LOS ANGELES — The sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium, which stood on its feet and roared at the sight of Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw coming out of the bullpen in the seventh inning, taking pictures for posterity, were now sitting in disbelief one inning later.

No one wanted to see this.

Really, they wanted to turn away.

This is Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young winner, perhaps the greatest pitcher of his generation, and here were 53,689 fans watching him get smacked around by the Philadelphia Phillies, as if they were taking batting practice.

Leadoff home run. Walk. Error. Sacrifice bunt. Single. Another home run. Double. Single. Long fly out to the warning track in center field.

Kershaw slowly trudged off the mound, the 3-1 deficit turning to 8-1, which became an 8-2 loss, and the fans were too numb to react.

They certainly weren’t going to boo him, but they felt it was disingenuous to cheer. So they did nothing, feeling his pain, while wondering why the Dodgers let him rot out there as if he was simply getting his work in during a spring training game.

Kershaw threw 48 pitches, only 22 for strikes, and departed after two innings with an ugly pitching line:

Two innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts and 2 home runs.

If not for Kyle Schwarber’s baserunning blunder, Bryce Harper getting thrown out at the plate, and right fielder Teoscar Hernandez’s fine catch, it could have been way uglier

It seemed unjust, even cruel, to let Kershaw stay out to finish the inning, as if he were a minimum-salaried mop-up man.

“It was a tough couple of innings there,’ Kershaw said in front of his locker. “Just didn’t make enough good pitches. I was battling command. It’s hard when you’re trying to throw strikes as opposed to getting people out.

“It just wasn’t a fun outing.’

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked afterwards why Kershaw wasn’t pulled, and left in the game to absorb the blows, he said that left-handed reliever Tanner Scott wasn’t available to replace him. Scott, the Dodgers’ struggling $72 million closer who has wamed up only once this postseason, wasn’t even at Dodger Stadium. He was taking care of a personal matter, Roberts said, but declined to specify the reason.

“It will come out later,’ Roberts said, “but he was completely unavailable.’

Kershaw didn’t make any excuses for his outing, saying he felt perfectly fine going out for the second inning and was not questioning the decision.

“It’s not really up to us,’ Kershaw said. “You just try to get people out.  I wasn’t throwing strikes, and it’s hard to pitch when you’re behind the count. …

“I did the best I could, it just wasn’t there tonight.’

It was Kershaw’s first appearance since starting the regular season finale, with Roberts saying before the game that he expected Kershaw to pitch in relief.

“He just didn’t have a great slider tonight,’’ Roberts said. “I think Clayton pitches off his slider. When the slider’s not there, and then the fastball command, he was working behind, too. Just the command wasn’t there tonight.’

The Phillies seemed to wish they were actually teeing off on someone else besides Kershaw this night. When Harper was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Enrique Hernandez, he wasn’t upset. Just kept going to the dugout, not caring that it cost the Phillies a run.

Schwarber, who hit his second homer of the night off Kershaw, kept his emotions in check and looked almost subdued running around the bases.

“This guy’s going to be in the Hall of Fame,’ Schwarber said. “I have a lot of respect for Clayton and for how he goes about his business, and I know that he’s going to be leaving baseball after this year. So just from all of us, and the opposing side, we all have a ton of respect for him, obviously.’’

Then, Schwarber said, probably the only reason they were hitting him hard, was because he was back in the game for a second inning.

“It’s always nice to have a recent familiarity, I guess, seeing pitches,’’ Schwarber said. “He kind of missed with the fastball in and I was able to get it and snuck it just out enough.

“He’s always a unique guy with unique pitches. And so anytime you get to see him back-to-back times, I think that can be beneficial.’

It’s unlikely Kershaw will pitch again the rest of the series, and his struggles may give Roberts pause for turning to him in a critical situation if they advance to the NLCS.

Yet, no one at Dodger Stadium wants that to be the final memory of Kershaw, one of the greatest to ever pitch, struggling alone on the mound when there was no one there to rescue him.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

Ohio University football coach Brian Smith is working without a finalized contract nearly a year after his promotion.
A ‘term sheet’ signed by Smith and the university outlines a potential average salary but is not a binding agreement.
The university and Smith’s representatives are still working to finalize the formal terms of his employment.

For a second consecutive football season, there is a major-college coach who is essentially working without a contract, at least for now.

Ohio University representatives and coach Brian Smith signed a document this past winter, when Smith was promoted to head coach following Tim Albin’s departure to Charlotte. What that document means in terms of Smith’s compensation for this season — and the parties’ contractual commitment — remains unclear, even with Smith entering his 10th month on the job and the Bobcats having completed half of their 2025 regular season schedule.

The document states it is not a contract. And while it says Smith’s compensation will have an average annual value of $850,000 per year from Dec. 17, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2029, it does not say what Smith is to be paid for this, or any other year of his employment. In addition, it says Smith will have performance incentives, but they “will be negotiated between the parties, the terms of which will be comparable with other Mid-American Conference institutions.”

In response to a specific open-records request, the university provided USA TODAY Sports with a document showing Smith’s base salary became $615,000, effective Dec. 17, 2024. Asked in recent weeks to provide more detailed information, a university spokesman cited the document from this past winter, although he added the parties ‘are currently working together to formally finalize the terms of his agreement.’ As a result, USA TODAY Sports determined it could not include any pay information for Smith and Ohio in its new annual college football head coaches’ pay survey, published Wednesday, Oct. 8.

The document’s first paragraph says it is a “term sheet” that “shall outline the material terms of our offer to Brian Smith (‘you’ or ‘Head Coach’), subject to the approval of the President of the University and the negotiation of a formal Employment Agreement (‘Agreement’) with Ohio University for execution at the earliest possible date.”

The last paragraph states: “By signing below, the parties acknowledge the above proposal is a function of negotiations towards a final and binding Agreement with Ohio University intended for execution at the earliest possible date and is contingent upon the approval of the President of the University.”

It is typical for schools that need to make a fast-paced hiring do so by using an agreement short of a full-form contract. However, such agreements generally include language stating they are binding. For example, Central Michigan, another MAC school is still working with coach Matt Drinkall under a “letter of agreement” that leaves details about incentives and an annual retention bonus undetermined.

But the letter of agreement states it is “a fully binding contract, and shall remain valid, enforceable, and fully binding until the Long Form Agreement is fully executed by both parties.”

In late August 2024, with the regular season about to start, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore was among a group of coaches in contractual limbo. On Sept. 11, Michigan announced it had finalized a contract with Moore.

On Oct. 8, Ohio spokesman Dan Pittman wrote in an email to USA TODAY Sports that Ohio’s new athletics director Slade Larscheid, who was hired in early September after then-AD Julie Cromer left in August for a job with LSU, and Smith are “eager to arrive at a final contract as soon as possible and are working through a few final details.”

Pittman added: “While a contract would typically be finalized ahead of a head coach announcement, Coach Smith’s longstanding relationship with the University and his commitment to leading the (Ohio) football program made it possible to move forward in this unique case while working under the guidance of the term sheet.”

According to his biography on Ohio’s athletics website, Smith joined the Bobcats for the 2022 season. He had worked, variously, as their running backs coach, passing game coordinator, associate head coach and offensive coordinator.

Last season, Ohio won the MAC championship game. A day later, Albin took the job with Charlotte. Smith was named interim head on Dec. 9, then full-fledged head coach as the Bobcats prepared for the Cure Bowl, in which they defeated Jacksonville State.

College football coaching contracts often include unusual clauses beyond standard performance bonuses.
Large, lump-sum buyout payments, like Mark Stoops’ potential $38 million, can make firing a coach financially difficult for a university.
Other unique contract terms include bonuses for scheduling tougher opponents and specific press conference requirements.

The conventional wisdom when discussing player and coach contracts is they aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

Well, this isn’t a player’s contract in the NFL, where some players can be cut at a moment’s notice without seeing a penny moving forward. In college athletics, every dollar direct deposited into a coach’s account is scrutinized to the point where, if said coach is on the hot seat, buyout talk commences.

A closer look into the contracts of many college football coaches reveals a variety of standard clauses tied to winning conferences, national titles, and even raises based on the team’s academic performance. But that’s not what we are doing here.

Here is a look at some of the stranger and more interesting clauses in college football coaches’ contracts, and a hat tip to the agents who got athletic directors to sign off on them.

Next job, secured: Kyle Whittingham, Utah

While a handful of elite college football and men’s basketball coaches have rolling, so-called “lifetime” contracts, Whittingham, who is 65 years old and making $6.925 million this season, won’t need to dip into his savings if he decides to retire. The day he lets the powers that be in Salt Lake City know he is giving up his headset, Utah will give him a post-retirement job as a special assistant to the athletic director.

If he does so after this season, the arrangement will be for two years at $3.45 million annually. But, depending on whether Utah plays in the Big 12 championship game he has to decide by Dec. 5 or Dec. 12.

If he retires after a future season, he would be set to receive a payment of more than $2 million and a five-year special-assistant deal at $995,000 annually.

Hostess sweets need not apply: Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State

This refers to the scheduling of cupcakes, which fills September schedules, and can be found with regularity in the SEC before rivalry weeks. When it comes to Loggains, his contract stipulates he will receive a $20,000 bonus if the Mountaineers play a guarantee game against a Power Four opponent. The Mountaineers are scheduled to take on NC State in 2026 and 2028, and South Carolina in 2027 and 2029.

Home is where they say it is: Jim Mora, UConn; Jeff Monken, Army

Boosters paying for coaches’ housing is not uncommon. The Crimson Tide Foundation paid off former Alabama coach Nick Saban’s house in 2013, even though Saban was making more than $7 million per year at the time and could easily afford the mortgage. Mora’s contract includes an amendment, signed in April, that covers the use of a house that is owned or leased by the university but eliminates a golf club membership. The total amount of $54,000 will be paid in monthly installments of $4,500 until April 2026.

While most coaches have a say in where they reside when they are hired, that doesn’t apply to Monken, who is required by his contract to stay in a house furnished by the Army West Point Athletic Association.

Nothing is free: Eddie George, Bowling Green; Mike Uremovich, Ball State

Athletic departments will do all kinds of things to get a particular candidate to coach at their school. Usually, that includes paying money to the coach’s previous employer to cover the buyout the coach owed for terminating his contract to take another coaching job. In the case of Bowling Green and Ball State, those schools fronted the buyout money as loans to George and Uremovich. And in both cases, repayment is occurring through regular payroll deductions.

First impressions are important: Matt Drinkall, Central Michigan

On Dec. 8, 2024, Central Michigan hired Drinkall from Army, where he spent six seasons as an assistant. At the time of his hiring, Drinkall hadn’t finished his duties with the Black Knights, as they still had a game left against archrival Navy the following weekend. In his memorandum of understanding, Drinkall was required to hold an introductory news conference on either Dec. 9 or 10. If he failed to do so, he would owe the university a $500,000 penalty, an amount that would have eaten up nearly all of his $610,000 he was scheduled to be paid for this season at that time. Needless to say, Drinkall was front and center on campus in Mount Pleasant, Mich., on Dec. 10 to talk to the Chippewas fan base.

USA TODAY Sports reporter Steve Berkowitz contributed to this story.

When Chicago Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar fired the puck past Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on an opening night breakaway, it was more than the first goal of the 2025-26 NHL season.

It was also an audition tape.

NHL players are doing their best to help their teams in the standings, but they’re also trying to impress their national federations enough to earn a roster spot at the 2026 Olympics.

Nazar is already on Team USA’s radar after helping win a gold medal at the world championships and being invited to the country’s orientation session. The Blackhawks realize his value, too, by giving him a lucrative seven-year extension after only 56 NHL games.

The USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden have an Olympic blueprint based on the teams they took to the 4 Nations Face-Off, but there are opportunities to be had.

Here are some questions before the 12 Olympic teams get named, expected to be in early January:

Who could be the U.S. goalies?

Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Dallas’ Jake Oettinger and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman were the 4 Nations goalies. Swayman and Seattle’s Joey Daccord won the world championships. MVP/Vezina Trophy winner Hellebuyck and Oettinger are shoo-ins, if healhy, and will face each other on Thursday in Winnipeg.

Swayman slipped last season after missing training camp before signing a contract, but that’s not an issue this year. Thatcher Demko is healthy, so he could be in the mix with Swayman and Daccord for the last goalie spot.

Which non-4 Nations forwards could make Team USA?

The USA had some older players at the 4 Nations so there could be opportunities. Buffalo’s Tage Thompson was identified as a potential injury replacement in February and has size and skill (two 40-goal seasons). Utah’s Clayton Keller had 90 points last season. Those two and Nazar were at the worlds. Other forwards at orientation who weren’t at either tournament: Cole Caufield, Alex Tuch, Jason Robertson and two-time Olympian Patrick Kane.

Will all three Hughes brothers make Team USA?

Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes already has been named. He missed the 4 Nations with an injury. New Jersey’s Jack Hughes played and is recovered from his late-season shoulder surgery. Luke didn’t play at either tournament, but he’s a rising defenseman who received a seven-year, $63 million contract from the Devils. Team USA already has brothers Brady and currently-injured Matthew Tkachuk on the team.

Can Connor Bedard make Team Canada?

The Blackhawks’ 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick didn’t make Canada’s 4 Nations team after getting off to a slow start. Bedard, 20, who was in Canada’s orientation camp, will need a strong start if he’s going to crack a veteran lineup. Don’t forget that Sidney Crosby didn’t make the Olympics in his first opportunity in 2006.

Who replaces Finland’s Aleksander Barkov?

Finland doesn’t have a large representation in the NHL so there were no true 4 Nations snubs who would be an obvious addition. Unlike 4 Nations, the Olympics aren’t an NHL-only tournament, so Finland can bring in players from European leagues.

The Finns have plenty of dangerous NHLers such as Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Sebastian Aho.

The College Sports Commission has created a new ‘snitch line’ for reporting rules violations.
This reporting system is open to everyone, including coaches, players, and the general public.
Reports can be submitted anonymously via text, email, or a web portal.

Seriously, look at these geniuses. You’re not getting anything by these trendsetters.

The College Sports Commission has rolled out a new tool for rules enforcement, and nothing says weren’t you once the NCAA quite like a snitch line. 

I promise you, I’m not making this up.

Not only did the CSC come up with this incredibly flawed idea, they’ve opened the snitch line to everyone. Everyone, you say?

Everyone. 

Coaches and players, athletic directors and boosters, and, wait for it … the rest of God’s green earth.

What could go wrong? 

Clearly, the good folks at the CSC don’t understand their constituency. So before we go further, let me throw out some examples. 

Trust me when I say, it takes all kinds. 

Like Harvey Updyke, bless his tortured soul, who killed the trees at Toomer’s Corner.

Or former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, whose wife, Casey, carried cash in a Chick-Fil-A bag and dolled it out to recruits. Before the House case, of course. 

Or the yet to be named “source” — and by source, I mean someone with a string of Bucknuts tied to their rearview mirror — who exposed Michigan’s advanced scouting scheme.

Or the Alabama (notice the trend?) attorney, representing two former Tide assistant coaches, who sued former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer (notice the trend?) for conspiring with the NCAA to damage the Alabama program — and tried to have him served at SEC media days. 

Or many of the millions of the beautifully unhinged that make this sport breathe on a daily, fanatical basis. 

They’ll flood the snitch line with every hint of every possible instance of their bitter rival cheating to get a leg up on their school. Because, after all, it was on BigRedHuskersFans.com, so it must be true.

My god. MY GOD.

I gotta tell you, maybe Brian Seeley — the new CSC/college football czar hired after the House case settlement completely changed the sport forever — should’ve stayed with Major League Baseball. He has no idea what he’s getting into.

Maybe someone, anyone, at the CSC can introduce Seeley to the entire 16-team SEC. For starters, anyway.

If he thought the Houston Astros’ fun little scheme of stealing signs was a heavy lift from his perch as MLB executive vice president of legal and operations, he better strap in. 

It’s about to get real.

No one cheats like college football. Those coaching and those playing, those born and forced to choose between USC and UCLA, or Alabama and Auburn, or Indiana and Purdue, or Kansas and Kansas State, or any other sick, twisted and wonderfully wild rivalry that brings out the uniquely unknown from all involved.

Everybody cheats, including – and I know this is going to shock Seeley, so hang onto your 162-game schedule, Bri – the universities themselves. 

For the love of pigskin, North Carolina used fake classes for a decade to keep athletes academically eligible (that was once a thing, kids). And when caught, the most amazing thing in the history of legal defense unfolded. 

North Carolina, the bastion of academia and the Harvard of the south, declared the classes weren’t fake because – wait’ll you get a load of this – every student had access to the fake classes. 

And the NCAA bought it. 

So yeah, roll out that snitch line. Good times are on the horizon, baby.

The CSC says they’ll protect your identity. And they promise to get back to you with “continued engagement.” 

You can snitch or send your conspiracy via text, email or submit on the web, and you don’t have to identify yourself. Again, I’m not making that up. 

“The CSC encourages anyone with knowledge of or concerns about potential violations of third-party NIL or revenue sharing rules to use the new system to report them immediately,” some public relations wonk penned in the release. 

These guys have no idea what they’re getting into. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Arturo Gatti Jr. has died at the age of 17 in Mexico, where he lived with his mother on Wednesday, according to the World Boxing Association.

The son of the late Canadian boxer and Hall of Famer Arturo Gatti has recently been confirmed deceased by several close family members, including Gatti Sr.’s former bodyguard. However, the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, and details have yet to be released.

Gatti Jr. lost his father at a young age after what was initially considered a mysterious death in a hotel in Brazil in 2009. Later, Brazilian authorities ruled the death a suicide. From an early age, Gatti Jr. aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps, first aiming to compete in the Olympics as an amateur before shifting his focus to a professional boxing career.

‘The WBC sends its heartfelt condolences to the Gatti family, friends, and the entire boxing community mourning this so heartbreaking loss,’ the World Boxing Council wrote.

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Now that the season is nearly a third of the way through, there are only two ways to improve your rosters — waiver wire and trades.

Evaluating a fantasy trade can be a daunting task. Most managers value their players more than they’re actually worth. That’s where the Week 6 fantasy football trade value charts come in.

The charts can be used as your very own fantasy football trade analyzer in standard, half-PPR (point per reception) and full PPR leagues. Someone sends you an offer? Simply pull out a calculator (on your phone, you don’t need an actual calculator) and plug in the values for each player. Don’t worry, six-points-per-passing-touchdown and superflex leagues are covered as well.

Important note: If you’re offered an uneven trade (i.e., a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1), include the values for the players you’d be moving to the bench or dropping within your calculation. Example: If someone in your league offers you Cam Skattebo, Romeo Doubs, and David Njoku (combined value of 79) for Jonathan Taylor (72), it might look like you’re getting the better end of it. However, if you’re bumping down, say, AJ Barner and Kimani Vidal (combined value of 26) in the process, it’s a net negative deal for you.

The rankings are based on how players should be valued in 12-team leagues. Players are sorted in order of their half-PPR values.

Quarterback trade value chart

(Note: ‘6/TD’ is for leagues that award six points for passing touchdowns and ‘SFLEX’ stands for superflex.)

Running back trade value chart

Wide receiver trade value chart

Tight end trade value chart

Overall Week 6 fantasy football rest-of-season rankings

Note: These values are for 12-team, one-QB leagues with half-PPR scoring.