Baylor

Keegan Bradley had no thoughts about a course record, or the possibility of a 59, after consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round in the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas. Until his 136-yard wedge shot on his final hole Thursday. "It was going right at it. [A 59] crossed my mind for a second, and it would be unbelievable if I buried this," Bradley said. "But I had three feet to shoot 60. I was actually very nervous, uncomfortable over it and thank God I made it. " Bradley shot 10-under-par 60, completed by that short birdie at the 428-yard ninth hole, to break the TPC Four Seasons course record and match the best round ever at the Nelson.

The U.S. Department of the Interior will become the first federal agency to take advantage of a new program to update its fleet of vehicles with gas-sipping hybrids. The initiative is part of a General Services Administration effort to replace aging government cars with as many as 10,000 hybrids. The Interior Department will receive 300 gasoline and alternative-fuel vehicles--about a third of the vehicles the department is expecting to replace. Under the Fleet Consolidation program, the GSA will fund the cost difference to purchase hybrid sedans.

UCLA will face Baylor in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl in Qualcomm Stadium on Dec. 27. The Bruins are 9-4 after losing to Stanford in the Pac-12 Conference championship game. They were ticketed for the Valero Alamo Bowl or the Holiday Bowl. Oregon State will play in the Alamo Bowl. Baylor (7-5) made a late push to get bowl eligible. The Bears won their last three games, including a 52-24 victory over then-No. 1 Kansas State on Nov. 17. UCLA and Baylor have never played in football.

Robert Griffin III takes his women's basketball seriously. Just how seriously? Just take a look at the Washington Redskins quarterback's Twitter account during the last 24 hours. Early on Sunday, he posted a photo of himself with President Obama at the Syracuse-Marquette men's basketball game a day earlier at the Verizon Center. That's one tweet with the president of the United States. RG3 had plenty more to say later, however, after his beloved Baylor women's team -- the defending champion and prohibitive favorite to go all the way again this year -- was stunned by Louisville, 82-81, in the round of 16. Griffin, who won the Heisman Trophy in his senior season with Baylor in 2011, posted no fewer than 12 tweets about the Lady Bears' stunning loss, and in particular the way the Louisville players were treating his team's star, Brittney Griner.

The NCAA put Baylor on three years of probation Wednesday after an investigation turned up hundreds of impermissible telephone calls and text messages sent to prep recruits by coaches and assistants on the basketball teams. The violations were considered to be major infractions, and they were announced less than a week after the Bears women's team won the national championship with the first 40-0 season in NCAA history. Still, it could have been much worse for Baylor. All of the penalties were proposed by the school and accepted by the NCAA after a review of nearly 900,000 phone and text message records found that 738 texts and 528 calls were against the rules.

UCLA fans can only hope EA Sports is spot-on with its video games. The Bruins handled Baylor, 34-26, in an EA Sports simulation of the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. Quarterback Brett Hundley threw for 453 yards and three touchdowns, two to receiver Jerry Johnson. How far-fetched is the video game? Well, Baylor is 119th out of 120 teams nationally in total defense. The two teams are scheduled to play for real on Dec. 27. ALSO: UCLA trying to ditch over-the-wall tradition Linebacker Anthony Barr likely to return next season Will Adrian Peterson beat Eric Dickerson's rushing record?

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and his stock continues to rise after an impressive showing at the NFL scouting combine. With Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck likely to go to the Indianapolis Colts as the No. 1 overall pick in April's draft, a question remains as to which team will end up taking Griffin. Writers from around the Tribune Co. will discuss the topic. Check back throughout the day for more responses and join the discussion with a comment of your own. Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times Robert Griffin III had an excellent combine even though he didn't throw, and the Rams are the huge beneficiaries of that because their No. 2 pick is all the more valuable.

Am I the only one who finds Don Baylor hypocritical about saying Mike Piazza should not win the MVP award because he is a one-dimensional player? Perhaps Mr. "One-Dimensional" Baylor has forgotten who won the 1979 American League MVP and why. Hint: It was not for his defensive prowess. JEFF STENGER, Trabuco Canyon Don Baylor played more than 1,250 games as a designated hitter. In his MVP year of 1979, he played only 97 games in the field and DH'd the rest. When I look up the phrase "one-dimensional ballplayer" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Don Baylor.

The Baylor men's basketball team was banned from playing nonconference games for one season and was put on five years' probation by the NCAA on Thursday for rules violations found after a former player murdered a teammate in 2003. Baylor was considered a repeat offender because the tennis program received sanctions in 2000 for improper financial aid and extra benefits.

Baylor became the first basketball team in NCAA history to finish a season at 40-0, defeating Notre Dame, 80-61, in the women's championship game Tuesday night. But this might just be only the beginning for Coach Kim Mulkey's squad. Though the Bears aren't yet halfway to Connecticut's all-time Division I record of 90 straight wins, that mark already appears within their reach. The Huskies reached their mark with a pair of undefeated seasons in 2008-09 and 2009-10 followed by 12 more victories the next season before losing to Stanford on Dec. 30, 2010.

Baylor star Brittney Griner took to Twitter on Sunday night following the Lady Bears' shocking 82-81 loss to Louisville in the NCAA women's basketball tournament's round of 16. She wasn't there to vent her frustrations about a Cardinals defense that prevented her from making a basket until 15:20 remaining in the second half. She simply wanted to apologize: I want to say I'm sorry to the Baylor Nation for letting everyone down and everyone else that look up to me! I was a disappointed tonight!

Of all the things that happened to UCLA on Thursday night, there was one that the Bruins could feel good about: They didn't have to face Robert Griffin III. Nick Florence was enough to deal with. Florence didn't go home with the Heisman Trophy this season. He settled for making the Bruins' defense look statuesque, at least mobility-wise. With a lickety-split offense, the Bears rolled to a 49-26 victory in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. This was not the epilogue the Bruins (9-5)

SAN DIEGO - As UCLA football players trudged to the locker room after the Holiday Bowl on Thursday night, it was clear there were as many questions unanswered as those the Bruins solved this season. The 49-26 beating Baylor administered was a reminder that UCLA's successful season essentially ended on Nov. 17 with a 38-28 victory over USC. What followed was three consecutive losses. There was a listless performance in the regular-season finale against Stanford. There was the 10-point lead the Bruins lost in the rematch with the eighth-ranked Cardinal six days later in the Pac-12 Conference title game.

SAN DIEGO - Brett Hundley's first season running the UCLA offense became the best season a Bruins quarterback has had, at least statistically. Hundley tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Fauria in the second quarter Thursday against Baylor in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. It broke Cade McNown's single-season record of 3,470 yards, set in 1998. Hundley, a redshirt freshman, had already broken McNown's total offense record and Drew Olson's completion record. Hundley finished the season with 4,095 total yards, 3,740 yards passing and 318 completions.

SAN DIEGO - There have been rumors down here that the Chargers might be interested in UCLA's Jim Mora as a replacement for Coach Norv Turner. If the Holiday Bowl was an audition, Mora could not have done more to prove himself the ideal choice to be the next Chargers' head coach. Like the Chargers do so often, the Bruins played flat and let their fans down, losing 49-26. TIMELINE: College football 2012-13 bowl schedule And in doing so, Mora also found a way to further irritate the faithful with the kind of play-calling that often leaves Turner looking so befuddled on the sideline.

UCLA brings plenty of offense to the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl on Thursday night in San Diego. The Bruins will need it. The last time Baylor played a Pac-12 Conference team in a bowl game, scoreboard circuits were taxed to the max. The Bears outscored Washington, 67-56, in the Alamo Bowl last season. Times staff writer Chris Foster examines the game's matchups and story lines: One for the road UCLA running back Johnathan Franklin hopes this game becomes a victory lap. The senior gets one more chance to add to his UCLA career and season rushing records.

— Robert Griffin and Baylor created even more chaos in the national championship race with a stunning blow against fifth-ranked Oklahoma. Griffin threw for 479 yards and four touchdowns, including a 34-yarder to Terrance Williams with eight seconds left, and 25th-ranked Baylor beat the Sooners for the first time, 45-38 on Saturday night. The Sooners (8-2, 5-2 Big 12) had overcome a two-touchdown deficit to tie the score on Blake Bell's fourth touchdown run, a six-yarder with 51 seconds left.

This shouldn't be anything to sweat for UCLA. Sure, the Bruins play a Baylor team with a blur of an offense. It's nothing the they haven't seen before. The Bruins have generally handled spread offenses well. They routed Houston, beat Arizona State, destroyed Arizona and survived Washington State. TIMELINE: College football 2012-13 bowl schedule So seeing the Bears go full tilt in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl Dec. 27 won't be an eye-opener. "West Coast, Pac-12, we've seen a lot of teams who run up-tempo offenses," linebacker Eric Kendricks said.

At least UCLA finished with something sweet. On the last play in regulation, Brett Hundley connected with wide receiver Logan Sweet on a 34-yard scoring pass to make the score a little-more-respectable 49-26 Baylor advantage. Hundley completed 26 of 50 passes for 329 yards and three touchdowns in the game. The defensive player of the game was end Chris McAllister of Baylor. The offensive player of the game was running back Lache Seastrunk of Baylor, who ran for 131 yards and a touchdown.

SAN DIEGO - Brett Hundley thought, and many UCLA fans hoped, he would be an efficient and even dangerous quarterback. No one knew for sure, though, until the Bruins' first play of this football season: Hundley bolted 72 yards for a touchdown against Rice. "Playing that first game, you're sort of like, 'Am I ready for this?' " the redshirt freshman recalled. "You've got a dream, but then you've got to put it into action. " TIMELINE: College football 2012-13 bowl schedule Doing just that, Hundley became an action figure.