What's Bruin: UCLA Football Faces A Showdown In Tucson

In Thursday's What's Bruin, we have a little bit of everything as we check out what's going on locally, nationally, and internationally with Bruin Athletics.

Football

Everyone is looking ahead to the football game in Tucson as the UCLA tries to reach its high preseason expectations with some missing pieces.

You can get in your own pick for this game and many others by joining our Bruins Nation Pick 'Em game, hosted by Yahoo!. We're just getting started so it's a perfect time to sign up, it's free, and there might even be some goodies for our weekly winners.

Nearly all the news is focused on the loss of Bruins star linebacker Myles Jack. It is somewhat ironic that Jack goes out right before a trip to Arizona where he famously burst onto the national stage as a freshman.

Meanwhile, while Jack will be missing this game due to his meniscus injury Arizona may have its star LB back from a meniscus injury

ESPN College Game Day will be in Tucson Saturday which means tWWL is actually discussing the game. I know it's a ratings push rather than any epiphany that the Pac-12 plays good football, but there is plenty of Bruin talk. Kirk Herbstreit discusses the opposing quarterbacks, another analyst on ESPN picks Arizona due to injuries, while Mike and Mike are split.

Gymnastics

The UCLA Gymnastics team announced their 2016 schedule and it's tough. The Bruins will face every previous NCAA Champion in the season, starting off with their season opener against Alabama at Pauley on Jan 10. Nine of the Bruins 10 regular season meets will be televised on the Pac-12 Network, if you can find it.

Alums in Volleyball, Baseball, and Golf

UCLA Men's VB Head Coach John Speraw spent time at his moonlighting job and led the US Men's National Team to the FIVB World Cup Title and qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were a perennial doormat in the NL Central for years, but have become contenders since Bruin Gerrit Cole was their #1 pick in the 2013 Draft. The Pirates clinched a playoff berth last night for the third consecutive year and are in striking range of the Division title. Cole is the team ace with a 17-8 record and a cool 2.64 ERA.

Golfer Allison Lee was front and center at a contentious moment at the Solheim Cup, the biennial match between the USA and Europe which is the women's equivalent of the Ryder Cup. Believing her short putt on the 17th hole in Saturday's fourball competition would be conceded by her opponents, Lee picked up her ball and headed to the 18th. But when Lee picked up her ball, her European opponents denied the concession and assessed a penalty, and the Europeans went on to win the point for the match. So incensed were the Americans that US Captain publicly called it "bullshit". The dis may have fired up the US. Trailing 10-6 going in to the final day's singles matches, Lee was among the Americans who won her Sunday afternoon matches and led to the USA's comeback victory 14.5-13.5

GO BRUINS!!