Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

SPORTS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

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Sept. 20–21

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— Bianca

Andreescu

had often

visualized

this day. She

had pictured

herself facing

Serena

Williams in the final of the

U.S. Open and four years

ago she wrote herself a

check for the money the

winner would receive, a sum

she scratched out and up-

dated yearly.

After it unfolded Sat-

urday as the 19-year-old

Canadian pictured, when

she dominated the first set

and held off a valiant come-

back by Williams to finish a

6-3, 7-5 victory and earn a

check for $3.85 million,

Andreescu was overcome by

tears.

“Sorry,” she said during a

news conference, a typically

polite Canadian. No apolo-

gies needed for her emotion

or for a performance that

confirmed the imminent

end of Williams’ reign as the

sport’s best player.

Williams, who is one

Grand Slam tournament

singles title away from tying

Margaret Court’s record of

24, has played four Slam

finals since she returned to

competition after the birth

of her daughter. She has not

won a set in any of them.

With her 38th birthday

coming in a few weeks and

Andreescu owning the game

and temperament to find

consistent success, there’s

more reason to doubt

Williams will catch Court.

“I’m like, so close, so close,

so close,” Williams said, “yet

so far away.”

Williams came to New

York fitter than she was a

year ago when she lost an

acrimonious final to Naomi

Osaka. In addition, Williams

spent three fewer hours on

the court than Andreescu

had spent to reach the final.

The outcome was the same:

Williams lost to an upstart

who is Canada’s first Grand

Slam singles champion, an

opponent who hadn’t yet

been born when Williams

won the first of her six U.S.

Open titles in 1999.

Williams’ serve is usually

of her biggest assets, but

Canada

makes

history

in U.S.

Open

HELENE ELLIOTT

[SeeElliott, D6]

The freshman quarterback
stood alone, surveying the scene
from an empty set. For Kedon Slo-
vis, there would be no trial period,
no slow ramp-up. USC’s offense
was his now, for better or worse.
As his unexpected tenure be-
gan, he looked left, then right, as an

anxious Coliseum crowd stared

down at him, unsure what to ex-

pect.

But as Slovis settled in Sat-

urday against No. 23 Stanford, that

crippling uncertainty quickly

turned to promising exhilaration.

Those who know the 18-year-old

best never doubted his poise, and

here, for all to see, was evidence of

what they’d long known.

This was a first start USC

could’ve only dreamed about from

a player who was never expected to

play this year. Slovis threw confi-

dently down the field, dropping

deep bombs between defensive

backs and hitting receivers on

back-shoulder passes along the

sideline. He stood strong in the

pocket, unfazed by pressure.

As USC rolled past Stanford 45-

20, it was Slovis in the driver’s seat.

A week after the Trojans lost JT

Daniels, the touted signal caller on

which USC’s hopes seem to hinge,

the overlooked, small-school,

three-star recruit who’d sent USC

his own scouting tape was the one

reigniting hope in a season that

seemed lost just a week ago.

Slovis completed 28 of 33 passes

KEDON SLOVIS,making his first career start in place of injured USC quarterback JT Daniels, completed 28 of 33 passes for 377
yards and three touchdowns against Stanford, which also was missing its starting quarterback to injury.

Luis SincoLos Angeles Times

He’s at home in Backup Bowl

Freshman Slovis gives USC strong first start in battle of second-stringers

By Ryan Kartje

[SeeUSC,D14]

Chip Bleepin’ Kelly.

The phrase that

once represented

the exuberance of

the UCLA faithful

has taken on an

entirely new mean-

ing.

We got Chip

Bleepin’ Kelly!

The same words that encapsu-

lated the widespread excitement

over Kelly’s hiring now express the

growing frustrations over the

five-year, $23.3-million nightmare

unfolding at the Rose Bowl.

Chip Bleepin’ Kelly has made

history, all right, taking the Bruins

to depths unfamiliar to even one of

the country’s most underachiev-

ing football programs. Every week-

end promises another round of

humiliation, the latest indignity

coming in a 23-14 defeat Saturday

that counted as UCLA’s first-ever

loss to San Diego State.

The Bruins dropped to 3-1 1

under Kelly, including 0-2 this

season.

Kelly doesn’t have the same

players he had at Oregon. That’s

obvious. The question is whether

he is as good a coach as he was

then.

The coach wasn’t about to

subject himself to such introspec-

tion, at least not in a public forum.

“You’re as good as what your

record says you are,” he said in the

postgame news conference.

Of course, if the cliche is true,

that would make him the pro-

Time for a hard look at Kelly

JORDAN BYRD of San Diego

State nearly loses his helmet,

but the Bruins eventually lost

to the Aztecs for the first time.

Robert GauthierLos Angeles Times

Coach is under scrutiny as the Bruins stumble against Aztecs

[SeeHernandez,D15]

DYLAN HERNANDEZ

TODAY’S GAMES >>>

Rams

at Carolina

10 a.m. PDT, Channel 11

Earning his keep:With

extension in hand, Goff has

great expectations. D9

Chargers vs.

Indianapolis

1 p.m., Channel 2

Another try:Chargers

open 60th season aiming for

first Super Bowl title. D8

Brown joins Patriots after Raiders cut him

Star receiver gets his way by throwing a tantrum, Sam

Farmer writes, and is headed to defending champions. D7

The question is simple
enough: Should the NFL
soften its hard-line stance
on marijuana?

No one with the Chargers

cares to answer, a team

spokesman says. Same goes

for the Rams where, at a

summertime practice, one

player after another declines

to comment.

As veteran Rams safety

Eric Weddle says: “It’s kind

of tricky.”

This reticence might

seem unusual given that

league executives recently

agreed to include cannabis

in a study of alternative pain

therapies.

But pro football has a his-

tory of keeping marijuana on

the banned substance list,

even as public opinion has

gravitated toward its legal-

ization and available re-

search has identified its po-

tential to alleviate a range of

ailments.

Players wanting to use

cannabis or related prod-

ucts, such as Cannabidiol

extract, have needed to do so

quietly, sidestepping peri-

odic tests. When Commis-

sioner Roger Goodell an-

nounced the new NFL initia-

tive last spring, he chose his

words carefully.

“There are a lot of alter-

native pain medications and

treatments,” he said.

Any suggestion of an im-

pending policy shift might

be premature. With the start

Will NFL let players’ pain go to pot?

While the league

looks into alternative

therapies, marijuana is

still up for debate.

By David Wharton

[SeeNFL,D10]

NFL ::WEEK 1

COLLEGE FOOTBALL ::WEEK 2

USC 45, NO. 23 STANFORD 20

SAN DIEGO STATE 23, UCLA 14