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Los Angeles Rams defeated the Arizona Cardinals 34-0 during a NFL football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, September 16, 2018 in Los Angeles.

USC was lined up in the I-formation, a yard shy of the end zone, when it ran a toss sweep for running back Stephen Carr.

It did not harken to the student-body right offenses of past teams.

After Carr received the pitch, he faced little open space. Surrounded by three Texas defenders, he was left to run parallel to the line scrimmage and attempted to turn the corner toward the end-zone pylon before he was stuffed for a loss of 2 yards.

The failed fourth-down attempt cost the Trojans a potential touchdown late in the second quarter of their 37-14 loss at Texas on Saturday night. The run was also emblematic of a ground game that has seen continued early-season struggles.

The Trojans finished with minus-5 rushing yards against the Longhorns, marking their lowest in a game since they were held to minus-20 yards in a loss to Arizona in 1999. Through three weeks, they rank 117th among the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in rush offense.

Coach Clay Helton attributed USC’s latest rushing troubles to movement and zone pressure from Texas’ defense that made it difficult to clear holes for its running backs.

“During the week we had showed a good picture to be able to pick it up,” Helton said, “but it didn’t happen as well as we wanted during the game.”

Among USC’s three running backs, Aca’Cedric Ware, Vavae Malepeai and Carr, they rushed for a combined 24 yards on 12 carries. The results were dismal. On six occasions, they were stuffed behind the line of scrimmage or limited to no gain. They totaled a combined 1 yard on 11 carries outside of Carr’s 23-yard touchdown run on the opening drive.

The run troubles had a sort of cascading effect on the rest of the offense too. Freshman quarterback JT Daniels was left to throw a career-high 48 passes in his third start, finishing with 322 passing yards and an interception. The Trojans attempted to mount a comeback as they were outscored 34-0 over the final three quarters.

The Trojans ran the ball less often than in any previous game under Helton and offensive coordinator Tee Martin. Only 16 of their 64 total plays (25 percent) against Texas were runs. Only in three other games had they run less than 40 percent of the time.

“In Tee’s defense, you’re looking there, not having success in that area, and all of a sudden the pass is working,” Helton said. “He leaned on it. The ball was moving. All of a sudden, we get a little bit behind and you’re forced to move the ball.”

Helton cited the over-reliance on the passing game, due to a limited running game, as a concern with a matchup against Washington State looming for Friday night.

“We always want to be more balanced,” Helton said. “Sometimes the game dictates, especially when you’re behind and trying to catch up that more passes are going to be called. That’s going to dictate the numbers sometimes. In an ideal world, we’d love to be 50-50.”

Helton said, “We’re usually at our best when we’re a balanced offense.”

MCGRATH OUT FOR SEASON

Sophomore kicker Chase McGrath will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, Helton said Sunday.

McGrath suffered the tear during the third quarter of USC’s loss to Texas when his 50-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

After the kick was recovered by Texas’ Anthony Wheeler, who returned it for a touchdown, McGrath followed him along the sideline in an attempt to make a tackle, but fell after a hit and injured his right knee.

Without McGrath, third-year sophomore Michael Brown will take over kicking duties.

Helton said he was “very confident” with Brown, who returned to training camp after recovering from season-ending surgery for a torn ACL that was suffered last fall.

“I was very proud for him, coming off a major knee surgery, especially as a kicker, and what he was able to do in camp,” Helton said. “He really pushed Chase.”

McGrath made six of eight field-goal attempts this season, including five in a season-opening win over UNLV. His two misses were on attempts from 50 or more yards.

As he was injured in the fourth game, McGrath will be able to redshirt this season.

QUICK HITS

Several of USC’s players suffered injuries against Texas, including defensive lineman Malik Dorton (quad contusion), linebacker John Houston (wrist) and right guard Andrew Vorhees (knee sprain). Helton said they will be monitored during the week. … Seniors Reid Budrovich and Chris Tilbey, who each punted at Texas, will be evaluated in practices by special teams coach John Baxter to see who is “most effective” for Washington State, Helton said. … USC opened as a 4.5-point favorite against Washington State.

ST. LOUIS – The exchange rate on frequent-flier miles is not great.

The Dodgers left Los Angeles 10 days ago, trailing the Colorado Rockies by 1-1/2 games in the National League West. They went to three cities, traveled nearly 4,000 miles and won key series in Colorado and St. Louis.

And gained one game in the standings for all that.

The Dodgers dropped out of first place Sunday night, managing only four hits in a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals after the Rockies won their afternoon game in San Francisco.

They return home for another showdown series in Los Angeles with the Rockies, trailing them by a half-game with 12 games to play.

“To win a series here against a good club over there, we did what we wanted to accomplish,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re a half-game back now of the Rockies. We’ve got those guys at home. So we’re excited about that. Our ‘pen is lined up. We’ve got Ryu, Clayton and Walker going. So we’re in good shape.”

The National League West race has been fought in a phone booth. Three different teams have led the division but no one team has had a lead greater than 1-1/2 games since July 1 (when the Diamondbacks ended the day leading the Dodgers by 2-1/2). This is the seventh time in 16 days this month the Dodgers are either up or down a half-game in the standings.

“I feel destiny is in our hands, sort of,” Dodgers starter Ross Stripling said. “We head home and take of our business against the Rockies, we’ll be in good shape.”

The momentum was all theirs after a 17-4 rout Saturday gave them a four-game winning streak. But it was turn-back-the-clock night at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

The Cardinals one-time ace, Adam Wainwright, has spent most of this season on the sidelines, dealing with an elbow injury. Sunday was only the sixth start of what could be the 37-year-old Wainwright’s final season. But it was vintage Wainwright.

“He’s a big-game pitcher,” Roberts said. “You gotta expect his best and that’s what he brought. You saw his emotion. He knew how much that club needed that lift, that start. To see him execute like that – I’ve seen it for many years.”

Wainwright’s curveball was one of baseball’s best pitches during his prime. It was again Sunday. He shut down a Dodgers’ offense that had scored 53 runs in the previous seven games (29 in the three wins over the Cardinals), giving up only two hits and walking two in six scoreless innings. Wainwright struck out nine. Only Justin Turner, who doubled down the right-field line in the first inning, made it past first base in the first six innings.

“The curveball has always been his pitch. He was spotting it where he wanted to put it,” Cody Bellinger said. “Uncle Charlie — it’s so big and slow. You see it and you swing and it’s not there.

“It’s an unusual curveball. That’s the word I would use. Most curveballs are firm and don’t break as big.”

Things were plenty firm in the seventh inning. The Dodgers’ best chance to break through came when Bud Norris walked the first batter he faced then left with a blister. Flame-throwing reliever Jordan Hicks came in and walked Bellinger.

Touching 104 mph on the radar gun, though, Hicks retired six of the next seven Dodgers, three on strikeouts – one on a called third strike to Manny Machado who beefed with home-plate umpire Eric Cooper to no end.

“That was the one chance we had,” Roberts said. “But that’s a tough at-bat. Left-handed, right-handed – you don’t see 104 very often. He was sitting at 100. That’s tough to square up.”

The Dodgers failed to hit a home run for the first time since Aug, 20. The 23-game homer streak was the longest in Los Angeles history (one short of the franchise record set in Brooklyn in 1953) and the longest in the majors this season.

LOS ANGELES — For his next trick, Johnny Hekker will run off-tackle, or perhaps blitz.

Hekker kicked a field goal and an extra point in an NFL game on Sunday, nearly six years to the day he threw a touchdown pass. It should be noted that Hekker is the Rams’ punter.

Don’t get bogged down in details. Two years ago, when the Rams were awful, Hekker might have been their MVP. The Rams are past that now, but Hekker remains a star. On Sunday, he filled in at kicker when Greg Zuerlein suffered a groin injury, and the team proceeded as usual.

“I don’t think anyone flinched,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “We love Greg and we need him out there and want him back as soon as possible, but stuff like that may happen, and we didn’t flinch.”

Hekker, a four-time All-Pro punter, said he had not attempted a field goal in a game since 2007, when he played for Bothell High, near Seattle. Hekker doesn’t even practice field goals with the Rams, but he stepped in against Arizona and made a 20-yard field goal and a 33-yard extra point.

“A little nerve-wracking,” Hekker said, “but I’ve watched the best kicker in the NFL, week in and week out, watching Greg Zuerlein practice. I just tried to emulate him as best I could.”

Hekker also handled kickoffs and sent two of the five deep into the end zone for touchbacks, but it’s highly unlikely that Hekker will retain the job.

Coach Sean McVay said after the game that he didn’t know how long Zuerlein might be out, but that the Rams could turn back to Sam Ficken, a kicker they cut at the end of the preseason. Ficken filled in for Zuerlein late last season, after Zuerlein underwent back surgery, and showed increased confidence.

After a rough start last December, Ficken made 4 of 5 field-goal attempts and 5 of 6 extra-point attempts. When the Rams rested Zuerlein in this year’s preseason, Ficken looked solid, as he made both of his field-goal attempts (34 and 32 yards) and both of his extra-point attempts.

“He came in, did a nice job,” McVay said of Ficken.

Either way, at least the Rams will have time to prepare for next week’s game. Not until the end of warmups did they learn that Zuerlein had suffered an injury, so there was no time for practice, either for Hekker or for Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, who replaced Hekker as the holder on kicks.

Hekker threw his touchdown pass in 2012 as a holder for Zuerlein. On Sunday, Hekker easily made both kick attempts, and had a deadpan answer ready when asked if he knew his range on field goals.

“Unlimited,” Hekker said. “I haven’t missed yet, so I guess we’ll find out.”

COOKIN’ WITH BRANDIN

In just his second game with the Rams, receiver Brandin Cooks caught seven passes for 159 yards and showed a great connection with quarterback Jared Goff on different types of routes.

That was the third-highest receiving-yard total of Cooks’ career — he was a rookie in 2014 — and he seems to like facing Arizona. In Dec. 2016, Cooks had a career-high 186 yards against the Cardinals.

“I’m extremely blessed, first of all, to play this game, to have such an amazing team,” Cooks said. “There’s no doubt about it. I couldn’t do it without them. I was excited about today. Any time you can come out here, first home game, and do what you do as a whole squad, you’re excited about it.”

Goff and Cooks nearly connected on a couple pf deep passes in last Monday’s victory over Oakland, and they hit on the Rams’ first play of the third quarter Sunday. The Rams went play-action, and Goff hit Cooks for a 57-yard pass.

“We’ve been connecting on a lot of stuff in practice,” Goff said. “Today, I kind of felt that rhythm start to happen, with some of those deep things, the stuff across the field where he’s able to make those plays with his speed and how good he is with his hands. He did a great job. I felt really comfortable with him, as well as with all the receivers. They complement each other so well.”

SUPER SUB

JoJo Natson replaced Pharoh Cooper as the Rams’ return specialist and thrived. Natson returned six punts for a total of 133 yards, which included a 60-yard second-quarter return that nearly was a touchdown. Natson also returned a kickoff for 22 yards to start the game.

The Rams signed Natson on Tuesday, a day after Cooper, their All-Pro returner, suffered a significant ankle injury that likely will sideline him for several more weeks. Natson had a strong preseason with the Rams but got cut when it ended.

“I’m surprised no team picked him up,” Rams cornerback Aqib Talib said of Natson. “I’m glad nobody did pick him up, so we had a chance to get him. We knew what he could do from the preseason and in training camp, so it wasn’t that surprising to us.”

HE’S BACK

Josh Rosen, UCLA’s former standout quarterback, returned to his hometown as the Cardinals’ backup but did not get in the game. Goff and Rosen chatted on the field during early warmups.

“We talked about a lot of stuff,” Goff said. “We talked about UCLA and about Cal. I’ve gotten to know Josh a little bit over the past year or so. Good kid. I wish him the best. I offered him, ‘Keep going,’ and a little bit of advice, but I think he’s in a good place and he’s got a great chance in Arizona.”

By Meghan Waymire

Contributing columnist

In my senior year of high school, I participated in We The People, a competitive program where students perform mock congressional hearings and are challenged with questions to test their critical thinking skills and knowledge on court cases, history, current events, the Constitution and more. Although I had always been intrigued by politics, We The People solidified that interest, taught me how to research and showed me just how important it was for people — especially young people — to get involved in the political process.

Fast-forward to me falling in love with the environment at Cal State Fullerton and the amazing Political Science Department. The advice I received from all of my teachers and advisers was to get involved on campus. I was involved in high school, but I had absolutely no idea what groups I was supposed to join in college and, truth be told, I was nervous that I wouldn’t find anything that would light the same flame in me that We The People did.

Then I was introduced to the Lobby Corps commission, an advocacy group within Cal State Fullerton’s Associated Students Inc. I discovered we would be responsible for registering students to vote, lobbying legislators and learning about higher education policy. Looking back to my first year of college, I’m not sure I would have felt secure or at home in this new space if it weren’t for Lobby Corps. I continued my involvement with this group and I am now responsible for overseeing the commission as the Associated Students Inc. chief governmental officer.

According to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, only 14.6 percent of CSUF students voted in the last midterm election. With National Voter Registration Day approaching on Sept. 25, we have entered Cal State Fullerton in the secretary of state’s “Ballot Bowl,” a statewide competition to see which university can register the most students to vote. Our goal is to educate, empower and engage Titans in the midterm elections, and we have a variety of events planned this semester to mobilize the Titan community to turn out to vote.

Our “Power of the Vote” event will give all students, regardless of voting status, the opportunity to connect with the community and learn more about what will be on the ballot. Students who attend can participate in in-depth discussions in small groups and fill out sample ballots.

We have also created a Voter Registration Coalition, in which students can sign up to help with our voter registration efforts in exchange for volunteer hours. So far, this coalition has been extremely successful. We worked with our on-campus housing to register 60 new students to vote in just a couple of hours!

In an attempt to connect candidates to our university, we are working with several partners to host candidate forums on campus for the 4th Board of Supervisors District, 65th State Assembly District and 39th Congressional District. Students will have the opportunity to directly ask candidates questions at these forums.

We also are hosting “Political Palooza,” a political fair where students can connect with on- and off-campus organizations to get politically involved, learn what is on the ballot and more. These events are critical to educating and engaging students in the upcoming election.

It is time our elected officials recognize and act on the many issues impacting our students — from the cost of living, to the affordability and accessibility of education, to resources and security for undocumented students, and the list goes on. It is our responsibility to ensure student voices are heard loud and clear in this election. The best way to make this happen is to register and turn out to vote if you have the privilege to do so.

Meghan Waymire is a first-generation college student studying political science. She is leading civic engagement efforts at Cal State Fullerton as the Associated Students Inc. chief governmental officer.

Roland Mouret is evolving. “I’ve been going through a phase, as a designer who has had a strong moment in his career because of a silhouette, how do you move on to a new silhouette? To really move on, you have to deconstruct [the old] silhouette to create a new one,” he told WWD. “It’s been 13 years since I did the Galaxy dress. I chose my box, I defined it, and it’s nice now to come out of it and choose another box.”
This re-education, which began last season, has led him back to the kind of things he was doing pre-Galaxy: exploring a fluidity that has allowed him to redefine his “relationship to the female body.”
The concept of education ties neatly with the collection’s thematic inspiration, the 1974 soft porn film “Emmanuelle,” with its themes of female sexual empowerment, which in turn relates to Mouret’s other inspirations for spring: The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
He translated this into a collection that he said was rooted in the individuality of the wearer, with pieces designed to mix ‘n’ match, as opposed to showing “full looks.” His newfound fluidity flowed throughout, in the plum hammered satin coat dress that opened behind to reveal

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After showing in New York for nearly a decade, Jenny Packham came home to London to celebrate her 30 years in business. She staged two presentations at her Mount Street flagship, one for press on Sunday and a separate one for customers — and the public — was planned for Monday.
A celebrity and royal favorite with a flourishing evening, cocktail and bridal business, Packham took Jean Harlow as her inspiration for spring, conjuring a collection with lots of old Tinseltown glamour, inspired by the alluring — and hard-living — actress and Thirties Hollywood star.
“It was time to bring Jean out,” said Packham, who said her interest in Harlow was piqued when she was in Hollywood a few years ago, looking at Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. While the looks she showed on Sunday were beaded and sequined and adorned with Swarovski crystals, she said she wanted to do them all with a light touch.
The old-world glam quotient was high: A version of the silver sequin-paved wrap-front gown has already sold out on Net-a-porter, while a long, midnight blue hand-beaded dress had a plunging V neck.
At the same time, there was always a modern yet demure feel to the clothes. A frothy dress

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