Football Roundup
by Nestor on Aug 7, 2007 4:39 AM PDT
in Football
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PrintYou can say we are officially into the football season now that we are going to have football related stories coming from beat reporters every day. So let’s right get to our first roundup.
More pre season happy talk from Christian Taylor:
"I'm talking about pretty much the whole team doing that type of stuff," Taylor said. "It changes the whole mentality. It changes the whole spirit of the team. I think coach is right. Guys are excited for camp. Guys are excited to get in here and do double-days, which is kind of a contradiction. How can that be? But it really is."
Speaking of being let down from pre-season expectations, you’ve got to listen to the radio interview of LA Times beat reporter Chris Foster done by Wizard of Odds. It’s pretty interesting. Chris basically says that UCLA has all the makings of an 10-11 win team and that he should go to at least the Holiday Bowl if not the Rose Bowl. Chris hits all the right notes (including mentioning how Scott saga is not going away), however kind of blows it saying that Dorrell may be able to survive an 8 win season. He also slipped up a little trudging out the old lines of assistant coaches having to deal with high living costs in Southern California, failing to note that UCLA coaches now make more money than ever and are competitive with rest of their colleagues in the Pac-10. But he acknowledges that Dorrell is under pressure to produce this season. So far Foster doesn’t seem all that bad. He seems a little better informed than a Trojan wanker like Lonnie White. Foster reiterated that this is Dorrell’s "watershed year," and uttered the BN refrain "if not now, then when?" (listen in around 25 min mark of the interview)
Foster zeroed in on the WRs in his LAT UCLA report today:
That seems to be changing, judging from spring practice and the first day of training camp Monday.
UCLA fans had to rub their eyes and hope it wasn't a mirage: Bruins receivers went up field and got the ball.
"We're going to work the field," first-year offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said.
Dominique Johnson beat a point-A-to-point-B path past a defender, looking back in time to snag a deep pass. Terrence Austin found a seam on the sideline, then played Twister to keep his feet in bounds on another big gain. Marcus Everett flung himself forward with such velocity he left one of his cleats behind while he cradled the ball.
"You're going to see us be more aggressive this year," Everett said.
The impact, the players involved said, will be negligible.
Dorrell worked the receivers during the first practice, and the group has a lot of experience in seniors Brandon Breazell, Marcus Everett and Joe Cowan.
The younger receivers, including converted quarterback Osaar Rasshan, are not concerned about missing anything on the field or in the classroom.
It’s not like they have been coached up last few seasons.
GO BRUINS.
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If the team hasn't missed a beat
Ooops, I forgot -- he's a good recruiter. Which only reinforces the speculation that Scott was hired mainly, if not solely, to get access to the inner city high school athlete because KD himself could not establish that connection. Which means that if it were not for Scott, no inner city athletes would even consider playing for KD.
bingo
Happy Talk
But what troubles me is that we hear the same happy talk from the players and the coaches every year. And we all know the results.
The nightmare scenario is still KD winning 8-9 games, going to another crappy bowl, and then staying on for another year. I know that would not satisfy the great majority of the Nation, but we don't run the show. If we did, heads would have rolled a long time ago.
Come on, Karl. The happy talk by everyone is nice, but let's see some results. Let's see a couple of blowouts. Let's beat Notre Dame in our house. Let's blow everyone's expectations out of the water and beat SuC in THEIR house. Let's go to a real bowl game and beat someone good.
Do I ask for the world here? Yes, I do. And, so what?
I still say
Polyanna Speaks Again
As a long time fan, I put my energy into cheering for the first scenario. Also, I think if Dorrell goes out a winner, it will be easier to find a top coach willing to step in rather than a wanna be willing to take on a mediocre program.
A quality coach
call it (and me) what you want
Coaching Blunders
http://www.dailynews.com/ucla/ci_6560766
one of the receivers might have lost a year of eligibility, due to having been inserted into a few 4th quarter plays against Utah last year.
If he wasn't supposed to play, why in the world was he suited up? Where was the CEO when this was happening?
As the saying goes
That's maddening
(1) Dorrell wasted no time putting it on ex-WR coach McCarthy. Way to throw staff under the bus and NOT to take responsibility for what your assistant coaches do in a game. If KD had done his job, McCarthy would have known not to use Johnson during that game.
(2) Putting in a player for 3 plays and burning his redshirt reflects poorly on the staff and the program.
(3) If I were Dominique Johnson, I'd be pissed off that they burned my redshirt, and I just lost a year of playing college football.
(4) Further evidence of the head coach's incompetence. Add it to Dump Dorrell's site.
(5) So they burned his redshirt in game one and then sat him for 12 consecutive games, despite knowing the rules. He could have played and maybe even helped the team last year.
Maddening. Pathetic. Hopelessly inept. That's your UCLA Bruins under "Coach" Karl Dorrell.
Thanks, bluegold, for finding and posting that information.
Not to mention the fact
Though I thought you could play one game, and if you were injured after that, it was pretty much a given you would get that year of eligibility back.
This Dohn article is deserving of it's own front page status.
"Make a move"
Noth Wrong With A Little Happy Talk
The off season is the time to perform the post mortem on the previous year and discuss the expectations for the coming year. The denizens of BN have done an admirable job. Training camp is the time to believe (no matter how misguided) that all is well. All the problems have been corrected and a successful season is just about to begin.
Once the season kick-offs, then the critical analysis should return. We will have at least 12 (hopefully 13) games to jump on or off the band wagon, but for now, revel in the clichés and the euphoria of what might be. Life is too short to always focus on the negative. We have the other 11 months of the year for that.
Polyanna
Fair enough
I guess I just feel like following UCLA football is kind of like "Groundhog Day."
Ground Hog Day...
I am very excited
But how many times did Bill Murray have to re-live the same day until he got it right? Many, many, many times.
Anyway, I won't throw any more cold water out there. Personally, I would rather talk about Groundhog Day than Dorrell.
My favorite line
my favorite line comes minutes later
Many good lines
I always laugh when Bill steps up to the bar and says to Chris Elliott, who is wearing a sweater, "Wow, Larry, looking FOXY tonight! Is your troupe selling cookies?"
Or when Bill tells Andie MacDowell: "I think I'll turn in early and read....Hustler."
The movie actually is deeper than most people think, IMHO. But that's a whole other story.
The strangest thing
You're right
I am very curious what the players think...
I'm just curious if this might be the light bulb over the head moment where KD gets how to run a program, by being a bit more hands on in his approach, because the CEO thing isn't getting it done.
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