The Sports Report: What to expect as UCLA opens its football season

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Ben Bolch: UCLA will embark on new beginnings galore when it faces Hawaii at 4:30 p.m. PDT Saturday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu. It’s the debut for the Bruins’ football coach and the team’s first game after officially ditching the Pac-12.

The question is whether any of it will lead to fresh results for a program that has been frozen in frustration since Foster ran free like a kid on Waikiki Beach when he played for the Bruins more than two decades ago.

Answers may not be immediately forthcoming. UCLA is a two-touchdown favorite against a team that struggled to beat Delaware State in its opener last weekend, pulling away with 21 unanswered points in the second half.

A resounding triumph over a team the Bruins have beaten in all four meetings may not mean much besides making their record against Hawaii, well, Five-O. But whatever happens could provide some clues as to how this team will fare under its new coach.

Here are five things to watch in the Bruins’ season opener, which will be broadcast in the Los Angeles area by Channel 2:

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USC FOOTBALL

From Ryan Kartje: Long before Miller Moss earned the USC starting quarterback job, he sat in front of a chess board at the Santa Monica Public Library. He was just 3 years old, his eyes full of wonder, barely able to peer over the chess pieces at his opponents, who were often several decades his senior.

His parents signed him up for the chess program at the library, where Moss’ grandmother worked as a librarian, with the hope it would help hone his young mind. They always tried to encourage their son’s curiosity — reading every night, piano lessons, teaching Greek mythology, anything that might pique his interest. Chess spoke to him. Even as a toddler.

“He just really loved the game,� said Emily Kovner Moss, Miller’s mother. “He loved looking at the board and the strategy of it all.�

It’s not difficult to connect the dots between the little boy behind that chess board in Santa Monica and the redshirt junior quarterback set to lead USC into Sunday’s season opener against Louisiana State. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley is counting on Moss’ mind — more so than his athleticism or his arm — to make USC’s offense go this season. Chess, for Moss, served as a critical precursor to that role, shaping how his mind works as a quarterback.

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: Even as his team entered perhaps its most crucial stretch of the season, Dave Roberts said he wouldn’t be managing the Dodgers any differently this week.

Given the way the club has been playing of late, he really didn’t need to.

With a 6-3 defeat of the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night, the Dodgers continued their surge through August, taking a three-game series against a fellow World Series contender while also moving four games clear of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West standings, matching their largest division lead in the last three weeks.

This week figured to be a defining moment in the Dodgers’ up-and-down season.

Hosting the Orioles was the first big test. The next will come this weekend, when the Dodgers travel to Arizona for a critical four-game series against the second-place Diamondbacks.

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ANGELS

Zach Neto homered, rookie Jack Kochanowicz pitched six scoreless innings, and the Angels ended a seven-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

“Jack is holding up his end of the deal and we’re making plays behind him,� Neto said.

The Angels had lost 12 of 14 and were 1-8 going into the last game of their trip. Detroit, which had won six straight, left 10 runners on base.

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RAMS

From Gary Klein: Quarterback Stetson Bennett got the news from Rams coach Sean McVay in a Houston hotel elevator.

It was the morning of the Rams’ final preseason game, and Bennett had prepared all week for his third preseason start.

“By the way,� McVay said, turning to Bennett. “You’re not playing today.�

Bennett did not immediately comprehend the subtext: With Jimmy Garoppolo suspended for the first two regular-season games, Bennett would be held out against the Texans because he had earned the opportunity to be Matthew Stafford’s backup for the Sept. 8 season opener at Detroit.

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CHARGERS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: It hit Jim Harbaugh like an unblocked rusher coming around the edge.

There’s nobody who can do what Justin Herbert does, Harbaugh said Thursday with wide eyes and arms open, so why coach anybody else as if they could?

The first-year Chargers head coach is taking drastic measures with his quarterback, leaning into Herbert’s one-of-a-kind talent by splitting the quarterback room to let Herbert continue on his superstar trajectory while allowing Easton Stick and newly acquired veteran Taylor Heinicke to grow in a separate, but competitive backup battle.

Harbaugh plans to separate the meetings and devise unique game plans to emphasize each quarterback’s strengths.

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PARALYMPICS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Ezra Frech made history, extended his arms wide and flashed a knowing smirk to the cheering crowd. On an NBC interview after he soared to a world-record 1.97-meter high jump at the U.S. Paralympic trials, the budding superstar nonchalantly called it “all a part of the plan.�

And this plan is only getting started.

Frech won’t settle for just winning his first Paralympic medals while breaking the limits on disability. The favorite for the high jump title in Paris, who also competes in long jump and the 100 meters, is headed next to USC, where he was the first above-the-knee amputee to commit to a Division I track program. He also struts on fashion runways with his prosthetic left leg, graces billboards in a running blade and shares everything on his social media channels that have more than half a million followers.

“I feel I have the beautiful burden to share my story and inspire the next generation because this community means the world to me,� said Frech, 19. “What I literally believe I was put on this planet to do is to normalize disability.�

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1905 — Ty Cobb makes his MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers doubling off Jack Chesbro in a Tigers 5-3 win over the NY Highlanders.

1927 — Helen Wills wins her fourth U.S. women’s tennis singles title, defeating 16-year-old Betty Nuthall of Britain, 6-1, 6-4.

1937 — Joe Louis wins a 15-round unanimous decision over Tommy Farr at Yankee Stadium in the first defense of his heavyweight title.

1979 — Kathy Horvath, five days past her 14th birthday, loses a first round match to Diane Fromholtz, 7-6, 6-2, to become the youngest person to play a match at the U.S. Open. Later in the day, John McEnroe defeats Ilie Nastase, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in a match that features Nastase being defaulted by chair umpire Frank Hammond. An 18-minute free-for-all ensues in which fans become uncontrollable and Nastase is reinstated by tournament referee Mike Blanchard. Blanchard replaces Hammond in the chair for the remainder of the match.

1981 — Bill Shoemaker becomes the first jockey to win a $1 million race when he rides John Henry to a nose victory over The Bart in the inaugural Arlington Million at Arlington Park.

1991 — Mike Powell smashes Bob Beamon’s world long jump record with a leap of 29 feet, 4½ inches, two inches beyond the record, in the World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo. The leap also ends Carl Lewis’ 10-year, 65-meet winning streak.

2001 — Ashley Martin becomes the first woman to play in a Division I football game, kicking three extra points without a miss to help I-AA Jacksonville State hand Cumberland its 18th straight loss, 71-10.

2005 — Andy Roddick has a shocking first-round exit from the U.S. Open against Gilles Muller, a player making his debut in the tournament. Roddick, the champion two years earlier and the No. 4 seed this year, falls 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1) on his 23rd birthday to the first man from Luxembourg to compete in the Open.

2006 — Curt Schilling becomes the 14th pitcher in major league history to reach 3,000 strikeouts when he fans Oakland’s Nick Swisher in the first inning of the Red Sox’s 7-2 loss to Oakland.

Compiled by the Associated Press