What can UCLA and USC expect in their bowl games?

The UCLA Bruins football team will play Baylor in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27. So, who exactly are these Baylor Bears? It might be best to start with who they are not.

They are not Robert Griffin III’s Baylor Bears. The Heisman Trophy winner is the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins these days. But even though Baylor lost a first-round quarterback to the NFL, the football team was left in two capable sets of hands.

The first pair belongs to receiver Terrance Williams. He is making a variety of All-America teams and breaking even more school records. Williams leads the nation with 1,764 receiving yards and was a finalist for the Fred Belitnekoff Award. (Marqise Lee of USC won the award).

Williams holds the school record for receiving yards and is second in school history in receiving TDs with 12 and receptions with 95. He needs 236 yards in the Holiday Bowl to become only the second player in NCAA football history with 2,000 receiving yards in a season. The  way Baylor runs its offense, 236 receiving yards is not out of the question.

Trevor Insley from Nevada is the only college receiver with more than 2,000 receiving yards in a season. He caught 134 passes for 2,060 yards in 1999. Only two receivers have more than 1,900 receiving yards in a season, Michael Crabtree at Texas Tech and Troy Edwards at Louisiana Tech.

Nick Florence, Baylor’s senior quarterback, has more than delivered after RG3 left the team. Florence is 174 yards shy of breaking Griffin’s school record for passing yards in a season. Florence is also six touchdown passes short of breaking Griffin’s school record in that category.

Florence leads the nation with an average of 387.7 yards per game of total offense. He is an academic All-American, the fourth quarterback from Baylor to earn that honor. Of course, the last quarterback to do it was Griffin in 2011.

Suffice it to say Baylor can put up some points. The team can put up points at Oregon Ducks pace. The Bears might have a more potent offense than USC. The Bruins will have their hands full, but then again, USC was supposed to give them a handful, too.

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Those same USC Trojans are headed to Texas to play Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31. This is a game USC doesn’t want to play, their fans don’t want to watch and cost defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin his job.

Before the season began, Sports Illustrated put USC quarterback Matt Barkley on the cover stating he didn’t come back for his senior season to play in the Holiday Bowl. He certainly didn’t return for a trip to the Sun Bowl.

USC, the Associated Press preseason No. 1 team, had much higher aspirations. Alabama was a much more worthy opponent than Georgia Tech.

The Trojans have played in the Sun Bowl twice and lost both games. They lost to Michigan State, 17-16, in 1990, when it was the John Hancock Bowl, and to Texas Christian University, 28-19, in 1998.

If the Trojans aren’t careful, they could lose their third straight Sun Bowl to the only bowl team in college football with a losing record. Georgia Tech is 6-7, but became bowl eligible when it won the ACC Coastal Division championship.

If the Yellow Jackets have a strength, it is in running the football. They are the fourth-leading team in the nation in rushing yards with 312.5 yards per game.

Senior quarterback Tevin Washington has scored 19 rushing touchdowns this season, second most in the nation. He has 37 rushing touchdowns in his career at Georgia Tech, the most in ACC and Georgia Tech for a quarterback.

USC and Georgia Tech have met three times, the last time in 1973. The Trojans are 2-1 in head-to-head match-ups against Georgia Tech and won the last meeting, 23-6, in Atlanta.

This will be the first time USC and Georgia Tech have met in a bowl game.

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The Dodgers are sparing no expense to put together a quality baseball team. They have already spent a record $230 million on players. The latest additions are starter Zack Greinke and Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu.

The rotation for the Dodgers next season will look something like this: 1. Clayton Kershaw, 2. Zack Greinke, 3. Josh Beckett, 4. Chris Capuano, 5. Chad Billingsley. That leaves Ted Lilly and Aaron Harang as insurance. That also leaves Ryu some time to develop.

The everyday lineup might look something like this:

1.       Carl Crawford LF

2.       Mark Ellis 2B

3.       Andre Ethier RF

4.       Matt Kemp CF

5.       Hanley Ramirez SS

6.       Adrian Gonzalez 1B

7.       AJ Ellis C

8.       Luis Cruz 3b

Cruz is a fan-favorite, but he is also the weakest link in the lineup. Still, this might be the best offensive lineup since 1981 for the Dodgers.

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A pair of Hart High grads were in a multiplayer trade between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals. Starter James Shields was shipped to the Royals for a chunk of prospects including Mike Montgomery.

Neither player made out well in this deal.

Shields is an American League All Star and a seven-year veteran. He went 15-10 with a 3.52 ERA for the Rays in 2011. But he was also expected to make $10.25 million in 2012. His trade to the Royals is being described as a salary dump.

Montgomery was one of the top pitching prospects in the Royals organization. He was drafted in the first round by the Royals in 2008 and split time between Double-A and Triple-A last year. He was a 3-6 with a 5.69 ERA at Triple-A Omaha. He wasn’t much better at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he was 2-6 with a 6.67 ERA.

Montgomery was one of four prospects traded to the Rays for Shields and Wade Davis. Montgomery was also one of two pitchers from Kansas City in the deal.

He’ll most likely spend more time in the minors with the Rays, which already has a solid rotation with Cy Young Award winner David Price, Matt Moore and 2011 American League Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson.

As for Shields, he’s on the Royals now. If this were 1984, it might be a different story. But it will be 2013 and the Royals will be out of playoff contention before the All-Star game.

Tim Haddock is the sports director for KHTS AM 1220. He writes for the Santa Clarita Gazette, Ventura County Star, the Team USA website and SB Nation. He can be reached by e-mail at tim@hometownstation.com. Follow him on Twitter @thaddock.