This is one of those games that is going to have my stomach tied up in knots all weekend.

Bruins led by the come back of Kahlil Bell gave everything they have ...

Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images (via Yahoo Galleries)

... but they fall just short, losing a heart breaker to a determined Fresno State team 31-36. Here is the box score and quick AP recap.

I know I am going to think about that holding call in first kick off return all weekend.

I know I am going to think of about that Marlon Moore punt return for TD when not a single Bruin touched him all weekend.

I know I am going to think about two aggressive coaching decisions and about Coleman (who had an amazing afternoon) all weekend and wonder what if.

I know I am also going to think about how the Fresno State offense carved up our D under neath and sliced diced our young defense, and racked up one clock eating (and demoralizing) drive after another.

But you know what ... it is all good. There is nothing fun about close losses. I don't believe in moral victories. But this afternoon's heartbreak hopefully will be an inspiration for this team to work even harder, stick together, and turn up their intensity and focus another notch to come back and get it done next weekend.

I will have lot more on this game tomorrow when I can gather my thoughts. But before I go, I am going to not only urge patience, but I am also going to ask everyone to stop pointing the fingers at our defense. Those kids and coaches have done their fair share of heavy lifting last three years when they had to carry the team. Yes, they had a rough day, but I truly believe it's part of the same growing process for a young team, which the offense has gone through on the other side.

I can see the signs ... of a young team putting it together bit by bit. But it is going to take a lot of time. But that' part of the deal of a rebuilding process resulting from a decade long mediocre (or some would say nonexistent) leadership at the top of the program. We will get there ... but it will take time.

Thread it up my friends and keep the faith.

GO BRUINS.

Here we go.

Thousands of Fresno State Bull Dog fans are invading the Rose Bowl this afternoon. They probably didn’t need UCLA’s ill advised ad blitz specifically targeting Fresno State fans inviting them to enjoy their team’s "first-ever win at the Rose Bowl" to get all fired up.

As for the Bruins, they will have each other, their coaching staff, and all the diehard, true blue fans from Bruin Nation rooting them on pull off an upset. May be the return of Kahlil Bell will give them a little boost:

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

The kickoff time is scheduled for 12:30 pm PST on ABC (regional coverage).

If you need to get caught up on all of our notes concerning this game from this game week, you can do so by going here. Also you can click on the links below under "Related Item" for updated game stats and track the game via UCLA's official site and WWL's game page.

Bruins are banged up. They will be undermanned. Let’s hope they can come out and play some inspired football, and work on to improve from the performance of last weekend. With that said time to get started with another game thread filled with our passion buckets.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

First congrats to Fox71, TheTJCummingsEra or any other Floridian Bruins from Tampa area who are soaking up the Rays first ever AL East title.  It should be some party here this Fall as those lonely Rays fans join rest of the majority of BNers who will be following the Blue Crews and Halos, hoping for the first Freeway Fall Classic. Now on to our game notes as the Bruins are looking to pull of an upset this afternoon at the Rose Bowl against the Bulldogs from Fresno State.

For the Bruins to have a chance against Pat Hill’s tough football team, Bruins will have to be patient (more on that below) and put together a legit running attack. Chris Foster from the LA Times reports how the game presents a good opportunity to get that running game going and improve upon the encouraging performance from last week:

There may never be a better moment for UCLA's offensive line to shine. Buggy-whipped since the start of training camp, they showed inch-by-inch progress last week, though UCLA still ranks No. 117 in rushing among 119 major college teams.

Fresno State's defense ranks 95th against the run and the Bulldogs have lost two starting defensive tackles, replacing them with a rotation of one sophomore and two freshmen.

Add to the fact that UCLA tailback Kahlil Bell is expected to play for the first time since the Tennessee game, and the Bruins' "manage the game, manage the score" mantra may have a running game that can do both this week.

We will see how effective Bell is this afternoon as he is coming back from his injury in the first game. It will be interesting to see how does Raymond Carter perform too. I wouldn’t mind a big dose of Derrick Coleman, given what we saw from his last weekend.

These guys will be running behind an OL that will feature true freshman Jeff Baca as the starter at LT:

"There is so much more I have to learn," Baca said. "I have to keep my knee bent. I've got to get lower. I made a lot of freshman mistakes.

"The game showed me that practice is much more important. You have to value each rep and make it into a game situation."

That eagerness must seem like music to offensive line coach Bob Palcic's ears.

"Baca has a long way to go, but I like what I've seen so far," Palcic said.

The key, according to the coach, is "patience."

Uh yes, speaking of the word patience, that leads us to Craft. Dohn’s report today provides some interesting numbers re. Craft via Norm Chow:

Chow, while not comparing Craft to former USC Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer, said Palmer went through the same thing.

In 2001, Palmer was 62 of 104 (59.6

percent) for 821 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions in his first three games Craft completed 63 of 113 (55.8 percent) for 570 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions.

The '01 Trojans scored 38 points in beginning the season 1-2, while UCLA (1-2) scored 37 points, although the Bruins have one special teams and one defensive touchdown.

"I definitely want to improve. I just want to get going. I just want to do it," Craft said. "I think I'm looking at myself and I know I can do it. I know all the throws. I can make all the throws. It's just a matter of doing it consistently. It's really inconsistent."

Well, note … no one is crazy enough to think that Craft will ever match the success of Carson Palmer. It is not going to happen. Period. However, I think we all know what Chow is alluding to. He believes Craft can be lot better and efficient than the horrific outings from last two games. It might be unrealistic to expect Craft to produce the fourth quarter magic against Tennessee every quarter. However, if he can provide a steady and patient performance that allows Chow to manage the game, Bruins will have a shot. More on this from the Daily Bruin:

Craft said that he believes that he has the ability to make the correct throws and decisions on the field during games, he just needs to work on doing it consistently.

Consistency has been one of the downfalls of the Bruins’ offense thus far. When asked what the reason is behind the team’s struggles on offense, Neuheisel pointed to their inability to convert on third down and extend drives. Through three games, the Bruins have converted on just 33 percent of third downs (15 of 46).

“It really comes down to staying on the field longer,” Neuheisel said. “Tennessee, second half, was because we stayed on field; we hit almost every third down, which ended making us over 50 percent for the game on third downs. We haven’t come close to that since, and the more plays you get the more Norm’s able to kind of counter himself and the more you keep the defense at bay rather than teeing off on you. But ultimately it comes down to being able to execute those types of plays and keeping the chains moving.”

As a result of the offense’s troubles extending drives, the Bruin defense has continually been put in short-field situations, placing immense pressure upon the defense to keep the score close.

Speaking of the defense, Bruins are preparing for the Dogs’ running attack:

Fresno State ranks 47 th nationally with 171 rushing yards per game, and rely primarily on 5-11, 215-pound Ryan Mathews. He's averaging 101.3 yards per game, and has three touchdowns and often follows the block of 270-pound fullback Reynard Camp.

"They run a lot of power and they pull the guards," Carter said.

"When (Mathews) hits the hole, he really goes."

In San Joaquin Valley spirit, Fresno State's 4.7 yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust running game is what the offense is built upon. The Bulldogs (2-1) rushed 119 times this season, and quarterback Tom Brandstater has attempted 79 passes (completed 48).

"They show characteristics of BYU and Tennessee," Bruins defensive tackle Brian Price said. "They're big guys, strong. The same kind of game. It's won up front, so we have to take care of our business up front and stop the run. I'm going to stop anything that comes my way."

I think this could be a game in which Walker’s scheme work out really well. Walker has always been a very good DC when it comes to defending convention pro set offenses. Fresno State features more of a tradition WCO offense with a power running game. It could work out as the great matchup for Walker if his secondary steps up with tighter coverage and more sure fire tackling this afternoon. Hopefully the offense and special teams will also help out the defense by not  you guessed it ... managing the game and minimizing mistakes.

For more on this game, especially from the Bulldogs point of view, check out the preview in the Collegian (FSU’s campus paper).

The kick off is scheduled for 12:30 pm PST (ABC’s regional coverage). We will have our game thread up about half an hour before the game. Hopefully our Bruins can get it done today and get back on track.

GO BRUINS.

The Arizona results are here, along with an explanation of where the guessing game stands and the moment.

Hope you don't come after me with pitchforks and torches, but like the Bruins offensive line, the guessing game is a work in progress.

Keep making guesses and we'll sort it all out.

Note to newcomers: After three weeks, just about no one is winning -- there is still plenty of time to start playing. If nothing else, putting in your guesses gives you something to do instead of looking at the scoreboard.

~~~

So, the Fresno State situation.

I'm really tempted to do an attendance guess or maybe a "How many DUI arrests will the California Highway Patrol make between Pasadena and Fresno this weekend" but I won't.

I won't because Dan Guerrero promised to stop begging rival fans to come to the Rose Bowl to root for the other team. This, of course, ruins the "Turn the Bowl Orange" fesitvities planned for the Oregon State visit, but the Beavers never travel all that well anyhow.

No, this week's questions will reflect my unrelenting pessimism positiveness and my firm belief that this is the week the UCLA offense scores a touchdown.

Here are your pregame guesses for Fresno State. (Remember, the thread closes 30 minutes before kick-off):

How many yards will Khalil Bell gain on the ground (within 10)?

How many passes will be caught by Bruin tight ends (that's Moya + Harkey)?

How many points will Kai Forbath score this week?

Let’s begin this roundup by building on our Fresno files. I wrote last night about how it will be imperative for our offense and the special teams not to put Walker’s defense in short field situations. Another factor to look out for is how our defense responds on third downs:

After being among the best in the nation at third-down defense the past two seasons, the Bruins have struggled in that area through three games, and their defensive coordinator is trying to solve the problem.

UCLA allowed opponents to convert just 29 percent of third downs a year ago, but that rate has skyrocketed to 50 percent this season. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said the target is 33 percent. He said he was unsure why the unit is having so many issues.

Walker's sense was that the Bruins may be facing more third-and-short situations than a year ago, and said that it's imperative that they get stops and get off the field quickly.

"This game will tell the tale," he said Wednesday, referring to Saturday's matchup with Fresno State.

My sense is that defense was constantly getting in 3rd and short situations against BYU was because our secondary was playing off the Cougar receivers, allowing Hall to carve them underneath. I thought the defense played much better against Zona on Saturday, especially considering how the offense was mostly ineffective and the special teams was constantly putting them in short field positions.

Speaking of the offense, per the OC Register there has been a “glimmer or two of hope” in this week’s practice:

This week has shined a glimmer or two of hope on the nation's 117th-ranked rushing team. Starting tailback Kahlil Bell might play Saturday, freshman Derrick Coleman appears to be improving, and offensive line coach Bob Palcic might finally have found his five best players.

"I saw a lot of nice things today and during this whole week of practice," offensive coordinator Norm Chow said.

This could be the week to parlay Saturday's gains into a reliable running game.

Fresno State is missing its two starting defensive tackles, Jon Monga and Cornell Banks. The replacements are all sophomores and freshmen, including Rancho Santa Margarita's Logan Harrell.

"We always want to run the ball," Chow said. "I don't worry about them too much. We've got our own set of problems."

As for problems, apparently Craft threw two ints (EJ Woods had both of these picks) in practice yesterday. So we will see how he performs on Saturday. If I am reading Chow right, I think he will stick with Craft and do everything he can not to burn Prince’s redshirt year. I think both Chow (and CRN) will do look to the long term future of this program at this point, and use this year as a big extended training period for next year.

Yet using this year as an extended spring camp doesn’t mean that coaches are letting up at practice. Instead the practices are getting more intense and physical per the LA Times:

The Bruins seemed frustrated and edgy Wednesday, with two fights during practice, one where offensive lineman Jess Ward smacked defensive tackle Justin Mann upside the head, then kicked him.

On Tuesday, Kahlil Bell screamed at fellow tailback Derrick Coleman, then shoved him.

Neuheisel said he didn't want to see any "cheap shots," but that the fights are "are a byproduct of getting after it physically."

Given the results from last two weeks, the players should be frustrated, fired up and show emotion during practices. Hopefully they can take some of that aggression out (in a smart and disciplined way) on their opponents on Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

No matter how many Fresno State fans drive down the I-5 this weekend, the game is setting up as Bruins being huge underdogs in their own home stadium. The ESPN game preview is in fact calling it nothing more than a “mere tuneup” for Fresno State:

When Fresno State scheduled a road game against UCLA, the Bulldogs and coach Pat Hill probably didn't figure it would look like a mere tuneup heading into the WAC season.

If UCLA plays anything like it did for the last two games, it would be hard to imagine any other outcome.

There is not much we can say in response given how our team has performed in last two games. And it doesn’t seem to far off the mark from our off season projection when we marked this game as a “tossup” writing that “the prospects for the Bruins in this game depends on how the offense is performing under Olson or Craft or Forcier with a brand new OL.” Well the results from last two weekends are not too encouraging to say the least. So Craft and his team-mates are going to have their hands full against a team that will be looking to make some kind of statement with their first ever victory against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Fresno State is coming into the game after a thrilling 55-54 double OT win against Toledo in which Toledo gambled and lost. Toledo went for two rather than kick the extra point following their TD. Toledo offense rolled up 598 yards of balanced offense with 297 yards coming via their ground attack.

As mentioned earlier today Fresno is also coming into this game missing two of their best DL. So the game presents an opportunity for the Bruin OL to build upon its improved performance against Arizona, particularly if we get Ray Cater back in full speed and have Bell available for action.

We don’t need to go over our offensive statistics since we have been barraged with all the gory statistics from last two weeks. As for Fresno State here are few numbers that kind of jumped out to me:

• FSU opponents have been averaging 4.68 yards per rushing attempts (557 yards in 119 attempts
• FSU’s passing defense has been pretty decent holding opposing QBs to a very average 52.7 percent completion rate

FSU’s defense is headlined by their MLB Brandon Jacobs. From Kevin Pearson’s notes at PE.com:

BEN JACOBS (6-3, 240, So.): The Bulldogs middle linebacker, Jacobs leads the team with 28 tackles, including three for a loss. He has also recovered a fumble and blocked a kick this season.

The numbers highlighted above indicate that FSU has a solid secondary. That was the assessment in this preview by Rivals.com before the season:

STRONGEST AREA: The secondary returns cornerback Damion Owens, strong safety Moses Harris and free safety Marvin Haynes from a team that ranked third in the WAC in pass-efficiency defense, though Haynes still must beat out senior Jake Jorde to keep his starting job. Owens, Harris and Haynes have two years of starting experience each. The only hole is at the second cornerback spot, where standout kick returner A.J. Jefferson gets first dibs at replacing departed three-year starter Damon Jenkins.

We have talked all week about how the pressure is on Craft to produce this weekend. Hopefully the return of Bell and Carter will give him a decent ground game to work with this week. The key for Craft and UCLA’s offense will be gain 4-5 yards in first down so that they can get themselves in manageable 2nd and 3rd situations. Otherwise, if the offense gets itself into 3rd and long often, it will be another long afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

Meanwhile, on offense here are the key players per Pearson’s notes:

QB TOM BRANDSTATER (6-5, 225, Sr.): Brandstater is a highly regarded NFL prospect who is among the best quarterbacks the Bruins will see this season. He is big and smart, throwing for five touchdowns and one interception this season. He is averaging 224 passing yards per game.

TE BEAR PASCOE (6-5, 260, Sr.): Pascoe is likely one of the best tight ends UCLA will see this year. He leads the team with 11 receptions and is an adept blocker and will certainly create some tough matchups for the Bruins.

In addition to those two tailback Ryan Matthews is having a decent start to the season. He has rushed for 304 yards in 61 carries averaging 5 yards per carry (3TDs). More from Rival.com’s season preview, which once again headlines Pascoe:

STAR POWER: How good a tight end is senior Bear Pascoe? Ask Texas A&M. Pascoe scored three touchdowns in the Bulldogs' 47-45 triple-overtime loss to the Aggies last season. Pascoe finished with 45 catches for 553 yards and four touchdowns. He could emerge as one of the nation's top tight ends this season.

IMPACT NEWCOMER: Fresno State has so much experience on offense that it will be tough for any first-year guy to get much playing time, but the Bulldogs' leading scorer still could end up being a redshirt freshman. We're referring to Kevin Goessling, the favorite to win the kicking job.

IT'S HIS TIME: Wide receiver Chastin West was one of Fresno State's most promising underclassmen after catching 33 passes for 365 yards as a freshman two years ago, but he missed 2007 with an injured left knee. If West can stay healthy for an entire season, he has star potential.

STRONGEST AREA: Fresno State was 14th in the nation in rushing offense and capped the season by running for 286 yards in the Humanitarian Bowl against a highly regarded Georgia Tech defense. And the Bulldogs delivered that big performance against the Yellow Jackets without leading rusher Ryan Mathews, who finished the season with 866 yards and 14 touchdowns. Mathews, Lonyae Miller and Anthony Harding are back after combining for 1,878 yards and 25 touchdowns last season. They will be running behind a veteran line that features left tackle Bobby Lepori, right guard Andrew Jackson and right tackle Kenny Avon.

WEAKEST AREA: Although Fresno State's line boasts plenty of experience, the departure of Ryan Wendell leaves a big hole at center. The Bulldogs are counting on senior Adam McDowell or sophomore Joe Bernardi to fill the void. This offense doesn't have many weaknesses, but the situation at center does offer cause for concern.

It will be interesting to see how the defense stacks up against Pascoe given the success Gronkowski and Pitta enjoyed against us last two weekends. One thing that could potentially help Walker is that Fresno State runs more of a traditional pro set offense and their QB doesn’t have the same mobility as Tuitatama.

Another data point that stuck out to me re. Fresno St

• Once they get into the red zone they are deadly (91.67%) while their opponents convert 76.92% of red zone opportunities.
  

The obvious challenge for next weekend is for UCLA to play a mistake free football game and play solid special teams. We can’t afford to give FSU’s offense short field like we did to Arizona time after time last weekend. You can check out more numbers on Fresno State here and here.

Obviously we will have post more notes on FSU next couple of days. Meanwhile, we would love to hear your thoughts on how the Bruins can pull of this upset in this “tuneup” game for Fresno State.

GO BRUINS.

Brian Dohn has the story, that originated in the Fresno Bee (and HT to Bruin Report Online's message boards, where I saw the story first.)

We will start the Humpday of this game focusing on Kevin Craft (again). Like it or not Craft is now at the center of the offensive spotlight. Foster in the LAT reports that Chow is taking his time with Craft:

Chow says he still believes that Craft is running the offense at too quick a pace.

"It's like when a little person learns how to speak and they stutter because their mind's going faster than they can think," Chow said.

How to fix that is the question.

"We just have to keep working with him," Chow said.

Craft echoes the same thing.

"I have to be more consistent," Craft said. "I do the classroom work, look at tape, do the homework. If you keep digging you'll be able to fight and claw."

While Craft is chipping away, Prince and Forcier (in that order) are pushing him at practice. However, they have not be able to break though either … yet. Pearson from PE.com on CRN and his coaching looking for answers at QB:

Freshmen Kevin Prince and Chris Forcier have been pushing for the starting job, but neither has done enough yet to supplant Craft.

"I've seen sparks of it, but it has not been consistent," Neuheisel said. "You ask yourself what is the next-best thing to do. The other kids are trying to take his job, but I don't think they have done that yet. You just have to keep pushing through and searching until we have the right answer."

I think if we see the same performance from our offense in the first two quarters against Fresno State as what we saw in our last two games, it will not be a huge surprise to see Prince get some action on Saturday. Let’s hope though that Craft gets it together and capture some of that fourth quarter mojo from the Tennessee game.

Craft’s job will get a little more manageable if Bell can return at 100 percent. However, from practice reports it sounds like Bell will not be at 100 percent when he gets back in action on Sat:

UCLA tailback Kahlil Bell had his most active practice since suffering a high ankle sprain in the season opener, but the senior was far from impressive Tuesday.

Bell, the Bruins leading rusher last season, was still limping and even spent part of practice getting his hamstring stretched after a long run.

"He pushed it hard (Tuesday) and was adequate," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Hopefully, we'll see improvement as the week goes on. He's not all the way back. He's not at 100 percent."

Bell acknowledged his left ankle "was a little sore, but that was to be expected," and said it tightened up during a lull midway through practice because of a special teams drill. As practice wore on, Bell's activity decreased.

He has not played since being injured in the first half against Tennessee, but Neuheisel and Bell are optimistic for a Saturday return against No. 25 Fresno State at the Rose Bowl, and the hope is his presence will give the running game a jolt.

Craft, Bell and rest of the offense will be facing a Fresno State team, which will be without their best DL Jon Monga. Bryant-Jon Anteola from the Fresno Bee reports on the Bulldogs coming into the Rose Bowl without Monga.  Monga suffered a knee during their 55-54 double OT win at Toledo:

With Monga out and defensive tackle Cornell Banks still nursing a sprained ankle that kept him out against Toledo, Fresno State is missing both its starting defensive tackles for an unknown amount of time.

Banks, the Bulldogs' top run stopper, sustained his injury two weeks ago against Wisconsin and has not practiced. He also did not attend Sunday's light workout, though Hill is hopeful Banks will return this week.

Their absence has caused Fresno State to turn to freshmen Logan Harrell and Chase McEntee, and sophomore Mark Roberts. The 6-2, 300-pound Roberts started in Banks' place and took over the role of primary run stopper and gap filler. He had one tackle.

The Bulldogs have yet to decide who will start in Monga's absence.

Bruins shouldn’t be resting easy. Coach Pat Hill has put together a strong program over the years, which is well equipped to deal with this kind if injuries. You can bet that Hill will plug someone in who will be ready to step up. We will have more notes on the Bulldogs later.

GO BRUINS.

It’s Fresno State week. That means in addition to getting ready for Pat Hill’s team we also have to brace for flooding of 20,000+ Bull Dogs fans down the I-5. Apparently Fresno State has sold out its entire allotment of tickets for 9,000 fans. Yet I think the actual number is going to be lot bigger because those guys know they will never have a better opportunity for taking their best shot against the Bruins (and unload decades of inferiority complex) against UCLA on our home turf. So they are going to be out in force, while Pat Hill is being coy:

Pat Hill and about 20,000 of his friends will drop by the Rose Bowl on Saturday, and the Fresno State football coach won't have any sympathy for a UCLA team that has been outscored 90-10 the last two games.

"There is no reason to feel sorry for UCLA," Hill said. "They have very, very good players on their roster. There is not one guy on that roster that would take a [recruiting] visit to Fresno State. We know they've got great players."

Uh hum. I am sure he really means that (just like Lou Holtz meant what he said when he made the Midshipmen sound like bunch of world beaters as ND during Navy week in South Bend).

Anyway, to build up the Bruins’ chances more, Pat Hill is crying about the extensive travel Fresno State has had to do last three weeks due to their wacky scheduling:

While one might wonder whether Hill has seen game film of the Bruins' 59-0 debacle against Brigham Young or their 31-10 loss to Arizona, Hill can be forgiven if he's a little edgy.

The Bulldogs anyone-anywhere scheduling philosophy has earned them loads of frequent-flier miles this month. They opened the season by beating Rutgers in New Jersey, then, after an intense 13-10 home loss to No. 9 Wisconsin, played a double-overtime thriller at Toledo, winning 55-54.

"It's not easy getting home at 5 a.m. after two of our first three games, then going right to work and get the team going again," Hill said. "For us to travel three times zones twice in 21 days is a lot, but it's what we have to go through to get these type of games."

Yeah, I am sure all that traveling will dampen Fresno State’s enthusiasm and adrenaline for what they really think they can do to UCLA this weekend at the Rose Bowl.

So speaking of Bruins, Brian Dohn reports on our QB situation is precarious. Apparently CRN had Kevin Prince warming up last weekend at the Rose Bowl:

After Arizona took a two-touchdown lead early in the fourth quarter, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel told true freshman quarterback Kevin Prince to warm up as the Bruins toyed with the idea of replacing starter Kevin Craft.

However, Neuheisel said Monday offensive coordinator Norm Chow elected to remain with Craft, a decision he supported.

"I told (Prince) to warm up in the event we were going to make a change," Neuheisel said. "But Norm decided that it was probably not prudent, and I thought Norm's idea was the right one."

So why did Neuheisel instruct Prince, a Crespi of Encino product, to get loose?

"I thought the outcome was no longer in question, and maybe it was a good time to get some young guys some reps," Neuheisel said. "But I think it was probably the wise thing not to do it."

Neuheisel said Craft is the starter as the Bruins prepare for Saturday's final non-conference opponent, No. 25 Fresno State, at the Rose Bowl.

The pressure is on Craft. I think he has to come out next Saturday and put together an above average first half against Fresno State. Just being average is not going to cut it (although arguably his performance last weekend was well below average). Craft will have to come out, play in rhythm, make smart decisions, and lead the offense to some point producing drives. Otherwise, if the end result is the same as last weekend (when defense scored more TD than the O), I would have to think CRN and Chow will ask Prince to warm up again.

Speaking of another player, who needs to get better in a hurry is Terrence Austin:

For Austin, not hanging onto punts has been a recurring problem dating back to last season, though he said his error on Saturday was the result of not having good technique.

The ball was several yards in front of Austin and instead of letting it bounce, he tried to charge it and scoop it up just before it hit the ground. It quickly shot out of his hands and was recovered by the Wildcats.

Austin said that he estimated he fumbled only one punt last season and did not see this as a long-term problem. But a review of the box scores from the 2007 season showed he fumbled punt returns against Washington, Cal, USC and BYU.

This season, he fumbled a kickoff return against BYU and then was credited with the fumble on the muffed punt in the Arizona loss.

Austin averaged 10 yards on 31 punt returns last season and said he set the goal of 16 yards per return this year. But through three games and seven returns this season, he is averaging 5.3 yards with a season long of 9 yards.

"Other than the muffed punt this week, everything else was fine," Austin said. "Looking at film, it's almost there. There are just one or two blocks that need to be made, or I need to fake one way to get to the other way. It's just a few things that need to be done and then big plays will be made."

Well, TA and his team-mates in the special teams will need to get their issues resolved this week. 

I hope coaches have a Plan B in place in case TA continues his performance from last two weekends because we can’t let our special teams continue to put our defense in such precarious short field positions game after game. Otherwise it will be those poor Fresno State Bulldogs, who will be making big plays at the expense of our mistakes.

GO BRUINS.

So there has been some discussion in reaction to Ted Miller’s observations on WWL that if the Bruins lose to Fresno State and to BYU this season, “most folks will view a UCLA loss to either as an embarrassment.” Miller wrote a stand alone post yesterday explaining where he came from:

My guess is most folks assume Tennessee will beat UCLA. My guess is Bruins fans would utter a "drat" and move on.

I don't think they'd react the same to losses to Fresno State or BYU. They'd immediately register their first pang of doubt over Rick Neuheisel. It might be the lightest of flickers, but it would appear.

Fair or unfair, even with recent history as our guide, most folks still believe in the superiority of the BCS conferences. It's mostly OK to lose to another BCS conference foe, particularly a storied one like the Vols.

But the WAC or Mountain West? No.

That, by the way, is why many BCS teams run screaming when Fresno or BYU come looking for a game. It feels like a no-win situation.

The general feeling persists that if UCLA, Fresno State and BYU are competing for a recruit, said recruit will choose UCLA in a vast majority of cases (unless he's Mormon or sports a cool Fu Manchu).

That means the general feeling persists that UCLA's players are better. Or should be.

That is not the general feeling with Tennessee.

UCLA losing to BYU or Fresno State will be an edgy story on CollegeGame Day (perhaps a BCS-Buster angle). UCLA losing to Tennessee will not.

My guess is there's a decent chance UCLA loses all three games. Neuheisel inherited a flawed team that has had horrible injury luck over the past few months.

But UCLA fans will feel far more diminished by losses to Fresno State and BYU than they would to Tennessee.

Reasonable or not, they will be embarrassed.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Losing sucks. I think I am not the only one in this blog whose stomach is tied up in knots every time UCLA loses in any sports (not just football or basketball). I don’t like that feeling and I especially don’t like the feeling of logging on my computer or getting the paper on a Sunday morning following a black Saturday (or Thursday night) either in football or hoops. It burns.

However, at the same following these programs on a day to day basis for almost two decades (and I imagine its longer for many folks here and elsewhere in the hyper engaged Bruin online communities) brings a certain sense of perspective.

I agree with that Ted that as a UCLA alum I would never find our football team losing to a non BCS conference acceptable. Just like I would never find our basketball team being mired in 6 games losing streak or getting blown out by mediocre teams. But guess what? That is what happened in Coach Howland’s first season at UCLA. Not once, but twice.

If folks have forgotten Howland’s first season already, take a look at the results from 2003-04 season. Howland’s first season were dotted with two 6 game losing streaks. That team was repeatedly humiliated at home and on the road, ending the season with 6 straight losses. Did those losses burn? Yes they did. Were we embarrassed when St. Johns was destroying UCLA in front a national TV audience at the Garden. Of course we were.

But here is the deal. We were neither embarrassed for Howland nor we had a “pang of doubt” concerning his ability to methodically rebuild our program. Even though we were embarrassed about those losses, we had a sense of perspective about the talent level in our program and what Howland inherited from his predecessor. I would submit similar situation is at play here. I am not going to rehash the whole discussion re. expectations v. predictions. Just click on the “dose of reality” tag at the bottom of this post and they will pull up the discussions we had on this topic to date.

I think Ted is right that there will be some fans who will be “embarrassed” if UCLA loses to a well coached BYU team at Provo or Fresno State at Rose Bowl. Nothing wrong with that. People should have that kind of pride in our program. However, I would submit that it would be ignorant for any UCLA fan to register doubts about Neuehisel’s coaching ability given the talent level in our program on both sides of the ball (as discussed in detail in our depth chart analysis over last two weeks). Neuheisel doesn’t have the horses right now. And one good recruiting class (from last year) will not automatically turn this into a contending program. This will take a while and a matter of patience and perspective.

Miller himself wrote this (emphasis mine):

So what does "embarrassment" have to do with this? It's about perception -- not informed perception but general perception.

Well I would hope folks who are informed about the bigger picture around our football programs will not get suckered into that general perception. I would hope Bruin alums, students and fans will maintain perspective like many of us did during Howland’s first couple of years (when we withstood the painful losses, but were mindful of the bigger picture). I know it will not be a problem here on Bruin Nation because being informed on all aspects of our athletic programs is not an issue for the members of this community.

I just hope Miller and others in the traditional media don’t treat the UCLA fan base as a monolithic community when they hear some isolated reactions in talk radio or via their email feedback as the general barometer of how the extended Bruin Nation is feeling about our programs. I believe Bruin fan base deserves lot more credit than being diminished as an uninformed bunch without a sense of perspective. Judging by how it gave Coach Howland room despite the results from his first two season, I think they have proven to be more than reasonable with a sense of perspective. I am confident we will treat a coach like Neuheisel who is a proven winner (as a coach and player) and is looking for a chance to redeems himself from his past mistakes the same kind of room. 

GO BRUINS.