Bruins got a much needed win last night in Seattle. Even though it is clear what Washington is perhaps one of the worst teams in the history of the Pac-10 conference (along with Washington State), I think folks shouldn’t be dismissive of the effort our guys put together last night in Seattle.

Earlier in the day I was watching a Michigan team going through the same rebuilding pains we are experiencing during the first year of a new regime.  Seeing the Wolverines struggle against Northwestern (which is having a good season) in the Big House and tumble to a 3-8 record was something that put what we have been going through in perspective.

After beating Washington we now have a record of 4-6, keeping alive a shot at a minor bowl game. As I said during the game threads, I don’t think our team is as mediocre as our 4-6 record indicates, just like we weren’t as good as that 10-2 record from the 2005-06 season. I think if we had either Pat Cowan or Ben Olson healthy for an entire season, I could see our team winning at least 3 games out of Arizona, Fresno State, Oregon, Cal and Oregon State.  So, given all we have gone through this year with our injury and personnel issues, I am feeling all right with where we are at this point of this season:

Photo Credit:John Froschauer / Associated Press (via the LA Times)

So with the macro stuff out of the way, here are some the micro issues going through my mind this Sunday

Craft had a good start last night but after a solid first series he reverted back to some of the same habits that have plagued our team all season along. He threw three picks. The first one was not his fault as Dominique Johnson simply dropped a catchable pass. The other two were indefensible (one he threw into traffic trying to thread the needle, the other was a badly overthrown ball). He also gave up a sure TD when instead of running into the endzone, he inexplicably tried a shovel pass dumbfounding the entire Bruin Nation. There is not much to add to the Craft story at this point of the season. The kid is playing his heart out. He is being a warrior. But what is obvious to all of us is a best he is a below average QB. I don’ t think he is the worst QB in UCLA history because I don’t believe QBs like Brett Johnson, Rob Walker, Ryan Fien or Ryan McCann had the moxie and toughness Craft has shown this season. But at the same time Craft hasn’t done much to cement himself as the returning starter for next season.

Still if anyone is clamoring for Forcier, just consider the fact that even after the game was long over late in the fourth quarter, Forcier was nowhere to be seen. It is clear to me that Chow and Neuheisel have concluded based on his observations that Forcier is not a viable option as a UCLA QB. If that is their decision, I am going to defer to their experience as probably the best QB guru tandem in all of college football.

While the Craft is cemented as the starter at QB this season, the running back position is becoming intriguing. Derrick Coleman started last night. Per Dohn’s report he got the start because Bell was disciplined for being late into a team meeting:

"Kahlil was late for a meeting," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Bell, who has been bothered by a sprained ankle much of the season, carried 25 times and scored on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs. His plunge in the second quarter gave the Bruins a 14-7 lead, and his dive over the pile on the first play of the fourth quarter put the Bruins ahead 24-7.

"I think he's gradually getting better, and with another bye (next) week he may be getting fresher," Neuheisel said about Bell. "We'll probably nurse him more and see if we can get him even better for two weeks."

However, what got the Bruins' stagnant running game untracked was Coleman's performance on the first series. He carried four times on it, finishing with an 11-yard run around left end for UCLA's first opening drive touchdown of the season.

"Derrick Coleman came in and gave a huge spark to our offense," Bell said. "That set the tone for the game, especially controlling the line of scrimmage."

Everyone here knows, how much I love Coleman.  I love his running style. He is a straight ahead North-South runner, who doesn’t dance around and waste time. He makes his decision fast and just pounds it. The energy and power he brought in that first drive was noticeable. I can only hope the coaches increase his carries even more in last two games. As for Bell, the kid is playing like a warrior. It’s obvious he doesn’t have the full power and menu of moves from last year. However, what was encouraging that he was getting stronger. It was great to see Carter make an appearance and he showed a burst of speed. But I guess I totally missed Aundre Dean’s 3 carries (for 9 yards) late in the fourth. So, you guys will have to fill me in on how he looked.

Hopefully our OL can generate the same kind of holes for our backs in our next game. Last night gave them a much needed confidence boost. Let’s hope they can maintain it.

As for our defense, it was mostly dominant:

With the running game, which averaged just 77.8 yards per game this season, in full swing, UCLA's defense was also dominant. The Bruins allowed a season-low 135 yards and tormented freshman Washington quarterback Ronnie Fouch -- a Redlands East Valley High graduate -- all night.

"We didn't scout them to blitz that much," Fouch said. "They blitzed a lot more than we thought they would."

Fouch was 7 for 22 for 39 yards and threw two interceptions and was sacked twice. Washington (0-10, 0-7) turned the ball over five times and averaged just 3.2 yards per carry against a UCLA defense that blitzed more than it had all season and looked like it had a different mind-set than it had of late.

"We went all four quarters," said safety Rahim Moore, who had an interception and a team-high six tackles. "That was the best defensive game we've played all year. We came out here and got a nice win and it feels really good."

Rahim Moore had a great game. As did Akeem Ayers. Ayers was simply a menace. He was the catalyst in two of Washington’s 5 turnovers while registering 2 sacks for a loss of 15 yards. He terrorized Fouch all night by repeatedly blowing through the Husky OL like a guided missile going straight after the QB. Given the way Ayers has emerged this year and the solid play from Carter and Sloan, the future at our LB is looking great.

In addition to those two ATV and Norris had great games. I can’t remember who it was on, but ATV put on a bone crushing hit on a Husky player that would have made Matt Darby proud.

My only two complaints re. the defense from last night was first, early on they looked a little tentative against the run. Also, I thought they folded a little too easy in giving up the TD when they were put in a short field after Craft’s pick. Still all in all a great effort and I hope they can replicate that for an entire game against Arizona State in about couple of weeks. It would have them peaking going into the biggest game of the season.

In terms of injuries and personnel issues, here are the notes from the LAT:

Quarterback Ben Olson, who is recovering from a broken foot, did not make the trip to Seattle. . . . Olson, who is recovering from a broken foot suffered in the summer, has been trying to get back onto the field before the season ends.

He took snaps in practice during the week but had to back off. Neuheisel said he did not travel with the team because he would not have been ready to play.

UCLA offensive lineman Darius Savage tore a ligament in his left ankle during the first half of Saturday night's game at Washington. Savage will require surgery.

The note re. Savage is a huge bummer, especially considering the great start our OL had last night. Here is to hoping a full and healthy recovery.Glicksberg took over for Savage last night.

As for Olson, I wonder where did the broadcasters last night got the info re. Olson being at the game last night.

Speaking of broadcasters, one side note. I am getting sick and tired of announcers bloviating about CRN and Craft’s sideline discussions. It is pointless and tiresome. Guess what guys? I like the fact that my head coach is coaching his heart out and showing passion and care for his players. That’s how CRN has coached QBs all his life and he has a track record to back him up. The announcers commenting on CRN’s sideline discussions with Craft is just about as tiresome about reading knee jerk, reactionary comments about wanting Forcier, beating a dead horse. It’s boring and pointless.

Lastly, speaking of CRN we will end this Sunday by closing the loop on Washington-Neuheisel-UCLA story line:

"Emotional," Neuheisel said in describing his Montlake return. "Pleasantly, there were a lot of friendly faces. There's a number of great people here at the University of Washington. Contrary to all the articles and stuff, my memories are mostly favorable. I understand the messy ending. I apologized for my role in it. I'm hoping we can put this behind us as both programs look to the future."

CRN didn't mention it ... we will ... that was his 70th win in his 9th year as a head coach in college football.

Washington drama is certainly behind us now and we can now look forward to Arizona State.

Enjoy a feel good Sunday.

GO BRUINS.

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.

Let’s continue with our notes on Oregon State. Here is the latest re. the QB situation in Corvallis:

Beavers quarterback Lyle Moevao, who injured his right throwing shoulder against Arizona State, didn't practice Wednesday and told The Oregonian that he didn't expect to start Saturday.

Sean Canfield, a lefthander, led Oregon State to a come-from-behind 27-25 win against ASU and will likely start Saturday.

I really like the way Walker is setting the mindset for his defense:

"We're still going to prepare for both," UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said. "They have a good system. They're not going to change the system. One is right-handed, one is left-handed. One's a little shorter. One's a little taller. But they're going to do what they do. It's more or less trying to prepare for their schemes, more so than which quarterback is going to play."

Crucial for Walker will be the continued solid contribution from ATV and Norris at our CB spots. Kevin Pearson from the Press Enterprise has a good story on how the Bruin CBs have been working to stay sharp and fresh (as much as practicable) while taking every snap with the first team this season:

Norris said he and Verner have been diligent about sitting in the ice tub after practice and staying off their legs during the day. The two are taking almost every first-team rep in practice all week and acknowledge they're often sore before Saturday's game even begins.

"We're knocking on wood," defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said. "You hate to be in this situation, but it is what it is.

"You have to give those guys a lot of credit. They've had a good year and kept us out of trouble. We just hope they can make it through the season."

That the two have been as good as they have while being used so much is telling. Walker likes to run a defensive scheme that gives its corners almost no help, and the pair has been solid in pass coverage.

With four games remaining, both Norris and Verner acknowledge they could hit a wall, but say they are doing all they can to not wear down. And while Verner said it's been physically demanding, the pair has had to be just as mentally tough to handle the challenge.

They will be under a lot of pressure on them this Saturday taking on Rodgers brothers (Jacquizz and don’t forget about James), Sammie Stroughter and Shane Morales. I am sure Walker and his coaches are going drill into their defense about the need to tackle because if they come out with a sloppy effort against this offense, Beavers will have no trouble ending Riley’s winless streak at the Rose Bowl.

On the other side of the ball, UCLA receivers see an opportunity against Oregon St. DBs:

The UCLA receivers have seen videotape of Oregon State's defense and know the Beavers have been burned on fade routes this fall.

"They play a lot of man bump," freshman receiver Taylor Embree said. "Any time you play that, you're susceptible to getting beat deep."

The question is, can the Bruins' offensive line supply the time to let longer routes develop? Embree said the receiving corps can't worry about what's happening back at the line of scrimmage.

"We've just got to keep believing in our line," he said. "We just stay true to what our route depths are and the routes we run."

Meanwhile, Oregon State Coach Mike Riley said his defensive backs are working to improve their coverage against the deep ball.

"Everybody sees the film, sees where something is happening," he said. "Yes, we have worked on it and we'll work on it some more."

CV300 over at Building the Dam has a good explanation re. Oregon St’s pass defense against the deep ball:

The Beavers defense is built to stop any elite offensive team, particularly ones with good quarterbacks, by making them one dimensional.  The first way it does this is by controlling the gaps in the middle of the offensive front and forcing running plays to the outside of the field where the Beavers superior team speed and ball pursuit will have the advantage against all but a few players in the conference.  

Joe McKnight couldn't get to the corner, maybe Jahvid Best can?  Remember, these guys practice against James Rodgers--so they have an idea about defending speed.

Stopping the run is the key to putting teams in 2nd or 3rd and long so they are forced into low percentage passing plays against a heavy pass rush that gets to the quarterback. If you can't stop the run on first down, then you will lose ball games--ask USC how it felt to constantly defend against a short line to gain.   They probably didn't like it.

Effective man coverage is essential to this strategy on passing plays because it provides Mark Banker's defense with more personnel options to hurry the quarterback. Sacking a quarterback significantly reduces the chances that a team will score on their offensive possession.

As for the defensive backs--in man coverage--their first job is to play the man.  Receivers are always at the advantage because they know where they're supposed to go and the defender does not.  If a defender turns around to look for the ball and it's properly thrown to hit the receiver in stride over-the-shoulder style, then he is probably face down and out of the video frame like that guy Quizz mauled on that outside counter play against ASU.  And your guy will be in the endzone every time. 

That's why they coach it like they do; it's to prevent touchdowns and force the offense to consistently drive the ball with running plays.  Not a lot of teams can do that against OSU. 

Good to see those guys are already looking forward to taking on Jahvid Best (j/k people).

In all seriousness, that explanation makes a lot of sense and as he goes on to explain the scheme is the right one for team that is trying to put together a program without having access to kind of blue chip talents usually available to perennial top-5 programs.

I think the key to beating these guys again will be Kevin Craft. He will have to make smart decisions by not trying to win the game by himself. I don’t expect UCLA running backs to have a lot of success against the Oregon State defense. What I am hopeful about is Craft to be able to move the ball by completing those short passes on first and second down, which should essentially serve as quasi running plays for our offense. That is the classic WCO, the late great Coach Walsh mastered at Candlestick Park. Hopefully the bye week has reenergized Bell, Coleman, Moline, Craft and rest of their team-mates. If they come out with focus, purpose and aggression against the Beavers on Saturday, Bruins will able to start the second half of this season on a great note.

GO BRUINS.

We will start today’s roundup from Spaulding with some great news from the injury front. I was very concerned about the report of Carter getting x-rays this week based upon concerns that he might cracked a rib during the Cal game. Well the report came back and Carter and Bruins got some good news. The LA Times reports on Carter and few other Bruins who are getting healed up during this bye week:

Things are looking up for the Bruins in terms of some players who have been nursing injuries.

The X-rays on linebacker Reggie Carter's sore ribs were negative. He practiced Wednesday wearing a red jersey but is expected back at full strength next week.

The prognosis is similar for tackle Jeff Baca (strained hamstring) and tailback Kahlil Bell (ankle). Defensive end Reginald Stokes, who had arthroscopic surgery last week for a torn meniscus in his left knee, is recovering quickly enough to be considered for Oregon State on Nov. 8.

"We got an encouraging report this morning," Neuheisel said. "We might be able to get a few plays out of him."

As the Bruins are getting a little healthier, CRN is putting heavy emphasis on players getting sharper during practices. During last few weeks (especially on the road) Bruins have made a number of unenforced errors. Yesterday, CRN called out the entire team (including the OL and receivers) imploring them to focus harder during practices:

After watching his team struggle through another practice of poor execution similar to what they are doing in games, Neuheisel said that the mistakes that are hampering the Bruins on both sides of the ball should have been eliminated weeks ago and that there had to be some self-reflection by everybody involved.

"Way too many mistakes of things that should be rock solid now," Neuheisel said. "We have to get our guys to understand that this has to be a little bit more important than is being treated.

"Until that happens, we are going to struggle to improve. It has to be more important and we have to find guys that it is more important for. It isn't a knock on anybody, but it's a reality check."

Asked for specifics, Neuheisel declined to throw any players under the bus but said it was a problem across the board and did give an example.

He said that some receivers were running the wrong route repeatedly, even on plays that had been installed for a long time. Several reps later, other players would do the same thing, compounding the problem that he said is both a lack of concentration and a lack of understanding the importance of doing things correctly.

"Guys have to start realizing how important it is that they do the right things," Neuheisel said. "They have to have a come-to-grips meeting with everyone internally that this has to get better or we're not going to get better.

"When you're asking whose fault it is, it's mine, and everyone has to look in the mirror and realize that, myself included."

I thought the note re. WRs was interesting. I know the easy target during last couple of weeks has been Kevin Craft, who at times was throwing the ball where there was no Bruin receiver around. Looking at replays from last week at least during one of the interception it appeared to me an (experienced) receiver wasn’t around where he was supposed to be. So perhaps there is a reason as to why Chow and CRN after all their discussion, deliberation and observations during practices keep coming back to KC.

CRN also received a telling assist from one of the emotional leaders of this team. Here is Dohn:

After practice, injured quarterback Patrick Cowan spoke to only the players in the middle of the practice field to implore the Bruins to heed Neuheisel's advice.

"Patrick had to remind guys how lucky they are to be able to (play)," Neuheisel said. "He's sitting at a vantage point where it's no longer available to him."

Per Chris Foster’s account in the LA Times Cowan “was loud and animated and, according to players, his message was direct.”

It is pretty refreshing to see how some of the veteran leaders of this team has rallied around CRN. PC’s comments were backed up Brigham Harwell in the Press Enterprise who talked about "young guys" in the team having to "stay the course and keep getting focused."

Moreover, Harwell and Cowan’s comments from yesterday’s practices followed Carter’s comments to the press about how he was gutting it out during practices (despite being so hurt that he was having a hard time taking deep breaths) because he couldn’t look CRN and say, “Coach, I can’t go.”

We have thrown around the phrase – “culture change” – around here a lot since CRN has taken over the program. It is not going to happen overnight. However, to me at least we are starting to see lot of signs, that the program is moving towards the right direction.

Speaking of moving, we will end today’s roundup with a note on Walker, who expressed interest in the Washington head coaching position:

"I think the people who know football know what they're looking at," Walker said. "I think they know what it's all about."

The Bruins have played well enough against the pass but, with little help from the offense, rank in the bottom half of the Pac-10 in categories such as scoring and rushing defense.

"I can't control what the [athletic directors] think," Walker said. "But I think if they ask the right people what I'm all about, maybe that will spark some interest."

I see nothing wrong with Walker expressing interest in this position. He believes he is ready:

Walker said he thinks he is ready for a head coaching job.

“If not now, when? I'm not getting any younger,” Walker, 47, said. “I'm three years into being a coordinator. I had a chance to do it one game. If you look at my resume, I've been around some of the best coaches in football.”

And CRN agrees with him:

“Any university would be wise to seek after him and we would support him in any way possible,” Neuheisel said.

I do believe he is going to be a head coach some day at a solid program. IMHO he is still a year or two away.

As I have mentioned before during the toxic and highly charged emotional days of previous head coach, we were very hard on everyone associated with the previous regime. Yet from we have started with a clean slate under CRN and I see no reason for anyone to hold on to any negative feelings towards anyone connected to the previous head coach. From pov this is CRN's staff. It's his team.

I do think under Walker UCLA defense has shown statistical improvements in previous two seasons. However, I think Walker still needs to take another extra step to establish beyond doubt that he is one of the elite defensive coaches in the country. Despite the statistical improvements in previous two seasons, the Bruin defense had serious let down in few games last two seasons [See Oregon (06), Washington State (06), Cal (06), Florida State (06), Utah (07), Washington State (07), Arizona (07)]. This year we have had tough games against BYU, Arizona and tackling issues in early part of the season.  I think the defense has responded well in last few games but I think Walker needs to show that his scheme can consistently shut down the spread/multi-dimensional offenses featuring mobile QBs in today's college football.

I think for Walker to emerge as an elite head coaching candidate he will need to put together a complete season at UCLA which will not include any performance (like the ones mentioned above) that will stick out. If the Bruins put together a great season in next 3-4 years in which the whole team comes together, I have no doubt Walker is going to lot of great options in college football. FWIW I think that would be a very healthy development for our program. Just like it is great to see Jamie Dixon and other Howland assistants doing well in college basketball, it will be great to see UCLA assistants coming out of Neuheisel’s program doing well college football in near future. So on that I am rooting for Walker and I hope the timing for his next move (whenever that is) works out for him. In the meantime, let’s hope our players are playing close attention to the words of CRN and all other veterans in the current program who are imploring our players to focus harder to get sharper during practices.

GO BRUINS.

So let’s start look through some of  the numbers of our next opponent (focusing on their defense). Cal is coming into this game with a record of 4-2 and right in the thick of the race for the Rose Bowl with 1 loss in conference play. Yet there is a sense of discomfort up in Strawberry Canyon. Mario Gomez from CalSportsDigest has a little recap of the “up and down” first half of 2008 season (excerpting here since the article wasn’t behind a subscription firewall at the time I wrote this post):

California’s season has been up and down thus far through the first half of 2008. The win over Michigan State to start the season looked huge until the Spartans were plastered 45-7 by Ohio State this past weekend. They subsequently fell out of the top 25. The opening road loss at Maryland looked very bad on September 13; however, the Terps are now 5-2 and in contention for the ACC Atlantic division title. Nonetheless, last Saturday night’s showing in Tucson was arguably Cal’s worst performance of the year.

The Bears built a solid 10-point halftime lead only to be outscored 28-3 in the third quarter to lose 42-27. The loss not only knocked Cal out of the top 25, but also it came against a Pac-10 foe, a foe the Bears should have beaten. Now, at 4-2 and 2-1 in conference, the Bears face an uphill battle to secure one of the conference's top three bowl slots. Cal should be able to lock up a bowl berth regardless with three of the four remaining home games coming against Pac-10 teams with records at .500 or below. Yet just one week ago, it looked like Cal had a great shot to be in the top 15 heading into its matchup with USC on November 8.

With goals readjusted, quarterbacks issues still unresolved, no proven wide receivers, and the lack of an effective game plan, Cal must regroup midway and not fold as it did last season.

I wouldn’t get too giddy about Cal’s roller coaster ride though. Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News gives us another perspective on Cal’s 2008 season:

On the whole, the Bears have played well this season. But they’ve had two miserable quarters: The first at Maryland and the third at Arizona.

In those 30 minutes, they’ve been outscored 42-6. In the other 330 minutes, the tally is 218-90 in their favor.

So can the Bruins count on Cal imploding for a quarter next Saturday? Well the odds are overwhelmingly against us (not a shocker that we are 18 point dogs) at this point. Cal is also looking at UCLA as the “perfect opponent” to rebound from last weekend’s loss. From Mario again:

UCLA is a perfect opponent for the Bears to rebound and get back in the win column. The Bruins are fresh off a 23-20 win over Stanford at the Rose Bowl, but they have struggled on the road. UCLA is averaging just 307.7 yards of total offense per game, including less than 100 yards rushing per game. Cal’s stout rush defense was exploited by Arizona, but UCLA should not be able to have the same success. True freshman running back Derrick Coleman has rushed for 191 yards this season for the UCLA. Khalil Bell has added 187 – only averaging 2.5 yard per carry – through an injury-riddled season. Quarterback Kevin Craft has been effective at times, but he can be mistake prone. He has thrown for 1,518 yards and seven touchdowns, but has completed just 58.5% of his passes.

So with those notes in the background here are the statistics matching up the Bruin offense v. the Bear defense:

This is a better Bear defensive unit than the one against which we pulled of a Dorrellian upset win last season. The Bears changed up their defensive scheme to 3-4 after running a base 4-3 set in previous seasons. One of the main reasons behind this change was to take advantage of good linebackers on the Bear’s roster (or another way to look at it would be to mask shortage of good “linemen”). From Rivals.com’s pre season preview:

STRONGEST AREA: The move to the 3-4 wouldn't be possible if Cal didn't have four potential starting linebackers. The Bears' three starting linebackers from last year return. Two 100-plus tacklers, Worrell Williams and Anthony Felder, will play inside. Mike Mohamed, who had 46 tackles as a true freshman in a backup role, will team with Follett at outside linebacker.

BIGGEST PROBLEM: Cal is attempting to mask its troubles by using three down linemen. End Tyson Alualu, tackle Mika Kane and tackle/end Cody Jones are returning starters, but lackluster line play was a big reason the Bears were last in the Pac-10 in sacks and tackles for loss. Davis can be a playmaker at the other end spot, but he has not played a full season in his career.

OVERVIEW: Cal returns enough experience and talent to be competitive, especially if the transition to the 3-4 goes smoothly. The linebacker corps isn't quite as good as USC's, but Cal can make a strong case for No. 2 in the league at the position. Junior Syd'Quan Thompson and sophomore Chris Conte form a solid cornerback tandem, but the secondary needs a replacement for free safety Thomas DeCoud - last season's leading tackler. The new free safety is expected to be Marcus Ezeff, who started four times at strong safety last season. Bernard Hicks is back, and he started the bulk of the games at strong safety.

Well so far this season the Bear rush defense had done pretty well until it was mauled for 140 yards by Arizona’s back up freshman running back. The tackling from Cal's secondary was also pretty sloppy. I don't expect that to be the case this weekend in Berkeley. I think it will be a huge challenge for the Bruin offense to get a running game going against a ticked off Bear’s defense.

As we have mentioned ad nausea one thing I would really like to see is coaches increasing the reps for Coleman at Bell’s expense. I think we will be better served by going with Bell’s explosiveness right out of the gate.

Also, I am not too sure about whether we want to get into a lot of the same trick packages we have already shown in last few games. I like the combination of Forcier of Craft out there with Forcier running the option. But I think at this point you can bet that Cal’s defense will have that play scouted out pretty well. If any of you can go back through your DVRs and isolate that package, it would be interesting to hear whether there were any one open for a short pass underneath. I think that package will work better if Forcier can show he has the ability to throw it, otherwise the defense will tee off him whenever they line up in that formation again. Just my 2 cents.

As for Craft, he must get off to a good start. We can probably expect him to be under duress from the Cal front-7 as they are current 3rd in the conference in terms of sacks (and I don’t need to go over our troubles in terms of giving up sacks). It will be imperative for Craft to make quick, smart decisions and have a better pocket presence than what we saw from him in that first half of the Stanford game. Also, I imagine Chow might put together a scheme moving him away from the pressure in designed rollouts, so that he can be situated from a better launch point to throw at his targets.

Again, the Bruin offense cannot afford to make any mistakes. To echo what CRN said during half time of Stanford game, our guys can’t try to make plays they don’t practice. We will move on to notes re. Cal’s offense tomorrow am. That will follow my notes on expectations/predictions re. this upcoming Ben Ball season in about couple of hours.

GO BRUINS.

We have some bad news and good news to get you going on this Humpday. We will start with the bad. Another week, another set of injuries at Spaulding Field. Freshman OT Jeff Baca was hurt at practice yesterday:

Tackle Jeff Baca hobbled off the UCLA practice field Tuesday, creating more turmoil for the Bruins' offensive line.

Baca, a freshman who had settled in at left tackle, suffered what was called a strained hamstring during practice. He will be re-evaluated today, but there were concerns among coaches that he tore the left hamstring.

The injury resulted in another shuffling of the offensive line. Micah Kia moved from right tackle to left tackle. Mike Harris worked out with the first team at right tackle.

Well if the coaches are worried, they sure are not showing any sign of panic. Palcic if anything sounded prepared for this setback:

"Even before Baca hurt his hamstring, I was going to give Harris a good look," offensive line coach Bob Palcic said. "He's worked hard. He's been doing a nice job in one-on-one pass protection. I know he's hungry. He's come up to my office and asked to get extra work."

Palcic said he has other options. Right guard Nick Ekbatani can move to right tackle and Scott Glicksberg or Darius Savage can play guard.

Meanwhile, on the defensive side Stokes will have arthroscopic surgery:

Defensive end Reginald Stokes will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Thursday to clean up a frayed piece of meniscus in his left knee and will likely not return until the Nov. 15 game at Washington.

Stokes, a redshirt sophomore, started the past two games in place of Tom Blake, who is out indefinitely with a sports hernia.

Again, the response from CRN is nothing short of Howlendesque:

"No worries," Neuheisel said. "We'll get the next guy ready to go."

CRN also addressed the issue of why Bell is getting reps despite not being 100 percent: 

"He's having a hard time getting away from anybody," Neuheisel said. "Obviously, he's going to take that much more of a pounding, but he still brings a lot to our football team, and his (pass) protection is valuable, and all that kind of stuff. He's still important to us."

Bell was UCLA's leading returning rusher, averaging 5.6 yards per carry before tearing a knee ligament midway through last season. He recovered from that injury, but the ankle sprain continues to limit him.

Bell is UCLA's second-leading rusher (187 yards) despite having more than twice the carries (71 to 32) as leading rusher Derrick Coleman (191 yards). Bell is averaging 2.6 yards per carry heading into Saturday's contest at California, but leads the Bruins with five touchdowns.

"Anybody who watched me play previously knows right now things aren't really going my way," said Bell, who tried to downplay his injury. "Everybody knows I'm not 100 percent. I know I'm not 100 percent, but whatever percent I am, I can help this team in some way, shape

I think there is not much more we can say on this issue at this point. If the brain trust of CRN, Chow, Wayne Moses, and Palcic think Bell helps them with his experience in pass protection, then they deserve the benefit of the doubt given their proven track record in this game (something that was missing from the previous staff). I still hope though we can find a way to increase the reps of Derrick Coleman.

So now that the bad news is out of the way (which coaches are dealing with and not using to make excuses), let’s turn to the good stuff. UCLA football recruiting is on fire. After starting the week with getting a commitment from stud OL Stanley Hasiak, Bruins picked up two more:  Pomona (Calif.) Diamond Ranch cornerback Brandon Sermons and Bloomington (Calif.) fullback Jayson Allmond.

Here is what Sermon’s coach told Dohn re. his commitment to UCLA:

"I played under (UCLA defensive coordinator) DeWayne Walker, and he and Brandon are very similar," said Diamond Ranch coach Roddy Layton of his days with Walker at Mt. SAC. "They're quiet, straight shooters. They're pure work. You want to be there and play for him. He's very quiet, very technical and very hard working, and Brandon's that way."

 And here is Allmond:

"It's getting to the end of my senior season and I talked to a lot of schools, and narrowed it down to three schools, Nevada, UCLA and Fresno State,'' Allmond said. "What got me with UCLA is they made me feel real comfortable when I came to their games, and made me feel like I was part of the family and I wasn't even part of the team yet."

Sermons is listed at 6-1, 180 on Scout.com’s database. I like the height for a DB. We can always use DBs with some size. As for Allmond (6-0.5, 257) his highlights behind subscription firewall in Scout.com’s database is pretty mouthwatering. The guy can block and catch. He on paper (in those raw video highlights) sound like a prototype Chow fullback. muircoach has more thoughts on these two in FanPost section. To echo his point no doubt how the coaches have us on the right track. Not bad at all given all the adversity they have had to deal with in always difficult first season in a rebuilding program.

GO BRUINS.

Before getting into some of my specific impressions from yesterday’s thrilling win let’s quickly reset the big picture here a bit. We now have a record of 3-4 with a conference record of 2-2. Looking back at last 7 games, the loss that really hurts right now is the one against Fresno State. Given what we have now seen from Kevin Craft (more on his clutch second half below of course), I think we would have had a good shot at winning that game if we hadn’t turned the ball over in that last drive. If we had won that game we could have probably looked at a record of 4-3 (and if we had gotten lucky at Oregon) perhaps 5-2. 

Given what we have been through in terms of injury situation that pretty much wiped away an entire starting offense from last spring, lack of experienced talent in our roster , what the coaches have done is nothing short of remarkable. I am still not sure whether we are going to get to a bowl game this season. My brain tells me it’s a tall order since every game for this team will be a challenge. But it’s obvious now that when CRN and his players and coaches talk about "relentless optimism" and not giving up on this season, we are hearing more than just words:

Photo Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Time

So with that here are some thoughts from yesterday’s afternoon hear stopper.  For today though, I will start with the portion from yesterday’s notes that are disconcerting before going on to the positive/inspiring moments from yesterday’s resilient win.

I will break up my negative notes in two sections. First, talking about personnel related issues then raising question about decisions (just for discussion’s sake).

So let's start with the personnel issues. Here is my question that I think is on lot of people’s mind: can we afford to stick with Kahlil Bell as our starting tailback?

Let’s first look at the numbers from yesterday: Bell had 28 yards in 11 carries (2.5 avg), while Coleman rushed for 20 yards in 4 carries (5.0 avg). For the season now Bell has rushed for 187 yards in 71 carries (2.6 avg) and 5 TDs. While Coleman to date has rushed for 191 yards in 32 carries (6.0 avg) and 1 TD.

In terms of number, right now I think it is pretty clear who has been the more productive back at least when it comes to sustaining drives and getting us into more manageable 2nd and 3rd down situations at a more consistent level.  From what my eyes are seeing, it appears that Bell is playing injured. He still has the power to go straight up, but he is not as effective as he was before getting injured, when he tries to make his cuts. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the effort this kid is giving for this team and the leadership he brings to the table. But at the same time, I think we have to ask the question whether the coaches need to lessen his load a bit so that we can look at more productive options.

I think based on numbers at least it makes sense to increase the work load of Coleman a bit and also give Aundre Dean some good looks so that perhaps we can take advantage of the speed and power he brings to the table. Am I off here? One explanation I can think of about why Bell is getting more time is perhaps Chow and Palcic think he is a better option when it comes to providing Craft a little extra protection as he is more familiar with blocking schemes and in sync with our OL. They see the tapes lot more than I do and I will not question their eyes given their proven track record. However, I am still a little perplexed.

Staying on the theme of personnel issues, Bret Lockett was getting lit up against yesterday. I am sure you have seen the highlights Tele posted below and saw the block Gerhart made on the poor kid. Lockett at times looked helpless when it comes to providing help against the Stanford rushing attack. But Walker stayed with him yesterday:

After playing poorly last week at Oregon and nearly losing his job, Bruins senior strong safety Bret Lockett played so well Walker scrapped plans to use redshirt freshman Glenn Love to spell Lockett.

"It was probably the toughest week, this and the Tennessee week when I did not play (because of suspension)," Lockett said. "All the criticism and the people doubting me, but I just used it as motivation."

Lockett finished with three tackles and also forced a first-quarter fumble.

"I felt like he was playing well enough to where it was like, `OK, let's not break the rhythm,' because he's been ridiculed the whole season," Walker said. "For him to be having a little bit of success, in terms of doing his job, I thought that was important for his confidence."

I actually thought Walker had a good game scheme wise yesterday. Our tackling looked much better than it did against Oregon (and previous game) and he seemed to put our two monster DTs in best position to contain the Stanford running attack. Moreover, I think he deserves credit for the coverage our secondary provided the whole game, which completely shut down the Stanford passing game. Still that said, I would have love to see a little bit of Glenn Love at SS and see what the kid could do. It’s obvious Love can hit, as he showed in that hit during Stanford punt return leading to turnover. He is a physical player. I think it would be good to see him in there in the coming weeks and see what he can do. Again just my 2 cents because whenever I see an opposing TB bowling towards Lockett,  I think I am not the only one with a lump in my throat.

Those are the two personnel issues that stick out to me for now. Now let’s get to one specific decision from yesterday’s game. Here was the sequence after UCLA had a 1st and goal on the Stanford 6 yard line towards the end of 3^rd leading to a Forbath FG:

• 1st and Goal at STAN 6: Chris Forcier rush for a loss of 1 yard to the Stanf 7.      
• 2nd and Goal at STAN 7: Kevin Craft sacked for a loss of 3 yards to the Stanf 10.    
  
•  3rd and Goal at STAN 10: Kevin Craft rush for a loss of 1 yard to the Stanf 11.

I will never question Chow’s over all game scheme just like I have never called out Coach Howland’s game schemes. Chow had no peer when it comes to devising schemes. None (at least in college football). But honestly just in this specific case, those three plays left me confused. Perhaps it showed he is merely human. :-) I would have loved to hear his explanation for those calls and find out what his thought process was behind those calls. I don’t write that to be snarky at all. I am genuinely curious behind what he was thinking.

So those were the negatives. Let’s pivot from the negatives to yesterday’s heroes and great storylines, and the perfect transition is this guy:

Photo Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Uh yeah … count me in as one of those who got excited when Forcier was warming up on the sidelines.  I have been supportive of Kevin Craft all season and I more than understand how at this point it is probably the best decision on RN and Chow’s part to stick with this kid. But at the same time while watching the first half, the question kept popping in my head: could Forcier be any worse?

After KC fumbled in the first half, I don’t think I was the only one somewhat excited in reading CRN’s lips saying something like, "that’s it. We are going with Forcier." From CRN in today’s DN:

"There was a point in the game where I did consider it, and sometimes it gets the better of me because I'm an old quarterback and an old quarterback coach," Neuheisel said. " It was probably a little irrational on my part, but the kid, God bless him, he responded. His resiliency is one of the reasons why we're standing here with a victory. Norm calmed me down."

Two things here.  First, and 66 already noted this in his as usual brilliant observations, note how CRN had no problem checking his ego and deferring to Chow. For those who have been involved in leadership positions or observing effective executive decisions, that is pretty much perfect example of how an effective CiC takes in the feedback of his trusted advisors and has the instincts to overrule himself after careful insta-analysis. That’s good stuff. Second, going back to Chow, given how KC has his trust, I think rest of Bruin Nation should have the same faith in this kid who is doing as much as he can within his athletic ability to listen to his coaches.

More from Chow on that last play when Craft and Harkey did their impersonation of Montana to Clark:

The last play Craft made up was a scrambling throw to backup tight end Cory Harkey, a freshman who has had a bum ankle.

It came with 10 seconds left, it was for a seven-yard touchdown, and Chow said that if Craft hadn't trusted his instincts he might have settled for a receiver who was open on the one- or two-yard line.

"The initial read Kevin wasn't real patient with," Chow said. "The initial read would have gotten us four or five yards, and we needed seven. Kevin scrambled around and made that play. If he would always trust that instinct, he's a really good player."

And it’s not just Chow, who are believing in the Bruin QB:

"He's clutch," UCLA offensive lineman Nick Ekbatani said. "I really believe he's a clutch player. When it comes down to it and it's on the line, he's going to make plays. I love blocking for him."

Craft, the son of former San Diego State coach Tom Craft, could spend the game ripping his offensive linemen for ridiculously poor protection - they allowed seven sacks against Stanford - but he doesn't.

After a roughing-the-passer penalty, lineman Jeff Baca tried to help Craft up and make sure he was OK, and Craft flung his arm away.

Craft can take a hit and bounce back on his own.

What was even more impressive was how Craft handled himself after the game. Instead of being over exuberant, he was ice cold, composed and talked about how he needs to address all the issues from first half. To me that was even more impressive on how didn’t lose perspective despite the great win.

Speaking of instincts perhaps the coaches should think about getting Craft and co in the "hurry up" no-huddle mode all game? The results kind of speak for themselves. No?

In addition to Craft’s clutch turnaround there were other heroes in our offense. From the LA Times:

UCLA wide receiver Nelson Rosario, a freshman from Oceanside who has been slowed by a sore knee, had a career-high four catches for 71 yards. One catch came over the middle where he was unfazed by the hard tackle that came immediately, and another came during UCLA's game-winning touchdown drive.

"It feels so great," Rosario said. "I think I'll get more chances as I'm healthy, and when I make catches the quarterback will have more faith in me."

Another freshman, Taylor Embree, was on the receiving end of a 43-yard pass from Craft in the third quarter -- UCLA's longest gain on a pass play this season.

In addition to Rosario and Embree, huge props go out Terrence Austin. Austin was nothing short of a warrior, leading the team with 5 receptions (for 50 yards) and catching that huge TD of Craft’s shovel pass. There was also Chane Moline’s clutch run in that last drive when he rumbled up for 17 yards on 3rd and 1. Ryan Moya also came up big with not only a huge catch, but also to have the smart instinct to run up and hustle towards the sideline to save time on the clock.

Going back to game winning touchdown the LA Times has some interesting quotes from Micah Reed on what went on in the huddle:

"I told those guys, this was a moment we could look back on down the line," Reed said.

If hindsight is 20-20, Reed's foresight turned out to be 23-20 -- the numbers favoring UCLA on the scoreboard at the end.

Craft scrambled to his right and flipped a pass to Cory Harkey, who was in the back of the end zone.

"Micah told us," guard Scott Glicksberg said. "This was a chance to move forward as a team. This makes it easier to believe in what we're doing and keep doing it."

Reggie Carter had this to say about the same play:

"I had a few tears," UCLA linebacker Reggie Carter said. "After the offense scored that touchdown, my eyes watered up. You get emotional. It's hard to hold all that emotion in. Winning is fun."

I know I am probably not covering number of other details from yesterday’s game (i.e. we still need to see better coverage from our special teams) … but I can’t think of any better way to end on that note for this Sunday, before starting to focus on what will be an incredibly difficult and challenging game next weekend.

 I like this team … a lot. They are making football fun (despite the frustrations we experience as fans), which I haven’t had following UCLA football since Cade left Westwood.

GO BRUINS.

So let’s open up our notebook for Stanford. Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford is coming into town on a high note. They are still high about their thrilling victory over Arizona which came courtesy or clutch last minute drive. They pulled it off with junior backup QB Alex Loukas, who took over late in the game after starting QB Tavita Prtichard went out with a mild concussion.

Stanford after flailing through the bottom feeding Harrris and Teevens era is coming alive under Harbaugh, who Ted Miller thinks is the mid-season coach of the year:

In his second season, Jim Harbaugh has led Stanford, now 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference, back to respectability by emphasizing a blue-collar attitude and a physical style of play. Leaning on a potent running attack that ranks second in the Pac-10 with 184 yards per game, the Cardinal have played their way into bowl contention. Moreover, Harbaugh is proving an effective recruiter as he's expected to sign a class that ranks among the top 25 in the nation.

Can't really argue against that. I like Harbaugh a lot and he would have been my pick to be Lloyd Carr's successor in Ann Arbor. Harbaugh may eventually end up at his alma mater some day, but not any time soon. Still the second year coach is already being talked about a hot coaching commodity for the Forty Niners. Our old friend, Tim Kawakami (former LA Times beat writer for UCLA, who actually knew something about college hoops) is already seeing the future:

Hmmm. The day he was hired at Stanford, Harbaugh honored Bill Walsh's legacy (Walsh was on hand); we all know that Walsh's first tenure at Stanford lasted exactly two years before he left to create the 49ers dynasty.

But I think the Yorks probably would be too scared of Harbaugh's intensity and cockiness to consider him as Mike Nolan's replacement with the 49ers.

Al Davis is a different story. Harbaugh's first NFL coaching job was on the Raiders' offensive staff in 2002-03. Harbaugh was an Al favorite then, and Harbaugh sure brightened up when I asked about the Raiders owner.

"I talk to Mr. Davis now and then," Harbaugh said, adding that the last conversation came around draft time when Davis asked him about his former quarterback at the University of San Diego, Josh Johnson.

"I love talking to him. I consider him a mentor, and it was always special every time he would pull me aside with the Raiders or call me on the phone. He's the best.

"Nobody can talk football like Mr. Davis. Every time I talk to him, I always glean something about football."

So the Raiders have a vacancy at coach, with Tom Cable laboring as the temp. Jim, if Al calls you, what will you do?

"I'll always take a call from Mr. Davis," Harbaugh said.

Well, obviously Tim is joking (kind of?). But then again he was also joking about Pittsburgh head coach Howland coaching in Westwood back in 2002, when Lavin was taking UCLA for his last charade run to Steve-16 (sorry can’t find a good link any more on article Kawakami wrote around March of 2002, when he talked about how Howland could one day coach at UCLA). Anyway, back to the present.

Stanford is coming down to the Rose Bowl with a solid football team led by a very good football coach. I know lot of you believe that this is a must win game for UCLA, but I think we should also appreciate how difficult it is going to be for Bruins to pull out a win.

Let’s go over some numbers and will start by looking at the matchup between UCLA’s offense and Stanford’s defense.

There are couple of stats that obviously stand out right away. First, an anemic Bruin rushing attack will be taking on a solid Stanford rush defense, which is barely giving up l15 yards per game. The Stanford is anchored by a defense line, which Jon Wilner (another former UCLA beat writer who used to work at the Daily News) considers to be the best DL in Palo Alto in almost a decade. From a recent post Jon published in the College Sports Hotline (his blog in the San Jose Mercury News):

It’s pretty good relative to other lines in the Pac-10 (fourth in yards-per-carry allowed: 3.4), and it’s very good compared to recent Stanford lines.

The unit is big and experienced, quick off the ball and physical. In fact, several opposing coaches have made note of Stanford’s physicality, with specific mentions of the defensive line and the Toby Gerhart-Owen Marecic backfield.

So … just how good is this line?

My first thought: It’s Stanford’s best since the Willie Howard/Matt Leonard/Riall Johnson-led group in 2000. (I’m counting Johnson as a lineman even though he was listed as an outside linebacker: he played a hybrid DE/OLB position.)

To make sure I wasn’t overlooking any lines from 2001-07, I checked with my ultra-savvy Stanford football source (USSFS).

He noted some of the more talented players over the years (Amon Gordon, Austin Lee, Babatunde Oshinowo, Julian Jenkins) but concluded that, yes, this is probably the best unit since ‘00.

And other than quarterback, there is no important position/unit than defensive line. If you can’t stop the run, you’ve got no chance (see: Oregon State v. USC).

So you can bet these guys just like every other UCLA opponent has done to date, will focus on completely shutting down the Bruin rushing attack, and dare Chow and co to beat them with Craft’s arm.

That’s where it gets very interesting. The second statistic that stands out from the number above is Stanford’s pass defense. It has given up almost 272 yards per game via air, which currently ranks dead last in the conference. So they are going to put pressure on Craft and co. to beat them with our passing game.

What will help UCLA’s case is if they can get a decent running game going against this tough Stanford defense. Obviously we can forget about replicating the rushing performance from last year when the Bruins rolled up 338 yards on the ground, highlighted by Bells 195 yards (in 19 carries). Bruins have basically a completely different offense in place, which is still working its way in developing an identity. Bell is not the same back as he is still working to get back in the same form he was before he went down with his devastating injury. IMHO it will help us if coaches increase the workload of Derrick Coleman, who so far this season has been lot more productive than Bell. I have no problem with giving Bell carries, but I think the coaches have to increase the workload of Coleman.

As for Craft, we have already discussed enough this week what he needs to do. He needs to work on doing a better job not locking down on his primary options, and make smart decisions when he has the option between running for positive yardage or forcing a throw. I think for the Bruins to win this Saturday, they will need 100+ rushing yards and a hot start from Craft. Craft has to figure out a way to get in rhythm early in the game because even though he plays better in the second half, his cold starts have been putting Bruins in tough situation.

Now moving on to the other side of the ball, here are the numbers between UCLA defense and Stanford offense:

So what do we have here?

I guess the first question is whether Pritchard is going to be available on Saturday. It sounds like he is a go:

Pritchard has gone through the customary tests for head injuries the past two days — just as running back Toby Gerhart did after suffering a mild concussion Sept. 27 at Washington — and expects to be cleared today for a full practice.

"I feel great," Pritchard said Tuesday. "I'm right on track. They have their protocol for head injuries. You don't do anything the day after. Yesterday I did a bike workout. I did a lift today. If you stay asymptomatic throughout the whole thing, you get cleared."

Before getting his head slammed to the turf while attempting to throw, Pritchard was having one of his best games, completing 13 of 17 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. He also had an interception.

His experience and improved play could be invaluable for a Stanford team whose easiest path to bowl eligibility would be to win Saturday and then beat woeful Washington State at Stanford Stadium on Nov. 1.

"He makes it looks easy, taking the snaps, getting in and out of the huddle, calling the plays," Harbaugh said of Pritchard. "Our terminology is very wordy, so he's got a great ability to set the formation right, get the right play called, audible at the line of scrimmage — all those things you want your quarterback to do when he's leading his ballclub. He's always been very good at it."

Even so, Loukas performed well enough Saturday to merit playing time against the Bruins, Harbaugh said.

For the Bruin defense to be well prepared, they should get ready for both Pritchard and Loukas. Here are Miller’s notes on how a 2 QB system could work out well for Stanford:

Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard has steadily improved this year and was 13 of 17 for 113 yards and a touchdown before he was knocked out against Arizona with a concussion. He's likely to start against UCLA on Saturday. But Alex Loukas' running ability off the bench confused the Wildcats defense and was the key component of the 11-play, 60-yard, game-winning drive. Loukas completed a 21-yard pass and ran four times for 32 yards, and apparently earned more playing time, according to coach Jim Harbaugh. Loukas not only adds a nice change of pace, but he also forces a defense to use valuable practice time preparing for a running quarterback and some spread-option plays.

Whoever is in there will be helped out by the Stanford rushing attack of Gerhart and Kimble, who currently features the second best ground game in the conference. For the Bruins to win on Saturday, it will be imperative for them to hold the Cardinal below 200 yards rushing and force them to win with their passing game. Again here is Miller:

Sure, UCLA's rushing defense ranks eighth in the Pac-10 (171.3), which would seem to bode well for Stanford's potent ground game. But the Bruins have faced the nation's No. 6 (Oregon) and No. 16 (Fresno State) rushing attacks in recent weeks. Moreover, Stanford's more conventional power running scheme matches strength-on-strength as the Bruins defensive tackle combo of Brian Price and Brigham Harwell is as good as any in the conference. It's almost certain that defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker will try to force Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard to throw the ball. The Bruins secondary has been terribly inconsistent this year -- strong safety Bret Lockett  is fighting to hold onto his job this week -- but Pritchard, while improving, has a tendency to force passes into coverage, see eight interceptions vs. seven TDs. The Bruins secondary has only four interceptions this season, but that has been a point of emphasis in practices this week. Stanford beat Arizona despite losing the turnover battle 0-3. It will be harder to do that on the road.

 Well the other point of emphasis should be basic tackling. If we don’t see that from the Bruins early on, it is going to be another rough uphill climb for us at the Rose Bowl this Saturday. Hopefully our coaches have the guys fired up and ready for what should be an all out war against a very well coached, solid football team.

GO BRUINS.

Let’s do a quick reset before getting to extended thoughts on last night’s game. Let’s take a count on what CRN and Norm Chow were working with in one of the toughest venues in college football against one of the more talented teams in the west coast:

• A 3rd string JUCO transfer (playing his first year under Chow and CRN)
• A hobbled starting tailback and a true freshman in Derrick Coleman
• A backup fullback (Theriot out for the season)
• Backup TEs (as we lost our starting TE, one of the only players on the offensive side of the ball with experience and NFL potential in first game of the season)
• Backup WRs (without our senior WR who went down in the first game of the season and TA who we lost during crunch time)
• 4 different starters at OL from last spring (after losing three of our most talented starters - Lanis, Sheller and Kia - to an array of injuries ranging from career/season ending to nagging kind impacting effectiveness)

Basically in a sense we were fielding what might have been a scout team from this year's spring ball. And yet after all that the Bruins gave us a game, in which our hearts were beating almost to the closing mins against a team that was favored to win by almost three touchdowns on the road? So does anyone still in their right mind want to call that performance Dorrellian?

So with that out of the way, here are some thoughts on certain aspects from last night’s game. From my jotted down notes from 2 am stream of consciousness (writing down on post-its before going to sleep):

Playing to win: I have absolutely no problem with the call re. that onside kick. I find all the second guessing and Sunday morning quarterbacking of a head coach’s willingness to go for the win, after being subjected to years of timid and playing not to lose mentality that have driven us over the wall here on BN. At least here on BN we are going to appreciate a coach being fearless and going for the win. We are going to appreciate a head showing complete faith on his entire team (including on a defense which might be finding it’s away) in the most crucial moments of the game.

 I haven’t seen any specific data points re. success rates on onside kicks.  The only statistics I was able to look up this am was from the wiki entry pointing the 2004 success rates in the NFL which was around 24 percent. That is not very high. But it is probably not a reach to assume that success rate is a bit higher when it on side kick comes in a situation when the opposing coaches are least expecting it (would love to see some data points on that).

[UPDATE] silverlakebruin with a solid find re data points re success rates of surprise onside kick:

[T]he success rate of a surprise onside kick, one that happens prior to the fourth quarter, is 71 percent from 1997 through 2006.

Well that certainly gives support to CRN's decision.

Also, couple of more factors to consider in what kind of risk/rewards analysis CRN might have done to make that decision.  Until that point of the game (except for that last drive to end the first half and Masoli’s early success in the first quarter), UCLA’s defense was adjusting pretty well. They were throttling the passing attack. I don’t think it was unreasonable for CRN to assume that even if we didn’t recover the onside kick, our defense would be able to contain Oregon’s offense to a 3 point FG (which they did after Craft’s interception resulting from TA’s scary injury). Another factor to consider, given how we have been unable to kick it deep all season routinely giving up great field position, giving up good field possession on a surprise onside kick, wasn’t really the end of the world.

In any event, it didn’t work out due to a bad call (although the bad calls evened out in another badly officiated Pac-10 game). But I am not going to second guess CRN’s decision to be aggressive and play to win by showing his faith in his young team. I love that kind of aggression and eventually balls are going to bounce our way in the coming years. This is what makes football fun.

Sticking with Craft: Speaking of second guessing, after sleeping on it, I am not finding a lot of reason to clamor for a QB change. CRN and Chow are working with what they have right now in Kevin Craft. KC to this point of the season has completed 59 percent of his passes for 1233 yards with 5 TDs and 6 picks. Yes, he had a lot of Vinney Testeverde moments from his Tampa Bay days last night. Yes, we were holding our breath at times when he was throwing it underneath. But we have to ride this out with him (even if he can’t throw deep). The cold fact is that despite being at UCLA for one extra year and having full opportunity to compete for this job since last spring, Chris Forcier hasn’t been able to charge up the depth chart (at times falling behind true freshman Kevin Prince).

Also, I can’t fault the coaches for not wanting to burn up Prince’s redshirt season unless they are totally desperate. Even with Craft’s at times erratic throws, we have been hanging in there except for one and half football games (BYU and late second half against Zona) this season. I don’t mind that all too much.

Moreover, think out loud a little bit before getting frustrated over Craft not being able to go deep last night. The Ducks’ defensive frontline was at times pile driving our OL with a 3 men rush. Jake Dean (who is giving it all he has at center) was getting driven into the turf. Baca was getting terrorized (not too surprisingly) by all Pac-10 DE like Nick Reed.  It’s not like Craft had time to settle down and pick apart the Duck’s defense. He got sacked 6 times and hurried countless others. So considering the circumstances, I think he did what he could and at this point, I am going to put my complete faith in the combination of Neuheisel and Chow in their managing of Craft and UCLA’s QB position until it gets settled in next couple of years.

Clock Management at the end of the second quarter: So that brings me to the issue of clock management particularly concerning our second to last possession at the end of the first half. Here is how it went with 1:08 left in the first half and UCLA down 0-7 courtesy of WWL’s playchart:

1st and 10 at UCLA 11Derrick Coleman rush for no gain to the UCLA 11.
2nd and 10 at UCLA 11Timeout OREGON, clock 01:08.  
2nd and 10 at UCLA 11Kevin Craft pass incomplete to Taylor Embree.  
3rd and 10 at UCLA 11Kevin Craft rush for 1 yard to the UCLA 12.  
4th and 9 at UCLA 12Timeout OREGON, clock 00:50.  
4th and 9 at UCLA 12Aaron Perez punt for 40 yards out-of-bounds.  
DRIVE TOTALS: UCLA drive: 3 plays 1 yards, 00:24 UCLA PUNT

I think the key here was the play on 2 nd and 10.

IIRC (haven’t reviewed the tape) KC rolled out to his right and had a little bit of real estate to gain perhaps 3-5 yards. Instead he rolled it and flinged it for an incomplete pass. I think that is where it went wrong. If KC had just tucked it in (similar to a decision he didn’t make against Zona and couple of other occasions last night) and gained 3-5 yards using his feet in that play, he would have made the situation much more manageable on 3rd down. I understand even if he ran, Oregon would have taken a time out, but it still would have made the situation manageable. And I think the roll out is designed to give him the option to make the decision between going up for positive yardage and completing to an open receiver. He made the wrong call in that split second. It happens for a first year QB (Cade made lot more bonehead mistakes in his first two season, not just his first season). But those play calls by no means were bad clock management on the part of UCLA’s coaching staff.

Running back rotation: I think this is where we have some rooms for raising questions re. personnel decisions. No doubt Kahlil Bell is a warrior. The kid is giving everything he has out there but at some point the coaches need to ask the question whether it would be more productive to go with Coleman and even Dean. The only explanation I can think of coaches not trying out Dean as much is probably because he is still learning to pick up blitzes (which right now is essential given the precarious state of protection our QB is getting from the OL). Kevin and his OL need all the help they can get and if that means going with the experience of Bell (despite being wobbly) or Coleman (due to his size) over Dean, that is understandable. But in terms of getting reps, I wouldn’t mind if I see more of Coleman over Bell.

The kid runs with aggression:

Photo Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer / US Presswire (via the LA Times)

Also Moline is really coming into his own at FB and at least to this 49er fan bringing up fond memories of Tom Rathman.

Defensive adjustments: The final score doesn’t show it. The rushing totals for Oregon is cringe worthy. Still, I thought Walker coached one of his better games as UCLA DC last night. I was very impressed with the way our defense adjusted after getting stomped early on by Masoli’s read option play. Ayers  finally had his much anticipated coming out party as a starter. I love this kid’s game and I think the way Walker has slowly worked him into the starting rotation is a very encouraging sign.

The question remains around the issue of tackling. Brett Lockett once again had a glaringly tough night (no hiding from the highlights on what Masoli did to him). But what can Walker really do? Replace him with Ware who was not all that effective against Tennessee? There is not a lot of options he has right now except to burn the red shirt years of E.J. Woods or try out someone like Love. But I rather have those kids red shirt and get physically ready for next season, instead of exposing them to D-1 speed and ferocity as a true freshman. Ask any Washington fans about how Willingham has ravaged his depth chart by burning through his freshmen’s redshirt seasons. Again, I don’t really have any answers here except for hoping that somehow Lockett will be able to get it together rest of this season.

Still, give all the adversity this team has gone through (outlined at the very top of this post),  I am feeling pretty good about where we are as a team. After the massacre in Provo, I am seeing unmistakable progression on both sides of the ball from game to game. The game to game improvement will still likely not result in a winning season, but now more than ever I am confident we are headed towards the right direction.

Now the challenge remains is to build on the positives. One of the more encouraging aspects from last night’s game was Watson’s sideliner report that the offense was upset even after scoring the final TD to make the game close in the waning mins. I like the fact that the team wasn’t smiling or hamming it up after a moral victory, instead showing the same kind of angst and frustration we kept seeing in the faces of AA and JF in their first season at UCLA. This is going to take a long time but now after few weeks, the signs are there that this team is taking one positive steps after another. Hopefully they will have a chance to take another a big one by flipping the scoreboard in our favor next Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

We will start this Monday by turning our attention to Oregon right away. I am not sure there is any use in reflecting too much on the win against Washington State, which might be one of the worst Pac-10 teams in recent years. Whatever can be taken away from the Wazzu game will turn out to be irrelevant, if the Bruins come up with another horrific showing on the road like it did against BYU in Provo.

Ducks are coming off their own tough outing against Southern Cal. But you can bet they are going to be chomping at the opportunity to put a hurting on UCLA (and not to mention on Rick Neuheisel because they have their own set of issues dating back to his Washington days). We have at least couple of reasons to be worried right off the bat. First, Bruin’s horr