FanPost

The 3 undeniable truths of the Jim Mora era:


Every loss looks the same; he is stupid; and he already pivoted expectations 2 years ago, we just didn't notice.

1) Every loss looks the same

With the exception of 2 losses, the loss to Stanford in the Pac-12 title game his first year, and the most recent loss to Stanford, every single loss looks the same. It's as if one year bleeds into the next and it's one long, continuous year of the same exact horrific, unforgivable losses. The only difference is the stat sheet says the 2013, 2014, or 2016 Bruins but the team looks exactly the same as they did the previous year with the same exact coaching mistakes. I'll get to the two Stanford losses/exceptions in a minute, but first to how every loss is the same.

When the Texas a&m game started I wondered how do we do this every year?! It looked and felt exactly like the Arizona State loss last year after we started 4-0, and the Utah loss in 2014 after we started 4-0. Everything was set up for us and we couldn't get out of our own way; the game never really got started for us. As fans we keep saying only if we play like we are capable of, if we can just sustain one measly drive! If the team can at least kind of show up; butt no, we can't even get the game started until the 4th quarter. The same thing happened in 2014. We started 4-0, Alabama lost to Ole Miss, other top ranked teams lost. We only had to beat a mediocre Utah team at home on a team that had Brett Hundley, Paul Perkins, Jordan Payton, etc. on offense (all in NFL) and Myles Jack, Eric Kendricks, Kenny Clark, Eddie Vanderdoes on defense just to name a few (all in or will be in the NFL) and we couldn't get started! If we win that very winnable game we go to 5-0 and at least #4 in the country! Yet just like the Texas a&m loss it's like the game never started for our players. If we just lost the normal way I would be somewhat ok with it. Instead Brett Hundley was sacked 10 times, we never looked like ourselves and finally by the time we looked like ourselves in a futile 4th quarter comeback it was too late. I mean it was like the game NEVER STARTED. You're sitting there thinking come one, just at least look like a football team. If we lost a normal way, like Colorado did to Michigan the other week, I would be somewhat ok with it. Colorado went on the road to the #4 team in the country, punched them in the mouth, went up 21-7; the faced adversity and went down 24-21 and responded by going up 28-24 in the 3rd quarter before their QB got hurt and ultimately imploded, losing 45-28. But that's a good, normal loss! They looked like a football team! The game went back and forth! When Arizona lost to Washington last week the game was back and forth and was tied 28-28 before they ultimately lost 35-28 in a well played football game. UCLA, however, in the Mora era when playing INFERIOR TEAMS (because Colorado and Arizona did this while being the inferior team) never play a well played football game in their losses. The 2014 Utah loss was not UCLA going up 21-7 then giving up the lead, or a back and forth 28-28 game they ultimately lost. No! It was lost from the opening snap! The games were not well played football games. The next week in 2014 against Oregon, same thing! We were down 30-3 before we even knew what hit us. Again another meaningless 4th quarter comeback. It was like um can we even get started? At least lose to Oregon in a well played back and forth game where we make them outplay us. Though in the Mora era that's too much to ask. As 2014 went on, because of the reprieve provided to us by having two divisions (something that previous UCLA teams never had the luxury of having) we get a chance to make amends and avenge our loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. All we had to do was beat a 6-5 Stanford team at home. Again, it's not that we lost; it's the way we lost. The same way we lost to Utah and Oregon earlier that year, and the way we lost to Texas a&m this year, Arizona State last year, etc., etc. the list goes on. We lost 31-10 and it wasn't that close. Again a horrible played football game by us where we never even got started and had a lame, meaningless attempted comeback in the 4th quarter. The same thing happened when the Pac-12 title game was on the line in 2013 where Mora infamously took Jack off the defense. I think we were down by 25 in the second half before and did not score a touchdown by halftime in another game that took our team until the 4th quarter to get going. It was just like the Texas a&m game this year. Ok, ok, some of these games like ASU in 2013, Texas a&m this year, our 4th quarter comeback makes it interesting while others like Stanford and Oregon 2014 our 4th quarter comeback is completely meaningless. Doesn't matter, we lose each time anyway, and the pattern is the same: a horribly played football game where we are not even in it until the 4th quarter. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when in every big game I am just hoping to have a regular loss where the other team outplays us and we didn't beat ourselves like most teams every week such as Ole Miss playing great but losing to Bama or Arizona playing great but losing to Washington just to name a few in the last couple weeks. No, those teams don't lose in every game that matters by just not showing up until a token 4th quarter, lame, futile comeback. Their losses are actually good, normal football losses.

And the pattern of every year is the same, too. After our egregious loss to Utah in 2014 we said we can still make the playoff with one loss. Then after our no-show against Oregon the next week we said oh we can still get to the title game with 2 losses and then who knows anything can happen. Then bam, implosion against Stanford. Same pattern in 2013 with Stanford and Oregon losses, slight win streak and the implosion against an above average ASU squad at home on a team that only had the 3-0 Minnesota Vikings starting linebacking corps at linebacker and Myles Jack and Kenny Clark and Hundley and Perkins, etc., etc. Last year the same pattern: we start 4-0 and then the implosion at home against a bad ASU team. Now I know injuries depleted us last season, but we shouldn't have lost that game, that way, at home. No way. And just like 2014 we were 4-0 and in position to really rise in the polls with a very winnable game. Also, all of our wins against easy teams are way harder than they should be. E.g. each Colorado win lol just to name a few.

2) Jim Mora is stupid; no really, he is dumb.

I'm not saying he's a complete idiot, but he is definitely not smart. Last year after our typical 2 losses where we never got out of the gates to begin with, we put together a little win streak. Then came Washington State. Wow. Even with our injuries, we never should've lost that game at home. People mad about the Stanford loss this week (and I am one of them, inspiring me to finally write this post), I think forget how bad this loss was. What did Mora just get finished saying after the Stanford loss? WE NEED TO ESTABLISH THE RUN, YOU CAN'T WIN IF YOU DON'T RUN. Against the team with the best run defense in the Pac-12 he played right into their strength just to prove a point when Rosen was having his best game of the year. However, against WASHINGTON STATE, a team we can run all over for days, all we did was pass! WSU cannot even come close to recruiting like we do. Watching that game we manhandled them on the lines, we could've Nick Sabaned them into oblivion and just hand off to Perkins the whole game and tell them it was coming like Koufax saying he's throwing a curve and Mays and Mantle not being able to do a thing about it. Except WSU's run defense definitely is not Mays and Mantle, more like Mendoza. So what do we do? WE PASSED IT 57 TIMES! 57, 57, 57, JUST TO LET THAT SINK IN. We ran it 32 times, and this was a game where we were WINNING most of it ROFL so no reason to play catch-up. And of those 32 runs 5 were by Rosen who is not Hundley; we only gave the ball to Perkins 20 times. Is this a joke. Against the team with one of the most porous run defenses in football, whose lineman are probably outweighed by ours by 30 pounds each, we passed it 57 times. We passed when we should've ran. Yet against Stanford, known for having the best lineman in the Pac-12, we ran it when we should've passed it. We play directly into other teams' strengths because Mora is an idiot. He is a flat out idiot. We win that easy as can be WSU game last year and we would've been in the Pac-12 title game despite the loss to USC. But playing into other teams strengths is not my only proof of Mora's not so keen intellect.

Let's get back to our two exceptions: the two Stanford losses. Two losses where, OMG, we actually came out of the gates and didn't wait until the 4th quarter to show up in a meaningless, futile comeback attempt. Real football losses, which actually look like and feel like wins compared to Stanford, Oregon, ASU 2013; and Utah, Oregon, Stanford 2014; ASU and Stanford 2015. (WSU 2015 loss is unique as we did play well from the start but lost to the sheer stupidity of passing 57 times against a Mike Leach team, at home, when our lineman can eat their lineman for lunch).

Stanford 2012 Pac-12 title game. 4th and 5 on their 38 yard line after we just drove down the field with ease in our 2 minute drill. 5 yards is all we needed and had the greatest running QB in Hundley the Pac-12 had seen in a long time. Based on the way we had Stanford on their heels that drive, and the fact Hundley was playing great, I'd say we had at least a 60% chance to make those 5 yards, and I'm being conservative. Instead Mora opted to go with a Freshman kicker from 55 yards out on a windy, rainy day, in college where the hashmarks are way wider than the NFL. I would barely trust Adam Vinatieri to make that kick in the confines of the dome in Indianapolis where the hashmarks are basically straight away. The chances of us making that kick were like 3%, 5% at most and I am being generous. This is not Monday morning quaterbacking questioning that decision. At the time I was like WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING; GO FOR IT; STANFORD IS ON THEIR HEELS; PLAY TO WIN THE GAME, NOT FOR THE TIE; HUNDLEY CAN ROLL OUT AND EASILY GET 5 YARDS, WE JUST WENT 50 IN UNDER A MINUTE; OR DUMP IT TO PERKINS; WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T KICK A 55 YARD FG IN THESE ELEMENTS WITH A FRESHMAN KICKER. Stanford was jumping for joy the second that decision was made; me, I didn't even watch I walked away knowing the kick had no chance. Everyone knew except for Mora because he is an idiot. So even when we come out of the gates and our players deserve to win against a great team we can always count on Mora to make the stupid decision and lose anyway just like he did by being so conservative against this last loss to Stanford.

Putting Myles Jack strictly at RB in 2013 against ASU was another idiotic decision. I can go on. But even when he tries trick plays or goes for it on 4th down occasionally, he shows his cards of being just not being too bright. I remember he did try a fake punt against Oregon in 2013 but it totally was not in the flow of the game. A good trick play is like a good bluff in poker. The opportunity presents itself and suddenly you pounce because you worked on it during practice. Like in poker if you know you're opponent thinks you are a tight player and would never bet a flush draw, and suddenly a flush draw is out there and you are in position. At the same time you feel your opponent is not too strong and would lay down his hand to a hand showing strength; then you bet the flush draw as if you got a big hand and you know what more often than not, the opponent will lay it down. It may not always work, but it does more than enough. But you don't just bluff for no rhyme or reason. When Mora tried that fake punt in 2013 against Oregon it was so out of context in the game that it was like he was just doing it to make a point that trickery doesn't work to the fan base; very poor designed fake punt too. Oregon's fake punt that game was beautiful and not just bc it worked, it was an opportunity that presented itself in the context of the game and from what they saw on tape against us and they pounced like a good bluff. Without hesitation.

Honestly Mora is not that smart. He thinks by saying the words "tough" and "play hard" he is being a good coach. By having our players wear black instead of blue. By painting the walls black to show we're tough. I'm sorry but we won 20 games in a row and 5 Rose Bowls never having to go to San Bernadino, or wear black instead of baby blue. You can tell by the way he speaks, too. When a question is asked that he doesn't like I can't tell if he's about to yell or cry, he gets so pent up with emotion. I feel there's truly nothing behind what he's saying other than the words "tough" "physical" etc. When you hear Christ Petersen talk, (watch UDub's hype video for the 2016 season), I believe every word Petersen says. He says we will win a lot of football games I promise you that if we stick to the plan. Simple words but the way he says it is just so believable, you can tell there's substance behind it and he is solid 100% to the core. You believe in him and believe he knows what he's talking about.

Mora on the other hand after the Stanford game said "they did not out physical us I can tell you that," as if the name of the game was who can beat Stanford in a pissing contest. I am very glad our team got more physical, but there comes a point in the game where you out coach them, too. Idk by rolling out Rosen, doing a play action, not running up the middle the whole game to prove a point. After the Stanford loss in 2014 Mora said "We need to get bigger." Again that team had Vanderdoes, Clark, Kendricks, Jack, Hundley, Redmond, Benenoch, etc. First off Mora, no, they didn't need to get bigger. And secondly even if Stanford was bigger than us, then out coach them! If the name of the game is just put out the team with the biggest guys and they will win, then a 5 year old can coach the team. It's like Alabama playing Nicholls State; a 5 year old coach of Bama would say play, and they'd win. But when teams are slightly more talented than you or around the same talent level, you would think a COACH would relish the opportunity to out scheme the other coach. Instead Mora lis like let's see who's team hit the weight room harder. Also, again, how did WSU beat us? Are they as physical as we are Mora? Are they as big as we are Mora?

3) Mora has pivoted expectations already and already believes he has accomplished great things at UCLA.

This has been true since 2014 when we after the Oregon loss to fall to 5-2 I believe, he said "I've only been here barely over 2 years." OMG. Mora, that was your 3rd year! The managing of expectations had begun. What can you do according to Mora, he perennially has just arrived at UCLA to clean up Neuheisel's 50-0 mess, and boy, does Mora love mentioning that 50-0 loss in order to show how far we've come. Harbaugh arrived at Michigan as late as any hire that I can remember and due to the 49ers situation and according to him they are in year 2 (rightfully so) almost going into year 3 come December. Mora, if he was in Harbaugh's situation would be saying, "Oh I just got hired in 2015, it's 2016 it's been a year not even." For a coach that supposedly doesn't remember much, such as claiming it's a new season he doesn't remember our porous run defense from last year; or numerous other claims such as supposedly not knowing fairly recent UCLA history that we lost to BYU 59-0, he always seems to get defensive and remind everyone that it was 50-0 before he got here. After he realized he couldn't beat Stanford or Oregon, he pivoted expectations and in his mind has done great things to an ungrateful fan base for beating a depleted USC team a few times. He let's the narrative go on that we are a basketball school that's grateful to have him to make himself look better. So let's see how grateful we should be to Jim Mora JUNIOR.

This year was interesting in that the AP released their all time top 25 poll in a very objective way. 10 points for a title, points for being top 10 at the end of the year, and points for every week ranked since the AP poll was formed. UCLA was number 17 all time! Right behind Auburn and Georgia and ahead of Washington, Clemson, Michigan State, Texas a&m, and this doesn't include our UPI national title in a year we killed USC way more than AP champ Ohio State did; and it does include our decade of abyss started by Guerrero and Dorrell. Not to be outdone ESPN, an east coast bias machine, released what they think the top 25 programs ever are. We finished 16th! Ahead of Auburn and Washington and just behind Florida! Off the top of my head I think we have 17 Pac-8/10/12 titles, 5 Rose Bowls, a National Title and a Heisman winner. We also had that 20 game win streak and a title stolen from us due to an egregious fumble call and probably another Heisman stolen from us in 2001 when that shit Trojan set up Foster, but I digress. (Omg he drove a car for a day or two). So it seems every decade we average 2 or 3 pac 12 titles and are objectively speaking the 2nd best football school in the conference after USC, and right there with SEC teams such as Auburn and Georgia. Mora hasn't come close to accomplishing any of this. Let's compare him to individual coaches.

Red Sanders 66-19, national title. Next. Tommy Prothro won our first Rose Bowl, beat powherhouse Michigan State number 1 team at time, had Heisman winner. Next. Vermeil beat Woody Hayes in the Rose Bowl which is like beating Urban Meyer in the Rose Bowl. Next. Even conservative, frustrating Terry Donahue won 3 Rose Bowls and multiple Pac 10 titles. Next. Bob Toledo. Holy Toledo. I used to think maybe he only won because he had Cade McNown, to this day the greatest college QB I have ever seen; Manziel reminded me of him but personally I thought McNown was better and if he played in the SEC in 2012 would've got all that hype too. But you know Mora JUNIOR has had Hundley and now Rosen, two players who maybe aren't as good in college as McNown (whose fault is that; well no one can be McNown he's like Jordan to me) but have more NFL talent or overall talent for sure. Saban or Meyer would kill to have Hundley and then Rosen back to back. Yet Mora hasn't done squat with them. So I guess McNown isn't the sole reason Toledo won 20 games straight and 2 Pac-10 titles. in 2001 he also started 6-0, beat 2 top 5 teams before that Foster bullshit. I wish Mora could just do that. So Mora doesn't even compare with Toledo. He does beat Dorrell. My little sister beats Dorrell. Dorrell actually took over a team with top 5 talent in 03 and handed over a team to Neuheisel that was a joke. Neuheisel was terrible but did hand over a team with Kendricks, Barr, Hundley, Perkins, Datone Jones, Cassius Marsh, Zumwalt, so I can't say that Mora is definitively better than Neuheisel; he just had a lot more to work with. But i'll be nice and say Mora beats Neuheisel. At least Neuheisel won a Rose Bowl once.. what has Mora ever done besides flame out with the Falcons and Seahawks?

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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