We all knew about the drama heading into this game:.

Given all the distractions that was around this game from CRN's return to Seattle, Bruins pull off a very impressive win. Bruins roll over the the winless Huskies by a score of 27-7. They came out strong by scoring a TD by Derrick Coleman in a beautiful opening drive:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Froschauer (via ESPN)

The Huskies showed a little life early on (thanks to what has become the usual Craft TOs) but our boys clamped down and pull off a satisfying win. Here is the AP recap and box score.

The defense was dominating, highlighted by monster play of Akeem Ayers and tremendous contributions from Moore, ATV, Norris, Harwell, Price, Carter and rest of the gang.

On the offensive side a solid night for our OL who generated a decent running attack. DC got things going early and then Bell came through with a gutty performance rushing for 98 yards in 25 carries.

Yes, we get the fact that the Huskies are a terrible football team. Yet, that shouldn't diminish what our young Bruins accomplished tonight by taking care of business while drama was swirling around the return of their head coach to his previous home.

Bruins still have a shot at a bowl game. If they can use the momentum from tonight by focusing even harder and pull off a win against ASU, they just might position themselves for a memorable ending to CRN's first season. Here is to hope.

Thread away in our post game thread.

GO BRUINS.

CRN returns to his former stadium ...

Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Froschauer (ESPN)

... but so far it's a good night for his alma mater and current team.

Bruins are up by a score of 17-7 powered by the rushing of Derrick Coleman.

Kevin Craft and Derrick Coleman got our offense to a great start but then they stumbled around bit. At this point since we have a semblance of running attack going (94 yards in 24 carries), KC needs to focus on managing the game.

Meanwhile, we need our defense to tighten it up a little and FINISH STRONG.

Let's get it going in our second half thread.

GO BRUINS.

It’s been more than a year since we won a game on the road. Last time our guys won a game on the road was last September (September 29th to be exact) when we pulled off a fluke win against a sloppy Oregon State team. You can forget about Washington coming in unfocused and unprepared. This is their bowl game of their season. They are going to come in with more emotion and fire than they will come in any other game of the season.

So hopefully Bruins can get off to a fast start and maintain that intensity and focus for the entire game:

Photo Credit: Phil Carter/US Presswire(via the LA Times)

If you have been under a rock or in seclusion and are trying to figure out why this will be an emotional game, you can check our game page here.

The kickoff time is scheduled for 7:15 pm PST on FSN. As always 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.

Let’s hope the boys in blue can put it all together.  With that said time to get started with another game thread filled with our passion buckets.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

It’s one of those Saturdays during which we have to wait all day till our Bruins take the field:

Photo Credit: Monica's Dad's Photostream (flickr)

If you are going to take in other games before the Bruins kick off later tonight around 7:00 pm (FSN national broadcast), here is the pre game thread.

I know I will be keeping an eye on number of games that are interesting to me for various reasons through out the day. The games that stick out to me: Georgia at Auburn (9:30 am), Northwestern at Michigan (9:00 am), and Notre Dame at Navy (9:00 am), and USC at Florida (12:30 pm). You can keep tab of the scores via WWL.

I am interested to see how Steve Spurrier’s Game Cocks does against the Gators. Georgia’s season has been bit of a letdown given the pre-season expectations. Yet they still are on their way to have another solid Richt (one of my favorite coaches in college football) season. It will be interesting to see how they handle Auburn on the road.  Auburn is having a pretty rough season itself.

I always tune into Michigan games to check out what my would have been alma mater (and my second favorite school) is up to. Lastly, if Navy somehow beats Notre Dame … well I will leave it up to college football junkies to imagine the subsequent drama in South Bend.

BTW make sure to get your pre game guesses in. We will close the thread about half an hour before our kickoff at 7:15 pm PST.

What games are you watching? As always if you are online, hanging out over here on BN, post your thoughts right here. Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

So the first thing I did this am before reading through game day clips was to check the weather. Looks like it will be a classic November night in Seattle. Temperature should be in the 40s with a slight chance of rain. I am going to bet if we see some rain, it will be that light rain/drizzle stuff. Something our players should be able to handle.

The key matchup for tonight is going to be between the Huskies defense and Bruin offense. Here is Molly Yanity from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The Huskies defense is weak. It ranks last in the Pac-10, 114th out of the nation's 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams and has allowed 471.33 yards per game this season. The latter is a number that will blow away the Huskies' previous season worst, posted last year with 446 yards per game.

But that doesn't mean it can't match up with a poor Bruins offense.

Weakness against weakness will square off at the line of scrimmage. Both the Bruins offensive line and the Huskies defensive line boast young, inexperienced players.

Nine players have started on the Bruins line this season. Seven made their first career starts. Neuheisel also has been forced to use seven combinations in nine games.

"There just isn't a great deal of experience, and programs sometimes go through that, so we're enduring it and hopefully we'll benefit from it as time goes on," Neuheisel said.

The Huskies, meanwhile, have found little continuity up front, using five starting combinations on the defensive line of scrimmage.

Getting to the quarterback has been a major issue -- the Huskies have just seven sacks. The emergence of senior linebacker Chris Stevens could change the Huskies' momentum in that area.

I think the key for the UCLA offense will be to give Craft some time and pound the Huskies with our running game. Once again, I will get my weekly Saturday pleading out of the way by asking coaches to give Coleman more carries. It seems like this could be a great opportunity for him to come through with a good game given his running style. I am going to assume Bell will start and get the carries early on. But I think it would be worth it to give Coleman good amount of reps so that we can keep Bell fresh for a while, and keep pounding at them with a diverse attack. From the Huksy pov, they will need to generate pressure on Craft, which might be feasible given the status of our OL. Needless to say, it should be interesting and right now I don’t really know how it will play out.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, this is a big night for UCLA defense. They have been playing really well last two games until the walls caved in late in the fourth. I think this is a game they will have to hang in there for an entire four quarters. The LAT report this am brought up the consistent play of our secondary which might have an opportunity to get some TOs today:

On the other side of the ball, the UCLA defense has played well against the pass, surrendering only 178.1 yards a game -- cornerback Alterraun Verner ranks fifth in the conference in passes defended -- but the secondary has not been so good on interceptions with only six.

That could change against Washington quarterback Ronnie Fouch, who has struggled in the weeks since starter Jake Locker suffered a broken thumb. The redshirt freshman has completed less than 45% of his passes and has had nine passes intercepted in eight games.

BTW I am going to assume some people will immediately point to Norris and Lockett and argue that our DBs haven’t been consistent. I think it is fair to point out that Norris has had some tough moments (which includes couple of key break downs last weekend) and Lockett has had his share of trouble, but over all I think this group of secondary is starting to coming along nicely. One of the key reasons have been the Tony Dye settling in as a nickel back.

As for the mindset going into this game, I liked what Reggie Carter had to say:

"We better not lose this game," linebacker Reggie Carter said. "They are 0-9, but we are 3-6. We are playing just as bad as they are. I wouldn't say we think we are better than them so we have to win. Noooo ... we haven't won a game and we are playing bad right now.

"Coaches preach that you can't underestimate your opponent and you have to be careful. With us, you don't even have to say that, because we haven't been winning. We're at the bottom of the Pac-10 just like they are. We're fighting for a victory just as much as they are."

Hopefully rest of our guys are channeling RC. I love the kid’s passion for this game.

We will end with two quick references to the coaching storyline. Dohn reports that there is a sense of apathy in the Washington campus, which includes some CRN supporters still wishing he was still coaching up there:

"I think he should be cheered, and I wish he was still the coach here," said John, a longtime Huskies fan (who asked that his last name not be used), sitting at the Lockspot Cafe, made famous from the "Deadliest Catch" series on the Discovery Channel. "I think he got a raw deal."

Meanwhile, on the other side it will be an emotional experience for 19 outgoing Huskies seniors (who were recruited by CRN) who will try to pull out a win for Willingham’s last home game at Husky Stadium:

Willingham will coach his final game at Husky Stadium on Saturday. He is 6-19 at home, lately playing before a half-full stadium.

"When you look out and you are coming to your final one in this stadium, you have a lot of thoughts," Willingham said. "I don't know what all of them will be at this time but obviously it will be emotional for me also.

Let’s hope our guys are ready. The kick off is not till 7:15 pm PST. So we will put up a pre game thread around 10 am PST, where you can hang out and follow other football actions this Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

Achilles is back but he is still shaking off a massive jet leg.

Again ... when he is all caught up ... I am sure we will figure out a way to tabulate the results from last few weeks. Meanwhile, let's keep playing because it's kind of fun and allows us to follow the game from with additional angles.

So here we go with the pre game guesses for this weekend’s game against Washington.

Given the dominant topic of this week (at least in the traditional media) is CRN’s return’s to Seattle and all the drama around it, and one of my all time favorite happens to be the Pearl Jam from Seattle, thought this tune would be a no brainer (make sure to turn the volume all the way up):

Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (via TheGargantuanSock)

Somehow I managed to write a 10 page "term paper" on "Vs" in a UCLA music class on rock and roll back in the day. Took that class the same year we won banner number 11 … in Seattle. Of course the pre game show of the final game against Arkansas (IIRC) was highlighted by "Better Man."

Anyway, enough of yours truly going down the memory lane.

Here are the questions:

1. Who will rush for more than 100 yards tomorrow night? UCLA or UDub
2. Kevin Craft will turn over the ball more times than Ronnie Fouch? True or False
3. Who will score the first TD for UCLA? 

Ready, set, go.

We will close this thread half an hour before the kickoff.

GO BRUINS.

The Friday before taking on a win less Washington program, few of our guys are thinking about the Notre Dame game from last season. Here is Dohn:

"I was telling guys we can't take them lightly because last year Notre Dame was 0-fer and they came in and beat us," UCLA sophomore defensive tackle Brian Price said. "We've got to take these guys way serious."

Price and his team-mates will have to take these guys seriously even though the numbers are not pretty (then again neither are ours):

Washington is 117th (of 119) teams in scoring at 14.7 points per game, 115th in rushing (85.3 ypg), and 113th in total offense (277.8 ypg).

Quarterback Ronnie Fouch, who took over for injured Jake Locker in the fourth game, completes 44.9 percent of his passes and is averaging 148.1 passing yards per game.

He also has four touchdowns and nine interceptions.

"This game there's a lot of pressure because Washington, man, they're a good team," Bruins freshman safety Rahim Moore said. "They are 0 and whatever they are, but I don't believe that. They've got good players on the team. A lot of guys I grew up with here, and a lot of guys I met throughout recruiting and all-star games."

Meanwhile, Washington's defense is last in the nation in passing efficiency (174.25), 116th in scoring (41.3ppg), 115th in rushing (236.4ypg) and 114th in total defense (471.3 ypg).

It doesn’t matter how said Washington’s defensive stats are, we will not go anywhere if our OL continues to struggle. Speaking of the OL CRN sent a message yesterday by announcing that RG Sonny Tevaga is not going to make the trip to Seattle:

Backup right guard Sonny Tevaga was held out of UCLA football practice Thursday and won't be making the trip to Washington for Saturday night's game, as Coach Rick Neuheisel said the sophomore from Compton Dominguez High needs "to reevaluate how important football is in his life."

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Tevaga started the first two games of the season for the Bruins, and he filled in during Saturday's loss to Oregon State when starting guard Nick Ekbatani was injured. Tevaga was listed at No. 2 on the depth chart before Neuheisel's move.

The coach said his handling of Tevaga was "not discipline" but a response to something in Tevaga's "personal area" that requires the player "to do some soul-searching."

I am not surprised by this move at al. If folks want to watch the Oregon State game, they will see how Tevaga got destroyed last Sat night. He was also getting man handled in the first two games of this season. In some ways, when I have been watching this OL this year, it has been giving me a lot of flashback of the combination of Josiah Johnson, Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins in Howland’s first year at UCLA (and it didn’t get that much better his second year with a very raw LM (no R yet in his freshman season)).

I hope for Sonny’s sake he gets it all figured out and determine what he wants to put his mind into. I am rooting for him but he needs to give his best with total focus and determination whatever he commits to at UCLA.

Besides sitting out Tevaga, there has been more shuffle at OL:

He'll move senior Micah Reed back to starting center and says more adjustments are possible based on who's performing at the highest level the rest of the season.

Reed was suspended for last week's loss against Oregon State, and replaced by sophomore Jake Dean.

Asked about his hold on the position, Dean said, "Micah's been getting all the reps. I really don't know. I'm sure the coaches could tell you."

And Neuheisel did, saying, "Jake's been beat up. He's not as strong as Micah."

As the Bruins try to boost a sagging rushing average of 77.8 yards a game and an offense that ranks eighth in the Pacific 10 Conference, Neuheisel said those results demand an alternative strategy.

"We would not be changing the offensive line if we thought staying the course was the right thing to do," he said. "Part of improvement is creating competition."

While RS frosh Mike Harris has emerged as a bright spot in this struggling line:

A 6-foot-5, 305-pound redshirt freshman from Duarte, Harris will make his third consecutive start on Saturday when the Bruins play Washington in Seattle, something he credits to his perseverance this season.

"There is no substitute for hard work and it's paid off," Harris said. "Now there is still a lot more I have to do to be a great offensive tackle.

"I'm just going to play these last three games as hard as I can and gain experience from it. I can go into the off-season knowing what I have to work on, knowing I have to get stronger and faster."

Harris' emergence has been beneficial for the Bruins and their young, inexperienced line. With him in the starting lineup, the Bruins have been able to move Nick Ekbatani from right tackle to right guard, a position he is more comfortable at.

With Jeff Baca cementing himself at left tackle, Harris has also managed to keep Micah Kia, who has struggled with confidence issues and has been a severe liability, on the sidelines.

"I didn't think I would play this year after my ankle injury," Harris said. "I just thought to myself it's going to be a long season and I have to work hard because my team can use a guy like me. I got in there and am doing what I can to help my team win."

The experience and contributions Baca and Harris are providing now will be invaluable for us down the line as this OL gets more reinforcements in the coming season.

For now let’s hope these guys are focused and fired up and take care of business against an emotional senior laden Husky team tomorrow night.

GO BRUINS.

For the first time since Washington State game, Bruins are heading into a game as favorites but don’t be fooled. The Huskies might be winless and are at the rock bottom point in their program’s history, but they are perfectly capable of pulling of a season making win this Saturday. Nathan Ware from DawgBlawg (Seattlepi.com) provides what I think are pretty good reasons why the Huskies can beat UCLA this weekend:

1. UCLA QB Kevin Craft has struggled mightily. Craft has thrown 7 interceptions in the past two games and his confidence is shot.

2. UCLA's best weapons are WR Taylor Embree, WR Terrence Austin, and TE Ryan Mora. However, UW is getting their best cornerback back from injury (Meshpin Forrester) and Craft's struggles have compromised the effectiveness of UCLA's excellent skill position players.

3. UCLA's offensive line has been the Achilles' heel of the team. The Bruins haven't been able to run the ball and they've allowed 27 sacks this season. UW's porous front seven will have a fighting chance. UCLA is last in the Pac-10 in rushing offense. That's right, they are worse than UW at running the ball.

4. UCLA's run defense – once thought to be a strength of the team – has allowed over 1000 yards in the past 4 games. Stopping the run is an effort-related task and this is a key sign that the Bruins are beginning the process of mailing in their season.

5. UCLA is as bad as UW at turning the ball over.

Nathan also goes on to provide psychological factors working in the Huskies favor:

Last weekend's ASU game was a turning point. The players were either going to continue to quit and let the season fade away or turn a corner against some beatable teams and scratch and claw their way to a win. What we saw on Saturday against the Sun Devils was that UW decided to keep pressing.

Granted, UW lost to ASU by 20 points but they did have a lead in the 3rd quarter and played the Devils tough. UCLA doesn't have a Rudy Carpenter-type-of-quarterback that can take over a game.

We saw more excitement on the sideline in the ASU game then we saw in all of the other games this season combined. Washington is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

UCLA is headed in the opposite direction. With 6 losses, their bowl hopes are all but lost. The team looks demoralized and appears to be where UW was 6 weeks ago. UW is simply catching UCLA at the right time.

The Bruins beat WSU and Stanford in the middle of the season but have been blown out in their last two games against Cal and OSU. UW played OSU better than UCLA.

UW realized their season was over after they lost to Stanford in game 4. The Huskies reeled off several demoralizing losses. UCLA is at the point in their season where UW was when they played Notre Dame a few weeks back. They, too, realize that their season is lost.

Rock bottom is still a few weeks away for the Bruins. Washington fans are experts in the experiment of rock bottom.

Well, I have always maintained emotion is a huge part of college football. I firmly believe it’s the emotion factor that separates college sports from the pro leagues. It would be a huge mistake for our players to underestimate the kind of emotion the Huskies will experience this Saturday taking on Neuheisel, given the history around these two programs (if you still cannot get enough of UCLA coache(s) returning to Seattle, check out two stories from the LAT here and here).

The only disagreement I have with Nathan is that the last two losses we have suffered were not as one sided as the scores indicates. And of course despite the losses, we still have a mathematical shot at a bowl game. However, he does have a point that our team looked deflated (from all the self inflicted implosion during four quarters).

To be fair Nathan also has a separate well thought out post on why the Huskies won’t beat UCLA, but the factors he outlined should be enough to get everyone worried about this weekend’s game. HT to John over at UW Dawg Pound for the link to DawgBlog.

Well for the Bruins to win this weekend, the formula should be simple. Craft and co will have to minimize mistakes on offense. From the official site:

• UCLA is 25-2 when it wins the turnover battle over the past five-plus seasons, including 5-0 (@Stanford, BYU, Oregon State, California, Oregon) in 2007 and 2-0 (WSU, Stanford) in 2008.
• It is 13-32 when it ties or loses the turnover battle over the last five-plus seasons, including 1-6 (beat Tennessee, lost to @BYU, Arizona, Fresno State, @Oregon, @Cal and Oregon State) in 2008.

And the Bruins will have to keep building on the improving defense from last few weeks:

• UCLA's defense has allowed opponent offenses to convert just 18 of the last 64 (28.1%) third down conversion attempts in the last five games.
• Oregon's 42 yards passing is the fewest allowed by the Bruin defense since Sept. 4, 2004, when the Bruins held Oklahoma State to 23 yards in the air.
• In a three-game span (Oregon, Stanford, California) UCLA allowed just 246 passing yards (21 completions in 54 attempts), including two games under 100 yards.
• Over the last five-plus seasons, the Bruins are 21-3 when they hold the opponent under 20 points, and had a 16-game winning streak snapped when they lost the Las Vegas Bowl, 17-16.

Now if the defense can hang in there and close out with a strong fourth quarter, while the offense can minimize mistakes, we will have a shot. Lot of “ifs” in this rebuilding season, but hey I will cling on to that hope.

CRN also provided this added reminder on how the Huskies can be tough at home:

The Bruins (3-6, 2-4 Pac-10) can't be caught sleeping in Seattle. Washington (0-9) hasn't won this season, but Rick Neuheisel doesn't want the Bruins thinking anything will be handed to them. He'll use BYU's rout against UCLA - since Washington nearly beat the Cougars - as motivation. However, Washington still had quarterback Jake Locker under center then.

"We'll talk about the game," Neuheisel said. "I don't know I'd call it dangerous. These teams are both fighting for the future. I think we have to have the right mindset. We can't certainly go in there thinking they're going to lay down because that won't be the case. This is going to be a very physical, tough-nosed game. I have great respect for that program. They're going to play with a great deal of pride. They've been right there a number of games.

They should've been in overtime with BYU, a team we got beat by 59-0. If that doesn't have our team understand what the mindset is in this game ..."

Yeah, I know Locker was in that game. He won’t be around this week. But given the state of our offense, we should be worried no matter who is quarterbacking the other team.

GO BRUINS.

Some really interesting news out of Spaulding today. Apparently Ben Olson took majority of the second-team snaps yesterday. From the Daily News:

UCLA quarterback Ben Olson took the majority of second-team snaps Tuesday as preparation began for Saturday's game at winless Washington, and said afterward his foot was feeling better and he was eager to play.

However, whether Olson supplants Chris Forcier as the backup to starter Kevin Craft won't be decided until late this week.

"It feels OK, but you're battling through a lot of things when you're coming back from an injury. Not just the injury itself," Olson said. "Your legs, your timing, you haven't played live for a couple of months. But I did a lot more than I thought."

Neuheisel said he still needs to speak with offensive coordinator Norm Chow about how the quarterback position will be handled this week, but gave a quick critique of Olson's day.

"He looked rusty," Neuheisel said.

Olson has been out since breaking a bone in his right foot in August, the second time it happened in four months. And although even Olson said it was unlikely he could play against Washington given this is his first full week of practice since training camp, he didn't rule it out.

"I think coach Chow will do a good job of putting me in situations that he thinks I can handle at this point, physically," said Olson, who showed he still has his sense of humor. "So, a lot of options, a lot of quarterback draws."

Good to see BO still being able to laugh about it. But I think it is a little more than telling that Chow and Neuheisel are willing to give Olson majority of the second-team snaps. The significance here IMHO is not whether or not Olson is ready to contribute, but it tells us what we need to know about what they think about Forcier’s ability to run this offense in their system.

I still hope that Olson is not rushed in under any circumstances but I trust the judgment of Chow and Neuheisel on how they handle the situation.

Meanwhile, on the defensive side Coach Walker sent a clear message to his players about finishing the game. From the LAT:

The UCLA defensive players gathered in a bunch after practice Tuesday, bouncing off the field, yelling, displaying emotion you might not expect from a unit hit by big scores the last two games.

"Just people who love football," safety Rahim Moore said. "We're just showing that things aren't over."

Earlier in the day, defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker had gathered his players for a closed-door meeting.

"Let's just say the bowl situation, when you start seeing that drift away, you can feel like you're running out of time," he said. "I was explaining to them that there are personal goals that can keep you motivated and goals as a group."

Walker was upset about the final touchdown in a 34-6 loss to Oregon State, a UCLA linebacker missing his gap, allowing a 35-yard run. He challenged starters to keep improving and backups to work toward breaking into the lineup.

He also told the defense that "we've managed to play well for three quarters and change. We need to do it for four quarters."

Should be interesting how they respond in a hostile situation this Saturday. Speaking of dealing with a possible hostile situation, here is a pretty good article re. CRN’s return to the Emerald City. Bob Condotta from the Seattle Times wrote about CRN’s contrite tone re. his previous team:

"The one thing I regret is that I would have been more heavy-handed with Jerramy Stevens," he said, referring to the tight end who had several legal issues at UW and has had more in his ongoing NFL career.

"Given another opportunity, I won't make the same mistake, and I don't say it because I'm mad at Jerramy but to tell him I'm sorry I didn't [punish him more]. I had a chance to send him a clear message and instead it was a mixed one and I regret that. But there were a lot of great kids on that team and in terms of what we accomplished that year, it was just a great team to be a part of."

His other significant regret, he said, is lying about interviewing for a coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers in February of 2003, which UW officials later cited in his firing.

Condotta went on to report how Neuheisel stays in close touch with his former players (who seem totally devoted to him)

Neuheisel said he had a reunion last summer with some of the players on that 2000 team, such as lineman Matt Rogers, safety Hakim Akbar and linebacker Derrell Daniels, who now works on-campus at UCLA and sometimes volunteers in the football office.

He stays in touch with a few others — he said he got a text message from Reggie Williams after the Bruins beat Tennessee in his first game as UCLA's coach, reciting one of Neuheisel's favorite sayings that "tough times don't last but tough people do."

And how he is not holding any grudges against anyone which includes Barbara Hedges, the former Washington A.D. who by all accounts totally mishandled the situation when she attempted to terminate him (which later blew up on the faces of the Husky Administration resulting in a settlement awarding millions to Neuheisel):

"She was very gracious," Neuheisel said. Neuheisel isn't expecting much grace Saturday, however. Asked what he thinks his legacy is in the minds of most UW fans, he said "unfortunately, I think that [the ending] will be primarily what people will remember because it was such a controversial time.

"It will be what it will be," he said of the reception he expects to receive. "I'm pretty sure the negative will outweigh the other. But that's OK. In some way, they are all cheering for Husky football however you are viewing it."

Well, one corner of the web you can expect a lot of Husky Grace is UW Dawg Pound, where John B is urging his fellow Huskies to show class when CRN returns to Mont Lake (his posts are generating some heated and passionate discussion, which IMHO is more than understandable). As I have said before, karma is going to work out both for UCLA/CRN and Washington with it’s next head coach.

GO BRUINS.

We will start our “Spaulding” roundup with a little note on Ben Ball. Rick Neuheisel makes a reference to Ben Ball data points we have been pointing to for months. CRN looked back at Howland's first two years in striking hopeful notes while looking forward:

The winning percentage was .393 and included losses in 14 of the last 16 games. The team was low on talent, chemistry and almost everything else.

It was Ben Howland's first year as UCLA's men's basketball coach, but it seems a lot further back than the 2003-04 season. In the following four seasons, Howland's teams were 115-28, went to three Final Fours and won three Pacific-10 Conference titles. […]

"If you look at the resumes of the coaching staff on this team, and you see where they've been and what they've accomplished," Neuheisel said, "there's no reason to think that we can't have the same kind of jump that a Ben Howland had here."

UCLA is 3-6, including 2-4 in the Pac-10, heading into Saturday's game at winless Washington.

Howland's first UCLA team was 11-17, but followed it with an 18-11 campaign before reeling off three straight 30-win seasons.

"Ben Howland had a losing record his first year here and then he went out and he recruited," Neuheisel said, "and he got his own culture established, and the next thing you know he's been to three Final Fours. I believe the football program is capable of the same thing."

Now I get the fact that football and basketball are different give the difference in number of scholarship athletes in each programs. However, the similarities between our football program in Dorrell’s last season with Lavin’s last two years are striking. In fact, I think if DG hadn’t pulled the trigger at the end of last season, I am willing to bet right now we would be staring at a winless season (just like the Washington Huskies) given the fact that the offensive staff in previous regime didn’t display a shred of competency even with QBs like Cowan or Olson in charge.  As frustrating as our offense has been this year, it would have been utterly hopeless and ugly with the Law Firm or Osaar Rashaan leading this team under Dorvell.

The way it has shaped up finishing this season between 3 to 6 wins with our current coaching staff will not be a surprise (actually I will be ecstatic if we can 5-6 wins to finish out this season). We should also brace for a tough season next year as well (even though I will expect better results than this one). UCLA given the hole Dorrell put us in, will not be fully back for at least another two years beyond this season. It’s a consequence we now have to live with for keeping Dorrell two years too long in this program.

Anyway, enough of looking back, let’s move on and that is what CRN is doing wrt to his upcoming opponent this week in Seattle. CRN got ahead of the predictable storylines yesterday by taking the classy approach and saying “sorry” to the Husky fans:

"For me, this thing ... if there's any emotion it's between the fans and myself, and I just want the fans to know that I am truly sorry for the messiness of how things shook out," Neuheisel said Monday.

"Husky football is a great entity and a great program and I believe that good things are in store, and I believe that is also the case for UCLA football."

More from CRN:

"I have a fond, fond memory bank of great things that happened to me while I was the Husky coach. I've been in Husky Stadium when it was absolutely rocking. I remember many, many late wins that the place was jumping, and I remember the Rose Bowl season and great, great things during my time there, and that's what I choose to reflect on rather than the unfortunate, messy ending."

I think I have alluded to this before. I have always been a huge fan of Seattle and the Washington Huskies football program. The majority of Husky fans I have had a chance to interact with have been incredibly classy and justifiably proud of the tradition of their program. Honestly, I find the storyline about Huskies booing CRN and all that kind of boring. I am sure we will see a lot of that but folks will move on in the long term. I have no doubt Huskies will get a great football coach who will get their program back where it belongs, annually contending for Pac-10 titles. It will take some time, but eventually with CRN at UCLA and a good coach leading the Huskies, we will have some classic games between these two program down the line.

As for the current matchup, not surprisingly the numbers for both programs are not encouraging:

The Bruins rush for a paltry 77.8 yards per game. The Huskies are not much better at 85.3.

"We've just put ourselves in too many long-distance situations," Washington quarterback Ronnie Fouch said, adding that "it's tough play-calling-wise to have third and 10, second and 10 every time."

As a result, the Huskies rank ninth in total offense in the Pacific 10. UCLA is eighth.

For weeks now, UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel has talked about how his team's inefficiency on offense has left the defense in tough spots. He sees the same dynamic with the Huskies.

"Defensively, they've actually done some good things," Neuheisel said. "Like us, it looks like the defense has been the victim of having to be on a lot of short fields."

Not surprisingly, both defenses rank near the bottom of the conference.

More gruesome numbers if you care to check:

The Huskies are ranked among the nation's bottom six in these categories: rushing offense, total offense, scoring, rushing defense, pass efficiency defense, total defense, scoring defense, kickoff returns, turnover margin, pass efficiency, sacks and tackles for loss.

Willingham has played 12 true freshmen with nine starting at least one game.

UCLA isn't as statistically abysmal, but the Bruins are eighth in the Pac-10 in both scoring (18.8 points per game) and scoring defense (31.0), just ahead of Washington in both categories.

UCLA of course has its own share of young kids getting their experiences this season.  Specifically if I have my notes via the official website right, 22 freshmen - 11 true and 11 redshirt - have played this year.

Also, nineteen different players have made their first career starts this year. Nine different offensive linemen have started a game and we have started seven different combinations in the nine games. That kind of experience will pay off in the long run.

As for our next game, wanted to share with you the following injury notes which included a very interesting tidbit re. Ben Olson at the end:

Wide receiver Nelson Rosario (ankle) should be available this week and is expected to practice in the coming days.

Defensive end Reginald Stokes, who played Saturday after having a recent knee surgery, should be more involved this week.

Neuheisel said the three players who were suspended for last week's game -- Jess Ward, Micah Reed and Scott Glicksberg -- would be back in the lineup, depending on how much they are needed.

Neuheisel said quarterback Ben Olson would likely travel to Washington and that he was hopeful Olson could play Nov. 28 against Arizona State.

I think that’s the first time I have seen CRN mention the possibility of Olson getting some action this season. I haven’t seen it mention anywhere else yet. Definitely something to keep our eyes on as we continue to look forward to both short term (yes this coaching staff keeps me intrigued about every game even though we are going through tough rebuilding times) and long term future.

GO BRUINS.

Let’s start the week with a HT to this week’s obvious storyline:

Neuheisel said on Sunday that he hadn't thought much about the trip back to Seattle but now that it's here, it had crossed his mind.

"I truthfully have not thought about it for a long time," Neuheisel said. "Now that it's here, I am forced to think about it.

"What happened between Washington and myself is water under the bridge. It's come and gone and hopefully both sides learned lessons."

We have discussed this topic enough over here in our UCLA-Washington game page which already features number of posts on CRN’s return to Seattle and the "Hate-a-palooza" that will be hyped up by the traditional media in LA, Seattle and across the country.

Looking back at last Sunday, CRN Was encouraged with the performance of our defense and return team on kickoff coverage:

After watching videotape of UCLA's loss to Oregon State, the ever-optimistic Neuheisel said he was encouraged that his team is still playing hard. He liked the defense and the kickoff coverage.

But offense was another story:

Linemen could not open holes for the running backs. That forced the quarterbacks to throw more often. And that resulted in turnovers.

Starter Kevin Craft had two interceptions and fumbled while scrambling. Reserve Chris Forcier also had a pass intercepted.

"We're too inconsistent to be considered a good team," Neuheisel said.

Well unfortunately CRN doesn’t have a lot of options when it comes to QBs. LAT reported this am that BO is still experiencing "pain" in the foot he broke before the season and is "weeks away from being able to play."

As for those who are clamoring for Forcier (which often includes yours truly during the game thread), here was CRN’s blunt assessment to Dohn:

As for the QBs, I asked Rick Neuheisel what is keeping Chris Forcier from getting meaningful snaps, and he bluntly said Forcier doesn't have a firm enough grasp on the offense.

If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, I am getting the sense that both Chow and Neuheisel do not believe Forcier fits in their system. From what I have seen in Chow’s offenses over the years at BYU, NC State, Sothern Cal, and now at UCLA, he wants QBs who will drop back and at least attempt to read defenses before going with the available option. Forcier for all his fault at least seems to make an attempt in dropping back and reading the defenses. I know he is still making the same mistakes he did earlier in the season, but he is making an effort to run the system. While Forcier from what I have seen this last game and in previous times he appeared during mop up duties, does not any time in testing out his speed (which is impressive).

I think what Chow and Neuheisel might be doing is taking the long term view with our offense. Having Craft in there doesn’t necessarily mean that Craft is going to be returning as a starter as next week. It means that it allows our receivers to have opportunities to run their routes and engage in blocking the way the coaches want them to when Craft does make the right reads. I know the offense is incredibly frustrating and agonizing to watch right now (I can only imagine how it drives Chow and Neuheisel batsh!t insane), but I think the constant repetition with Craft who to me appears as a more Chow/Neuehisel systems-QB than Forcier (based on what I have seen from Forcier in his brief appearances and notes from folks whose observations I trust from practices).

I think the experiences our receivers and backs are getting this year playing under Chow’s system will be beneficial when we get a QB like Prince, Brehaut or Crissman, with better physical tools plugged into the system. BTW the QB competition this spring at Spaulding is going to be incredible to watch. I don’t think Chow or Neuheisel would hesitate from increasing Foricer’s reps during practices and during games if they believe Forcier can help them develop the system which they are trying to establish as a foundation for a long term success in Westwood. That’s the best explanation I can come up with re. Craft/Forcier situation, and frankly it’s one that makes sense to me even though I feel like pulling my hair out at times when I am watching our offense this year under Craft.

Anyway, we will end today’s roundup with this positive note re. the attendance of 80,000+ at the Rose Bowl this last weekend. CRN made sure to point out that specific data point in his comments yesterday, indicating the level of interest in a 3-5 UCLA football team despite going through a rough rebuilding season:

"I think everybody needs to realize UCLA football is going to come back. UCLA football is not going to be down forever," Neuheisel said. "We're going to come back. Eighty thousand people came to our game to see a 3-5 team play Oregon State. People want to see UCLA football do well. People are encouraged. People are rooting us on.

"That is absolute evidence this program will come back. Now, is it going to be us that gets this done?"

Neuheisel, in his first season, said he is drawing on the pride of the seniors to help begin the turnaround, which he hopes starts Saturday at winless Washington.

"It's never too late to start," he said. "We can't necessarily be sure when it will be finished, but it's never too late to start. That, I hope, everybody takes great pride in because we're all UCLA guys for life, and want desperately to start the trip back toward national prominence."

"UCLA guys for life." I like the sound of that. It gets me fired up.

The game this weekend is going to be tough against a team that will be desperate for a win. They showed signs of life against ASU this past weekend as they were up by 3 points (19-16) in third quarter before the walls caved in around them late in the game (sounds familiar). You can bet they will be fired up to close the deal this week against UCLA. Let’s hope the players and coaches chip away during practice this week. We will have more on Washington later.

GO BRUINS.