UCLA 29, Arizona State 28 (final)

UCLA controls its own destiny.

The Bruins improved their record to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the South Division of the Pacific 12 Conference, which moves them into a tie for first place with Arizona State (6-3, 4-2). What's more, UCLA holds the tiebreaker with their victory Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

But the Bruins didn't get there easily.

In fact, even if that game going on in the Deep South is said to be the Game of the Century, there's a good chance it won't live up to what transpired tonight in Pasadena.

At the finish, Arizona State kicker Alex Garoutte was short on a 46-yard field-goal attempt as time expired. 

Just before that, the Sun Devils moved down field from their 24-yard line to the Bruins' 29 largely on three plays: a 20-yard pass from Brock Osweiler to Gerrell Robinson, a controversial pass interference call on UCLA cornerback Aaron Hester and a 12-yard pass from Osweiler to Mike Willie.

But Garoutte couldn't come through. He missed all three of his field-goal attempts tonight. He had missed only three all season coming into the game.

Some final stats: 

--The Bruins tallied 416 total yards, and 220 of them came on the ground. Derrick Coleman had 119 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries. Quaterback Kevin Prince had 61 yards in 15 rushes.

--Arizona State had 465 total yards, 264 through the air from Osweiler, who completed 22 of 38 passes and threw for two touchdowns. Robinson was his main target, catching six passes for 131 yards.

--Prince completed 11 of 17 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. Nelson Rosario caught five passes for 151 yards and a touchdown.  

RELATED:

UCLA vs. Arizona State photos

Here's a recap of the game:

UCLA 29, Arizona State 28 (late in the fourth quarter)

The Bruins have shown plenty of fight tonight and just retook the lead with 49 seconds left after a one-yard touchdown run by Derrick Coleman with 49 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

UFC 138: Terry Etim and Che Mills star, Mark Munoz calls out Anderson Silva, Brad Pickett beaten by Renan Barao

Notes from UFC 138 in Birmingham:

UFC 138: Mark Munoz admits he had “a Bruce Lee moment with Anderson Silva” VIDEO TO FOLLOW on the night he retired Chris Leben on his stool after two rounds. But Munoz is also looking for a UFC middleweight title fight with team-mate Anderson Silva.

Leben had had a difficult weight cut, looked exhausted and was badly cut on the eye, and the side of his face.

The LG Arena was sold out, 10,000 seats.

Dana White – there are 40 fighters in the UFC who are millionaires

UFC president Dana White, after answering personal view and general questions from a broad European group of journalists, reckoned there are 40 US dollar millionaire fighters in the UFC.

White also expressed relief that the fan who ran into the Octagon – to be ejected like a rag doll by Referee Marc Goddard – ‘wasn't naked’. White may have jinxed himself for the next time.

Disappointment for Brad Pickett, Renan Barao brilliant

There was huge disappointment for Brad Pickett, beaten by Brazilian Renan Barao. It earned ‘fight of the night’ honours. A deflated Pickett told The Telegraph that he would have taken the ‘W’ instead of a $500,000 bonus. Pickett was submitted by Barao after being knocked down by right knee. Pickett scrambled but was tapped out by rear naked choke. Both fighters had gone heavily for each other for the first three minutes of the opening round, Barao having more accuracy in his strikes, though both men enjoyed success.

Great striking and submission from Terry Etim over Edward Faaloloto 17 seconds. Earns fight of the night.

Great to see Terry Etim show his personality after the win. One of the shyest men in MMA, and also one of the most dangerous lightweights. Etim had the chance to call out Donald Cerrone, after it was suggested the Liverpudlian was a better muay thai fighter that ‘The Cowboy’, but Etim’s response was simply that he “will fight anyone” Joe Silva, the UFC matchmaker, puts in front of him.

British fighters Che Mills [KO of the night 70K] over Chris Cope, and John Maguire, with points victory over Justin Edwards, performed brilliantly.

Mills put Cope away with a devastating knee to the chin, Maguire was knocked down early but then grappled his way to victory to win 30-27 unanimous decision.

Vaughan Lee lost 29-28 on the cards in a very technical fight against Chris Cariaso and Jason Young lost to Michihiro Omigawa in a close contest, which was even going into the third round.

Thiago Alves is back in the UK with a vengeance, enacting a vicious knockdown, ground and pound then submission of Papi Abedi.

I had picked Rob Broughton for the win in the all-British heavyweight fight, but was clearly wrong, Phil DeFries grinding out a 29-28 unanimous win, mainly on the ground.

Concussion Safety and Leather Helmets

Bring back leather helmets? A recent study on helmet safety isn’t going that far, saying modern helmets provide better protection against major injuries like skull fractures and brain bleeds. But the study did contain a surprise.

Erik Brady, USA Today:

Century-old leather helmets are as good as and sometimes better than modern helmets at protecting against concussion from routine football hits, according to a study published Friday by the Journal of Neurosurgery.

A quick look at some other stories around the Web:

1) Have you ever wanted to see “All 22″ film, the full-field view coaches get? Sorry, you’re not worthy.
Reed Albergotti, Wall Street Journal:

If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic. “NO ONE gets that,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email.

2)  Pro-Football-Reference.com will continue as before, but its blog has breathed its last. Chase Stuart will now be contributing to SmartFootball.com. He recently wrote on the evolution of the wide receiver position and the implications for voting on receivers for the Hall of Fame. Should Lynn Swann have gone into the Hall?

Swann’s career numbers are incredibly underwhelming, on the surface: 336 catches, 5,462 yards and 51 touchdowns. It’s easy to see why people question his legacy, and there’s no doubt that he’s one of the weaker selections in recent history. But as with every player, his place in history must be put in proper context.

3) An undefeated high school football team in Central New York had its playoff hopes end in a courtroom.
A former Syracuse all-American who went on to play for the Atlanta Falcons was accused of recruiting players from out of the district:

John O’Brien, The Post-Standard:

Skaneateles, NY — Tim Green, the novelist, lawyer, TV host, All-American and ex-NFL player, resigned today as coach of the Skaneateles High School football team in the midst of a court battle to keep the team’s undefeated season alive.

4) The Giants’ Brandon Jacobs hasn’t been bashful about saying that he wants more carries. Ahmad Bradshaw’s foot injury will almost certainly give him that chance, at least in the short run. The Onion poked some fun:

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs was reportedly furious with coaches following a team meeting Tuesday, loudly expressing his displeasure and demanding more yards per carry.

Extra point The reason given by some for restricting access to “All 22″ film seems lame: “Charley Casserly, a former general manager who was a member of the NFL’s competition committee, says he voted against releasing All-22 footage because he worried that if fans had access, it would open players and teams up to a level of criticism far beyond the current hum of talk radio.” It’s not on the level of, say,  the Supreme Court denying citizens the ability to view its proceedings, but would you like to see the N.F.L. become more transparent and allow fans to view the kind of film that insiders say tells all?

Extra point II One benefit of a less-is-more approach to  helmets is that there would be less head-against-head cracking. For decades, players  felt safe launching into each other’s skulls because they believed in their helmets’ safety. But it seems clear that football helmets need to be improved or reimagined.

NASCAR pulls Kyle Busch from Sprint Cup, Nationwide races in Texas

In an extremely rare move, NASCAR suspended driver Kyle Busch from competing in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races in Texas this weekend as a penalty for Busch intentionally wrecking another driver in a truck race Friday night.

Busch, long known for his aggressive driving, shoved the truck driven by championship contender Ron Hornaday Jr. into the wall during a caution period after the two had tangled in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

After meeting Saturday morning with Busch and his team owner, NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced Busch's suspension from the Nationwide race later Saturday and the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota in the Cup series, is one of the 12 drivers competing for the series title in the "Chase for the Cup" playoff. He's currently seventh in the standings, 57 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

Although NASCAR has let drivers settle more of their on-track differences on their own -- the so-called "Boys, have at it" policy -- Helton told reporters in Texas that Busch went too far, prompting NASCAR to take the rare step of benching a driver for an upcoming race.

"The responsibility over the past two or three seasons we've given back to the drivers came, I think, with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed," Helton said, adding that "we saw it last night."

Gibbs said Denny Hamlin would drive Busch's car in the Nationwide race, and Michael McDowell would replace Busch in the Cup race.

Gibbs told reporters in Texas that he supported NASCAR and had "great faith in the decisions they make."

"This was a tough one for us," Gibbs said. "You don't like it but we're certainly going to try and work our way through this one and do the right thing and try and handle it the right way."

--Jim Peltz

Photo: The No. 33 truck driven by Ron Hornaday Jr. is pushed into the wall by the truck of driver Kyle Busch during the NASCAR Truck Series race on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Credit: David Kent / McClatchy-Tribune

UFC 138: Brad Pickett could be shoo-in for first British UFC champion

Mixed martial artist Brad Pickett has lived an incongruous existence

where the worlds of sport and fashion collide.

Pickett, 33, is rated as a top 10 bantamweight (135lbs) in the world,

and has been tipped to become the first British Ultimate Fighting

Championship world title holder.

Tonight, at UFC 138 at the LG Arena in Birmingham, Pickett will be

looking to create fireworks of his own against highly-rated Brazilian

star Renan Barao, on a 26-fight unbeaten streak.

Schooled in east London, then Delhi, followed by an American

International School in the Himalayas (where he fought off packs of

scavenging monkeys between boarding house and school house) and Oundle

–he grew up around the fashion industry, with customers Elton John and

Mick Jagger dropping into his parents’ bespoke shoe shop in London.

Pickett’s parents – Sid and Sheila – were prominent shoe designers,

his mother having taught at the London School of Fashion, where one of

her protégés was Patrick Cox. In the late Eighties, they went into

business with a prominent Indian entrepreneur, Ajay Kalsi, whose

wealth today is estimated at $1.7billion. It meant a move to Delhi to

set up four factories, train the machinists, and educate the pattern

designers.

“It was an amazing experience living in India, but it was in the

Himalayas that I really discovered that I have great cardio-vascular

strength, as cross-country was something I excelled in there,” Pickett

told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

“I worked in the family firm – I can design shoes myself — but sport

was always my first love.” Pickett flirted with careers in

semi-professional football and amateur boxing, but began training in

martial arts eight years ago in order to train as a stuntman.

“I just took to it straightaway, and was quickly addicted. What’s

exciting at the moment is the fast-moving developments both within the

sport itself, and the growing fanbase worldwide. To get into the UFC

is great, but I’ve got to get the ‘W’ now against Renan Barao, who is

very, very skilful.”

If Pickett can extend his winning run he will move close to a title

shot against UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. No British

fighter has won a UFC belt since the fighting organisation was formed

back in 1993.

Mixed martial artists use a combination of boxing, taekwondo, judo,

wrestling and jiu-jitsu to win on points, by submission, or knockout,

over three five-minute rounds. Pickett is as dangerous on the mat as

he is in the stand-up boxing and striking.

There are eight British fighters are on the card, including rising

British star Terry Etim, who faces Hawaiian Eddie Faalato. Che Mills,

Vaughan Lee, John Maguire and Philip DeFries are all on UFC debut.

Heavyweight DeFries faces Liverpudlian Rob Broughton, to establish the

British No 1, while featherweight Jason Young has a tough assignment

against Japanese wrestler and judo expert Michihiro Omigawa.

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