Bruin Bites: Chaminade Profile, $1.4 Million for Anderson School, and Chandler Hoffman Profile

Once again, the legions of Bruin faithful will enjoy a Sunday afternoon following a characteristic bounce-back win for the Bruins, after UCLA dismantled absolutely woeful Colorado, 45-6.  The Bruins got hot early and put their cleats on the throats of the Buffalos, going up 21-0 in the first quarter.  The offense was multi-dimensional, the defense played tight, and the Bruins scored 7 points when given the chance, rather than settling for the leg of Tyler Gonzalez. Naturally, it made many of us wonder where this more dynamic looking UCLA squad was all year long.

But, of course, as pointed out this morning, this is a pathetic Colorado team.  Just pitiful.  Given how poor Colorado has been this year and given how much talent UCLA has (and Rick has under-utilized), UCLA should give Colorado a total beat-down.  So, no bonus points for doing what you should do, despite what Rick and his shrinking clique of sycophantic Neubs tell you.

It was shaping up to be a nice evening, where UCLA blew away the competition, and for once, Bruin fans could take joy in a complete and total drubbing of an opponent (something we should have done against scrubs like San Jose State, Washington State, and Arizona).  But, Rick had to go and ruin it. Despite our repeated insistence that the "Slick Rick" and "Neuweasel" monikers be banned on BN, he flashed a side of himself fitting of those insults: in his post-game comments leaving the field, he had to be dishonest and disingenous. As noted this morning, Rick went out and claimed that "no one thought" UCLA would be in a position to play in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game.

And nothing could be further from the truth. First, our expectation would be that Rick would, in his fourth year in charge, be contending for the Pac-12 title, while the prediction would be a struggle to 6-6 but show progress in his squad meeting the "Eye Test" each week.  Sounds like we nailed that prediction (except for the part about meeting the Eye Test, which has been a categorical failure for Rick).  But those predictions weren't limited to BN: ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit predicted the Bruins would finish behind U$C but make it to the title game by virtue of U$C's sanctions. And the always very well-informed Peter Yoon also called the Bruins contenders in a Pac-12 South that was "wide open" with U$C ineligible due to sanctions, Arizona State being inconsistent (and as we saw this year, undisciplined and unable to win on the road), Utah struggling to adjust to the Pac-12 (also proven true), and Arizona having injury concerns (and being a total fail across the board).

So yeah, Rick, you're playing in what is clearly the weaker half of the conference that was considered wide-open at the beginning of the year, with the best team ineligible, with a roster stacked with talent at every position but QB, being the other favorite pick to win the division (beside ASU), and you're still struggling to grab the conference title.  Trying to low-ball us isn't going to win you any fans Rick.

Rick, we've been nice because you've been a classy guy, a great Bruin, and despite your struggles, have represented UCLA well.  We like you as a Bruin.  We just don't think you're the right fit.  But mark my words, if you take a play out of the Karl Dorrell playbook (remember throwing players under the bus, blaming the fan-base, and playing the race card?), we will make this a nasty divorce instead of an amicable split.

Turning back to the game, so while yesterday was a good win for the guys (and I'm sure an especially good one for Mr. Stone Hands, Taylor Embree), and a good win for UCLA, the fact that Rick has adopted the classic Morgan Center low-ball spin tactic, it further leaves us convinced we still need wholesale regime change in Westwood, meaning both Rick Neuheisel and Dan Guerrero must be fired.

With that, let's turn to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse for this lazy fall Sunday evening:

• Building on DCBruins' Maui Invitational preview from earlier today, Ben Bolch at the Los Angeles Times has a profile of our next hoops opponent, the Chaminade Silverswords, with a good background story on their improbable victory over Virginia (at the time, Chaminade was NAIA; they are now Division II), which ultimately led to the annual Maui Invitational.  Neat piece for those of you unfamilar with how this hoops tournament in paradise came to fruition.  And yeah, I won't be shocked if David (Chaminade) slays a rather weak and unimpressive Goliath (us).
• Turning to the academic side of the university, in great news for people who love food sugar, Dr. Wenyuan Shi of UCLA's School of Dentistry, developed a mouthwash that eliminates the bacteria that causes cavities. Calling the innovation a cavity "smart-bomb", UCLA expects that this new dental innovation could eliminate tooth decay within our lifetime.  In other words folks, no more going to the dentist and hearing that infamous drill.  No more root canals. Is it the cure for AIDS?  No, but oh man, do the little things make all difference sometimes.  Awesome work Dr. Shi.
• While we're on the academic side of things, the Health Care Institute, a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson and the Anderson School of Management, is set to receive $1.4 million in federal grant money to help Head Start agencies to increase health literacy to help people who have low or no access to health care make better, more well-informed decisions about their health.
• Turning back to sports, Fox Sports has an article from the Los Angeles Times' David Wharton discussing the current proposals for increased funding to NCAA student athletes, with quotes from our own well-informed and active punter Jeff Locke, who has been interning with former Bruin linebacker Ramogi Huma's National College Players Association.
  
• Finally, while we typically leave non-revenue news for Mondays in its own segment, there is one player we'd like to highlight before tomorrow's non-revenue round-up.  Fellow Bruin alum Blair Angulo has an article for ESPN profiling prolific Bruin striker Chandler Hoffman.  In it, Chandler discusses what got him to leave his native Alabama for Westwood, how he landed with UCLA (which kind of makes you question Jorge Salcedo's recruiting acumen, since Hoffman had to send him YouTube clips to garner Salcedo's interest), and how he's adjusted to life as the point-man of the Bruins' attack.
  

Alright folks, that's your Bruin Bites round-up of news from around the UCLA-iverse.  Great win for the young guys yesterday, although we will need to keep our eye on the prize: doing right by those players by giving them a real coaching staff as part of a complete regime change in Westwood.

GO BRUINS