Pregame Guesses: Utah Utes Edition

Too little, too late?

After getting our windows blown out by Hurricane Wildcat last month, Bruins Nation officially declared Rick Neuheisel’s program a disaster area and ordered it condemned from the top down. From that point on, no amount of spackle and duct tape could seal the leaks and I’m running out of weather metaphors. Point is: as much as we might like the guy, Rick Neuheisel needs to go. (I’m reminded of that old saying "The world’s full of nice guys – that’s why there isn’t much of a demand for them.")

But since the Debacle in the Desert, Neuheisel has regrouped, at least on the surface. The Bruins topped a weak Cal Bears team in semi-convincing fashion, then held on to win against an ASU Sun Devils squad that’s notoriously weak on the road and that featured a particularly poor placekicker.

If the great "What if" scenario after the Arizona game ended with "UCLA wins out" then Neuheisel is theoretically two steps closer to making the case that he somehow turned things around and somehow deserves another year.

He doesn’t.

Because if it took three and a half years and a half dozen bad beatings to finally get serious and harness the talent on this team, then beating Utah tomorrow and Colorado in a week doesn’t mean much at all.

The problem is – we’re not the ones making the decision. Dan Guerrero is making the decision. And if he didn’t replace Rick Neuheisel after the Arizona game, then it seems safe to assume that he’s looking for an out, a way not to make the change.

I sort of get that. Dan Guerrero hired Rick Neuheisel and Rick Neuheisel’s failure is going to be his failure as well. Dan Guerrero desperately  wants Rick Neuheisel to pick up a few wins down the stretch of his fourth season and then will try to spin that into some sort of "proof" that the team has turned the corner and Rick deserves another year.