Where do we go from here???

by Trainer24 on Nov 19, 2010 7:47 AM PST

As many of you expressed last nite, this horrible feeling has become all too common after Bruin games. It's only because we love our school so much, that it hurts so much to see another clunker, ON the WWL AGAIN!!! Why, why, why does this always seem to happen!!!! And why do I continue to feel this way despite our reality????

Players lost for the year:

Kevin Prince, Kai Maiava, Datone Jones, Pat Larimore, Jeff Baca, Jerry Johnson, Jared Koster, Iuta Tepa, Stan Hasiak, Damian Thigpen, Todd Golper, Anthony Jefferson,

Players lost for part of the year:

Nelson Rosario, Steve Sloan, Dalton Hilliard, Shelton Price, Richard Brehut

We started 4 Fresh, 5 Soph's between the offense and defense. With all the attrition and youth, WHY DO WE THINK WE SHOULD BE KILLING TEAMS??? MYSELF INCLUDED??

Despite the feeling that our coaches suck blah, blah, blah.... Our coaches have actually gotten lemons and tried to make lemonaid!! Some of the batches have been good, other batches have been putrid!!!! But the job our coaches have done with this team have allowed for us to get our hopes up and have expectations of having easy victories. I expected us to win this game. Judging from the 2nd drive I was confident of that fact. But it all came tumbling down. I sat watching and getting snappy with my son cause it was killing me inside. But u know what? Why do I expect more from this crippled and young team??? They play their heart out but we need to remember they are 18-22 year olds. The consistency just isn't there. The execution just isn't there. It reminds me of my u8 soccer team i just finished coaching. They were so frustrating because we they just weren't consistent in their play all year. We work all year on defense and our last game it's as if I didn't teach them anything about defense. They just plain lose it and don't revert back to their training for whatever reason. Game to game you just don't know what your gonna get. The same thing can be said for our football team. You just don't know what your gonna get game to game from some of the key players on the team. Like the saying goes, we are all Tea bags and you don't know what your gonna get til your in Hot water!!! Well we haven't gotten anything worth drinking a lot of the time this year.

We just need to manage our expectations for our last two games. Hope for the best but expect the worst. They are kids not robots. We don't pay our players, we actually want them to be students. So while the talent is getting better, it takes more than talent to be good and we just aren't there yet. Despite the flashes of production on offense and some flashes on defense, which our coaches have helped to pull out of our kids, we just are not there yet. But pressure creates diamonds so in time we will be able to realistically maintain the high expectations we came to embrace back in the 90's, but it will take more time.

Name one college football team that has had to use their 3rd and 4th string QB more than we have in the last 3 years?

Keep fighting Bruins!!! Keep working!! That's all you can do!!! Don't give up!!! Keep fighting!!

Trainer24

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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These are not lemons on the field!

We have highly recruited talent 3-5 star guys that are dropping passes, missing tackles, penalties, etc.

by Seahawcla on Nov 19, 2010 8:43 AM PST reply actions

Solid Points: Attrition and Youth

Yes, these are not lemons, they are talented kids, but as anyone who has taught or coached knows, it takes a while for things to sink in to a point where they are reflexive and automatic.

We take young kids who are skilled in other systems and gained their stars playing at a lower level.

Until they reach a point where their new lessons have become a part of them, under pressure, they fall back on their “default” state and play like they have not been taught or coached at all.

This happens in all areas of learning — not just sports.

I’m not absolving the teachers from all responsibility — but I do think we have to take a hard look at the amount of teaching these kids have received and understand that they may not be ready to perform at the level demanded of them by our attrition.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Nov 19, 2010 9:05 AM PST reply actions

Up to a point, yes

But I am beginning to think that we are simply agonizing over a situation we might not want to make a change.

by Htse005 on Nov 19, 2010 3:28 PM PST up reply actions

Love your optimism...

…but personally I’m just about ready to give up. I understand about being young and all the injuries, but it’s hard to be hopeful when the same mistakes are made game after game; the same plays that don’t work are still being called; the defense still can’t tackle this far into the season; Neuheisel’s post-game comments that “things will get better” sound pathetic considering the above, etc. But for the sake of the football program and this fanbase I hope you’re right!

by UCLA4EVR on Nov 19, 2010 3:05 PM PST reply actions

Trainer, I don't think we were expecting too much by expecting a win in Seattle.

What I will decry for an entire other week, is how we let momentum slip away. After scoring in the 1st quarter, we stopped UW and drove down to the Washington 26. Playing conservatively, CRN or CNC or Both decided for a Field Goal. And herein lies the rub!

Kicking the Field Goal was the smart thing to do, blah blah blah. Forbath is near automatic. Blah, blah Blah.

But Fortune favors the brave! If CRN/CNC decide to go for it on 4th and 5 we get one of the following: We make it and the drive continues. If we fail, UW gets the ball on the 26 which is only slightly better off than a touchback. If we run the ball and pick up positive yardage, its less than that.

But, that missed field goal gave UW all the impetus it needed.

A touchdown (capping off the possession, not necessarily with that play) would have silenced the crowd and let the cold get to them.

The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Nov 19, 2010 3:59 PM PST reply actions

You left out one option

Forbath makes the field goal and we go up by 10. We own the scoreboard and momentum.

I would like to see the stat’s for this years’ teams ability to pick up 5 yards on 3rd downs. My hunch is that we’ve not been great at doing it.

4th and 1, go for it. 4th and 5, taking the points is not foolish or chickenshit.

It’s easy to challenge it now after Kai missed. But you are presenting hypothetical options from the perspective of the coaches BEFORE Kai missed — and I think the field goal was not a bad call.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Nov 19, 2010 7:58 PM PST up reply actions

44 yds in a 30 mph crosswind

Was no gimme, even for Forbath. It goes back to the issue of whether we depend on our kicking game to a fault.

"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09

by Blue Me on Nov 19, 2010 10:00 PM PST up reply actions

The point is, when went run, run, pass, (missed) kick on that series.

The coaches decided to settle for the FG before the first play was run on first down. If we ground out a TD by running the ball, it would have been gravy.

Absolutely no creativity or killer instinct whatsoever. I was like the coaches read what everybody on this forum said about the game (get an early lead, step on their throats, take the crowd out of it, pass when the box is stacked) and did the exact opposite of what was being expressed here.

We went run, run, pass, punt several other times as well in the first half. That’s fine if you are Alabama vs. Georgia State but UCLA needs something extra given our youth and inexperience issues.

Why didn’t we take a shot at the end zone after Dye’s pick? Brehaut, for all of his issues, has at least shown an ability to put some touch on the long ball.

Even if it fails, it at least gives the D something to think about. We never stretched the field against a stacked bow until Tunney came in and it was dictated by the score and time.

Are we ever going to take a change on a fake FG or fake punt? How about an onside kick after the first TD? What does UCLA have to lose at this point?

Plays like this are what keeps college FB exciting. This is not the NFL (although I seem to recall the Saints kicking and recovering on onsides kick in the Super Bowl that comletely changes the complexion of the game).

There is nothing worse than getting crushed playing boring, predictable football.

by orlandobruin on Nov 20, 2010 4:59 AM PST up reply actions

You know, I wonder how may of us proclaiming the ‘predictability’ of this offense have sat down and attempted to test the theory. Has anyone tried actually ‘predicting’ what a play was going to be? What results over the course of a game?

by hwn44 on Nov 21, 2010 3:19 PM PST up reply actions

Agree w/ the injury attrition to a point

and I understand managing expectations, but…wait…what??

Like the saying goes, we are all Tea bags and you don’t know what your (sic) gonna get til your (sic) in Hot water!!!

Note: just b/c you might say something, it doesn’t make it a saying…per se.

by insomniacslounge on Nov 19, 2010 5:03 PM PST reply actions

Who takes the blame for the fourth quarter?

Forget the defense. They obviously packed it in towards the end, but it didn’t matter that we gave up a ton of points in the fourth quarter. We entered the quarter trailing only 10-7, and we had the ball. Our fourth quarter offense ran 19 plays (I’m not counting our three punts). We made positive yardage on only 3 of those plays. We had 3 major penalties. We lost yardage or had no gain on ELEVEN of our plays. And of course we had those interceptions. We had negative yardage for the quarter, not counting the pick six.

Surely our offense was not worn down from being on the field too long. We were going up against a defense who we outweighed by a substantial amount, and who were among the bottom three or four teams in the country in defensive things.

I put this totally on the coaches. On Franklin’s touchdown run, we had two lineman pulling and they flattened the guys they were up against. After that, the Huskies had one extra guy (at least) and we didn’t have enough linemen to flatten everyone. I do not understand why our offensive genius Coach Chow and our talented and energetic and all the rest young head coach could not figure a way to overcome 9 guys in the box. I don’t think running up the middle is actually the best plays to call in that situation. What were they doing during practice? Didn’t they anticipate that there might be a stack to stop the run, so maybe they could work on passes?

I put this on the coaches. Except for Brehaut, the same players who looked so good going on that 92 yard drive were in the whole game, and Brehaut threw one pass on that drive, as I recall. So Washington stacked the box. Why didn’t we react? Was it a CHP moment when we couldn’t tell how many guys they had?

My last comment on the game. I am so POed at our fourth quarter that I think we should consider just taking a knee on every play. Our best play is the punt, and maybe we’ll get a fumble. If we take a knee three times in a row, we won’t lose as many yards, and maybe we’ll win the field position batle. So that’s my contribution – take a knee on every play, Bruins. There’s a much greater opportunity for success that way.

by Fox 71 on Nov 20, 2010 6:49 AM PST reply actions

Was it just me or did RB seem to be floating balls that he should’ve been chucking in there? Ball wetness aside, those throws looked pretty damn soft.

by hwn44 on Nov 21, 2010 2:57 PM PST reply actions