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.

So a huge game for the Bruin defense tomorrow. I didn’t get to watch the game against Cal but from it sounded (based on various observations and clips posted here on BN) the Bruin defense did a pretty good job in hanging in there against Cal’s explosive running attack, until the roof collapsed in fourth quarter from our unforced errors on the offensive side of the ball.

Well the Bruin defense will have another huge assignment tomorrow going up against Jacquizz Rodgers. Walker is scheming to defend Rodgers the same way he was scheming against Jahvid Best. He will try to keep Rodgers contained in a defensive "cage":

Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker says his front seven needs to build a cage. Each defender represents a section of the fence, assigned to a particular gap. Each must hold his ground, control that gap, and not just chase the ball.

"We can't let him out of the cage," Walker said of Rodgers. "You give him any creases, man, he's going to find those creases."

Harwell provided more details re. techniques necessary to build this "cage" around Rodgers:

At the snap, he engages the blocker head-on and hopefully pushes a yard or two into the backfield. If he leans to peak around his man, Rodgers might fly past on the other side. So he must wait and rely on peripheral vision to catch a glimpse of the tailback flashing by to the left or right.

"It happens so quickly," Harwell said. "Off the ball. One-two. When he commits, you try to rip off the block and make the tackle."

While the line constricts the gaps, the linebackers flow to their spots every bit as cautiously.

"You never like sitting and waiting because that's how you get blocked," Carter said. "But you've got to wait for him to pop out of the backfield."

At which point there remains one more task on the to-do list: Wrestling the Oregon State runner to the ground.

Easier said than done. Hopefully after a week off, the Bruin defense will be sharp and fresh out of the gate. If we are not seeing crisp and good tackling early on from our defense, the team will find itself in a hole again.

Right now it looks like Canfield will be starting tomorrow, who will not represent any drop off from Lyle Moevao. Canfield came off the bench to lead the Beavers in a come from behind win against the Beavers: 

"Sean getting to play and coming from behind and winning the game I think was very positive," Riley said.

The left-hander started the first nine games of the 2007 season before his injury against USC. After a setback during the summer, his shoulder has continued to improve.

"I don't think Sean is throwing with the same velocity he had a year ago," Riley said. "But he is getting closer."

Last season in a 40-14 loss to UCLA at Corvallis, Canfield completed 22 of 35 passes for 146 yards with two interceptions.

This fall, he has completed 20 of 30 for 257 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

I think no matter who starts at QB for the Beavers tomorrow, the defensive focus will have to start with containing the Beavers rushing attack. Not sure if the Bruin defense will be able to shut down Rodgers et al. If they can keep him under check, that will allow the defense to put some pressure on Oregon State’s QB to win the game with his arm.

Over at the offensive side, here is the latest on our OL:

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said freshman Jeff Baca would start at left tackle and Mike Harris would start at right tackle with Jake Dean at center. With the suspensions of Scott Glicksberg and Micah Reed (along with defensive tackle Jess Ward), the Bruins will start Darius Savage and Nick Ekbatani at the guard positions, and Brandon Bennett and Sonny Tevaga will be the backups.

"We've got answers for all that can happen (with injuries), but you hope you don't have to go to the answers," Neuheisel said. "You keep your fingers crossed."

Also fingers crossed for Craft. Hopefully the week off allowed him to put the Cal game out of his mind. I think if he comes out and looks for some easy completions to move the offense, it will be a huge boost for his confidence. One of the guys he might be looking out for is TE Ryan Moya:

Tight end Ryan Moya might be one of the best pure football players on UCLA's roster and having a breakout season, but he has been virtually missing the past two games.

Moya is second on the team with 31 catches for 298 yards and a team-high three touchdowns but has a combined three receptions for 27 yards in the past two games. Prior to that, he had at least three catches in every game and had a streak of three straight games with at least five catches and 52 yards.

"We'll still try to keep him involved," Neuheisel said. "He's a good player and made a lot of plays for us."

Well, I think Moya’s production has gone down a bit because the opposing defense have been keeping him under check (scouting his early season success) creating more opportunities for Austin, Embree and even Rosario (who BTW will not be available tomorrow). The key here again is for Craft to relax (just like he did during crunch time v Tennessee and Stanford) a bit and look for his best options. And sometimes that option might include using his mobility scramble for positive yardage instead of throwing it double coverage or just taking a sack.

Should be interesting how the team responds after stewing over a disappointing (but not surprising) loss two weeks ago. Here is to our boys being fired up and ready to go.

GO BRUINS.

Earlier in the week Achilles called this game out as a "must win." I thought this was one of the more winnable games left on our schedule, but I hesitated to call it out as a "must win" not because I didn't have confidence in our young players but more out of respect for the solid program Harbaugh is methodically putting together up in Palo Alto.

But guess what ... I think we are starting to see clear signs ... that our head coach is not to far off in slowing putting together foundations of his own solid program.

Rick Neuheisel's "relentessly" positive gutty young Bruins pull out another heart stopping win at the Rose Bowl. Bruins go on a clutch drive to pull out a game in which Craft somehow transformed from Ryan Fien/Rob Walker to Cade McNown thanks to young starts like Rosario:

Photo Credit: Harry How/Getty Images (via Yahoo! Sports)

That's right Nelson Rosario had his official coming out party (4 huge receptions for 71 yards) this afternoon at the Rose Bowl. Here is the box score from our 23-20 homecoming thriller. Along with Nelson other heroes include Austin, Embree, Moya, Love, Price, Harwell, and as mentioned above Kevin Craft.

Despite the incredible win and the exhillaration as Craft pointed out himself, there are lot of issues this young team needs to work on heading into rest of the season. They have an incredibly difficult game coming up next weekend up in Berkeley. We will have lot more on the issues our team has to address on all sides of the ball (including our special teams).

The challenge for these gutty Bruins will be to followup this gutty win with another gutty performance next weekend on the road. Just keep fighting, scratching and clawing away.

Oh ... and I pointed this out in the comment threads ... CRN is now 2-0 in that blue sweater vest. With that I will leave up to rest of you to soak in the resiliency of our Gutty young Bruins.

Thread it up in our post game victory thread.

GO BRUINS.

The word for this Sunday is "efficient". That’s what the beat writers are using to describe Kevin Craft’s steady performance from last night. From the LA Times:

[Q]uarterback Kevin Craft was efficient enough and tailback Kahlil Bell repeatedly burrowed into the Cougars' defensive front. The Bruins defense, which spent the last three games back-peddling, pretty much smothered an anemic Washington State offense.

Kevin Pearson sounds off similar theme in the Press Enterprise:

Craft was efficient with his decisions, finishing the night 23 of 36 for 225 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Moya. He connected with seven different receivers and helped direct an offense that was solid on third downs and overcame a run game that was effective though not dangerous.

As well as Brian Dohn from the Daily News:

Quarterback Kevin Craft wasn't spectacular, but was an efficient 23 of 36 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. And, almost as important, he did not turn the ball over.

UCLA's running game wasn't as explosive as the 200-plus yards it gained in last week's loss to Fresno State, but it was effective enough to rush the ball 37 times and get a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs from tailback Kahil Bell.

"It's good, but by no means are we satisfied," Craft said. "I think guys are still hungry. I definitely know I am."

Kevin’s attitude is very encouraging because that is pretty much the right mindset our players should have after pulling off an expected win against one of the worst teams in D-1.

Last night’s game against Washington State by no means was the most exhilarating or spectacular wins we have enjoyed as UCLA football fans. However, it was enjoyable and worthwhile staying up late here in the East Coast. We shouldn’t make too much out of a win against the Cougars team. However, there are certain trends, I think worth noting. 

Kevin craft (as referenced above) continue to improve as Norm Chow’s latest project. From Jon Gold in the Daily News:

"It has been two weeks in a row where I thought he was really good," Neuheisel said. "He made some big plays, especially in the pocket as it was collapsing and looking downfield. Instead of looking claustrophobic in the pocket, he made some good plays. Washington State was very aggressive; it took a good job by the offensive line and Kevin hanging in there. A lot of progress has been made there."

It's the type of progress that offensive coordinator Norm Chow anticipated out of the redshirt junior quarterback. Chow said Craft, thrust into the starting lineup before the season after injuries to seniors Ben Olson and Pat Cowan, is beginning to come around.

"That's what we hope," Chow said. "He's managing the game well, and he has for two weeks in a row. I think we only have one turnover in those two weeks. He's getting more familiar with the offense, and making good throws."

Particularly to Moya.

His team-mates are certainly impressed by his development to date:

"Kevin played phenomenal," tailback Kahlil Bell said. "He made great decisions, hit the open man, hit the hot read, stepped up in the pocket and played great.

"He's young but he's learning on the fly. Before it's all said and done, he is going to be a good player."

What I loved about KC’s performance last night was his pocket presence (referenced by CRN above).  He didn’t get rattled with the Cougar’s defensive linemen were barreling towards him (and on couple occasions had their arms around him). I love the way he distributed his 23 completions to his receivers (13), TEs (7) and backs (3). Overall he completed passes to 7 different receivers:

Photo Credit: Lori Shepler/LA Times

He has also emerged as one of the clear leaders in this team. He has developed a presence which one can see through his body language during the team huddle. When Bell dropped a pass (I believe it was in the second half) which could have been a TD, Craft didn’t waste seconds to point towards himself, smile at Bell and say "my bad." That kind of gesture/leadership from QBs taking responsibility doesn’t show up on box score, but makes unmistakable impression on team-mates (particular when he is producing results).

That said Craft I am sure will acknowledge that right now there is still lot of room for improvement. First, I think he is still a little too streaky. Once he throws a bad pass, it seems like it takes him a little while to get back in rhythm. We were seeing that in first quarter in the form of two straight ineffective drives. Also, he is getting a number of his passes tipped at LOS. I am sure that’s an issue Chow and CRN have noticed, and they will work with him to correct that in coming weeks. All in all, not a bad night for Craft.

Craft wasn’t the only with a decent night. It looks like Austin is slowly getting settled in this offense. He is also becoming a fearless weapon for KC. He is not showing any hesitation when coming down the middle (exposing his slight frame to opposing DBs). He did it few times last night after laying out for a spectacular reception against Fresno State last weekend. Taylor Embree also continues to shine as he is emerging as the most dependable (possession) receiver in this offense. As for Ryan Moya, he was already referenced above as the money receiver for Kevin Craft.

The running game was somewhat disconcerting last night as the Bruins managed 100 yards (in 37 carries) against a team that was allowing 269 yards rushing per game. Bell didn’t seem too worried about it after the game:

"I don't think there was anything wrong with the running game," Bell said.

"They had nine and 10 guys in the box a lot of times, so I'm not really worried about that."

I guess it worked out last night because Craft stayed poised and was able to manage the game by being efficient through his pass completions. Still I think we need more production out of our ball carriers.

One thing I want to note though: I really like Moline at FB. He provides lot more options at that position. He is very good in catching the ball out of the backfield and is a decent blocker (prolly the main reason he was getting PT over freshmen early on this season).

Speaking of disconcerting, the defense started off on a bad note (although not evident in box scores). We continue to see just too many mistackles out of this bunch. There were a lot of them early on and if we were playing a decent and experience offense, they would have made us pay.

But there were some good notes on defense. I liked what Walker did last night in terms of his blitz packages. He was mixing it up with Reginald Stokes and Chinonso Anyanwu at DE. I love the speed and intensity of Akeem Ayers at LB. More of him please.

Walker at times was subbing in 5-6 players in a play. It seemed like the speed and athleticism of these new kids and along with Walker blitzing from different angles, was allowing Price and Harwell to be even more forceful from the middle. Price is simply a monster. Also, as we heard during game week, Dye got a lot of reps in nickel situation.

Again, not sure how much we can take from this defensive performance against a dreadful football team. However, the signs were certainly positive and encouraging. If they can figure out a way to completely address their tackling issues, I think there will be reasons for optimism for this young team heading into rest of the Pac-10 season.

Hopefully the guys can use the efficient performance from last night as a motivation to get better this coming week. They are going to need to turn it up another notch (and then some) if they want to put together a competitive performance against what should be an angry Ducks team next weekend in Eugene.

GO BRUINS.

Going into tonight's game we were a little worried.  This was the kind of game we have seen Bruin teams under previous regimes drop time after time.

This is kind of game we have seen Bruins come out in previous years and choke away, taking their opponents lightly, showing any kind of focus or killer instincts.

Instead tonight the Bruins came out with a purpose and took care of business. They started a little out of sync on offense and were having trouble tackling early in the game on defense. But they settled down and under Craft's leadership methodically sliced up the Cougars with help from Austin, Bell, Embree, Moline and Moya:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Lewis (via ESPN)

Bruins take apart the Cougars by a score of 28-3 (boxscore). The final score was not indicative of how Bruins controlled the game as Cougars piled on a TD in garbage time and Bruins had CForce mopping late in the fourth quarter.

No doubt Bruins took a step forward tonight but still there is lot of room for improvement as they head into Oregon for a very difficult road game. We will have more thoughts on the game tomorrow and early next week.

For now ... enjoy a steady Bruin win featured by an efficient and enjoyable offensive performance we haven't seen in years. Let's hope the Bruins build on it to improve some more this upcoming game week ...methodically of course.

Oh and the Blue Crew just took care of the Cubbies at the Chavez Ravine officially making this a True Blue weekend in LA.

Thread it up in our post game victory thread.

GO BRUINS.

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

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

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

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

~~~

So, the Fresno State situation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

How many points will Kai Forbath score this week?

Picking up from my last post re questions around our football team, looks like we are not the only one wondering about which Craft is going to show up at Provo on Saturday. Here is Chow in the LA Times on what to expect from his young QB following his first game as a Bruin:

"I don't think you could have written a better script," offensive coordinator Norm Chow said. "My wife said it was like a movie. The problem is the movie is not over yet. We don't know how it's going to end."

Well the good news according to Chow is that Craft has been steadier in practices since the first game:

"I've seen some real growth in his maturity," Chow said. "He's more confident in the huddle and is understanding the offense better. It's still going to take some time. It's not like he's a polished guy just yet."

Craft's play in practice since that game has been smoother, with fewer interceptions. Craft said he learned "to stick to the game plan and don't try to push the ball up the field. The big plays will happen."

The victory, though, did help Craft in one area.

Said Coach Rick Neuheisel said: "He brought us back in that game, and that will always be there. You can talk until you're blue in the face about stuff like that, but until you've done it, you always wonder."

Craft’s challenge is going to be even tougher on Saturday. And as Dohn notes it will not be Craft’s first appearance in Provo. He got in a game there during his time with San Diego State where the results (in terms of his team’s performance) didn’t go so well:

Craft's previous visit to BYU didn't go so well, despite completing 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards and an interception. The Aztecs trailed 40-3 at the half and lost 47-17.

"It's a good experience playing there. It gets loud up there, and they rock that stadium," Craft said.

"It's one of those things where you have a routine, like we do before games for the Rose Bowl, and you know what to expect and nothing will surprise you. That's kind of nice that I'll have that, but we're a new team. And they have a different team, too.”

Hopefully this time the score will be a little different. To help out Craft, he will have the support of a group of team-mates who are developing under the new coaching staff after going through some incredible adversity last few years at UCLA. He will have team-mates like Ryan Moya to count on:

A pass-catching tight end who's a mismatch for most defenders, Moya was off to a promising start to his sophomore campaign in 2006, catching 12 passes through the first six games.

But Moya broke his left leg early in the game at Oregon and was out for the rest of the season, while the Bruins struggled at his position for the remainder of the season.

Moya missed all of spring practice and more, as the injury did not heal properly. So he opted to sit out last fall and remain home in El Dorado Hills and had surgery to have bone spurs cleaned out of his ankle. He also had personal issues, which he has declined to talk about, that led him to take time off from school.

Moya re-enrolled in the winter, made an instant impact in spring ball and was expected to be used as an H-Back this season, with senior Logan Paulsen starting at tight end.

However, Paulsen broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in UCLA's opener against Tennessee, and he'll be sidelined anywhere from two months to the entire season. That threw Moya into the spotlight in coordinator Norm Chow's offense, which features lots of plays for the tight end.

Moya responded with a career-high seven receptions for 65 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 27 seconds remaining.

In addition to Ryan, Gavin Ketchum is back in the fold just in time to step up in the absence of Marcus Everett:

"It's great to be back," he said. "I can come to practice with a smile. I hated sitting out, and that's all I had been doing."

Ketchum, who missed most of last season with a broken leg and qualified for a medical redshirt, was sick for the first two weeks of training camp before his family doctor diagnosed him with mono. He was quarantined for a week and did some light individual drills last week before coming back in earnest this week.

A 6-foot-5, 210-pound possession receiver who also makes an impact on special teams, Ketchum has been getting extensive reps with the first-team offensive this week in preparation for BYU.

With Marcus Everett sidelined with a dislocated toe, Ketchum's return comes at an opportune time for the Bruins, who have just two available players with significant game experience at the position.

Earlier in the week, Coach Rick Neuheisel said Ketchum might play only about a dozen snaps because of conditioning, but Ketchum said he's no longer feeling winded.

"I am definitely looking forward to contributing," Ketchum said.

And those three are not the only ones with their own come back stories as Bruin football players. Brian Dohn today has a great piece on OL Scott Glicksburg’s travails in his five years in Westwood. The fifth year senior who came into the program has gone through four position changes and one physical setbacks after another, before settling into his current position as Chow and Palcic’s RG, giving everything he can to help our coaches rebuild this program.

By now it’s not a shock how these kids have been hanging in there through their struggles and doing what they can to contribute to the development of this program, remaining “relentlessly positive.”  Rhiannon Potkey in the Salt Lake Tribune has this on an energized UCLA football team:

   The UCLA players noticed an immediate difference once Neuheisel charged in preaching his "relentlessly positive" message.
    "There is a lot more energy and a lot more excitement," junior cornerback Alterraun Verner said. "He is more interactive and more into it with the players instead of being in the back and letting other people do things. He is more in your face and hands on."
    It was the minor details that impressed UCLA fifth-year senior center Micah Reed.
    "He told us he would have everyone's first and last names memorized by spring ball, and he did," Reed said. "I came here as a walk-on, and the last couple of years I don't know if every coach knew my name. But he made it a point."

Again none of this is a surprise to anyone … we had a good feeling that the original “come back kid” would electrify this program. Let’s hope we can keep building on it on Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

We opened up our notebook for the BYU game by starting a discussion on Cougars’ offense. Thanks to everyone who offered up their takes in that thread.  Our defense will  have its hands full with Cougars’ West Coast/spread offense as they are going to look to pick apart Walker’s inexperienced secondary with short passing attacks. It will be up to our offense to put together some clock chewing drives against the BYU defense to make sure our defense is fresh and has enough times to rest so that they can go all out attack mode against Max Hall led passing attack.

So let’s take a look at the BYU defense. Again by now we are kind of familiar with them given our two games against them last season. Lot of us got a little preview of what our offense can expect on Saturday afternoon watching Locker and co. going up against them up in Montlake. We will start with Olin Buchanan’s notes from Rivals.com on BYU’s defense before the 2008 season got started:

THE SCHEME: Operating out of a 3-4 set, BYU has allowed fewer than 19 points per game in each of the past two seasons. Although eight starters are gone from last season, Mendenhall is confident the system will continue to be effective. "There will be new names and new faces this year, but the results will be similar to the past three years," Mendenhall said in the spring.

More from Olin on their defense’s strength and weakness:

STRONGEST AREA: With Jorgensen and end Ian Dulan - who started 12 games last season - coming back, the Cougars figure to be good up front. But BYU does have to find a new starter at nose tackle. Sophomore Rick Wolfley and senior Mosese Foketi will try to fill the void there.

BIGGEST PROBLEM: All-MWC selections Bryan Kehl and Kelly Poppinga were among three lost starting linebackers. None of the potential replacements had more than 38 stops in '07. Junior Terrence Hooks, a contender for a starting job, injured a knee in the spring and isn't expected to be available until midseason. The one returning starter is David Nixon, who has moved from weakside linebacker to one of the inside spots. One new starter likely will be Vic So'oto, who started four games at tight end last season. So'oto was a star linebacker in high school in San Diego. The secondary is a concern, too, because all four starters are gone. At least the four new projected starters are all upperclassmen.

From what we saw last Saturday, it looks like UDub’s offense had a pretty solid day against those guys. Locker who was coming off a horrific outing against the Ducks was able to put together some nice drives carving up the Cougar defense.

I think we can expect the Cougars offense to stack the box like the Tennessee defense did and challenge UCLA offense to beat them with their passing attack. So once again it will be key for Craft to maintain his composure and stay with the mindset of taking what the defense offers up. Here is what Willingham had to say about the Cougars defense before Saturday:

"BYU doesn't exactly let you get to mismatches," Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham said. "That's not their system. Their system is to kind of play over the top and force you to beat them with consistency. They're not going to be in your face, or at least we don't think.

"They may change up now. We may come in here and all of a sudden, the only thing we see is bump-and-run. But we don't anticipate that being the case. They're going to force you to beat them in their system."

We saw the Huskies execute that strategy last Saturday through combining a decent passing attack with a servicable running game (well lot of it came from Locker's unreal freaskish athletcism). Then during the second half the Huskies were able to get their running game going against what looked to be a little tired Cougars front-7. The Husky offense converted 9 of its 15 3rd down opportunities and also was 1 for 1 on 4th down conversions. (See full Box score)

For UCLA to get it going against the Cougars on the road, Craft will need to continue to look for the underneath stuff and not force the action downfield. And if the running game can step up a little bit averaging somewhere around 3.5 yards a carry that will help a lot. That will be easier if Craft can open things up by completing some passes underneath forcing BYU LBs to pull back a little.

sjc7522 (I am presuming a BYU fan) posted some good takes on UCLA offense v. BYU Defense in our first BYU notes thread:

The BYU Defense tends to play “bend, but don’t break.” I think the UCLA receivers have a decent advantage over BYU’s secondary. Even against NIU, they got burned on a couple of long balls. They tend to play behind the receivers and try not to allow the big play. I think Norm will spread the ball pretty efficiently and the receivers will have a good game.

Look out for Ryan Moya to keep putting up solid numbers. I think the tight end plays are difficult to cover for anyone, and I don’t think this game will be much different.

UCLA’s running game didn’t do so hot last week, so I’m not sure how it will play out against the Cougars. The D-line and linebackers did well against the NIU run, but I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to the run defense.

I think the game will play out in the air, with the tight ends having a significant impact on both offenses. It should be a fun game to watch.

Let’s hope so. I think this will be an incredibly difficult game for UCLA in Provoh. I would feel good about this game if it were at the Rose Bowl or at a neutral site. Things are going to be much different at La Velle Edwards stadium, which IMHO is one of the more difficult places to play out in West, especially when BYU has good teams.

So those are some initial thoughts on their defense out of the gate for this game week. Again it will be great to hear on this matchup and point out any specifics we all need to look for heading into Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

If there were any doubts about whether the new coaching regime would tolerate lolly gagging out at Spaulding, Rick Neuheisel put an end to that this week. Since the euphoria of Monday, RN has been emphasizing how there is a long way to go and that there is no room for letting up. Apparently couple of the kids didn’t get the message and CRN didn’t waste any time sending the message that there will be no room for lolly gagging under the new staff:

A day after holding a team meeting to warn UCLA's players about complacency after a big win - a bugaboo during the Karl Dorrell era - new coach Rick Neuheisel had harsh words for some unnamed players about a lack of effort during Thursday's practice.

"We have to make sure we're into the toughness part of this game," Neuheisel said. "It looked to me like there were a couple of culprits of tuning it down, not really wanting the contact piece of it.

"As we were going through some of the drills earlier, I wanted to make sure that they understand that's part of the game, and they can't play here if they're not going to get through that.

"But for 98 percent of the guys, it was a good practice." […]

"If we don't understand what has to be done in anticipation of a top-ranked opponent, then we didn't learn anything from what we just went through," Neuheisel said. "It's why we have an experienced coaching staff, and it's why we are pushing them, getting them to where we need to be. Hopefully, we'll come out (today) and have a good practice."

Needless to say this is pretty good news (if accurate) considering the word of RN’s practices up in Washington (via UW Dawg Pound):

One critic of former UW Rick Neuheisel used to tell me that his practices looked like a pillow fight. That was an obvious reference to the lack of structure, hitting, and tackling going on during practice not to mention the rock music and Popsicle breaks. Teams eventually play like they practice and Rick's teams were on a downward spiral when he was fired. Rick actually recognized the problem and was about to correct it because he felt his team was beginning to lack toughness.

Well if it was a problem up in Washington, in the early going doesn’t seem to be the case. Not only CRN hasn’t waste any time in making sure he is running a well oiled, disciplined practice (which was evident in the near flawless 2 penalty performances against Tennessee) he and his staff have made sure they are physical and tough. That is why as disconcerting as some of the injury news has been this off season, we have seen the results pays off in one of the more impressive physical performances by a UCLA team against a tough opponent in recent years.

Staying on the injury front, Ryan Moya stepped up huge on Monday night after Paulsen went down. Chris Foster from the LAT reports how coaches are now working with Moya and Harkey to improve their overall games at TEs:

The first issue about UCLA's paper-thin depth has been presented to Bruins coaches, who are trying to plug the hole created by the injury to tight end Logan Paulsen. […]

It leaves the Bruins crunching numbers at tight end. Ryan Moya, who plays the Bruins F back -- a receiver/blocker who is moved around -- and true freshman Cory Harkey will now try to fill that void.

"Out of Harkey and Ryan, we got to get one guy," offensive coordinator Norm Chow said. "Ryan is a little better receiver, and Harkey is a little better at the point of attack."

Moya had seven receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown in the 27-24 overtime victory over Tennessee. Yet he was less of a physical presence lining up at tight end, as opposed to working out of the backfield.

"Ryan had a good game, at least the pass receiving part of it," Coach Rick Neuheisel said. As for Moya's blocking, Neuheisel said, "He needs to work on it. In his defense, he was playing the F position, our moving tight end. It's no excuse, you have to know all your assignments. But he didn't get much practice time at tight end going into the game."

Playing Moya at tight end takes away from the depth at the F back spot, though Chow said running backs Trevor Theriot and Chane Moline can play that spot.

Harkey didn’t have a catch last game. But given his size (6-4, 240) and the skill set he has, you can expect coaches looking to him lot more in the coming weeks. The bye week after that physical game against Tennessee was absolutely crucial because it will allow RN/Chow to coach Harkey and rest of the youngsters up for an additional week.

Also speaking of injuries, Reggie Carter is “feeling better” (he had suffered an “MCL sprain”) and is hopeful about being back in practice next week to get ready for Tennessee. Nelson Rosario also suffered a “mild sprain of the medial collateral ligament.” Dohn reported last night that he is going to have an MRI. So keep an eye on that. Hopefully Nelson and Reggie are going to be ready next week.

We know the coaches will never make any excuses from these nagging injuries. In a way the injury issues in the early going and how the coaching staff have been dealing with it without making any excuses is very reminiscent of how CBH deals with the injury issues often arising from the Ben Ball workouts at Pauley Pavilion.

GO BRUINS.

Let’s finish up my notes on our offense by going through the current depth chart of our wide receivers and TEs. Just like the running back position, these are two units which will be stacked with options. Some of the receivers who are returning from last season could emerge as reliable options, while there is also some exciting potential among the newcomers in this year’s freshman class. The question here again is who is going to step up, adapting to the new coaching regime, and taking advantage of Chow’s offensive scheme.

So here is how the depth chart looked at the end of this year’s spring ball:

*noted red-shirt and ^ denotes walkon

At first blush, it looks like a pretty deep rotation (without taking into account the newcomers from this year’s class). However, let’s take a close look at the numbers from this past season:

Those numbers are kind of grim. None of these guys were in the Pac-10 leader boards in terms of receptions and receiving yards. Among last year’s UCLA receivers only Brandon Breazell found himself in the Pac-10 leader boards, finishing 9^th in receiving yds/game (51 rec., 810 yards, 62.3 yds/game). We didn’t have a single WR in Pac-10’s top-10. [See 2007 Pac-10 stats]

Yet, among the returning guys there are few who showed ability make plays. We will start with Marcus Everett who is another Bruin who will be trying to make a comeback from an injury plagued season. During his time here Marcus has shown he can be a player. He has shown that in number of games (headlined by the Notre Dame game in South Bend and the 13-9 two years ago) that he can make those money catches. He is one of those key seniors who is part of CRN’s revitalization plan. The question around Marcus is whether he can stay healthy and step up to be a consistent performer.

Consistency will also be the key issue for Dominique Johnson and Gavin Kethcum. Johnson has the size and athletic tools for emerging as a key target for UCLA QB. Again we have seen what this kid can do. But like Everett, Dominique will have to show he can step up in a consistent basis.

Gavin Ketchum also has all the physical tool to emerge as a dependable receiver in Chow’s offense. He didn’t get a lot of opportunities during the previous regime. So hopefully he will make the best of out of the opportunities presented by the arrival of new coaching staff, and earn himself a spot in the rotation through hard work this off season and the Fall camp.

Now, Everett, Johnson, and Kethchum are "possession" type of receivers. Among the returining receiving corps, the guy who has the potential to use pure speed to emerge as a game breaking is Terrance Austin. Terrance was one of the most highly recruited WR. He was the headliner in Dorrell’s 2006 recruiting class. However, coaches from previous regime was never able to take advantage of his talent and put him in position to be successful (well that goes for most of the offense). Let’s hope heading into his third year at UCLA, Austin finally experiences a breakthrough. As noted during spring practice reports Austin, Everett, and other wide receivers are finding their options in Chow’s offense to be simpler (per Dohn’s notes this past spring):

It used to be UCLA's receivers had two choices on a pass play - run the designed route, or a go-route. It was a source of frustration in a complex, confining system under former coach Karl Dorrell.

Now, when a receiver stands at the line of scrimmage, his job is the look at the defensive backs and one of the linebackers, then choose from a variety of route options off a simple read.

It is simplistic, UCLA's receivers say, but new offensive coordinator Norm Chow's offense provides plenty of freedom.

"The way the play is designed, it's easier to determine which route to do," Bruins receiver Terrence Austin said.

"How it was last year, it was like, `OK, I got two and that's it.' There could have been an alternative route, but it was just not designed in the play. The routes given now are more instinctual. You don't have to think about it. It's common sense."

UCLA fifth-year receiver Marcus Everett said there are at least two or three variations on routes for each play, with go-routes also in the equation.

"We have a couple of read routes where we can do one route, or if the defensive back plays a certain way, we can do another route," Everett said. "It gives a lot of leeway to the receivers. As long as the quarterback and the receivers are on the same page, it'll be a good thing."

Well the phrase – "on the same page" – gives me nightmares in the context of UCLA football (from last few years). However, it has sounded different in the context of Ben Ball. Let’s hope after all these years of mediocre coaching, Chow and Neuheisel’s leadership finally establishes a strong foundation for our WRs and rest of the offense, which will not make it such a challenge for everyone to get "on the same page" every years.

As for rest of the depth chart in terms of WRs, not sure how much we can expect from Ryan Graves and Jamil Turner. I think they will get a chance to make some plays here and there, but they will have to show remarkable development from last spring, to make an impression this Fall.

They will have to show the same kind of impression Taylor Embree made this past Spring:

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

So keep an eye on number 82, the son of former Bruin assistant Jon Embree had an impressive spring camp during which observers noted "his high level concentration and his hands." I imagine if Embree continues on the same path, he will have a chance to make meaningful contributions this upcoming season.

Now let’s get to the new comers. And all eyes will be on Nelson Rosario. And for a little intro here is a little bio from a tv station from San Diego (his hometown) which ran before his senior season:

Rosario went on to have senior season that earned him All American honors (SuperPrep) and ranked as one of the best wide receivers in the country. He has the height 6-6. He has the speed and has shown good ability to run his routes. The question around him whether he has put on some weight to go with that 6-6 frame. He was listed at 6-6, 218 per his scout.com bio. Lot of eyes are going to be on him this Fall camp.

Fall campers will also keep an eye on Antwon Moutra and Jerry Johnson. According to Dohn Antwon has been getting "rave reviews" from team-mates. Dohn has gone ga ga over Moutra!

I was on hand for another of UCLA's 7-on-7 passing days Tuesday, and several newcomers continue to standout. One is speedy receiver Antwan Moutra, who is now drawing double coverage because of his ability to get down the field.
The buzz is Moutra should give the Bruins something they lacked recently -- a downfield threat with big-play ability.

Dohn added his caveat about how the observation was based on 7-on-7 drills but he is trying to base it by comparing to his notes from previous season.  Again I should caution folks that although that kind of report is always encouraging, I think we should temper our expectations and wait to see how he performs in the Fall camp. According to scout.com’s bio Johnson has "adequate speed but runs good routes." He seems to have the size (per his bio at least) to perhaps compete for playing time right away. But I guess we will have to wait and see how he performs this Fall camp as well.

Let’s move over to TE, a position that hasn’t gotten much attention since the departure of Marcedes Lewis. Logan Paulsen has most experience out of any of receivers in terms of starting games from last year. He has the potential to emerge as a key contributor in this offense provided he gets the opportunity in Chow’s scheme. Given how Chow’s simplistic offensive scheme is based around slicing and dicing up the opposing defenses based on what they give the offense, there is a good chance Paulsen and rest of our TEs will be called upon a lot this coming season. Ryan Moya is another Bruin bidding to make a strong comeback (seems to be a theme? Doesn’t it? We have already hit that note with Carter at RB and Everett at FL) at the TE spot.

As all of you know by now Chandler is being moved over to the OL, which means freshmen Corey Harkey will most like step into the rotation this Fall. Here is the note from Dohn few days ago where he noted "Harkey has the ability to be UCLA's next great tight end once he gets acclimated to college". That was based on an observation from a player in the team. Again, let’s hope the promises of potential seen during these 7-on-7 drills materializes during Fall camp and the actual games.

So all in all, wrapping up my notes on offense, seems like we do have some decent (but unproven and in some cases totally inexperienced) talent at WR and RB position in our offense. Our coaches will no doubt do everything they can to patch up an injury ravaged OL and do what they can to protect an injury riddled BO, while trying to bring up our young QBs up to speed as efficient game managers. To say that this will be an enormous challenge is an understatement. There is a reason why seasoned analysts and experts are channeling BN in terms of expectations. Again we should keep in mind how these are all kids who are experiencing their 4th OC in as many seasons.

However, as many have observed already on BN, for the first time in years there is a sense of hope. We will see if our players will be able to step up. There is a sense of hope that our coaches will do everything they can to make sure the right scheme in place putting our players in position to succeed. For the first time since Cade’s departure I am excited about our offense (while mindful about the challenges noted last few days). Should be fun. We will take a break from the depth chart analysis for a bit and get back to it with a look at our defensive side in few days.

GO BRUINS.