Pregame Guesses: Washington

by Achilles on Nov 6, 2009 10:00 AM PST in Football Comment 72 comments

Welcome to November ...

The Bruins entered October undefeated and fans here and elsewhere were lamenting why we weren't ranked while poring over the schedule, trying to decide if a trip to San Diego for a bowl game was possible or would we have to settle for El Paso, Texas.

October was an 0-5 disaster, capped by an Orange and Black beating in Corvallis on Halloween night. But Bruins fans are nothing if not resilient -- if you weren't resilient you'd be in an institution by now -- and the second half of the Oregon State game gave the half full segment of the Blue and Gold club something to build on as Kevin Prince discovered Nelson Rosario and Rosario discovered those things on the end of his arms called hands.

The questions I have is:

Has it come to this?

Are we reduced to clinging to "great fourth quarters against Oregon State" as a sign the the team has turned another corner?

Or is the corner we turned just another sign that we're going around in circles?

Seriously, is there any indication that November will be better than October? Will we have something to be thankful for come Thanksgiving or will the Halloween fright last the rest of the season?

Most importantly, will I ever stop asking these lame rhetorical questions?

I'm going to be right up; front with my answer to most of these:

I really don't see anything that tells me we're going to start playing better. We might, sure. But I've yet to see anything resembling consistency on both sides of the ball and without that, it's tough to have confidence.

This lack of consistency is perhaps the thing that's bothering me the most. Early in the season, the defense played well and saved the offense. It's easy to just chalk it up to Crompton but the defense did have a couple of great series to preserve the Tennessee win. (It's weird to actually type the word "win.") Somewhere along the line, the defense regressed and, yes, it might have something to do with the fact that the competition just got better. On the other side of the ball, we've yet to see anything resembling a 60 minute performance all year long.

Do I sound a little frustrated? You bet, I'm frustrated.

Writing these posts are supposed to be fun, there supposed to be a cool little warm up to another exciting Saturday. But a five game losing streak turns even a goofy little blog post into a chore. It would be a lot more fun to wax semi-poetic about another win or at least another exciting game. Instead, we're left to make lemonade out of another performance marred by inopportune penalties, delays getting the play in from the sideline, conservative coaching decisions and a scoreboard deficit.

But I'm not giving up. I knew -- like many of you knew -- that this was going to be rebuilding season. I didn't realize that progress would be so incremental that we'd be looking for sliver linings in fourth quarter comebacks that fall short, but that's the hand we've been dealt -- and the metaphor I badly mixed.

Here's to November ... and the Washington Pregame Guesses:

Who will rush for more yards on Saturday, Jake Locker or Derrick Coleman?
Name a Bruin who will score a touchdown.
Which team will kick off to start the second half?

Bonus Question:

We're thinking about doing the guesses for the basketball season. Do you guys (and gals) want to keep playing? I'm not exactly sure I'll have time to write a guesses post for every game and more importantly I don't know if hicaliber wants to total the scores, but if we can get it together on our end, do you want to keep playing? Just write Yes or No as the fourth answer in your subject line.

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Comments

Locker, Embree, UCLA

(1) Locker will rush for 30-40, but we’ll be using DC for short-yardage situations and gumming up Locker’s passing game.

(2) Embree is going to show the form he had last year, now that Kevin has a little more confidence in going for mid-range (10-20 yards before catch) passes.

(3) We’re taking the ball to start the game and scoring a touchdown on one of our 1st 3 drives. Watch for it.

"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008

by Meriones on Nov 6, 2009 10:06 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker (ugh...), J. Franklin, Washington will kick

and an emphatic yes to keep the game going. I really enjoy it.

by Westwood is the best wood on Nov 6, 2009 10:08 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Coleman, Franklin, UCLA .

And yes on the bonus question.

Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!

by Minnesota Bruinfan on Nov 6, 2009 10:18 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Coleman. Rosario. UW.

Go Bruins!

by drumfool on Nov 6, 2009 10:19 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Coleman. Prince. Washington

If Locker does end up having more yards than Coleman then we are probably screwed so I say Coleman. A reciever will catch a TD but I don’t know which one so i stayed safe with Prince. Washington probably wins the toss and chooses to recieve to start a drive early giving us the ball at the start of the third quarter. Go Bruins!

"Beating USC isn't a matter of life and death, it's more important than that" -Red Sanders-

by PrincetonBruin on Nov 6, 2009 10:27 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

On the other hand

Coleman might only gain a few yards and Locker might only gain a few so it’s kind of a tossup. We’d all love a big game out of Coleman though, I hope we get it.

"Beating USC isn't a matter of life and death, it's more important than that" -Red Sanders-

by PrincetonBruin on Nov 6, 2009 10:30 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Rosario, UCLA, Yes

by bruinmom on Nov 6, 2009 10:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Paulsen, Washington, Yes

as for the basketball guesses, you might want to limit yourself to one game a week. Either Thursday or Saturday games, or you can be flexible and put up guesses for the game you consider the bigger game.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Nov 6, 2009 10:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Coleman. Rosario. UW. Yes.

If you guys want to do that, I can commit to having something ready to go to make the administration of this possible by the start of the Pac-10 season.

Go Bruins!

by Harsha on Nov 6, 2009 10:56 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, Washington, Yes!

"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel

by uclafan11 on Nov 6, 2009 10:56 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, Washingon

Has there ever been a player better than Detlef Schrempf?

by bucknellbruin on Nov 6, 2009 12:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, UW

greg in denver - UCLA guy for life

by gbruin on Nov 6, 2009 12:47 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

** yes! (doh!)

greg in denver - UCLA guy for life

by gbruin on Nov 6, 2009 12:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Locker, ATV, UCLA, why not...maybe questions for each weekend vs each game

by Bruin Dad and Grad on Nov 6, 2009 1:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Austin, UCLA

by haywood nighttrain on Nov 6, 2009 1:27 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, UCLA, yes!

by freesia39 on Nov 6, 2009 1:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think a great question to ask would be

How many points will the defense give up in the first quarter playing Bullough’s base defense with no adjustments?

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Nov 6, 2009 1:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Coleman, Franklin, UCLA, Yes

by BruinFan96 on Nov 6, 2009 2:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, UCLA, YES!

by King J77 on Nov 6, 2009 2:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, Washington, Yes

For you Vegas line watchers, the line has moved a good 1 or 1.5 points in UCLA’s favor this week. Someone likes our chances out there.

by Barnes2JJ on Nov 6, 2009 2:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Moya, UCLA, Yes

by OCBruin95 on Nov 6, 2009 2:28 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Paulsen, Washington, Yes

richramus

by richramus on Nov 6, 2009 2:36 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Embree, UCLA, yes

by SuperBruinMan on Nov 6, 2009 2:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, Washington, Yes

But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.

by tasser10 on Nov 6, 2009 2:52 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Locker, Franklin, Washington, Yes

by Sideout11 on Nov 6, 2009 3:19 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

1. Locker, because I think Knox is going to get some run.
2. Terrence Austin: Yeah, I know. But I think he’ll run one back.
3. Washington will kick off.

If I’m right, everyone owes me a Zankou lunch!

by BlackandOldGold on Nov 6, 2009 3:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs