is getting it ready for the public, where visitors will be able to enter and get a sense of what it’s like inside a space shuttle,” Dickow said.

Astronauts would typically access the flight deck, mid-deck and crew compartment through a hatch, according to Dickow.

According to renderings, guests will instead enter through a much more accessible stairwell that puts visitors inside a cargo bay.

A rendering of the space shuttle mock-up, dubbed “Inspiration,” at its place in the center of the museum expansion.

(Nadia Gonzalez, on behalf of the Columbia Memorial Space Center)

What is the mock-up and what’s its tie to Downey?

The shuttle mock-up’s history with Downey spans decades.

North American Rockwell International, now part of Boeing, built the prototype in 1972 at its Downey facility. The space shuttle became the world’s first reusable winged orbiting spaceship.

In total, 12,000 workers developed and manufactured the shuttle at the program’s peak on a sprawling 120-acre campus.

From April 12, 1981, through July 21, 2011, NASA fleets of shuttles flew 135 missions and helped build the International Space Station.

One of those shuttles — Endeavour — was hauled into the middle of its future home, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at Exposition Park, in January 2024.

That museum is also expected to be open before the Olympics.

“This is going to be something that the L.A. area will be able to show off to people from around the world and I want to make sure we’re a part of that,” Dickow said. “Downey and Southeast L.A. sometimes don’t get a lot of the spotlight and this is something that we’ll be able to put out there.”

The week’s biggest stories

Pedestrians cross the street in downtown Los Angeles under light rain on Friday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

SoCal treads through stormy weather

Rebuilding after January fires

Opposition to immigration forces in California

A Sacramento corruption bombshell

• The federal fraud case against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff and other well-connected aides is entangled with one of California’s — and the country’s — most powerful political circles.
• Dana Williamson, who joined the governor’s office in early 2023 and departed late last year, was arrested Wednesday and faces charges of bank and tax fraud.

Explosive Epstein emails about Trump

• Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours at my house,” Jeffrey Epstein wrote in emails.
• See what’s in the emails released by House Democrats on Wednesday.

More big stories

This week’s must-read

More great reads

For your weekend

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Timeless

A selection of the very best reads from The Times’ 143-year archive.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

She doesn’t have a driver’s license. Often doesn’t get movie references. Reminds many of their little sisters.

There’s always some story or tidbit involving Meila Brewer that will make her teammates laugh or gush about playing alongside the freshman center back who’s believed to be the youngest athlete in UCLA history.

Why, it wasn’t so long ago that Brewer floored everybody else on the women’s soccer team when each player shared how old they were when the pandemic hit. As almost everybody ticked off one year or another in high school, all eyes turned to Brewer.

“Oh,” she announced, “I was in fifth grade.”

Meila Brewer extends her arms, smiles and runs to embrace her UCLA teammates during a match against Stanford.

(UCLA Athletics)

That doesn’t mean that she’s easily identifiable. Coach Margueritte Aozasa has made an informal game of asking anyone who inquires about having a 16-year-old on her roster to pick her out when scanning the players on the field.

No one has gotten it right on the first handful of attempts.

“They’ll point out three or four players,” Aozasa said, “and I’ll be like, ‘No, it’s probably the one you would least expect.’ ”

Being one of the tallest players on the team at 5-foot-8 provides some cover, but it’s also her precocious nature and the skills she developed while training with a professional team and playing for the U.S. youth national team that give her a veteran presence.

There’s been no underage shrinking, Brewer living up to every moment as fourth-seeded UCLA (11-5-3) prepares to open the NCAA tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday at home against Pepperdine (11-6-2).

Meila Brewer dribbles the ball while playing for UCLA during the 2025 season. Brewer, 16, is the youngest athlete to ever compete in a sport at UCLA.

(UCLA Athletics)

OK, maybe a hint of her youth emerged when she was asked how she felt about playing on college soccer’s biggest stage.

“Freaking out,” Brewer said. “Like, when you think about it, I’m soooo excited, that’s like the only way you can put it.”

This will be just her eighth game with the Bruins as a result of her recent participation in the FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where the Americans won their group before losing to the Netherlands on penalty kicks in the Round of 16.

Her UCLA teammates followed the action from afar, one posting a picture of herself shedding celebratory tears in a group chat after Brewer scored in the opening game. After the competition ended, Brewer boarded one flight for Atlanta before getting on another one bound for Los Angeles, only to hop back on a third plane a little more than 12 hours later to accompany her Bruins teammates to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten tournament.

“Coming back from Morocco, I had missed a decent amount of games,” Brewer said, “but I feel like the girls have been so supportive of helping me get reintegrated and getting right back into the flow just because we’re in tournament time and we want to succeed.”

Aozasa said she’s reminded her players that there’s a 16-year-old on the team and to behave appropriately. Brewer’s roommate, Payten Cooper, is two years older than her even though she’s also a freshman. Lexi Wright, a redshirt senior forward, is seven years older.

But those age gaps aren’t a big deal to Brewer considering she’s already spent a year and a half training with players in their 30s on the Kansas City Current, a team in the National Women’s Soccer League.

“It’s no surprise that she’s gonna be able to fit in right away and be successful at that level at UCLA,” said Vasil Ristov, the coach of the Current’s second team who was also Brewer’s youth club coach, “because she’s seen some of the top talent in the world and she’s participated in training sessions with them.”

Just reaching UCLA at such a young age was a major triumph.

Having taken a heavy class load in middle school and her first two years of high school to lessen the academic burden on her later, Brewer had reclassified once by the time she visited UCLA last spring. That’s when her love for a place she had long considered her dream school truly took hold, Brewer feeling the pull to play immediately even though she had more than a year of high school remaining.

“She was like, ‘What if I just come in this fall?’ ” said her father, Austin Brewer, who was also on the trip. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t think it works that way.’ ”

After checking it out, the family realized it was a possibility. Meila (pronounced MEE-luh) worked nonstop from April through the end of July. She didn’t get to participate in high school graduation ceremonies but was rewarded with something greater — a chance to play for the Bruins.

UCLA freshman Meila Brewer controls the ball while playing Tennessee during the 2025 season.

(UCLA Athletics)

Her schedule includes nearly as many parent check-ins as classes. Austin and Shelly Brewer routinely call in the morning, midday and evening, sometimes adding oldest daughter Sasha, a freshman defender for the University of Miami women’s soccer team, to FaceTime chats.

Classes haven’t been as hard as Brewer imagined, though she’s still trying to pick a major.

“Coming into college,” she said, “I was prepping myself for the worst, so I feel like I was ready for it.”

On the field, Brewer is known for a physical style that allows her to impede opposing forwards in her role as a defender and smart playmaking while on the attack. They’re all traits that could help her fulfill her goal of playing for the U.S. national team.

Having always played up one or more levels on club teams, sometimes alongside boys, Brewer developed a strong sense of self.

“I asked her once who her favorite player was, who did she want to be like,” Shelly Brewer said, “and I’ll never forget this — we laugh about it all the time — she said, ‘I don’t want to be like anyone; I want to be like me.’ ”

In a nod to her age and the fact that she’s still growing, Brewer sometimes gets tendinitis in her knees. She wants to be just one of the girls, her youth a novelty but not a defining characteristic.

“I want to be seen as an equal on the field or a leader on the field in what I can do besides my age,” she said. “I just want to be able to stand out for how I play and not on the age side of it.”

That’s not to say that someone who won’t turn 17 until March isn’t having as much fun as everybody else whenever the subject comes up.

“It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re a baby,’ ” Brewer said, “and I’m like, ‘Yep, I am.’ ”

LAS VEGAS — All-American Lauren Betts had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 3 UCLA to a 78-60 victory over No. 11 North Carolina on Thursday night in the WBCA Challenge, the Bruins’ second win over a ranked team this week.

UCLA (4-0) also topped No. 6 Oklahoma 73-59 on Monday in Sacramento. Coming off the program’s first trip to the NCAA Final Four, the Bruins are making an early case as one of the favorites to get back there.

Betts also had seven assists. Teammate Kiki Rice overcame an 0-for-3 first half to finish with 15 points on six-for-12 shooting as well as 10 rebounds. Angela Dugalic added 14 points and Gabriela Jaquez had 12.

Elina Aarnisalo led North Carolina (2-1) with 13 points, and Indya Nivar and Ciera Toomey each scored 11. Nyla Harris, a transfer from Louisville, was held to six points on three-for-10 shooting. She scored a combined 25 points in the Tar Heels’ two victories.

The teams swapped scoring runs before UCLA took charge with a 10-point surge to end the third quarter for a 58-46 lead.

The Bruins dominated inside, winning the rebound battle 46-30 and outscoring the Tar Heels in the lane by a 46-22 margin. Four UCLA players had at least eight rebounds.

At least five WNBA teams were represented: the Sparks, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Toronto. Jackie Young, Dana Evans and Kiah Stokes, who helped the Aces win their third championship in four years, watched courtside.

Up next for UCLA: vs. South Florida in the WBCA Challenge on Saturday.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a request from the Rose Bowl Operating Co. and the City of Pasadena seeking a temporary restraining order in their attempt to keep UCLA football games at the Rose Bowl, saying those entities had not demonstrated an emergency that would necessitate such an action.

Judge James C. Chalfant said previous cases in which the New York Yankees, New York Jets and Minnesota Twins were barred from moving games did not apply to this situation because those teams were scheduled to play in a matter of days or weeks and UCLA’s next scheduled game at the Rose Bowl after its home season finale against Washington on Nov. 22 isn’t until the fall of 2026.

The judge also said there was no indication that the Rose Bowl or Pasadena would suffer imminent financial harm because a contract to construct a field-level club in one end zone had not been signed.

The legal saga is far from over. Chalfant suggested the plaintiffs’ attorneys seek discovery information regarding the school’s discussions with SoFi Stadium and file a motion for a preliminary injunction.

Nima Mohebbi, an attorney representing the Rose Bowl Operating Co. and the City of Pasadena, said he had filed a public records request in an attempt to gather information about those discussions and was pleased with the judge’s statements.

“Even though he found that there was no immediate emergency,” Mohebbi said, “he made very clear in a lot of his statements that there’s irreparable harm, that UCLA has an obligation to play at the Rose Bowl through 2044 and we’re very confident in our facts of this case. So I think all in, we feel very, very good.”

After the hearing ended, Mary Osako, vice chancellor of strategic communications, said in a statement that “the court’s ruling speaks for itself. As we have said, while we continue to evaluate the long-term arrangement or UCLA football home games, no decision has been made.”

UCLA has played its home football games at the Rose Bowl since 1982. In 2014, Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California system, signed a long-term lease amendment that did not include an opt-out clause in exchange for the stadium committing to make nearly $200 million in improvements through the issue of public bonds. When the judge asked attorneys representing UCLA if they intended to terminate the agreement, they shook their heads in denial.

But Mohebbi accused UCLA of participating in a shell game in which it had furtively explored options for moving to SoFi Stadium.

“What they really want is to have a back-room discussion where they can offer some certain amount of money and pay the city off without having to account for this publicly,” Mohebbi said. “… UCLA has not only attempted to terminate [the contract], they have indicated in no uncertain terms that they are terminating.”

After Jordan McCrary, an attorney representing UCLA, contended that his counterparts in the dispute refused to engage with the school in resolution discussions, Mohebbi said, “there’s nothing to talk about. They have an obligation — we’re not negotiating a way out of this agreement.”

McCrary disputed Mohebbi’s contention that UCLA attorneys had signaled an intention to leave the Rose Bowl through direct conversations between counsel, saying “we believe they were settlement negotiations and we don’t believe they’re admissible” in future court proceedings.

When a UCLA attorney contended during the roughly 80-minute court session that the school’s relationship with the Rose Bowl was breaking down, Chalfant said, “I don’t know why UCLA can’t just show up and play football at the Rose Bowl. You don’t need to talk to them at all.”

Chalfant said he did not agree with the UCLA attorneys’ contention that the Rose Bowl lease amounted to a personal services contract for which specific performance — essentially an order compelling the Bruins to remain tenants — was not available. The judge said specific performance could be available in a situation involving an actual breach or an anticipatory breach of the contract.

Rose Bowl officials have filed litigation intended to compel the Bruins to honor a lease that runs through the 2043 season, saying that monetary damages would not be enough to offset the loss of their anchor tenant.

They are also seeking to prevent the case from being settled through arbitration.

“I know UCLA really wants to have this out of the public sphere,” Mohebbi said, “but the reality is this is a public interest case and there are issues here that absolutely require this case to be in a public forum.

“We’re talking about two public entities. This is not the Rams, or this is not the Lakers. This is a public institution playing with public money going up against another public institution that relies on this other public institution to protect its own taxpayers from dipping into the general fund that goes to things like police services, fire services. I mean, God forbid there’s a fire like the Eaton fire this last year that we’re not going to be able to even cover the bond payments through the general reserves.”

As Trent Perry made his first collegiate start, he stepped into a familiar role.

The UCLA sophomore always plays point guard in practice, going head to head against star counterpart Donovan Dent. Whenever they play together in games, Perry has to shift his approach, becoming more aggressive in trying to grab rebounds.

But with Dent sidelined as a precaution because of a muscle strain Monday night at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins needed Perry to assume the role of lead facilitator.

Finding out that he was going to start only shortly before tipoff, Perry received encouragement from his sidelined teammate.

“He really just said, ‘Keep going,’” Perry said of Dent. “Just kept giving me confidence throughout the entire game. You know, keep going right now, you’re the engine and just keep your team moving. Just be a leader.”

Perry eagerly complied, leading the No. 15 Bruins to an 83-62 victory over West Georgia that was far closer than the score indicated. The Wolves used a bombs-away approach that yielded a flurry of three-pointers and kept the game competitive for 25 minutes before Perry helped UCLA avoid embarrassment on its home court.

Making most of the highlight passes, including one in which he barreled into the paint before flinging the ball to teammate Eric Dailey Jr. in the corner for a three-pointer, Perry logged career highs across the board with 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds along with only two turnovers in 37 minutes.

It was a performance that pleased coach Mick Cronin, who said he was primarily concerned with Perry’s defense and ability to take care of the ball while finding his teammates.

“Off certain plays that we ran, he read the defense, did a good job with that,” Cronin said. “That’s what you’ve to do as a quarterback — calling the plays, if the quarterback can’t deliver the ball, you’re a pretty limited coach.”

With UCLA holding just a five-point lead against an opponent in only its second season in Division I, Perry ignited his team’s 10-0 push early in the second half that provided breathing room with an assist and a layup in transition. Eventually the Bruins (3-0) found themselves ahead by 20 points, leaving West Georgia (1-2) with no way to catch them even on a night when the Wolves made 13 of 25 three-pointers (52%).

UCLA also persevered thanks to forward Tyler Bilodeau’s 21 points on seven-for-12 shooting and Dailey’s 14 points. The Bruins were far more efficient on offense in the second half, making 14 of 25 shots (56%) to finish the game shooting 49.1%.

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau, left, tries to drive past West Georgia forward Kenneth Chime during the first half Monday.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

But the outcome wasn’t a foregone conclusion until there were about 10 minutes left thanks to West Georgia’s success from beyond the arc. The Wolves made nine of 13 three-pointers in the first half before cooling off considerably.

“We were losing shooters,” said Perry, who was pump-faked out of the way on one three-pointer in the game’s early going. “Our deflection [total] was really low. Coach said comfortable teams make comfortable players. And they were pretty comfortable in our home gym, especially in the first half.”

Cronin said he was grateful that his team was challenged by a third consecutive lesser-conference opponent after struggling to put away Eastern Washington and Pepperdine.

“It was great that they made us compete tonight — we do not need a false sense of security,” Cronin said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so the worst thing you can have is [an opponent] that just lays down, doesn’t pass the ball, can’t make a shot, you’re running and dunking, the crowd’s going wild. It’s such a false sense of security for what we’ve got coming Friday.”

Cronin was alluding to an early season showdown against No. 5 Arizona at the Intuit Dome.

UCLA will need not just Dent back but also the defensive intensity that has made Cronin’s teams far more formidable than they looked for much of Monday night. Dent likely will play against the Wildcats, Cronin said.

“He’s banged up, got a couple of different areas he’s banged up,” Cronin said. “It was a great chance to get him some rest.”

And, in the process, learn that the Bruins have someone else capable of running their offense.

SACRAMENTO — Gianna Kneepkens scored 20 points and No. 3 UCLA used a big third quarter to pull away from sixth-ranked Oklahoma for a 73-59 victory Monday night.

Bruins star Lauren Betts had nine points on four-for-11 shooting, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots while committing seven of her team’s 16 turnovers. The Bruins (3-0) dominated on the boards, 59-43, in a game played at Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

Oklahoma got a scare with 9:16 remaining when senior center and leading scorer Raegan Beers went down awkwardly fighting for a rebound with Betts and grabbed at her right knee. She returned shortly thereafter and wound up with seven points and 14 rebounds.

Zya Vann had 13 points and six rebounds for Oklahoma (1-1) and Payton Verhulst finished with 16. She knocked down a three-pointer to end the third quarter and pull her team to within 59-48.

Angela Dugalic came off the bench to contribute 16 points and 15 rebounds for UCLA, which shot just eight for 22 from deep but created opportunities with hustle and effort plays such as crashing the offensive glass.

The teams faced off in the second round of the 2023 NCAA tournament with UCLA winning 82-73 to reach the Sweet 16. The Bruins have won the last three meetings.

Oklahoma had a week between its 84-67 season-opening win against Belmont on Nov. 3, marking the longest break between the first and second games to start a full season — excluding the COVID-19 year — since 2002-03.

Oklahoma hasn’t beaten a top-five nonconference opponent since topping No. 3 Duke in the 2001 national semifinal.

Up next for UCLA: vs. North Carolina in the WBCA Challenge at Las Vegas on Thursday.

USC and Baylor jumped into the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll after big opening week victories.

The Bears began the season with a victory in Paris over then-No. 7 Duke to replace the Blue Devils in that spot Monday, climbing nine places. The Trojans edged then-No. 9 North Carolina State by a point Sunday to move up 10 spots to eighth overall.

While USC will be missing star JuJu Watkins all season as she recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered last March, coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s team has a new young star in Jazzy Davidson, who hit the go-ahead shot with 8.2 seconds left.

Connecticut, South, Carolina, UCLA and Texas remained the top four teams in the poll after relatively easy opening week wins. The defending champion Huskies received 30 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Gamecocks got the other two.

Louisiana State and Oklahoma stayed at fifth and six, respectively. The Sooners faced UCLA on Monday night in Sacramento, a site of one of the NCAA regionals next spring.

Maryland moved up one place to ninth. N.C. State, which besides falling to USC beat Tennessee by three points in the opener, dropped to 10th. The Lady Vols fell to 12th and the Blue Devils 15th.

In and out

No. 25 Washington entered the top 25 for the first time in two years. The Huskies were hosting Montana on Monday night before heading to Utah on Saturday. Richmond dropped out of the poll after losing at Texas.

Banner raising

UConn unveiled its 12th championship banner on Sunday when the Huskies beat Florida State. The team took to the court before the game wearing custom white-and-gold tracksuits that read “National Champions XII” on the back.

Happy anniversary

The women’s basketball poll celebrates its 50th anniversary this month with the first rankings coming out in late November 1976. Founded by Mel Greenberg, the poll was a coaches’ poll until 1994-95 when it became one voted on by national media.

Games of the week

No. 2 South Carolina at No. 9 USC, Saturday. The Gamecocks will head west to face the Trojans in a home-and-home series dubbed “The Real SC”. Saturday’s game will be played at Crypto.com Arena and next year’s game will be played in Greenville, S.C.

No. 17 Texas Christian at No. 10 N.C. State, Sunday. The Wolfpack continue their difficult non-conference schedule facing the Horned Frogs, who added transfer Olivia Miles from Notre Dame this offseason.

Feinberg writes for the Associated Press.

The City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Co. requested a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking to prevent UCLA from leaving the Rose Bowl or terminating its stadium lease until pending litigation against the school is resolved.

The filing contends that the plaintiffs would suffer “immediate and irreparable harm if the status quo is not preserved during the pendency of this lawsuit.” A hearing has tentatively been scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Last week, the plaintiffs sued to force the Bruins to honor the terms of the lease that requires them to stay at the Rose Bowl through the end of the 2043 season.

UCLA responded in a statement that it was still evaluating options for its football home, though someone familiar with the university’s thinking on the matter later confirmed to The Times that if the Bruins decided to leave for SoFi Stadium, they would want to do so for the 2026 season.

In their Monday filing, the plaintiffs contended that: “there is no way to sugarcoat it: UCLA has confirmed its imminent departure, severely destabilizing Plaintiffs’ core operations. Those operations are structured around and contingent upon UCLA. Without confirmation that UCLA intends to honor its contractual commitments — at least during the pendency of this litigation — Plaintiffs are deprived of the ability to plan and manage the stadium’s schedule and their ongoing business operations, including cultivating and securing future business partners and opportunities, retaining personnel, and maintaining confidence among the many vendors and sponsors who rely on UCLA Football.

“Equally troubling is the precedent UCLA is setting. Stadium and arena public-private partnerships, and the financing that makes them possible, turn on enforceable, long-term contracts, with terms that typically follow the public debt incurred. UCLA’s attempt to break its contract decades early critically undermines these structures.”

UCLA is apparently running the equivalent of a hurry-up offense as part of its efforts to switch football homes.

Should the Bruins go ahead with plans to abandon the Rose Bowl for SoFi Stadium, the move could happen quickly — as soon as next season.

But no one should reprogram their GPS for 1001 Stadium Dr. in Inglewood just yet.

Despite significant momentum among UCLA officials toward making the move to SoFi Stadium, no final decision has been made, according to one person familiar with the school’s discussions about the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Even if the school did agree to play its 2026 home games at SoFi Stadium as part of an accelerated timeline — first reported by Bruin Report Online — at least one significant hurdle would remain.

That big roadblock involves pending litigation designed to keep UCLA at the stadium it has called home since the start of the 1982 season. The City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Co. have filed a lawsuit to force the Bruins to honor the terms of the lease that requires them to stay at the Rose Bowl through the end of the 2043 season.

A consideration of an estimated payout has presumably been factored into UCLA’s calculus of its willingness to abandon its Rose Bowl lease for more lucrative terms at SoFi Stadium. But might a possible massive financial penalty imposed by a court give university officials pause?

In their joint filing, Pasadena and the Rose Bowl contended that UCLA’s departure could cause harm to the city and its residents that might “easily exceed a billion dollars [or more],” and that monetary damages alone might not be able to compensate for the losses incurred by those entities.

Money is clearly at the heart of UCLA’s proposed move.

For the fiscal year 2024, the last for which information is available, UCLA reported $8.35 million in football ticket sales — less than half of the $20 million it made in 2014, when it was setting attendance records under coach Jim Mora — and just $738,373 in revenue from game programs, novelties, parking and food and concessions.

As part of any lease agreement with SoFi Stadium, the Bruins would receive suite revenue they were not taking in at the Rose Bowl, where they had locked themselves into a long-term deal giving them no return on suite sales or stadium sponsorship sales and only a sliver of parking, concessions and merchandise revenues.

In return, the Rose Bowl had pledged more than $150 million in stadium renovations while recently refinancing an additional $130 million in bonds for additional infrastructure improvements. Among the plans in the works is a field-level club in the south end zone scheduled to open in time for the 2026 season. The Rose Bowl has agreed to let UCLA keep revenue from 1,200 plush, extra-wide seats as part of the renovations, though those seats would also benefit the stadium at other events throughout the year.

Where might UCLA get the money to pay the Rose Bowl as part of any settlement for leaving the iconic venue? Like other Big Ten schools, the Bruins could receive an up-front payment of $140 million as part of a proposed $2.4-billion deal between the conference and an investment fund of the University of California pension system.

Other benefits of moving to SoFi Stadium would include a 13-mile commute that’s half the distance between campus and the Rose Bowl, as well as enhanced facilities such as more modern seating and scoreboards. But there are concerns about tailgating at SoFi Stadium, which has far more restrictive policies than those enjoyed by fans on a sprawling golf course and parking lots at the Rose Bowl.

There would also be no guarantees of increased attendance as part of a stadium switch. When UCLA played Boise State in the 2023 L.A. Bowl at SoFi Stadium, the game drew an announced attendance of 32,780. That’s less than the 37,098 fans the team has averaged this season at the Rose Bowl, which is putting it on pace for an all-time low at the stadium.

Visiting fans might also be less likely to travel across the country to see a game at SoFi Stadium as opposed to the Rose Bowl, which has long been considered one of the top destinations in college football.

While it’s unlikely that UCLA’s stadium situation will be settled before its final home game of the season against Washington on Nov. 22, fans might want to savor that view of the San Gabriel Mountains a little longer than usual.

Just in case it’s the last time they get to see it before a home football game.

Nico Iamaleava looks for an open receiver against Nebraska.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

After UCLA’s 28-21 loss to Nebraska, one more defeat will erase the possibility of a bowl game, leading freshmen, sophomores and juniors to join their more veteran teammates in developing a potential case of senioritis.

Quarterbacks: A. There’s nothing more you can ask from Nico Iamaleava given all the hits he takes and resolve he shows while running this offense.

Running backs: C-. Once again, Iamaleava (86 yards rushing) outgained the combined efforts of running backs Jaivian Thomas, Jalen Berger and Anthony Woods (69 yards).

Wide receivers/tight ends: C-. The only touchdown catches were made by Woods and fellow running back Anthony Frias II.

Offensive line: D. Eugene Brooks’ return was offset by the injury loss of Garrett DiGiorgio and more false start penalties.

Defensive line: D. The Bruins have failed to record a sack in three consecutive games as part of a sustained failure to put pressure on the quarterback.

Linebackers: C. The struggles to contain Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson didn’t end here.

Defensive backs: C. Key Lawrence and Cole Martin made the team’s only tackles for loss, but the secondary allowed a freshman quarterback to complete his first 11 passes in his debut as a starter.

Special teams: B. Jacob Busic ran for a first down on a fake punt, but Mateen Bhaghani pulled a field goal wide left.

Coaching: C-. Two weeks to prepare after a blowout loss weren’t enough to help this staff get the Bruins to play at a high level again.

Opening basketball thoughts

Xavier Booker in the second half against Pepperdine.

(William Liang / Associated Press)

It’s easy to overreact to what happens early in a season.

With that caveat out of the way, the first impressions of the UCLA men’s basketball team were not great. Two relatively narrow victories in what were expected to be blowouts of Eastern Washington and Pepperdine caused the 12th-ranked Bruins to slip all the way from No. 10 in the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy to No. 31.

The biggest early concerns about this team are rebounding and defense. Tyler Bilodeau continues to look lost at times after moving from center to power forward and the guards need to do a much better job of grabbing rebounds.

The big positive takeaway was Xavier Booker’s 15-point, five-block performance against Pepperdine, which signaled that the converted power forward might be the answer the team needs at center after the departure of Aday Mara.

A more definitive assessment of UCLA’s potential will come after the Bruins (2-0) face No. 13 Arizona (2-0) on Friday night at the Intuit Dome in an early season showdown.

Meanwhile, there was plenty to like about the UCLA women’s basketball team based on its early results.

After a slightly disjointed opening victory over San Diego State, the Bruins showed off their depth with three 20-point scorers — none of them named Lauren Betts — in a blowout of UC Santa Barbara. This team can beat you from inside and out, with so much shooting and playmaking complementing Betts that opponents won’t know where to start when game planning.

No. 3 UCLA (2-0) faces an early test Monday against No. 6 Oklahoma (1-0) at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Olympic sport spotlight: Men’s water polo

Ryder Dodd

(Raymond Tran / UCLA)

Get ready for an epic rematch.

Having suffered its only loss of the season to its biggest rival, the UCLA men’s water polo team can even the score when it faces USC on Saturday morning at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the Trojans’ campus.

The second-ranked Bruins (21-1) got a final tuneup for the rematch with the Trojans (18-2) on Friday, beating Pacific, 17-2.

When UCLA faced USC on Oct. 18, the Bruins rallied to forge a 12-12 tie on a fourth and final goal from sophomore Ryder Dodd before the Trojans’ Jack Martin scored the winner with 46 seconds left in a 13-12 victory.

The rematch between the rivals will be UCLA’s last game before it opens play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament on Nov. 21 at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center.

Remember when?

Most UCLA fans reflexively think about the Bruins’ 1976 Rose Bowl triumph over top-ranked Ohio State when asked about their favorite football memory involving the schools who will meet again Saturday at Ohio Stadium.

But an equally improbable triumph came in 1980 in Columbus, Ohio.

With the Bruins coming off a 5-6 season and coach Terry Donahue feeling considerable heat amid player losses to academic and disciplinary problems and mass turnover on his coaching staff, including the departure of close friend Bobby Field to do landscaping near Dallas, the team entered Ohio Stadium as a double-digit underdog.

It left as 17-0 victors.

Behind a dynamic offense devised by new offensive coordinator Homer Smith and another workmanlike performance from tailback Freeman McNeil, whose 118 yards rushing in 31 carries marked his third consecutive 100-yard game, UCLA dominated the second-ranked Buckeyes.

Donahue had fired up some of his players, including All-American safety Kenny Easley, earlier in the week by handing out photocopies of a Times article from the previous season. After Ohio State pulled out a 17-13 victory over the Bruins at the Coliseum, several Buckeyes players were quoted as saying their UCLA counterparts were soft and had been “sucking it up” by the second quarter.

A year later, many of those same players went on to hold the Buckeyes scoreless in their home stadium.

Afterward, Donahue ascended the stadium steps to celebrate with his wife, Andrea, who wiped a tear from her cheek as her husband returned to the field, according to Sports Illustrated. In the locker room, the Bruins blasted what became their theme song on the way to finishing the season 9-2.

It was one of Queen’s greatest rock anthems — “Another One Bites the Dust.”

Opinion time

If UCLA plays its football games at SoFi Stadium in 2026, will you go?

Yes, sounds fun

No, it’s a big mistake

Click here to vote in our survey

Poll results

We asked, “What should UCLA do about its football home?”

After 1,040 votes, the results:

Stay at the Rose Bowl, 79.5%
Move to SoFi Stadium, 20.5%

In case you missed it

UCLA’s defense befuddled by another backup quarterback in loss to Nebraska

Xavier Booker showcases his game-changing skills in No. 12 UCLA’s win over Pepperdine

No. 3 UCLA shows glimpses of its title-contending talent in dominant victory

Mick Cronin goes on rant after UCLA’s dull season-opening win: ‘I failed miserably’

The wait is over: UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker is back for a championship run

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on X @latbbolch. To order an autographed copy of my book, “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” send me an email. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

“Los Angeles sports legend” is the most appropriate way to describe the contributions of Gail Goodrich, who returned to Southern California on Friday as an 82-year-old full of stamina and humbleness after his alma mater, Sun Valley Poly High, named its gymnasium the Gail Goodrich Sports Complex.

“This is where it all started,” Goodrich said. “I have great memories here. I’m emotional that they’re going to name the gym after me. I had great coaches. I had great teammates. I’ve been one to always look to the future. Today is a day to recall and look back.”

There are few individuals in sports history who achieved what he accomplished in his hometown as a basketball standout. He led Poly to the City championship over Manual Arts in 1961, helped UCLA win two NCAA titles under coach John Wooden, including a record-setting 42-point performance in the 1965 final, and won an NBA title as the Lakers’ leading scorer in 1971-72 on a team that had a 33-game winning streak and featured fellow future Hall of Famers Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.

In the 1961 title game, Goodrich suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter. He came back to dominate the fourth quarter, finishing with 29 points. He played the game on a Wednesday, graduated on a Friday and was at UCLA that Monday.

Four of Goodrich’s high school teammates attended Friday’s ceremony, including center Ernie Brandt, who said, “I’m the guy who passed the ball to him all the time.”

This was the second gym-naming ceremony for Goodrich, who traveled from his home in Idaho in 2015 to see Madison Middle School in North Hollywood name its gym the Gail Goodrich Sports Center.

He graduated from Madison at 5 feet 2 and 99 pounds. At Poly, by his senior year, he was nearing 6 feet tall. He was known for his accurate left-handed shooting touch. He recalled how his father built a basket at home and he practiced into the night.

“I lived at the Poly gym. I became a gym rat. The gym became my second home,” he said.

He helped launch Wooden’s UCLA basketball dynasty that would lead to 10 titles in 12 years. Assistant coach Jerry Norman was one of the few recruiters to pay attention to him in high school and was at Poly on Friday. Goodrich was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 2014, Goodrich wrote about Wooden, “He never talked about winning. He talked about being a success and being able to look in the mirror at the end of the day. If you did the very best you could, that’s all anybody could ask.”

Poly opened its gym two seasons ago. Officials sought recommendations for dedicating the gym. Poly coach Joe Wyatt said there was no need for debate.

“I said, ‘Gail Goodrich.’ That’s an easy one. That’s perfect,” Wyatt said.

“As a friend told me, ‘I reached the top of the mountain for my craft,’” Goodrich told Poly students who filled up the bleachers. “Yes, you will get roadblocks and get knocked down. Sometimes you have to take three steps back, but find your mountain and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it.”

At her players’ request, Cori Close showed up inside Pauley Pavilion five hours before tipoff. The UCLA women’s basketball coach was joined by her assistants and managers for pregame shooting at 6:30 a.m., so many players filling the court that the sessions had to be staggered.

Three days after a lackluster showing in their season opener, the Bruins felt they had something to prove in their first game at home. The additional work before facing UC Santa Barbara on Thursday reflected their commitment.

“I mean, I never have to coach this team’s work ethic,” Close said. “That is never in question. And so that’s a really fun place to be in.”

The day’s biggest gratification would come later, the third-ranked Bruins resembling an All-Star team at times during an 87-50 rout of the Gauchos that showed glimpses of the firepower they hope to fully unleash by season’s end.

Forward Gabriela Jaquez revealed one of the best long-range shooting displays of her career, making four of seven three-pointers on the way to 21 points. Point guard Kiki Rice was a constant playmaker in her return to the starting lineup while scoring 20 points, grabbing eight rebounds and distributing three assists. Shooting guard Gianna Kneepkens added another dimension to the offense with four more three-pointers and 20 points.

It was the first time the Bruins had three players score 20 or more points since four of them did it against Bellarmine in November 2023.

“There’s so many weapons that I feel like it’s hard for the defense to choose what to take away,” Kneepkens said, “so I think really what makes this team special is that on any night it could be someone’s night, so that’s a really hard thing to scout.”

The challenge for the Bruins (2-0) could be to maximize all that talent.

Close said Rice had sent her an Oklahoma City Thunder news conference in which the team talked about building rhythm with its offense by best utilizing the players who were hot on any given night.

“We’re not quite there yet,” Close said. “We’re not playing with great rhythm. … I think we just haven’t totally found that flow yet.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice drives to the basket past UC Santa Barbara guard Zoe Shaw during the second half Thursday.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Part of that could be pinned on Rice still rounding into form from a shoulder injury and fellow point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker (eight points, seven assists, three steals) playing in only her second game since returning from a lengthy injury layoff.

The Bruins were also without Sienna Betts (lower leg) and Timea Gardiner (knee) for a second consecutive game. Close said there remained no timetable for Betts’ return even as she continued to progress.

But Close said she liked the way her players responded after describing them as “flat all the way around” in their opener, a 24-point victory over San Diego State.

“The film session after that was not fun. Practice was not fun,” Close said. “And their willingness to say, ‘This is what we need. We need to be challenged. We didn’t meet the standard’ — I’m really impressed with their willingness to do that.”

After some lackadaisical UCLA defense in the first quarter, there was a stretch in the second quarter in which the Bruins made it difficult just to get the ball past halfcourt.

Jaquez stuck out a hand, tipping an outlet pass to herself before going in for a driving layup in which she was fouled. On the Gauchos’ next possession, Leger-Walker came up with another steal, leading to a Rice layup.

It wasn’t long before Jaquez and teammate Lauren Betts (12 points, seven rebounds, six assists) used a double team along the sideline to force another turnover.

Closing the half on a 19-2 run, the Bruins surged into a 51-26 lead. UCLA also benefited from an oddity midway through the second quarter when the Gauchos (1-1) were assessed a technical foul for having a player wearing a jersey number that didn’t correspond with the scorebook.

For UCLA, the biggest challenge might have been scheduling the game.

Close said she’s struggled to get teams to agree to play the Bruins after their Final Four run, calling every school in the state from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. Most of UCLA’s marquee nonconference games, starting with a showdown against Oklahoma on Monday in Sacramento, will be at neutral sites.

“They kept saying it’s the Lauren Betts factor and I was like, ‘No, it’s the you’re scared factor. Come on,’ ” Close said. “I actually really lose respect for people who aren’t willing to step up and play hard people.”

The Gauchos eagerly complied in part because they were Close’s alma mater and the spot where she coached for nine years.

“Thank you to them for stepping up and coming into Pauley,” Close said, “and wanting to get better at their craft and growing the game.”

For the Gauchos, given the way things went, they might be owed a Christmas card as well.

Early to rise, the Bruins also put an early end to any upset hopes.

Well, it was fun while it lasted … wait, it’s not over?

There’s somehow at least four games left in a UCLA football season that feels like it’s already exhausted its story arc and run out of acts.

Act I: The fall of a proud Bruin.

Act II: The rise of a proud (Fresno State) Bulldog-turned-Bruin.

Act III: A 50-point implosion that sucked the air out of the season and didn’t please any Bruin.

What’s left after an 0-4 start that included the firing of a coach followed by a three-game winning streak and a 56-6 loss to one of the nation’s top teams? Somehow, there’s still at least a third of a season to go.

A victory over Nebraska on Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl could essentially put the Bruins right back where they were a few weeks ago, giving interim coach Tim Skipper another chance to reclaim the hearts of the college football world with an upset of top-ranked Ohio State the following weekend.

But first they have to get past a Cornhusker team missing its biggest kernel. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is out for the season with a broken leg, forcing the team to turn to a true freshman who was throwing passes for Orange Lutheran High this time last year.

Don’t expect TJ Lateef or any of his teammates to walk into the Rose Bowl waving a white flag.

“It would just be so average to go out there and be like, well, we’ve got a freshman quarterback and it is what it is,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told reporters this week. “Like, no, we’re not doing that. We’ve got TJ Lateef and we’re going to rally around him.”

Here are five things to watch when the Bruins (3-5 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) face the Cornhuskers (6-3, 3-3) in a game that starts at 6 p.m. PST and will be televised by Fox:

Quarterback quandary

Nebraska quarterback TJ Lateef hands off the ball to running back Emmett Johnson during the second half against USC.

(Bonnie Ryan / Associated Press)

Lateef is about to become just the fourth true freshman quarterback to start a game for Nebraska since 1950.

Will it be a performance for the ages?

Lateef didn’t wow in relief of Raiola last weekend against USC. He completed five of seven passes as the Trojans rallied for a 21-17 victory, those completions going for a grand total of seven yards — 1.4 yards per completion. Lateef might be more dangerous as a runner than a passer, having averaged 4.5 yards and scored two touchdowns in his 11 carries.

Skipper said the Bruins would watch Lateef’s high school game footage to get a fuller understanding of his potential.

“We know we’re going to get some unscouted looks, unscouted plays,” Skipper said. “I’m sure there’s things that he does well that they’re gonna want to do that they haven’t really shown. He kind of had to do the game plan and scheming that they had up for Dylan and his reps [against USC], so we’ll have to adjust as the game goes.”

On the other hand . . .

Nebraska’s uncertainty at quarterback likely means more opportunity for its running game.

And the Cornhuskers have a good one.

Emmett Johnson has already topped 100 yards rushing in five games this season, totaling 1,002 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Against USC, he ran for 165 yards and a touchdown while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

“We’re going to need to know where he is at all times,” Skipper said. “He does a great job of just making people miss, I’m really impressed by how he plays. You know, I come from a family of running back coaches, and I’ve watched a lot of backs, and he’s one of the top guys I’ve ever seen.”

Another mantra

Skipper could keep a custom T-shirt shop busy with all his slogans.

He’s told his players to strain. He’s asked them whether they were one-hit wonders. He’s implored them to uphold the standard they had established.

Over the two weeks that followed his team’s 56-6 loss to Indiana, he’s delivered a new message.

“We’re just getting back to the basics,” Skipper said. “It’s about fundamentals and little details. That’s kind of been what we’ve been really preaching.”

Linebacker Jalen Woods said plenty of time has been spent on tackling after the team experienced significant slippage in that area against the Hoosiers. Offensive tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said players ran between drills to quicken the tempo of everything they were doing.

With an extra week to prepare for the Cornhuskers after a bye, the Bruins have tried not to let the disappointment they experienced in their last game linger.

“Don’t let it carry over into the next game,” Woods said of the team’s collective mindset.

A line redrawn

Eugene Brooks celebrates a UCLA touchdown against Penn State.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

UCLA guard Eugene Brooks was back at practice this week, a significant development for an offensive line that had struggled in his absence.

The Bruins ran for just 88 yards — 60 by running backs — and allowed three sacks with Brooks sidelined against Indiana.

It appears they’ll be back at full strength against a Nebraska defense that’s allowing only 289.9 yards per game, ranking No. 13 nationally.

Skipper said the Cornhuskers create confusion using multiple defensive fronts with hybrid players who either rush the quarterback or drop into coverage.

“They’re going to create a lot of havoc that way with the people that they use,” Skipper said. “They create a lot of turnovers. They’re very good on third down. They don’t give up big plays in the passing game. They’re really good at keeping people in front of them.”

Another boost

Running back Anthony Woods also returned to practice after missing the Indiana game.

His ability to run the ball and catch passes out of the backfield could help an offense that did not score a touchdown for the first time this season when it faced the Hoosiers.

Running back Jalen Berger said the success UCLA had on the ground during its three-game winning streak, when it averaged 236.7 yards rushing per game, was largely a result of an increased emphasis on its ballcarriers.

“I’d say it’s more of a commitment,” Berger said of an approach the Bruins had to abandon after falling behind big against Indiana. “Just being run-first, you know?”

Out of sheer darkness, the Batman logo was emblazoned across the 86-foot-wide screen and dazzled my young eyes.

From Hollywood, I was instantly whisked away to Gotham City. The iconic DC comic book came to life and the booming thuds of the Caped Crusader smashing a pair of common thieves was real.

These were my first vivid memories of watching a movie in the larger-than-life Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard, and being amazed by the screen’s size and the sense of being transported into another galaxy.

But the dome is magical on the outside, as well as the inside. The concrete geodesic dome is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 sizes. Like Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, it’s a structure that has become a Hollywood landmark.

The Dome represented a special place for me, until it became just another of the dozens of businesses in L.A. that never returned after pandemic closures in 2020.

Ever since, there have been rumblings that the Dome would eventually reopen. Although nothing is definitive, my colleague Tracy Brown offered a bit of hope in a recent article.

What’s the latest

Dome Center LLC, the company that owns the property along Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street, filed an application Oct. 28 for a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol for on-site consumption at the Cinerama Dome Theater and adjoining multiplex. The application doesn’t mention an reopening date or any details about movie screenings returning to the dome but suggests that a reopening may be in the works.

Elizabeth Peterson-Gower of Place Weavers Inc., said Dome Center is seeking a new permit that would “allow for the continued sale and dispensing of a full line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption in conjunction with the existing Cinerama Dome Theater, 14 auditoriums within the Arclight Cinemas Theater Complex, and restaurant/cafe with two outdoor dining terraces from 7:00 am – 4:00 am, daily,” according to the application filed by the company’s representative.

This would would be a renewal of the current 10-year permit, which expires Nov. 5.

The findings document filed with the City Planning Department also mentions that “when the theater reopens, it will bring additional jobs to Hollywood and reactivate the adjacent streets, increasing safety and once again bringing vibrancy to the surrounding area.”

A representative for Dome Center LLC did not respond immediately Friday to a request for comment.

What happened to the Dome?

The Cinerama Dome opened in 1963 and had been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Since the closing, the news about the future of the theater has been ambiguous.

In April, 2021, the owner of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas announced they would not reopen the beloved theater even after the pandemic ended. But then, in December, sources told The Times that plans were in the works to reopen the Cinerama Dome and the attached theater complex.

In 2022, news that the property owners obtained a liquor license for the renamed “Cinerama Hollywood” fueled hope among the L.A. film-loving community’s that the venue was still on track to return.

But the Cinerama Dome’s doors have remained closed.

Signs of life

At a public hearing regarding the adjacent Blue Note Jazz Club in June, Peterson-Gower reportedly indicated that although there were not yet any definitive plans, the property owners had reached out to her to next discuss the future of the Cinerama Dome.

Perhaps this new permit application is a sign plans are finally coming together.

After the kind of year Los Angeles has endured — with devastating fires and demoralizing immigration raids — it would certainly bolster the spirits of all Angelenos to have another local landmark reopen its doors to welcome movie-loving patrons like me.

Today’s top stories

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as he stands with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom during an election night news conference at a Democratic Party office in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Voters approve Prop. 50

After World Series celebration, ICE and Border Patrol gather at Dodger Stadium once again

• Dozens of federal immigration agents were seen staging in a Dodger Stadium parking lot Tuesday morning, a day after the team returned home to celebrate its back-to-back championships with thousands of Angelenos.
• Videos shared with The Times and on TikTok show agents in unmarked vehicles, donning green vests and equipped with white zip ties in parking lot 13.
• Five months ago, protests erupted outside the stadium gates when federal immigration used the parking lot as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.

Sen. Alex Padilla says he won’t run for California governor

• “It is with a full heart and even more commitment than ever that I am choosing to not run for governor of California next year,” Padilla told reporters outside his Senate office in Washington.
• Padilla instead said he will focus on countering President Trump’s agenda in Congress, where Democrats are currently in the minority in both the House and Senate, but hope to regain some political clout after the 2026 midterm elections.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

For your downtime

A view of landscaping at the home of Susan Gottleib and her Gottleib Native Garden in Beverly Hills.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

A question for you: What’s the best hiking trail in SoCal?

Alexandra writes: “Sullivan Canyon, for sure.”

Rochelle writes: “Can’t ever go wrong in Griffith Park, but for overall exercise, killer views, artifacts, and entertainment without wearing yourself out, my hiking partner and I like the Solstice Canyon Loop in Malibu, 3.4 miles. The most popular hike in the canyon, for good reason!”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day

Joe Rinaudo hopes to host tours and educational opportunities at his home theater and museum through a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving photoplayers.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at the home of Joe Rinaudo, the foremost expert on photoplayers, who is preserving the soundtrack to a bygone movie era.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

The No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball team won its first game of the season, defeating feisty San Diego State 77–53 on Monday at the Honda Center.

The Bruins (1–0) built an eight-point lead in the first quarter, but the unranked Aztecs (0–1) managed to cut the deficit by three by the end of the period.

San Diego State struggled to score in the second quarter when UCLA went on a 12–2 run.

The scoring gap continued to increase as the Bruins extended their lead to 15 points, ending the first half with a 37–22 advantage.

UCLA center Lauren Betts scored 21 points and grabbed four rebounds, guard Gabriela Jaquez recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and guard Charlisse Ledger-Walker, who returned to the court after redshirting last season, contributed 12 points and five assists.

The Bruins opened the third quarter with a 16–0 run. Although the Aztecs fought hard to close the gap, the Bruins maintained control, ending the quarter with a 58–38 lead.

San Diego State pushed UCLA again in the fourth quarter, but the Aztecs couldn’t make a meaningful dent in their deficit.

Aztecs sophomore guard Kaelyn Hamilton came off the bench to lead her team with 11 points, while guards Nat Martinez and Nala Williams scored 10 points apiece.

UCLA will play its home opener Thursday against UC Santa Barbara.