LOS ANGELES -- When Southern California needed a big play on offense last season, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster or running back Ronald Jones usually stepped up.With the offense searching for consistency, the pressure is on Smith-Schuster and Jones once again.A quarterback change helped Smith-Schuster get more involved in the Trojans 31-27 loss at No. 18 Utah on Friday night, but Jones was all but invisible. The sophomore had 15 yards on eight carries.For offensive coordinator Tee Martin, trying to find the right balance between run and pass, and where those touches are allocated, is still a work in progress.You try to roll with it, Martin said Tuesday.The distribution of carries between Jones, senior Justin Davis and sophomore AcaCedric Ware against the Utes was criticized on social media after USCs last-second loss dropped the Trojans to 1/3 for the first time since 2001. Davis rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, but did not touch the ball in the fourth quarter.Martin said the intent going into the game was to rotate backs while also allowing for the possibility of relying on the hot guy. The rotation happened, but Martin did not say why Davis did not carry the ball in the critical moments.Justin ran well, Martin said. Ronald ran well. And Ced came in, had a big third-down conversion, and ran well.After nearly becoming the first USC freshman to rush for 1,000 yards, Jones began this season with immense expectations. But he has not demonstrated the same explosiveness so far.In four games, Jones has rushed for just 132 yards and one touchdown, though he was limited in the win over Utah State because of a rib contusion. The majority of that production came on a 46-yard run in the third quarter of a blowout loss to Alabama in the opener, and Jones does not have a rush longer than 16 yards in two Pac-12 games.Martin believes Jones has grown as a back and is displaying a better understanding of the position, rather than simply relying on his speed and athleticism. Martin said information overload can cause a young back to become paralyzed at times but he expects Jones to work through his struggles.He is going to break loose, coach Clay Helton said. He is ultra-talented and we are going to keep on feeding him the ball.For Smith-Schuster, the initial struggles seemed to be resolved by naming redshirt freshman Sam Darnold the starting quarterback. Smith-Schuster caught eight balls for 98 yards against Utah, both season highs, and he expects to build on that performance Saturday against Arizona State.While opponents have used bracket coverage with two defenders in an attempt to limit Smith-Schuster, the Sun Devils use a wide array of pressures that leave the secondary having to defend receivers one-on-one. Though Arizona State coach Todd Graham has reduced the use of blitzes to take pressure off of his inexperienced defense backs, USC expects that to change against a quarterback making his second career start.That should give Smith-Schuster chances to deliver the big plays that have been missing.There is nobody else on the field, Smith-Schuster said. When its man-to-man, all I see is the person that is covering me and myself. Just beat that man, do your job and the ball will come.Game notes Defensive tackle Noah Jefferson could miss the next two to three weeks because of injury and academics, Helton said. Jefferson has missed the last three games with a sprained shoulder and briefly returned home to Las Vegas to attend to personal matters earlier this month. Custom Flames T-shirts . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. Flames Jerseys China . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. http://www.customflamesjersey.com/ . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Custom Flames Jersey China .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. Cheap Custom Flames Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. BOSTON -- It resembles the symbol for infinity: a sideways S that Kara Goucher, Molly Huddle and other elite U.S. athletes suddenly are sporting on biceps, wrists and shins.The tattoos are temporary. But the campaign they represent is an all-out attempt to permanently purge competitive athletics of doping.People are getting the impression that everyones dirty, Goucher, a top-ranked marathoner based in Boulder, Colorado, told The Associated Press. We need to build the sport back up in a positive light.Thats the goal of the Clean Sport Collective , a new anti-doping initiative making a splash on social media.It launched this month with an aggressive campaign on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Olympians and amateurs alike have been publicly pledging to live, train and compete clean -- totally free of banned performance-enhancing drugs -- and taking selfies aimed at both inspiring and shaming track-and-field competitors, swimmers, cyclists, triathletes and others.Significantly, their bully pulpit is getting a boost from the corporate world: Brooks Running, Oiselle, Skechers and other companies have signed on as partners.Shanna Sparks Burnette, a former Division I collegiate runner, co-founded the Collective to get the focus off the cheaters and back onto athletes committed to drug-free achievement, whether at an Olympics or a local 5K.We really wanted to make a positive impact and change the narrative to celebrate the brands and all of the amazing and inspiring people who are doing it the right way, she said. The mentality is `win at all costs -- do whatever you can do to get ahead. As a society of people, we need to not do that to each other.Its been an especially tough year on the doping front.Russias track and field federation remains barred from international competition, and all but one member of the team was forced to sit out the Rio Olympics after independent investigators appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency issued a damning report into widespread use of banned substances.Kenya, too, has been caught up in dozens of offenses implicating dopers who robbed clean athletes of winnings and glory. Last month, former Chicago and Boston Marathon champion Rita Jeptoo had her doping ban doubled to four years and was stripped of her Boston title from 2014, when shed been hailed as a hero for winning the iconic races first running since the deadly 2013 finish line bombings.Huddle, a two-time Olympian, said its gotten to the point wherre she wonders about some of the runners who outkick her in international competition.ddddddddddddSports are supposed to be inspiring to people watching them, but theres so much cynicism implanted now, said Huddle, who wore the Collectives tattoo on the back of her hand while finishing third at this months TCS New York City Marathon, her debut at the 26.2-mile distance.The upstate New York native, who now lives and trains in Providence, Rhode Island, is calling for a one-strike-youre-out approach to the doping scourge -- a lifetime ban, not just a brief suspension, for those who test positive once for a banned substance.That would put the fear in the back of an athletes mind: `What if I get caught? she said. Right now theres just not enough risk.The Clean Sport Collective means business. Pro athletes who take the pledge promise to donate $25,000 to the nonprofit if they ever test positive. Those opting for the extra step of certification have to get bloodwork and a biological passport that attests theyre drug-free.Corporate partners, likewise, commit to sponsor and invest in clean athletes only. And athletes of all abilities are using the hashtag #cleansportco to post about their vows.To Kevin Rutherford, CEO of Nuun Life, a Seattle-based sports hydration and energy company, that makes sense for both the finish line and the bottom line.There are very few brands that are saying something outwardly. I just think weve got to take a stand and say we wont stand for it -- well only work with clean athletes, he said. Theres been scandal after scandal. Its talked about, it hits the headlines, and then it goes away. How do we make it a conversation, a movement? How do we make doping the smoking of sports?Jesse Williams, global sports marketing manager at Brooks Running, said contracts for the elite athletes he sponsors all contain a clause forbidding the use of performance-enhancing drugs.If we dont hold our athletes to the highest standard, were not moving the sport forward, he said. If theres no punishment for the crime, whats the incentive to stop doing it?Huddle hopes the sport can clean up its act.Amazing still does exist, she said, and clean athletes are still getting it done.---Follow Bill Kole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/billkole . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/william-j-kole . ' ' '