Good morning, and happy Labor Day. It was a very good weekend to be a Southern California football team. USC shut out Fresno State on Friday, UCLA won a new coach’s debut in Berkeley on Saturday, and San Diego State put up 53. In Honolulu, UNLV and Hawai’i played the first game of the season between two of the three markets we cover — and we had a writer on each sideline. The Dodgers swept Washington, the Padres beat the Yankees, the Galaxy and Angel City won, and the Angels did not. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏈 New era, first win. UCLA 45, Cal 24 in Bob Chesney’s debut — Jack Haslett at California Memorial Stadium.
🏈 Both sidelines in Honolulu. UNLV 21, Hawai’i 6 — Derek Hegna on the Rebels and Paul Brecht on the Rainbow Warriors.
⚾ Sweep. Mookie Betts delivered as the Dodgers finished off the Nationals — Fredo Cervantes at Dodger Stadium.
⚾ He’s back today. Shohei Ohtani is expected in the lineup Monday against Cincinnati — Fredo Cervantes at Dodger Stadium.
🏈 Three days out. Dakayla Hawkins’s takeaways from Rams Village ahead of Melbourne — Dakayla Hawkins at Rams Village.
⚽ Winner on the road. Evelyn Shores decided it for Angel City in Louisville — Michelle Chavez at Lynn Family Stadium.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — Sunday, September 6
⚾ MLB: Dodgers 7, Nationals 5 · Padres 4, Yankees 3 · Pirates 1, Angels 0
⚽ MLS: Galaxy 2, Revolution 1 · LAFC 2, Real Salt Lake 2
⚽ NWSL: Reign FC 1, Wave FC 0
🏈 TWO PICKS IN TWO MINUTES
Jack Haslett writes that UCLA walked into California Memorial Stadium for the first time since 2022 carrying optimism the program has not felt in years, and then played like it. Cal scored on the opening drive. The Bruins answered on theirs and kept going — three rushing touchdowns and a Mateen Bhaghani field goal in the final seconds of the half, set up by a 43-yard Nico Iamaleava throw, for a 24-10 lead.
“I knew they was going to call a shot play for me,” Iamaleava said of a staff that has been in place since spring.
Then the third quarter arrived and so did the old habits. Penalties. Gaps in a defensive line that had been sealed. Cal sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele found something, the Golden Bears tied it at 24, and a road opener in a sold-out stadium became a real problem.
“We had a little bit of a downer in the third quarter,” senior running back Wayne Knight said. “We just got back to playing like the way that we do.”
What turned it was Ta’Shawn James. The senior defensive back intercepted two passes on back-to-back drives inside two minutes of the fourth quarter — the first two picks of his college career.
“It felt great because we truly needed it,” James said. “Just to be able to step up and be that guy to make the play is a feeling that I really can’t describe.”
Knight ran 31 yards for a touchdown after the first interception, scored again later, and finished with three. Anthony Woods added one inside the final minute, and UCLA went up 44-24 before the extra point made it 45-24.
“You felt it shift a little bit on the sideline at one point,” Chesney said. “And I think these guys never wavered.”
GO DEEPER
› Jack Haslett: UCLA rushes into Bob Chesney era with win over Cal (The Sporting Tribune)
🌺 HONOLULU, FROM BOTH SIDELINES
Two of the three markets we cover played each other Saturday night in Honolulu, and we staffed it the way it should be staffed: Derek Hegna with the Rebels, Paul Brecht with the Rainbow Warriors. Two stories, two sidelines, one game. Nobody else in either market did that.
What Hegna saw. UNLV’s defense did not let Hawai’i into the end zone. Kal-El Togafau, a redshirt freshman defensive lineman in his second college game, had a team-high two sacks. Tre Fulton, Elias Rudolph and Kenji Scanlan had one each; Lucas Conti added 1.5 tackles for loss. An offensive line that surrendered six sacks against Memphis in the opener gave up one, and did it without Austin Boyd. Jackson Arnold went 8-for-18 for 116 yards and ran for 89 and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas carried 20 times for 143 and put the game away with a 50-yard touchdown on the penultimate drive. The Rebels avoided an 0-2 start and go to North Texas next.
What Brecht saw. September sadness, and it arrived early. Hawai’i is 0-2 after a second straight stagnant offensive night. The Rainbow Warriors held the ball more than four minutes longer than UNLV, converted nine of 21 third downs, and came away with nothing on three trips inside the red zone — a missed 41-yard field goal, a touchdown overturned on review, and a fourth-and-1 from the UNLV 10 stopped behind the line of scrimmage with 9:53 left.
“I feel bad for the guys in the locker room,” coach Timmy Chang said. “They’re playing hard … but you know, just things haven’t gone our way right now.” Then, of the performance: “It really starts with me.”
Senior linebacker Jamih Otis had 12 tackles and would not let the defense off the hook. “At the end of the day, we could do better because, you know, if they didn’t score 21 points, we would have won,” he said. “If we’ve got to be on the field for 100 plays, so be it.”
The Las Vegas connection. Hawai’i’s quarterback is the story inside the story. Sophomore Micah Alejado — the Mountain West’s preseason offensive player of the year, a Las Vegas native and a Bishop Gorman product — went 17-for-41 for 176 yards with an interception and was sacked five times by the school he grew up 20 minutes from. Hawai’i hosts New Mexico State on Saturday at 6 p.m. Hawai’i time on K5 and MW+.
GO DEEPER
› Derek Hegna: Defense finds sweet redemption, UNLV avoids 0-2 start (The Sporting Tribune)
› Paul Brecht: Hawai’i’s offense stalls in 21-6 home-opening loss to UNLV (The Sporting Tribune)
🏈 THE REST OF THE WEEKEND
San Diego State 53, Portland State 20. Eric Evelhoch and Ardie Crenshaw were in San Diego as the Aztecs handled it at Snapdragon Stadium.
Miami 45, Stanford 6. Jack Haslett and Ric Tapia were in Palo Alto for that one on Friday.
⚾ A SWEEP AT CHAVEZ RAVINE — AND OHTANI IS BACK TODAY
The Dodgers took all three from Washington, closing it 7-5 on Sunday behind Mookie Betts, after Tommy Edman’s big Saturday. Blake Snell had opened the series Friday with another strong start. Fredo Cervantes had all three.
Edman has been the most reliable thing about this offense for two weeks — four hits Thursday, 9-for-15 in the Cardinals series, and then Saturday. Now the lineup gets deeper: Cervantes reports Shohei Ohtani is expected back Monday against Cincinnati.
In San Diego, the Padres beat the Yankees 4-3 at Petco, with Aaron Brenner shooting. In Pittsburgh, the Angels lost again. They have now dropped ten of twelve, and the road trip continues in Boston this morning.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Mookie Betts delivers as Dodgers sweep Nationals (The Sporting Tribune)
› Fredo Cervantes: Shohei Ohtani expected back in Dodgers lineup on Monday (The Sporting Tribune)
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🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
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🌮 El Portal, Pasadena — $12 combination plates and $7 house margaritas. Order online for pickup.
☕ Con Azúcar Café, Sylmar — free size upgrade and Dodgers latte art. Say “Dodgers win!” at the register.
🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast. Six homers cleared 420 feet Sunday, including Luis Campusano’s 433-footer at Petco. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
Dark today: ampm needed a stolen base and the Dodgers had none. The McDonald’s Angels deal needed a win in Pittsburgh.
⚽ A GOOD WEEKEND, AND A FAMILIAR ONE
Evelyn Shores won it for Angel City at Lynn Family Stadium, with Michelle Chavez there. The Galaxy beat New England 2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park, John Panganiban shooting.
And LAFC drew again. David Martinez’s piece is the one to read, because the headline has now been true for weeks: the defensive lapses are costing points, and in September that stops being a pattern and starts being a standing.
GO DEEPER
› Michelle Chavez: Evelyn Shores wins it for Angel City on the road (The Sporting Tribune)
› David Martinez: LAFC’s defensive lapses continue to cost points in draw with Real Salt Lake (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
⚾ MLB: Angels at Red Sox — Fenway Park — 10:35 a.m. — ABTV
⚾ MLB: Nationals at Padres — Petco Park — 2:10 p.m. — Padres TV
⚾ MLB: Reds at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — 6:10 p.m. — SNLA
Coming up: The Rams open the season against San Francisco in Melbourne on Thursday — Dakayla Hawkins has three takeaways from Rams Village. LAFC hosts the Red Bulls and San Diego FC hosts San Jose on Wednesday. USC hosts Louisiana on Saturday.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California and Las Vegas — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
⚾ Reds at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $32
⚾ Nationals at Padres — Petco Park — $16
🏈 Louisiana at USC — Coliseum (Saturday) — $16
🌴 TWO-MARKET TRIVIA
Hawai’i quarterback Micah Alejado threw 41 passes against UNLV on Saturday night in Honolulu. What makes that matchup a Las Vegas story too?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
The Sporting Tribune Today airs weekdays at 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET on SportsGrid, hosted by Grant Mona and John Browner and built on reporting from our staff across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawai’i. Our stories, photos and columns also run on SportsGrid’s website and app.
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Today’s episode: a weekend that went almost entirely right for college football in our markets, the Bob Chesney debut in Berkeley, both sidelines in Honolulu, a Dodgers sweep with Ohtani back Monday, and three days until the Rams kick off in Melbourne.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: Alejado is a Las Vegas native and a Bishop Gorman product — the Mountain West’s preseason offensive player of the year, playing quarterback for Hawai’i against the school in his hometown.
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