Some Thoughts On UCLA's Offense

Since the Bruins’ bowl prospects are cloudy right now, and teams can only continue practicing if they are bowl bound, what happens when a team is in limbo like UCLA?

Since UCLA is bowl eligible, is it permitted to practice this week until bowl bids are announced early next week?

Are the Bruins practicing this week?

What about teams (like PAC 10 1 through 6) that are already guaranteed bowl berths? Are they practicing this week?

Is UCLA being “penalized” because it is in limbo regarding a bowl due to the fact that the PAC 10 only has 6 guaranteed berths while the 10th place SEC team is permitted to continue practicing because the SEC sends 10 of its 12 teams to bowls????

I am in the process of writing an open letter to Pac 10 commish, Larry Scott, this week (which I intend to publish on this site) regarding the sorry state of affairs of PAC 10 bowls, television coverage, etc. and this information will help with the letter.

What we can depend on with Moline is that he is not going to get very far. Hard worker, tremendous work ethic, but not a tailback…at least not one that is going to win you a heated rivalry game against the Hated $C. I know that Franklin has fumble issues, and I know we kept it close the entire game. But honestly speaking, our only chance at victory was to put our speed on the field, and this includes Franklin. Yes he fumbled, but I think the coaches are partly to blame for that fumble (yes, it was his fault, but the coaches could have handled it in a better way). You take a guy who has been successful all season (but with a fumble problem), and you bench him, rather than scaling back his work load. Then, he is barraged with comments concerning his fumblitis (and rightfully so). This builds up his whole fumble issues in his head more than it needs to be. Cut to Saturday’s game where he sits cold on the bench watching the rivalry take place before his own eyes, with him being merely a spectator because of the fumblitis he contracted. He sits for half of the game, and then, the coach turns and says, “Franklin, your in the game!” And the very first time he touches the ball is an option play! A play where fumbling is highly probable! Really?! By the mercy of God, he secured the ball, but everytime he gets in the game, he is thinking, “this is my only chance to prove myself. I have to do something big! Don’t fumble, don’t fumble, please don’t fumble, ooooh there’s a hole, don’t fumle, don’t fumble, SHIT! I fumbled! I won’t see the field until 2010! Goodnight.” Not a healthy way to build the confidence of a young back with fumble problems.

One minor disagreement with Nestor. If I understood his comments correctly, he’s saying that the Wildcat is predicable with Knox in the game. If so, my question in response is, how is the Wildcat any less predictable with Moline?

IIC — he can pass the ball and was a threat to do so from this formation. One reason to put him in.

Another — no blocking responsibilities from the Mildcat.

I really like Knox. He’s from my high school, Birmingham. I was thrilled when he signed with us. I want him to succeed.

But, until he can block in pass protection his downs are limited.

If you watch him carefully in passing situations, more often than not you’ll see him miss his man.

I’m sure he’ll improve before next season and I still think he’ll make a significant contribution to our O.

This is the kind of post that makes BN special — substantive and analytic.

I look forward to the thread on the D (or as I see it D’s — the one that played most of the game and the one that played the last series.)

While our Defense was a pleasure to watch, I had this creepy feeling that something bad was going to happen whenever our Offense got the ball. They were horrible during the SC game but also most of the year. I don’t know how you avoid placing the responsibility for their lack of performance on anyone but Chow and Neuheisel. Chow seems to think he is dealing with dominant players and Neuheisel seems to think he doesn’t have to teach fundamentals and make sure these guys are prepared to play at this level. Case in point is QB Prince. He looked like he was scared to death out there. He did not look confident and prepared at all. That is not how you want your QB going into a game like this. I also sense that Chow and Neuheisel just don’t get along very well and have competing egos. I have to see some major changes before I spend any more of my hard-earned cash on tickets and time to go see another game.

Therefore, we have to play conservative in our eleventh game of the season? Mmmmm.

1. I think that thinking is backwards. If you have outstanding players who are much better than the other side, who are stornger and more talented, then you can just play conservative, smash mouth football knowing you can beat the other team man on man all day.

In fact, that’s basically what SUC did. They dramatically simplified their game, very conservative the whole game until the last cheap TD because it made sense for them to do it with all the players they’ve paid for. By playing so conservatively, too, with our “weaker” players we played right into their hands.

If you have weaker players who can’t dominate man on man the only way you can win is to be more deceptive, more misdirection, more spread, more wide open, more variable all over the field.

Example: Navy and Air Force generally have smaller, weaker players. So they play triple option football, which is not power football, but really finesse fottball. It’s why so many teams play the spread today. You don’t have to have superior athletes t run it effectively.

2. If our starters are so weak, then it’s all the more reason to play the subs, the future and get them ready for next year. Instead we have hardly played them all year on offense at the skilled positions, a play or two here or there even when we were getting blown out.

3. How is Brehaut supposed to learn the playbook if he never plays? How doe we know that’s even the reason? KP, unfortunately, has been injury prone, three times this season in 9 games played I think. Do you think the coaches could have done a better job with Brehaut? I do.

4. I actually think that given the restrictions placed on them by the coaching staff, the offense actually played fairly well against SUC. But constantly having KP throw risky, short slant and flat passes that he’s had trouble with all year getting intercepted, especially when SUC was playing so tight on them, and then refusing to go for it on 4th and short at the SUC 40, put all the pressure on our offense and very little on SUC’s defense.

We did not really play to win until we were already behind 14-0 and, gee wshiz, we scored a TD with 5 minutes to go. Despite our TO’s we were still in the game. But then we went to a prevent defense that allowed SUC to pass at will down the field. Is that the player’s fault?

5. I support this team completely. The players left it all out on the field. I support the coaches, too, but after watching their conservative play-calling all season, I question the wisdom of their strategy.

Next year witll be year three of CRN’s coaching and recruiting. I know the schedule is brutal, but at the very least I expect the gloves to come off on offense and the coaches to push forward with a strategy of winning and not playing not to lose. We had five years of that with KD. Enough is enough.

GO BRUINS!

The Bruins must have Brian Price back. He is their biggest recruit. If I was CRN, I would be putting the fullcourt press on Price, trying everthing to convince him to return.

Let’s face it, without him, the Bruins defense would have been pretty ordinary this year; the prospects for next season seem worse.

Even if CRN is able to sign a bluechip DT (i.e. Uko of Don Lugo), the Bruins will be woefully thin upfront next year. David Carter is the only returning DL with any experience (or skill).

I anticipate the offense improving next season but if the defense takes a step backwards, we could be looking at a similar season.

in the backfield, I think at this point I’ve really come to trust our coaches. A lot of us were clamoring for Brehaut to get some minutes, and in the UDub game we saw the bad things that can happen when you put a player who is not ready into the game. If the coaches think that there are legitimate reasons for not putting in Thigpen or Knox or any other player, then I trust them.

because he’s much more reliable probably in actually making the catch when people are thundering down his neck. I’d have liked seeing Thigpen and the other freshmen get more shots at kick returns, though.

As for the Cheetah plays…they don’t seem to be much of a Wildcat. It’s just direct snap to the running back for a dive into the line. There’s no jetsweep or threat of pass or handoff. Not much misdirection. They might have been well off just snapping to the running back while the quarterback was still back there too, the old fashioned way. At least then the defense won’t be tipped off to it beforehand.

When you talk about the squads that really make a splash with their wacky offenses, keep in mind that the squads that are successful are generally led by Juniors and Seniors. Having been a Fresno State follower from the time I was five until shipping off to UCLA at 18, I can tell you that a lot of the option and wishbone teams we faced were awesome when they had a senior QB and some Junior and Senior skill position players but they were generally sorta crappy when they were led by young guys.

Tricky offenses may make up for a general lack of talent but lacking talent wasn’t our big issue. Look at our bball team. You don’t think we’re more talented than some of the squads we’ve lost to. Put our guys in one-on-one games with the players from the opposing teams and we’ll crush them; that doesn’t mean we know how to play the game.

It takes time to figure out how to make the tricky stuff work.

according to some of my inside sources, Brian Price is staying

will it make it more likely?

This from a Rivals interview with CRN on practice: “Probably not Monday, but we will probably do some stuff in the evening because again they are in finals, but probably towards that weekend.”

I was going to ask if there was anything definitive on Price and I guess there is; only Brian knows the answer.