BN Gameday Roundup: Waiting For An Above Average Passing Game & Other UCLA Notes
by Nestor on Sep 25, 2010 10:01 AM PDT
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We are less than three hours away from kickoff. Our game thread will go up about half an hour before the schedule time (12:30 pm PST). It sounds like Bruins who are in Austin are just living it up (making rest of us envious). As for getting up to speed with what is happening with this game there isn't much of new content and info. we are going to learn at this point. However, just to keep with BN gameday tradition, let's go through the new stories from today that was interesting to yours truly.
Jon Gold from the Daily News writes about how the Houston game was the first time when UCLA played as a "complete" team with contributions from both offense and defense. One of the reasons for that happening was that we finally saw somewhat of a confident Kevin Prince. Gold's report on Prince was somewhat encouraging:
[T]he Crespi product appears fully recovered from back and shoulder issues that plagued him for nearly a month during fall camp and early in the season.
The passing offense was crisp and efficient in practice as the Bruins prepared for Texas' phenomenal secondary of cornerbacks Curtis Brown and Aaron Williams and safeties Blake Gideon and Christian Scott. Brown, Williams and Gideon were named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list.
"No. 1, we have to hit passes that are open," UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Whether it's accuracy or protection or route-running, we have to hit things that are open. We have to continue to see how people are playing us, on any given day, and be able to dial up what we need to take advantage of what we have in the run game."
Well all eyes are going to be on Prince and Bruin receivers today on whether they will improve on their efforts from last three games (which haven't been up to par). Peter Yoon from ESPNLA gave his keys from Bruin perspective to this game. I'd add another one to it (which I got from the podcast from yesterday). As the guys from Barking Carnival mentioned if the Bruins were to have any kind of shot today, it'd be imperative for us to get into manageable situations on 3rd downs. That would UCLA receivers giving at least an above average effort helping out the entire team.
On the defensive side, we are going to be closely watching the kind of game Chuck Bullough calls and how he handles the personnel situation. It appears that Owa could be in position to get decent amount of reps (as Iuta Tepa is out with a season ending injury). From the LA Times:
"Oh man," Bullough blurted out at the mention of Odighizuwa. "He's a physical specimen.
"He's ready physically. He has only been here eight weeks. He has to learn all the little details that go with playing defensive end. You can't expect him to be Datone Jones right away. But in terms of physicality, he is impressive."
For those counting, Bullough used variations of the word "physical" three times in what was about a 40-second interview.
Odighizuwa said that his technique is coming along, but "I have to work on my foot and hand placement. I have to get better at the hand fighting. I have to shuck and shed."
The LA Times of course as usual is day late and dollar short with putting out it's UCLA storylines heading into Saturday. They finally have a piece on Rout 66, which is not going to tell you anything new from what you have been reading all week.
Elsewhere, the Daily News has a piece on the sights and sounds in Austin. It's a cheesy piece of writing but that's Gold, who seems to be auditioning for Bill Plaschke's column space in the future.
Lastly, we will end with the following from the OC Register which describes the state of irrelevance wrt to UCLA (thanks to Karl Dorrell):
The Bruins have been off college football's radar for much of the past decade. The Bruins have made just one appearance (No. 23 in the Sept. 2, 2008 poll) since the second week of Sept. 2007. The likes of Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Wake Forest and Hawaii have appeared in the Top 25 more recently than UCLA.
UCLA is 5-14 against Top 10 teams since 2000 and has lost its last eight road games against Top 10 teams, the last away victory against a Top 10 opponent coming at No. 10 Arizona on Oct. 10, 1998. Until the Bruins knocked off No. 23 Houston, 31-13, last week, UCLA had lost seven consecutive games to Top 25 teams.
As the article mentioned at the very top even Idaho, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, East Carolina, Central Michigan, Villanova, five of the WAC's nine teams and Richmond, James Madison and Montana, have received more recent votes in the AP poll than UCLA. Bruins have been unranked for 49 consecutive weeks in the Associated Press poll, which is now the longest stretch in school history.
We appreciate the talk of earning "respect" from Rahim Moore and rest of the team. It's time for them to earn it on the field. See you in the game thread.
GO BRUINS.
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Man, that is a really depressing
state of the program just as I was firing myself up and deluding myself into thinking we can pull of the upset today. I am so tired of being an irrelevant afterthought, or having to hope for a huge upset, etc. I am coming to realize that Neuheisel is not the coach I had hoped he might be (immediate turnaround, perennial BCS contender), now I am just hoping he is a solid second-tier type that can get us regularly into the Top 25 and every once and awhile into a BCS game. Sigh.
My only expectation today is that we look organized and sharp and that we execute. If we lose because we are simply out-talented at this point, I can live with that. What I will have a hard time with is if we look scared, unprepared, playing not to lose, etc., and for crying out loud please get us through a game without an absurd sideline-type penalty.
Buzz kill....
“Bruins have been unranked for 49 consecutive weeks in the Associated Press poll, which is now the longest stretch in school history.”
The last time we were ranked was a joke also, didn’t we just drop out real fast. Last solid ranking we had was what the MJD era?
really
puts things in perspective regarding the state of the program. Huge opportunity today, hope CRN has them fired up and focused on fundamentals and execution.
stuck at work today, any links for audio and/or video are greatly appreciated. thanks for all the hard work going into the posts, really enjoyed re-living the route 66 experience. The post game celebration in Knoxville gives me chills every time I watch it. Go Bruins!!
Yup...Last decade
was the worst decade since the 1940’s in terms of rankings and having been shut out of the Pac-10 title…Lets hope it’s like the Great Depression/Recession and only comes around once every couple of generations!
Lol
To think that we were ranked during the Craft era. Even more so when you remember that the next week was 59-0.
Oh Ye Bruin Fans of Little Faith - Put Things In Perspective
Coach CRN and staff have had 2 1/4 years of fantastic recruiting. Building a top 10 program
simply cannot be done overnight. Just wait until the first recruits under CRN et al are seniors with the same caliber of juniors, sophs and freshmen supporting them. Then tell us what you think of Bruin Football and CRN. If patient we will own the future.
In games like today with Texas you will get a glimpse of what is in store for us this year. Have any of you noticed Kevin Prince, is now healthy, is learning a new system and oh by the way, did you notice he has speed and the ability to lead this team to victory.
So what do you say, let’s get behind our Bruins and cheer them on to beat Texass. We have done it before and we can do it again. Gooo Bruuuins!
'CaptainJack65'
Jack Metcalf
+1
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Sep 25, 2010 11:37 AM PDT up reply actions
Coach Bullough
Is absolutely correct. Owa is a physical specimen at 18 years old. And I noted that he needed to work on technique instead of trying to overpower the O-limenen…..not so easy at the college level compared to Oregon HS level. But his future looks really, really bright!
If only we'd scheduled cupcake nonconf opponents this year like SUC and Oregon
We’d be 4-1 after today and probably ranked. Sure, we’d be horribly damaged down the road for having absolutely no experience against good teams, and we’d look like bullies and cowards to the rest of the conference, and our young players wouldn’t get any sort of development going…but hey, we’d be ranked!!!! (…………..)
Dividends
Agreed, 139. We will be better down the road for the investments we are making this season, in terms of playing one of the hardest preseason schedules in the country. Let’s play teams we want to be, not roll over patsies that we should never be.
Also, if we were 4-1, some fans’ expectations would be even more ridiculously unreasonable, and the uproar when we didn’t match up with Oregon or Arizona would be unbearable.
greg in denver - UCLA guy for life
Keeping the faith
faith is about believing in something you can’t see. So my belief in the Bruins is based on 30 years of following the team, love for the program and what it has meant to me, and having faith in what we haven’t seen yet but believe is in there. My faith is not blind – I’m very realistic about today. The match-ups don’t favor out Bruins – almost across the board. But that realism doesn’t translate to a belief it can’t happen.
Make no mistake, these are Division I athletes on our team, and they have the athletic ability to compete with anybody, eventually. The question is, when will “eventually” become “today”. The biggest worry I have for our guys “today” is Texas’ very, very good D-Line against our O-Line. We should all have huge respect for what our guys have done so far – for a new unit patched together after missions, ineligibility, etc, the way they’ve come together has been heroic in my opinion. But today will be unlike any test they’ve faced. And if we’re to have any chance in this game, they have to meet that test, because our best chance to pull off a stunning upset is all about the O staying on the field, and Prince pulling a Cade and having this be – admittedly unlikely – his “coming out” game.
I’m going to bet the Longhorns have game-planned to stack the line – 8 in the box – and dare Prince to beat them. It’s obvious, and what any competent DC would do. Fair enough. If they do, and he’s running for his life when he drops back to pass, it (the upset) aint gonna happen. But if our admirable linemen can somehow overachieve again and give him time, and KP starts hitting those 5-10 yard seam and out routes… well suddenly, they can’t stuff the line, and Franklin has room, and…. well, sometimes, in football, miracles happen. I’m focusing on the matchup of our offense against their D because in reality, that’s how Texas beats you this year. Their offense is good, but their D is their sterngth. They force a lot of 3 and outs, their opponents defense is gassed by the second half or 4th quarter, and from there the outcome is inevitable.
So – O line plays another heroic game, KP has time and somehow in the middle of a sea or orange “it” clicks, our D isn’t on the field for 40 minutes…. and the miracle happens. I believe. Go Bruins.
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