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UCLA enters the 2015 season looking to bounce back from a rough campaign last season which saw the team miss the postseason for the first time since 2009. The Bruins swept three games from Hofstra to begin the season. Despite missing the postseason in 2014 the Bruins' program is at an all-time high having made the postseason in seven of the last 10 seasons including three trips to the College World Series and a National Championship in 2013. This year's squad returns 19 players who were a part...
By Geore Laase Special to the Observer Recently a federal judge in Oakland found that the NCAA was in violation of United States anti-trust laws for not paying their major college football and basketball players due compensation for representing their schools. College revenues from television contracts have sky-rocketed over the last 30 years. Major universities, like UCLA, are now paying their head coaches millions of dollars in compensation. They are looking at this type of hiring as being more of a business investment than just employing an...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor After Ohio State defeated Oregon Monday night to win the first ever college football playoff Coach Urban Meyer called the Buckeyes’rags to riches story one of the best in college football history. It would be hard to argue with him. Ohio State’s starting quarterback, a Heisman Trophy candidate, went out with an injury. His replacement had an outstanding season but was unable to play in the final three games due to his own injury. A sophomore who hadn’t playe...
For many years the Pac-10 champion and Big Ten champion capped a football season by playing in the Rose Bowl game. This time the conference’s best teams, Oregon and Ohio State, will also cap a season. But it won’t be in merely one of many bowl games, it will be in the first college football national championship game. Oregon has already conquered its Rose Bowl opponent, Florida State, 59-20 in the playoff semi-final. It now moves on to the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas Monday, Jan....
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor I'm old enough to remember Red Sanders' impact when he coached football at UCLA. And the dynasties of John McKay and Pete Carroll at USC, among others. In this city with a remarkable cross-town rivalry the school with the more prominent coach often prevails. That coach currently is Jim Mora at UCLA. Mora has coached UCLA for three years and the Bruins, who couldn't beat the Trojans for a decade, have won the last three meetings. The latest was the Bruins'...
The USC men’s basketball team is once again taking on a competitive schedule for the 2014-15 season and Trojan fans will be able to catch all of the action as every game will be available on television or online and on the USC flagship radio station ESPNLA 710. The Conference television package was released today (Sept. 15) and USC will have half of its 30 regular season games on the Pac-12 Network, 12 games on one of the ESPN family of networks, two games on Fox Sports 1 and one on the CBS Sports Network. USC’s young and talented squad wit...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports editor The first weekend of the college football season brought a surprise to fans in Los Angeles. A heralded UCLA team looked ordinary in a 28-20 victory at Virginia, which had a 2-10 record last season. A troubled USC team, which had internal problems all week, trampled Fresno State, 52-13. UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley, regarded as a Heisman Trophy candidate, struggled. In fact, UCLA had to rely on its defense for three touchdowns in the second quarter while the...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor When Pauley Pavilion was modernized two years go the UCLA basketball team played its home schedule primarily at the Sports Arena. Due to heavy flooding last week which included the Pauley Pavilion playing court being warped, the possibility existed the Bruins would again have to find an alternate site for the upcoming season. However, that isn't likely. UCLA officials have determined there's no structural damage to Pauley Pavilion due to the flooding. However,...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor With the college football season coming up, Lane Kiffin is my topic for the day. A brief resume: Kiffin has been head coach with the Oakland Raiders and with Tennessee and USC. The Trojans fired him last season after they got off to a slow start. Now Kiffin has become offensive co-ordinator at Alabama on Nick Saban's staff. "Considering everything I'm veryhappy to have this job before I reach 40," said Kiffin. "I thought this would be a great opportunity if it...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The last of John Wooden’s 11 UCLA national championships was won 37 years ago. It’s too bad that Bruin fans remain spoiled. How else can we explain the lack of enthusiasm for the program in the recent past? UCLA has a fine team with a 26-8 record this season, a championship in the Pac-12 tournament and respect from the media across the country as it begins March Madness this week in San Diego. But crowds have been embarrassingly small all season at Pauley Pav...
When several National Football League coaching openings became available last week UCLA's Jim Mora Jr. was prominently mentioned. His response was to say thanks but no thanks. Mora has concluded two spectacular years at UCLA. There were nine victories last season and 10 this season. UCLA beat USC both years. The Bruins routed Virginia Tech, 42-12 in last week's Sun Bowl, scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter. Mora said he's not one to hop onto a new job. He likes it here. And he's building som...
By Steve Finley Special to the Observer The UCLA men's basketball team is 9-1 going into a season-defining game against national power Duke University Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Bruins are doing a lot of things right under first year head coach Steve Alford. They are scoring almost 90 points per game. They are averaging close to 20 assists per game and with only eight turnovers. With those kind of numbers UCLA should compete for the Pac-12 championship, but they have one...
By Steven Lieberman Observer Reporter The Arizona State Sun Devils will be playing in their first Pac-12 Championship, game as they defeated UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, 38-33. The Sun Devils got off to a quick start, running the ball six times for 67 yards on their first possession. QB Taylor Kelly scored the first touchdown in three minutes as he ran the ball in from the three-yard line to give his team a 7-0 advantage. On the Bruins first possession, they outdid the Sun Devils as QB Bre...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor After USC routed California Saturday, scoring 62 points, I began hearing from Trojan fans who asked the same question. They wanted to know if Ed Orgeron has a chance of remaining as the Trojans' coach beyond this season. I consider it a worthwhile topic because I've respected Orgeron since he became a Trojan assistant coach, became a head coach at Mississippi, then returned to the Trojans as an assistant and recruiting co-ordinator. It's obvious he's been an...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor From week to week since last season Lane Kiffin had been on the brink of being fired as USC’s football coach. When last season’s 7-6 record, far below Trojan standards, was followed by a slow start this season Kiffin remained in trouble. Then USC went to Arizona State, was outscored in the third quarter, 28-0 on the way to a 62-41 loss and Athletic Director Pat Haden had seen enough. Kiffin was fired as the Trojans arrived home at 3 am and veteran line coach Ed O...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Nick Pasquale was hit by a car in San Clemente on September 8 and died. He wasn’t a star on the UCLA football team. He didn’t even get into games. He was a member of the scout team, the guys who work in practice to prepare the players for their next game. He was also a beloved member of the Bruin football program, a young man who worked hard, earned respect and embraced his role. His death the week before the Nebraska game left the UCLA football family daz...
It Could Get Worse For USC, Kiffin By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The bad news for USC football fans is the Trojans’ slow start to the current season, which includes a home loss Saturday to Washington State Saturday. The worse news is the surprising strength of the Pac-12 Conference. Stanford beat Oregon last season and then Oregon coach Chip Kelly left for the NFL. In some pre-season forecasts Stanford ranked at the top nationally along with Alabama, the national champion the last two y...
It Could Get Worse For USC, Kiffin The bad news for USC football fans is the Trojans’ slow start to the current season, which includes a home loss Saturday to Washington State Saturday. The worse news is the surprising strength of the Pac-12 Conference. Stanford beat Oregon last season and then Oregon coach Chip Kelly left for the NFL. In some pre-season forecasts Stanford ranked at the top nationally along with Alabama, the national champion the last two years. But Oregon looked positively s...
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 2 of an interview with Jahmal Wright, Culver City High head football coach) By Fred Altieri Observer reporter The players have been optimistic all summer. We have a lot of brand new starters and they’re getting their opportunity to be on the field. But we’re excited and they’re excited as well. We’re coming off a year where we graduated eight starters on defense. We have a new group that we’re grooming and are excited about the group as a whole. We’re fast. We’re p...
Meet The Culver Football Players (EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 2 of an interview with Jahmal Wright, Culver City High head football coach) The players have been optimistic all summer. We have a lot of brand new starters and they’re getting their opportunity to be on the field. But we’re excited and they’re excited as well. We’re coming off a year where we graduated eight starters on defense. We have a new group that we’re grooming and are excited about the group as a whole. We’re fast. We’re p...
Respect Builds For UCLA Football When the Pac-12 Conference football media day was held at the Sony Studios in Culver City last week the biggest news was UCLA being picked to win the conference’s South division. This has been USC’s territory for a long time. But UCLA beat USC last season, 38-28 and now the media has picked Arizona State second and USC only third. Oregon was picked to win the North even though highly successful coach Chip Kelly left for the Philadelphia Eagles. Stanford was pic...
UCLA has earned a No. 1 seed in the 2013 NCAA Baseball Tournament and will host an NCAA Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium for the fourth straight season. The Regional will run from Friday, May 31 to Monday, June 3 (if necessary). "Our players are very excited about the opportunity that the postseason presents," head coach John Savage said. "Coming out of the Pac-12, we feel we are very prepared for the challenges that lie ahead this week." UCLA (39-17) will open postseason play against the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, San...
Columnist Points Out Howland’s Flaws When it comes to UCLA basketball, winning games, winning championships and going deep into the NCAA tournament are three different situations. Ben Howland was fired a few weeks after winning the Pac-12 championship. At a lot of schools he would have gotten a contract extension. Not at UCLA. At UCLA no coach will ever live up to John Wooden who won 10 nationals championships. The coach who followed Wooden, the late Gene Bartow, went 52-7 in two years but q...
UCLA Fires Coach: It’s a Sad Day The UCLA men’s’ basketball team won the Pac-12 Conference regular season championship this season and reached the title game of the conference tournament. The Bruins lost that title game only after Jordan Adams, one of their star players, broke a leg and couldn’t play. UCLA went on to lose its NCAA Tournament opening game, finishing with a 25-10 record as three prized freshmen – Adams, Shabazz Muhammad and Ryan Anderson -- played major roles. At a lot of school...
The UCLA baseball team has been picked to finish second in the Pac-12 Conference's preseason coaches' poll, as announced by the conference office. Stanford was selected first in the preseason coaches' poll, earning 5 of 11 possible first-place votes to give them 93 points. UCLA garnered two first-place votes, giving them a total of 90 points. Oregon State, Oregon and Arizona rounded out the top five with Oregon State receiving the remaining three first-place votes. Arizona State was picked to finish sixth, followed by California, USC and Washin...
