The football squeaked out of Jalen Greene’s white-gloved left hand during USC’s practice Tuesday and shot forth like a dart, spinning counterclockwise. A USC receiver was too close. He swayed his head back like a boxer dodging a left cross and let the ball whiz past his hands. USC’s receivers have...
After a recent USC practice, cornerback Adoree’ Jackson said he still had three goals he wanted to accomplish as an amateur athlete: win the Jim Thorpe Award, win the Heisman Trophy and win a national championship. Jackson can check one off the list. Jackson won the Thorpe Award, given to the top...
The Lakers are rebuilding oring and the Rams are whatever choice adjectives Eric Dickerson is using to describe them. At the moment, Los Angeles is a college basketball town. Pauley Pavilion should be packed to the rafters Saturday when No. 2 UCLA takes on Michigan, a reflection of how Lonzo Ball...
Mandy Freeman admits she was more than a little skeptical when Keidane McAlpine showed up at USC in 2013 with a plan to take a women’s soccer program that had lost 33 games and a coach in three seasons to an NCAA title within the next three years. “We were in a bad place,” Freeman, then a freshman,...
For the third time in as many years, USC was close enough to a national water polo title that the Trojans could see it and feel it. Then things got a little fuzzy and the trophy slipped through their fingers again, with California scoring three overtime goals Sunday to upset the top-ranked Trojans,...
By the evening of Sept. 24, USC and Penn State had completed a month of football with seasons nose-diving toward oblivion. Penn State had just lost by 39 points to a division rival. A day earlier, the Trojans had dropped their second Pac-12 Conference game in two tries. Neither team had a winning...
The debate stretched late into Saturday night, with the men and women who control college football’s playoff system hashing over which teams should vie for the national title. The selection committee took a preliminary vote, talked some more, then got some sleep before reconvening early Sunday...
The USC basketball team has endured a string of losses since the end of last season. Four players transferred. Two unexpectedly left for the NBA draft. Last week, its best offensive weapon, forward Bennie Boatwright, sprained his knee, knocking him out for six weeks. “You see all these gray hairs?”...
The college water polo season will end Sunday afternoon the same way the last one did. And the one before that — in fact, the same way the last 14 seasons ended: with either UCLA or USC playing for the national title. But for just the second time since 2010, USC will be making the trip alone after...
Despite all that Keidane McAlpine has accomplished with the USC women’s soccer team this season — winning 18 games and a spot in Sunday’s NCAA championship game for just the second time in school history — he says one of his proudest moments as a coach was a private one that took place in a locker...
Earlier this fall, like any good college father, Clay Helton rushed out of work to attend his son’s USC freshman orientation. He showed up still wearing his football coaching attire, and his wife, Angela, was aghast. “Babe, this is orientation, you’re a Dad, you’re not supposed to be the head coach,” she...
Katie Johnson’s goal in the 60th minute Friday gave the USC women’s soccer team a 1-0 victory over Georgetown and put the Trojans in the College Cup final for the second time. USC (18-4-2) will face West Virginia on Sunday at Avaya Stadium. The Mountaineers defeated North Carolina, 1-0, in the...
USC has spent the last two days of practice confronting an uncomfortable reality. The Trojans’ best offensive player, forward Bennie Boatwright, is expected to miss six weeks because of a sprained knee ligament. But Coach Andy Enfield said he hasn’t agonized over how USC (7-0) will fill Boatwright’s...
The shooting death of former USC star and NFL player Joe McKnight in a New Orleans suburb was a “road rage” incident that began on a nearby bridge, a sheriff said Friday, as he urged against a rush to judgment and defended his handling of the case. McKnight was shot Thursday afternoon in Terrytown,...
Adam Wright has coached UCLA to national men’s water polo championships in each of the last two seasons. But if that’s given the Bruins a little extra confidence heading into this weekend’s NCAA Final Four in Berkeley, Wright is doing his best to dismiss it. “We don’t put too much credence in that,”...
Are you kidding me that Bill Plaschke honestly thinks these aren’t the L.A. Rams? This is just a new version of the losers who left this city 22 years ago. The L.A. Rams never won anything and please don’t count that lone title in the ’50s; the NFL was a joke back then. It’s the same old, same...
Former USC running back Joe McKnight was shot and killed in Terrytown, La., outside New Orleans, on Thursday afternoon, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. The killing is being investigated as a possible road rage incident, said sheriff’s spokesman Col. John Fortunato. Fortunato....
A few minutes after USC forward Bennie Boatwright injured his left knee against San Diego on Wednesday evening, he tried to lift himself off the trainer’s table. He sat up, then gingerly tried to stand upright. When his left leg reached the floor, he recoiled, and quickly lay back down. The injury...
From rags to Roses, USC’s twisting path to bowl glory finally looks straight and smooth, right? Washington beats underdog Colorado on Friday in the Pac-12 Conference championship game. Washington is swept up into a College Football Playoff semifinal. USC swoops in to claim the Rose Bowl bid ahead...
Break out the chips and cold drinks, but let Mike Hiserman handle the remote. The Times’ deputy sports editor handicaps what’s worth watching, and skipping, on this weekend’s menu of college football games. :: FRIDAY AFTERNOON No. 17 Western Michigan (12-0) vs. Ohio (8-4) at Ford Field, Detroit,...
The NCAA warned that paying athletes “could jeopardize the long-term sustainability of college sports” in a motion to dismiss former USC linebacker Lamar Dawson’s class-action lawsuit against the organization. Dawson sued the NCAA and Pac-12 in September, alleging they violated state and federal...
When Chris Petersen says he feels confident about his football team, winning on the field is only part of the story. The Washington coach believes his No. 4 Huskies are ready to play for the Pac-12 Conference championship Friday. And he believes that, within the nuances of College Football Playoff...
Bennie Boatwright shuffled clumsily on a pair of oversized crutches when he emerged from the visitors’ locker room Wednesday evening. His left knee was cocooned in a bulky brace that prevented his leg from bending. He gave a half smile, then shuffled through a hallway toward USC’s bus. Moments...
Backup quarterback Max Browne has left the USC football program and will not participate in bowl practices or a bowl game. “Four years ago, when I signed to come play at USC, I never thought this day would come. But the time has come for me to find a new home,” Browne wrote Wednesday on Instagram....
Each week during the season, visit “The Huddle” for the latest in college football news, notes, conversation and opinion. :: This is notable Top-ranked Alabama didn’t allow a touchdown in November and held its four opponents to 18 points, shutting out Louisiana State. Texas A&M, on Oct. 22, was...
USC defensive tackle Noah Jefferson will transfer from the program, Jefferson said on Tuesday. Jefferson, a sophomore, played in the season-opener against Alabama but has not played since. USC Coach Clay Helton cited a shoulder sprain, personal issues and, later, academic issues to explain Jefferson's...
USC was clinging to a one-point lead at Texas A&M earlier this month when Coach Andy Enfield called on his two point guards to execute a half-court trap. Jordan McLaughlin and De’Anthony Melton converged where the half-court line met the boundary. Seeing this, the Aggies' guard turned his back...
One more second. Maybe two. Sefo Liufau needed just a little more time to let his receiver break free. The Colorado quarterback could feel pressure coming up the middle, but he waited until the last moment, releasing the ball just before getting leveled by a blitzing safety. “The guy was a little...
Adoree’ Jackson accomplished a second triple in four days Tuesday when the Pac-12 Conference announced the USC junior was the league’s defensive player of the year as well as first-team all-conference as a defensive back and return specialist in a vote of head coaches. On Saturday, Jackson scored...
When USC was selected to play in the Holiday Bowl last season, Coach Clay Helton vowed to prepare his team for what he considered to be a crucial game, even if it was just a mid-tier bowl. “To me, it’s as important as the Notre Dame game, the UCLA game,” Helton said at the time. Yet USC skimped...
A few USC fans in a sports bar in Costa Mesa were having flashbacks. The last player they’d seen do anything like what cornerback Adoree’ Jackson was doing to Notre Dame on Saturday — three touchdowns, on a punt return, a kickoff return and after a reception — was Anthony Davis. And Anthony Davis...
In a potential “trap” game against a winless opponent, the USC men’s basketball team did what it was supposed to do Sunday night at the Galen Center. After a lethargic offensive effort against Southern Methodist two days earlier, the Trojans looked more like a squad prepared for the grind of Pac-12...
USC and UCLA won't be in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday night, but lots of players from Southern California will provide plenty of representation playing for Washington and Colorado at Levi's Stadium in the Bay Area. It's almost going to be a reunion of Chaminade players. Jojo McIntosh,...
At about the same time USC was finishing up with Notre Dame, things were just getting started at Folsom Field. A sellout crowd packed into the stadium, cheering as Ralphie the Buffalo charged out of his pen, rumbling down the sideline. It felt like a celebration, and the Colorado football team...
After he hurdled Notre Dame’s last defender, Adoree’ Jackson had enough time as he raced down the sideline to contemplate his touchdown celebration. It was Jackson’s third score in USC’s 45-27 win over Notre Dame on Saturday. What was the best way to mark both USC’s stunning turnaround, from a...
What if …? JuJu Smith-Schuster often wonders. “Who doesn’t?” he asked. USC is unbeaten over the last two months. The Trojans have won their last eight games, the most recent coming Saturday in a 45-27 demolition of Notre Dame. They look like a top-five team. They are playing like a top-five team....
Ed Orgeron leaned back into the big, brown leather couch, placed his right arm behind his head and smiled as he took a sip from a silver can of Diet Coke. A few hours earlier Saturday in Baton Rouge, Orgeron had dropped the interim tag and was introduced as Louisiana State’s football coach. Now...
Immediately after Ajene Harris intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown Saturday, he had an important fumble recovery to make too. The interception near the end of the first half had blown open USC’s tight game against Notre Dame, and Harris was mobbed in the end zone by teammates. They...
When: 7 p.m., Sunday. Where: Galen Center. On the air: TV: Pac-12 Networks. Update: USC is 5-0. Santa Barbara is 0-4, among the losses were games against Nebraska-Omaha and Southern Methodist, teams USC defeated. The Trojans victory over SMU came Friday, as Benny Boatright returned to form by scoring...
When De’Anthony Melton and the rest of USC’s freshman class committed to the Trojans, everyone involved figured playing time would be scarce. "We always thought they were good players,” Coach Andy Enfield said. “We didn't necessarily think they'd be playing this many minutes based on our personnel,...
No. 12 USC (8-3) vs. Notre Dame (4-7), at the Coliseum. TV: ABC, 12:30 p.m. Most intriguing story line: Notre Dame has endured a miserable season, but its record is a little misleading. Six of seven losses have been by seven points or fewer. (The seventh loss was by eight points.) “You come away...