I didn’t realize how ugly it is to have such a poor performing offensive line, but I expected 4 wins and I think that is about right.

The only complaint I have at this point is our making Craft throw in the pocket as much as we do. I just don’t see him being successful there, particularly with a line that gives up as many sacks as ours. I really think we need to roll him out a lot more.

I am very pleased with the overall effort of the team, and the work the coaching staff is doing. I am confident the team will be better next year then it is this year, and will continue to improve under CRN.

The defense played pretty well today I thought, particularly given the circumstance. The receivers look really good, and our special teams were better today. I think there are some silver linings.

Stay positive bruins, things will get better. Remember Ben Howland had a terrible record his first year too.

Personally, I don’t know how to put this in words. I LOVE my BRUINS. It pains me to say that KC is NOT the answer. This is not something that I say easily….really isn’t. I don’t get to go to a lot of games but I’m sure to catch our guys on the tube. KC is doing the best that he can. He has been put in a no lose situation but I honestly think that we need to head into a different direction. I’m not saying that we are to give up on the season but there comes a time when we need to look towards the future. He has gusto but he is not the answer. I sat there today seeing him continually throw picks and other passes that should have been picks. YES, he is not guiding a team with talent oozing throughout the roster and it is not entirely his fault. Maybe the players beg to differ which I respect and totally understand. KC was throwing into double and triple coverage at times. It was not a pretty sight. He didn’t get any help from the run game but he did not help the team by putting us in compromising positions. Man….this is really tough for me to write. I don’t like calling out a player nor do I wish to put the entire burden on one single player. I’m pretty much venting but maybe I shoud just shut the hell up. You feel me? I’m sure you do. I LOVE my BRUINS. Gawd…..I hate this but I gotta get it out off my chest.

As a positive, I was at the tunnel where our guys were heading towards the locker room, a lot of guys were PISSED. Espcially Carter. These guys haven’t given up in any fashion and I can assure you that no matter what the results are the rest of the season, these guys….OUR GUYS….will give it their all. I’m confident of this.

Sigh……maybe I had a little too much to drink and my emotions are getting the best of me. No offense to nobody. I hurt for CRN and our boys. That is all.

Go Bruins!!!!

answer or a division 1 quarterback. If the opposing teams could catch even half of his errant throws, Craft would have the division 1 record for thrown interceptions. Out of 32 quarters, how many offensive td’s has the Craft led offense scored? I am sure it is in the bottom 1% of division 1 football. Nevertheless, Craft is not the only one to blame. I think we can all agree that KD’s abysmal recruiting that led to the worst offensive line in school history (and that is saying a lot), is as responsible. Given that this season is going nowhere, why not let a Forcier get some experience. Do you really think he would be any more incompetent. Let me say this, I do not blame Craft for his lack of talent. He is a gutty player, just not a division 1 quarterback…

I shudder to think what you would define as “bad”. Yes, he is a third stringer and yes the offensive line stinks, and yes, he does not have a healthy PAC 10 level running back, but bad is bad…

but i believe you HAVE to establish the run at the outset of the game. HAVE to, its ridiculous that guys that have played football their entire lives cant run block or that the RBs cant find the hole (however small it might be). If you run the ball, they gotta bring in that 8th man into the box to support against the run. That opens up the passing game, as you’ll have one-on-ones on the outside. Play action opens up as well as the defense won’t know whether its a run or a pass. Without setting up our run offense, we’re asking a 3rd string QB to throw the ball to keep us in the game, and that obviously didn’t happen today. 16 yards is ridiculous. Thats not even enough to get us 2 first downs…are you kidding? Like i said maybe im wrong, but thats just my opinion.

A friend of mine told me that he heard the UCLA quarterback kept his eyes locked on the only person he was going to throw to, but then quickly qualified that by saying that he kept his eyes locked on the only person ON HIS TEAM that he was going to throw to. If my non-football friend knows this, then every player on every other team in the league knows this. And if they know it, then Coach Chow knows it. I assume that Coach Chow has worked every drill he can possibly work to fix this, but it doesn’t look like its doing much good. Craft seems to be a big part of the problem at this stage of his career.

But Craft isn’t the whole problem. Not even Peyton Unitas could throw the ball laying flat on his back. Our line has not developed. We got 16 yards rushing. It’s about time that each lineman started taking a little accountability for making our running game look pathetic. Cal was rated 17th in the country in rushing defense coming into the game, but they were giving up 109 yards a game on average. We only got 16 yards. I’ve never played offensive line (or anything else, for that matter), but it seems to me that when you only get 16 yards on the ground that the guy on the other side of the line is beating you basically every time. That’s what some D-II school gets when they get scheduled for a payday game against LSU.

I don’t have any answers. I leave that to the coaches. I think it’s time that each player on the team challenged himself to start doing better.

Reading Gary72’s comment, I’m torn on leaving in Craft or throwing Forcier into the fire. I agree Craft isn’t near the level of a Pac-10 starter. Having said that, I’m not entirely sure if the benefit to Forcier of having four games of experience is worth the cost to Forcier of ending up on his back 30-40 times a game.

uclabruin34, I agree with you on the necessity of establishing the run. This runs into the same problem we would face with putting Forcier in to learn: our OL isn’t performing. We can’t protect the QB – whoever it is – and we can’t start a running game.

I’m not attempting to put down the players currently starting on the OL; I don’t doubt that each is playing his a** off and giving all they have. However, when you start with weak recruiting and then pile on injury problems to the already-weak pool of possible players, it’s not going to end well. I’m watching $C right now. It’s obvious their level of recruiting has been light-years ahead of ours the last few years: Sanchez often has 5-10 seconds to go through his progressions.

Remember that we cannot expect miracles the first year of the NeuEra. Dont forget the 11-17 record Howland posted in year one. These are not CRNs players. He will get them. CNC will get them. It would be wonderful to come in and get an over .500 year now. We cant expect that. What we can expect is improvement year to year. I love what I see from the freshman out there. The WR’s are for real. Brian Price just a sophomore. Rahim Moore a frosh. Next year there will be more freshman that impress us. 2010 we will be complaining that we are only 7 or 8 in the BCS poll. 2011 we will be preseason top 5. Its coming. Just like basketball. I do believe that this staff will take us back to the Rose Bowl (on new years day) and beyond.

… are in its lines. On offense and defense, all positions are important, but it starts with the lines.

Our O-line is young, green, and battered. As frustrating as Craft can be to coaches and fans alike, one can’t blame him for all of our offensive woes.

With so many injuries to our center-ready players, we’ve had the ball coming at him from willing but not world-beating snappers like a pitching machine set not on ‘fastball’ or ‘slider’ but on ‘Charlie Sheen.’

Craft’s decision-making can stand improvement, but with an overpowered line, his options are often ‘duck’ and ‘cover’ at best, or ‘throw’ and ‘oh (BLEEP)’ at worst.

A powerful O-line can make good RBs great, and make very good QBs into Heisman-winners.

But with no engine, the car won’t go.

By contrast, look at our D-line. Again, there is inexperience. There are injuries. There is learning curve. perfectly reasonable for them to struggle at times, jsut as it is not to be unexpected for our O-line crew.

BUT, with Price and Harwell providing talent and experience in the middle, the complexion changes.

We have a middle push, which forces opposing QBs to adjust… which forces RBs to hesitate… or forces WRs to alter routes to try to work open quicker.

WRs are like missiles. DBs are like interceptors. RBs, LBs — all the so-called “skill” positions are figurative weapons for our weekly contests.

But you still gotta win in the trenches. You have to win ON THE LINES.

M

Meanwhile.

Good teams make and get the breaks. For us it always seems like 5th and inches. Look at SC last night, the only play I saw all night is 4 and less than an inch, and the sneak is stopped, then turned it off. Every thread that I have read on us is positive, so we’re all patient and know that soon things will change and we’ll pick up that extra inch.

A big thing about SC under NC and us under Homer was that our guys were always wide open. Even when i watched during Spring and Fall workouts, our guys were open, but now KC is always trying to jam it in and the defections are killing us. CRN is dogging him because other guys are open. I wonder what a widescreen view looks like in terms of who is open. Our receivers are too good to throw to just one guy. It will start to work

David Norrie is a Bruin, but is he bad luck? I can’t remember for certain, but aren’t we a flop on ABC with Norrie? Did Norrie do Tennessee? He seems to be getting on CRN for dogging KC as “never seen a coach get so mad at his QB on the sidelines”. If the QB keeps missing the open guy to throw to the safety-valve or to the wrong guy, he should be dogged. To me, Norrie is trying to move up by being non-bias and by criticizing CRN.

Saw Brehaut on TV Friday and there could be something. The kid is a Cade with better passing skills. He is willing to tuck it in and take off and even try to run over someone. His answer to a question was that he would like to win a game by running over someone than passing. Not the best thinking, but the kid has an arm and is not afraid to dish it out. Interesting, both Brehaut and Nunes stand tall in the pocket to the very end and fire the ball, no happy feet. Brehaut was better than Nunes, good job NC and CRN.

Go Bruins!!!