Pregame Guesses: Bye Week

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 11:12 AM PDT in Football

Just because the UCLA football team doesn't have a game this week, doesn't mean Bruins Nation doesn't have a game this week.

Before getting to the guesses though, let's pause a moment to reflect on what has transpired so far.

Our Bruins football team is 3-0. That's a good thing.

A very good thing.

But it's a 3-0 with a really big asterisk. It looks like this:

Our Bruins football team is 3-0. That's a good thing. A very good thing.But it's a 3-0 with a really big asterisk.

It looks like this:

via www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com

The asterisk implies that there is something about the 3-0 that's worth noting. Some point not worth mentioning in the original sentence, but important to keep in mind. It's like a metaphoric aftertaste.

Or maybe it's not an asterisk I'm after, maybe it's a caveat. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure.

And it doesn't matter.

But here goes:

*We're 3-0, but we've beaten three pretty crappy teams.

I hate to say it, but if we weren't 3-0, there'd be something really wrong with the program. (I'm not going to debate the Tennessee win with everyone. It was a really good win. But Crompton is a really bad quarterback. If Tennessee is not definitionally a crappy team, Crompton's overall suckiness still provides them their green card to Crappyville.)

I'm left wondering if we played down to our opponents or if we've been taking things slowly first due to Kevin Prince's inexperience and then Kevin Craft's -- I dunno, ummm -- unique brand of Craftiness? I do know the defense has performed mostly very well and the offense has shown merely glimpses.

Still, three wins is three wins and they represent 75% of our total during 2008's Season of the Interception. I'm not complaining. I am acknowledging that except for the Washington State game, the going gets rougher from here on out.

So, this off week couldn't have come at a better time. It gives the team a chance to regroup (and settle into their routines, as classes began yesterday in Westwood). It gives the injured a chance to heal. And it gave us fans an extra week to enjoy this undefeated-but-asterisked feeling.

We have no game this week, so the guesses come from around the Pac 10.

Here goes:

USC plays Washington State this week. Last year they beat the Cougars 147-0. So, it's unlikely the Trojans will fall to 0-2 in conference play. The question is: How many quarterbacks will attempt a pass for the Trojans this week?
Cal plays at Oregon and the spread is Cal -5. Who will cover the point spread in this battle between Nike's favorite Pac 10 team and Nike's fourth favorite Pac 10 team?
The over-under in the Stanford-Washington game is 54. I'll add half a point so there is no push, so we'll make the line 54.5. Do you like the over or the under in the Stanford Washington game?

As always, put your guesses in the subject line of your comments.

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Comments

2,Cal, under

Go Bruins!

by Harsha on Sep 25, 2009 11:28 AM PDT reply actions

1, Cal, Over

Call me crazy for taking the over, but that game just smells like a 35-31 game to me, and I have no idea why.

by CAJason80 on Sep 25, 2009 11:29 AM PDT reply actions

2, Oregon, under

Besides being tilted, your asterisk has an extra line.

by Gen2Bruin1987 on Sep 25, 2009 11:35 AM PDT reply actions

LOL ...

it’s an artist’s rendering.

Would you tell Picasso that women only have two breasts?

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions

So you're an artist

For the most part Picasso stuck with two breasts, he just didn’t necessarily put them were you expected them.

by Gen2Bruin1987 on Sep 25, 2009 1:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Oops

where not were

by Gen2Bruin1987 on Sep 25, 2009 1:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Naaah ...

I’m not an artist, I’m a goofball.

It was just the best asterisk picture I could find that fit the page.

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions

Are we sure this is an asterisk?

And not Kurt Vonnegut’s drawing of an asshole from Breakfast of Champions??? haha

by littlebrother on Sep 25, 2009 2:27 PM PDT up reply actions

PIcasso and Vonnegut in the same thread ...

you don’t see that on some other message boards.

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 2:38 PM PDT up reply actions

I thought it represented a firing squad

of the non-PC variety

by Give me a B... on Sep 25, 2009 4:32 PM PDT up reply actions

Exactly what I was thinking

2, Cal, Under

by Westwood Wizard on Sep 26, 2009 11:38 AM PDT up reply actions

1, Cal, Under

by OCBruin95 on Sep 25, 2009 11:48 AM PDT reply actions

2, Cal, over

Achilles, you going to submit your picks this week? LOL

by hicalliber on Sep 25, 2009 11:49 AM PDT reply actions

LOL ...

I always forget.

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions

I had to laugh

But I thought for sure you’d remember because it’s your own fanpost!

by hicalliber on Sep 25, 2009 11:51 AM PDT up reply actions

3, Oregon, Under

happy?

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 11:50 AM PDT reply actions

I just don't want you to have any excuses

when I beat you at the end of the year ;)

by hicalliber on Sep 25, 2009 11:52 AM PDT up reply actions

2*, Cal, Under

2* with an asterisk, because I’m thinking that Petey lets a tailback or a receiver throw a pass before Mustain — and Mustain running option does NOT count as a pass.

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

by Meriones on Sep 25, 2009 11:55 AM PDT reply actions

Just so we're clear ...

If Barkley and Corp throw a pass and Joe McKnight does the halfback option, that’s two quarterbacks attempting a pass. To get to three, Mustain or Green has to throw one.

But if Mustain lines up at punter and throws a pass on a fake, that counts.

(And I’ll laugh, because I answered “3”.)

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 11:57 AM PDT up reply actions

Agreed. Terms and conditions as follows:

(1) Barkley — aka, Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit’s love-child — throws a pass, it counts, whether or not it is a laser-guided Stinger missile or a teardrop fade pass lofted in like manna carried in a basket of lightning borne by 40 holy seraphim, it COUNTS.

(2) Corp throws (not necessarily completes) a pass, it COUNTS.

(3) Mustain throws a pass in garbage time, or to avoid a fumble call, or on a fake or broken punt play — regardless of whether Poodle Petey ALLOWS it — it COUNTS.

(4) Joe McKnight or any other of $C’s 23 tailbacks scrounging for PT throws a pass, it does NOT count.

Also…

(5) Any Trojan attempts a pass at Erin Adnrews on the sideline against her express, signed, and NOTARIZED written permission, it certainly does NOT count.

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

by Meriones on Sep 25, 2009 3:33 PM PDT up reply actions

I should have gone to law school ...

what was I thinking?

by Achilles on Sep 25, 2009 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions

2, Cal, Under

by Nestor on Sep 25, 2009 11:56 AM PDT reply actions

2, Cal, Under

although, I really hope Oregon wins that one. I dislike Cal almost as much as SC.

by captainqtp on Sep 25, 2009 12:15 PM PDT reply actions

2, Cal, Under

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

by uclafan11 on Sep 25, 2009 12:17 PM PDT reply actions

3, Cal, Over

Although I disagree with you calling Tennessee a pretty crappy team. They gave Florida a pretty tough game at The Swamp. Don’t think SDSU or KSU could have done that.

by Kerckhoff405 on Sep 25, 2009 12:37 PM PDT reply actions

Agreed

I was just thinking that same thing. Florida scored a whopping 4 more points than we did against them. TN may not have good offense but their defense is very good. Also, that crowd at Neyland is one you can’t understand unless you have been there. The fact that our team came out of there with a win is something to be proud of.

I don’t really see the 3-0 as having an asterisk. We played and won the 3 games we had and before the season started almost everyone thought the best case scenario would be 2-1. In no way am I saying our future games won’t be much tougher but I think the team has really improved and with our defense we will have a chance against all of them.

GO BRUINS!!!

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

by uclafan11 on Sep 26, 2009 12:36 AM PDT up reply actions

2, Cal, Under

by flautist20 on Sep 25, 2009 12:41 PM PDT reply actions

1, cal, under

by dproduct on Sep 25, 2009 12:45 PM PDT reply actions

2, Cal, Under

by westwood12003 on Sep 25, 2009 1:11 PM PDT reply actions

1, Cal, Over

by UCLAUSMC on Sep 25, 2009 1:16 PM PDT reply actions

2, Cal, under

I think we’re neither playing down to our opponents nor taking things slowly. I think what we’re seeing is simply that the offense right now is not very good and it’s playing to it’s ability. It’s not a bad offense, just not very good. I think it makes sense given how bad the offense was last year and the fact that many of the players are young; plus an injured starting QB.

The promise certainly appears to be there though and I look forward to the offense growing and improving throughout the season.

by RealisticBruinFan on Sep 25, 2009 1:23 PM PDT reply actions

1, Ducks, Under

by Nars on Sep 25, 2009 1:23 PM PDT reply actions

2, ugly ass green uniforms, under

by brewnz on Sep 25, 2009 1:38 PM PDT reply actions

green, white, black, yellow...they're all ugly

by hicalliber on Sep 25, 2009 2:41 PM PDT up reply actions

Call me the outlier around here

but I kind of like Oregon’s uniforms. How should I describe them? Fittingly post-modern?

by mdjohns4 on Sep 25, 2009 4:48 PM PDT up reply actions

Of course

I would never want my team to have some outlandish gimmick like that. But I guess since I don’t really care about Oregon, I don’t really mind that Nike has turned the team’s uniforms into test subjects.

Its just so fitting that a team with no football tradition makes a mockery of a common indicator of tradition—a team’s uniform. (UCLA, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn St, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio State, etc. all closely resemble past uniforms…a reason why I wish we’d go back to the ’67 style numbering in gold with some sort of outline)

by mdjohns4 on Sep 25, 2009 5:00 PM PDT up reply actions