[Updated w Video] Quick Thoughts on Prince’s Return To Action
by Nestor on Oct 9, 2011 1:38 PM PDT
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PrintInteresting grafts in Peter Yoon's blogpost at ESPNLA:
For Prince, it was all about getting his confidence fixed. He was booed off the field last time he played a game after throwing three first-quarter interceptions against Texas. He threw another interception at the end of the first half Saturday but rebounded by completing four of four passes for 85 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
"I don't want anything like that Texas game to ever happen again, so it's nice to be able to bounce back and put that aside and get a win," Prince said. "I was kind of down after the Texas game and coach [Rick] Neuheisel sat me down after that game and told me he'd been through the same thing, thrown four interceptions and got benched. He's been there and he told me not to get too down because I'd get another shot."
I remember the story about Neuheisel throwing 4 picks and getting benched. Perhaps the Bruins who were around during that time can correct me. I remember that happening during Neuheisel's last season when the Bruins made that late season run.
Given how terrible our defense is and the numerous problems all over this team, I am not sure if this team can make that kind of run. This is sad because of the talent in this program and how down rest of the conference is - especially in the Pac-12 South.
Still it would be cool to see Prince making run with the manageable part of UCLA's schedule ahead of us with bruised and battered Arizona on the road. It would be awesome if Prince can use yesterday's game as a spring board find the form from his last few games in his first year as the Bruin starter (2009).
Oh and another note. Shame on those UCLA fans at the Rose Bowl who booed Kevin Prince yesterday. It is one to thing to offer criticisms of Prince's game performance, but it's entirely another to boo a college student when he is coming into the game. Not cool.
GO BRUINS.
UPDATE (N): Here is Neuheisel's post game presser during which he shared his thoughts on Prince's return (along with other topics). Yeah, I don't care much for coach speak about "fixing things" either. But I did appreciate his comments on Prince. They were on the money.
GO BRUINS.
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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+1 Million on Booing Prince
Not only is it uncool but I’m sure hearing UCLA fans boo our QB fired up WSU’s defense.
There is a word for offering aid or comfort to one’s enemy.
Play with so much passion nothing else matters
That's a good point to remember
The players are not the enemy. In fact none of the coaches are the enemy. They are beloved members of the family. The fact that a beloved member of the family wants to drive the car doesn’t mean that he gets to drive the car when his past driving record shows that he doesn’t know how to drive the car, and in fact is downright dangerous to the health of those who watch the performance of the car and aggravate debilitating conditions of various kinds as a result.
I still love all things Bruin. I just don’t want our coaching staff and our Athletic Department management driving the car any more. In fact, tough love calls for us to get rid of some of our doughnut-eating brethren. It will be better for them in the long run to go get real jobs at Sears of somewhere.
They’re not the enemy. They just act like it sometimes.
Unacceptable to boo Prince there
I see no reason to boo any player as they enter the game. I’m not that big on booing any way, but I at least understand why a player gets booed if he plays badly. Prince had just entered the game, at a point where we badly needed him to play well and needed him to be confident that he could.
Also, there needs to be a higher standard before booing a college player as opposed to a pro. I have no problem with people booing the coaches, but for players not earning a salary, they need to really deserve it to be booed.
Right.
And besides that, Kevin Prince is a warrior. He has been to the hospital on behalf of UCLA and literally bled for the Blue and Gold (if only in surgery). No Bruin should ever boo him. He should not have to be our best QB to deserve our respect and support – he puts on our uniform and puts his body on the line for the Blue and Gold. If Prince weren’t Mormon I’d add him in with Kevin Craft – a Bruin who should never have to buy his own beer (BTW: Why do you always invite two Mormons fishing and never just one? If you invite one, he’ll drink all your beer!)
Fans keep asking what does Rick Neuheisel see in Prince? He is an Effing Warrior… one of the very few on our team. He doesn’t hurt himself doing cartwheels because he made a good play – he gets hurt battling for an extra yard or two.
Play with so much passion nothing else matters
by KnudsenRockne on Oct 9, 2011 9:41 PM PDT up reply actions
+1
I couldn’t believe it when I heard booing. Mean and counterproductive. I’m so glad Price came out and got the win. He needs the confidence boost.
"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel
Booing is for refs
I never boo my team, ever. I might boo the refs on a bs call (leaping?) or the other team coming out of our tunnel…but to put down your own team at the stadium in a non-supportive way is never acceptable.
I felt so bad for Prince when they booed him.
I stood up and was clapping because i wanted to see him redeem himself and prove a point. Good job Kevin!
1983 IIRC
is what Rick is referring to – the year started with a rainy night in Georgia (and an ugly loss), then only got worse with a tie with ASU (which Neuheisel led a comeback after being 16 down in the second half) losses at Nebraska, and BYU at home (where Steve Bono took over for Rick, but still a 2-3 point loss . The season finished with a win over the Surgeons, and Neuheisel’s Rose Bowl romp over Illinois. So, Rick has been there, and, well, good things can happen. All things considered, given Prince’s reslilience issues, split the practice reps with Hundley . . .
The Mad Bruin
IIRC 1983
Rick was benched before the BYU game. Bono had a whale of a game until he was injured, Rick finished that game (a loss) and the rest of the season. I believe he led the nation in completion percentage that year although his yardage wasnt over the top. Correct me if Im wrong. Bono was the odds on favorite to start that year since he was the big talent, but Donahue gave in to seniority. So Rick’s big season started with a qb contraversy. Bruins would have qb contraversy again two years later with Matt Stevens and David Norrie. Maybe Rick thinks waffling on quarterbacks is the way it is supposed to work.
2008 UTenn game during CRN's first year
Remember when Kevin Craft threw 4 ints in the first half and came back to lead the team to a win? CRN told Craft about his own 4-pick game during halftime and motivated him to lead the team. CRN stuck with Craft who did just enough to get the 27-24 OT win.
Honestly, CRN really had no other option but to keep Craft in. However, that memory serves up a few questions. Is CRN the same coach who rallied that team to win? I don’t think he is. He’s lost some of his ‘swag.’ I’m not sure his players believe in him like they used to. Also, if we had another QB in the wings in 2008 (like we had RB during the Texas game), would KC have gotten the second half start? Probably not. Last, what if KP wasn’t yanked from the Texas game this year, could he have pulled a KC? Well, he couldn’t play any worse that game, but RB didn’t play that much better that game either. In fact, RB got lucky a few times when Texas defensive players dropped his passes.
I know playing the ‘what if?’ game is pretty worthless, but it helps and is fun sometimes. Here’s to KP taking over and leading the team to victory…Go Bruins!
Booing any Bruin is offensive. Booing RN while he's trying to coach a game is offensive, too.
We can discuss it after the game (or commiserate on this website), but during the game we need to be focused on trying to get a win.
Keep Me Motivated
Last night’s game drove me crazy and in the end I was pretty much without emotion. Today I am feeling better about the win and need some moltivation from you veterans to keep me going. If I read the schedule correctly, we have six games left and need to win four to be bowl eligible. The best hope for those four wins look like: Arizona, CAL, Utah, and Colorado. Those are must have games regardless of the quaility of the team. I am trying to fire up my crew to get ready for the CAL home game. This is not about CRN and next year. I want to see Bruin Blue in late December. BTW how did the schedule end up with more away games than home games? GO BRUINS!
We need 3 more wins
Currently sitting at 3-3 means 3 more wins to be bowl eligible, and I agree about those 4 games as us having a good shot for some W’s. Problem is, this team likes to underachieve.
Also, I just did a quick head count and we have 6 homes games (SJSU, UT, WSU, Cal, ASU, CU) so it’s an even ratio of H:A games.
by maccabita4life on Oct 9, 2011 9:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Being bowl eligible is not good enough in my opinion
If CTSS goes 3-3 and finishes at 6-6, his four year career would be 23-28, and that winning percentage would remain the worst since 1919. If he were to win out and finish 9-3, and win a bowl and be 10-3, he would have a .500 record. A 500 record is, under any definition, mediocre, and I don’t want a coach who has to win eight straight games to get to 500. But assume he does that, He would still have to go 10-2 next year just to tie his predecessor. And I think we all agree that that the CTS era was not something that we want to set up as being the measuring rod.
We all have a body of work, whether we like it or not, in our field. If you’re a student, it’s your academic reputation, sometimes mearured by GPA. Everyone else has ways in which his or her body of work is measured. I think the measure of CTSS body of work ultimately must be wins and losses. He got a win that looks counts one tick on the win counter, just like the thrashing we dealt to Texas last year. But his overall body of work is horrible. When it’s broken down beyond that we don’t get above the 50th percentile in just about any NCAA stat this year. The eye test might have some subjective parts to it, but the numbers are very objective. I don’t think it’s a subjective ntepretation of the numbers to say that we rank 80th in the country in points scored, and 95th in the country in points allowed. That sort of performance gets us to 3-3, and we can probably get to 6-6 with the same numbers. I would rather not have the palliative of some silly bowl no one has ever heard of and a 6-6 record if that means the stables aren’t cleaned out.
Whew
I have been a Bruin fan through thick and mostly thin. I can’t stand to think about bowl games without the Bruin Blue. I agree six and six is unacceptable and certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to attend what bowl game that might merit. Seven wins and more and I can feel like the season wasn’t wasted. CRN can be replaced and I would hope he does well as he moves on.
Merely stating what it takes to get into a bowl game
I completely agree that finishing 6-6 is not enough for Rick to keep his job.
by maccabita4life on Oct 10, 2011 12:09 AM PDT up reply actions
Hmmm
I thought seven wins was automatic bowl eligible and six put you on the waiting list in case not enough teams reach seven. Thanks for the correct count on home games.
6 wins should be fine
I think the only issue then is if there are more teams that are bowl eligible than the conference has bowl affiliations with, then you get the concept of waiting list (which I believe is what happened to us in 2009).
by maccabita4life on Oct 10, 2011 12:10 AM PDT up reply actions
which won't be an issue given the state of the Pac-12 at this point.
"I have one word for you...Be careful."
-Jose Guillen
totally agree on the booing of Prince...that really is in bad taste...
how easily they forget 2 years ago Prince single-handly beat Tennesse at their home, and then last year took charge and beat a Texas team that was ranked at the time…Prince is a wounded warrior that commands respect for his efforts in my opinion…
My Blue Crew Dont Boo
We never boo. We cuss and drink. At the end of wsu game our Bruins were ready to bang and I think it will carryover to the Arizona game.
I don't even boo our crosstown rivals
when I see them take the floor or the field during the beginning of a game. They are students, no matter what. All you need do is remain silent; that should be enough. Think about what Coach would have thought had he been there hearing that disgusting display against one of our own last Saturday night.
It’s always easy to answer such questions of sportsmanship when you start them with “What would Coach have done..?”
I boo the jersey
and the mascot, and the obnoxious fans. And Matt Barkley.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
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