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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 2001, Palmer was 62 of 104 (59.6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GO BRUINS.

Sooooo. What a way to wake up this Friday morning.

I am sure all of you have something else on your mind today, but I need to keep the focus on our Bruins at least to start our day. We will end this game week by closing the loop on all the discussion re. UCLA Athletic Department’s unconventional and bizarre (to put it charitably) marketing blitz around tomorrow’s game. I hadn’t really formulated any thoughts on it because I thought sooner or later DG would step up and address the situation head on. Well DG didn’t disappoint and stepped up yesterday:

Guerrero said, "We expect 70,000 fans and maybe 60,000 in blue. There is a fine line between what the [marketing department's] charge is and balancing that toward talking about marketing to the enemy, if you will."

Guerrero said, "You will see a different approach from this point forward on how we market the team. I'm not throwing anyone under the bus . . . but some things work and some things don't."

Pat Hill, Fresno State's coach, said he expected 20,000 to 25,000 Fresno State fans to attend the game. Fresno has already sold out their allotment of 9,700 tickets.

UCLA's marketing department also has run an ad saying "the college football monopoly in Los Angeles is over," and another that reminded Bruins fans that there was still room on "the bandwagon."

I think it is now crystal clear that CRN had nothing to do with that “monopoly” ad even though he took all the potshots from all corners of the country. In some sense it is very comforting to see how CRN did not throw any one under the bus when that monopoly ad became national news, and instead tried to make the best out of the awkward situation the marketing department put him in, by using that ad to reignite the Bruins. Then again, that ad might not be too far off, given what we saw last night. But … time for us to talk about that game will come later this Fall.

As for the ad campaign leading up to tomorrow’s game, Brian Dohn has more on DG’s thoughts:

Guerrero said it was his understanding "everything was pulled" in relation to the marketing campaign in the central valley, but damage was already done.

Not only was there a quarter-page ad in the Fresno Bee, in which UCLA originally planned to use a photo of Bulldogs quarterback Tom Brandstater, which Fresno State asked UCLA to change, but radio sports were also purchased.

"I can assure you, from my prospective as we move forward, you'll see a different approach to our marketing efforts this season," Guerrero said.

"I don't micro-manage. Those types of things don't usually come to me unless there's an issue. Obviously, there have been issues that have been raised relative to the approach that our marketing folks have taken, and so as a result of that I'm involved.

"I want to make certain we allow them to do their jobs, but we do it in a manner that doesn't compromise our ability to fill our seats. But on the other hand we don't want to give the impression at all that this is designed to bring the enemy (to the Rose Bowl) against our team."

That works for me and I think it is best that we just move forward from this issue. That explanation and pledge from DG is enough for me.

Speaking of tomorrow’s game, Kevin Pearson from PE.com zeroes in on concerns re. repeated breakdown in our punt coverage:

UCLA ranks 105th in Division I-A in punt return defense, allowing a staggering 19 yards per return, a problem that has been addressed this week in practice as the Bruins look for an explanation to their struggles.

Last season the Bruins were stellar in punt coverage, holding opponents to a 6.7-yard average on 38 returns. UCLA has allowed 247 return yards in three games this season, nearly eclipsing last season's total of 263 in 13 games.

"We always have confidence in our punt coverage, and there are some things we need to clean up and emphasize a little bit more, but aside from that, we're confident we will improve," said senior Michael Norris, who serves as the gunner on punt coverage.

Aaron Perez ranks sixth nationally with a 46.3-yard average on his 21 punts. He tied a school record with 11 punts last week against Arizona and dropped his first two inside the 2-yard line.

But some struggles with open-field tackling led to a rough day for the coverage team. Arizona finished with seven returns for 162 yards, including a 55-yarder late in the game.

"I'm not making any excuses," Perez said. "It's on us for not covering the punts. I have to kick better and get the ball in the air and place it better, and when we have a chance to make a tackle, we have to make it.

"When it comes down to it, it's a matter of being a football player and going down and making a tackle. If the offense is struggling, it would help if the punt team is doing its job."

I made a mistake when writing down my notes on Fresno State couple of nights ago. I thought I read that Fresno State was averaging (a staggering) 44 yards per punt return this season. I went back and looked at the numbers again. I goofed up and was reading the column on yards/punt instead of the one for punt returns. FSU is not averaging a lot in their punt returns (3.8 yards per return). But that doesn’t mean the special teams can take it easy tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully they can use tomorrow’s game as an opportunity to get better for rest of this conference season.

Also, in terms of personnel issues, injuries continue to dog the team, as we will now be without FB Theriot, who is out for the reason. Chane Moline will take over at FB. From the OC Register:

“It’s a tough loss, because he was valuable on special teams as well,” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. “Trevor’s a great kid. He’ll rally and be back next fall.”

Theriot, nicknamed “Moose,” will undergo arthroscopic surgery in the coming weeks, though a date has not been set. He will be replaced against Fresno State by Chane Moline, who moves from the tailback position.

Switching Moline could leave the Bruins thin in the backfield. Starter Kahlil Bell has been slow to return from an ankle injury. While expected to play Saturday, Bell might be limited.

That leaves the Bruins with two other tailbacks, Raymond Carter and Derrick Coleman (Troy High). Aundre Dean is expected to return in time for next week’s Washington State game. Neuheisel said Bell is “over 90 percent,” recovered from a high ankle sprain.

Theriot, a junior, injured his knee late in Wednesday’s practice during team drills. A former walk-on, Theriot was awarded his first athletic scholarship last spring. He was used primarily as a blocker and had not carried the ball this season.

Theriot already used his redshirt season, so he retains one more season of eligibility.

Best wishes to TT. As for the rejiggering, it might actually work out well. I kind of like the idea of Moline at his natural position, while being able to utilize the speed and explosiveness of either Bell, Carter (provided they are in full form) and Coleman at the TB spot. Hopefully they can break through tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps they were watching some game last night that will get them extra fired up and inspired for tomorrow.

GO BRUINS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GO BRUINS.

So where to pick up the day after?

All off season we had been mentally preparing ourselves for a very tough season during Rick Neuheisel’s first year at UCLA. There were a number of outsiders who mocked those pre-season projections asserting that somehow we were low balling the expectations game to protect a first year coach. What we saw yesterday was a realization of all the warning signs we flashed this off season based on our thorough analysis of our entire roster. Sure the jolt of 0-59 was beyond jarring:

Photo Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

However, the kind of low we are all collectively experiencing this morning, shouldn’t have been a surprise to any knowledgeable Bruin football fan who has been following this program on a day to day basis for last few years. This was coming and there wasn’t much even the best coaching combination in the country could do about it.

The victory against Tennessee was magical. No doubt. But there was a reason we posted this warning sign moments after that missed Volunteer OT kick at the Rose Bowl (emphasis added):

Tonight is just a start. We are experiencing the kind of high we haven't experienced since 13-9. We know there are tough times ahead. We are going to experience our share of adversity. It is going to happen.

So it has happened. Within 2 weeks, the reality around UCLA football has brought everyone back crashing to earth. The question is how everyone is going to react?

Well, a good place to start would be not to get into any kind of blame game and recognize the reality that right now we don’t have the horses to compete at an elite level. Please note that when I make that assertion it’s not meant to be an attack on any of our players in the team. I have no doubt these kids are doing everything they can and will do everything they can to help the new regime build a foundation for the long term future of this program. But that doesn’t preclude us from making the observation that right now we don’t have the talent and experience to compete at the top level of the Pac-10 conference or even the MWC.

Let’s take our defense for example.  Over here we have been critical and difficult on DeWayne Walker and have raised questions about his ability to scheme against the spread offense. Yet, today I am not sure it would be wise to single him out for failing to properly scheme against BYU’s lethal passing attack. Let’s go back to the discussion we had on stopping spread type of offense before the Tennessee game:

The most effective way to stop spread offense is to have speedy defenders who can offset any mismatches spread OCs try to create with their skill position players. So what can a DC like Walker do to spread the effective passing attack of Max Hall? He can compete when he can field a defense with speedy LBs and a fast and athletic defensive secondary. Does he have that? Well again just look through our roster. Walker is working with 3 new starters in his defensive backfield and his experience safety Lockett was getting in his first action of the season. At LB with all due respect to Bosworth and Hale (who are playing their hearts out), Walker has a blue chipper in Reggie Carter who is playing a new position at Mike, replacing the experience and brain of last two year’s unit in Christian Taylor.

I guess the question here could be is why did our DBs give Cougars receivers so much cushion? From Dohn:

Collie matched a career-high with 10 receptions - all in the first half - and scored two touchdowns as quarterback Max Hall picked apart UCLA's secondary, Verner in particular, en route to No. 18 BYU's 59-0 thrashing of the Bruins on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"It was a shocker," Walker said. "We've got to get (Verner) going. I'm just as shocked as you guys. I thought he could handle (Collie).

"That was our whole game plan going in, and it didn't work out that way."

Walker said he did not want Verner to give Collie much of a cushion at the line of scrimmage, but time and again Verner lined up 10 yards off the line of scrimmage.

It allowed Hall to constantly complete short passes to Collie, and kept UCLA's defensive line and blitzing linebackers from pressuring Hall. He finished 27 of 35 for 271 yards and seven touchdowns, and was a big reason the Cougars were 13 of 17 converting third downs.

"I played off too much," Verner said. "They were doing short routes most of the game, taking 5- or 6- or 8-yard gains all day. I played too far off him and gave him too much room to make catches. That type of guy you have to get up and try to take their space away and make them go over the top on you.

"I didn't do that in the beginning, and I tried to change it up at the end."

I think the fact that our best cover corner felt like he had to give Austin Collie a cushion to effectively cover him tells us all we need to know about the talent level in our defense. This is the kind of reality that might not be pleasant for fan but this is where we are after what has transpired in the recruiting front over last five years. I know we have lot of youngsters who came in this last recruiting class. But football is not basketball where kids can just come in and take over. There are some exceptions but it generally takes 2-3 years for a high school kid to get comfortable in the college game.

The obvious difference in this year’s matchup with Cougars from last year was the absence of Bruce Davis. Davis was a terror who brought the heat on Hall from the outside. There was only so much the combination of Harwell and Price could do. They tried to push from the inside, but the BYU OL was able to neutralize them given the fact that we were not getting any pressure from our DEs and backers.  As a result, Hall had enough time in the pocket to write up terms papers and slice up the UCLA secondary. And when Unga was getting outside he was simply bulldozing over our ends and LBers. They were undersized and overmatched.

There was not much Walker could do.  Could he have gone for broke time and again by bringing in LB and safety blitzes? I am honestly not sure if that would have worked because as mentioned above he doesn’t have seniors like Davis, Horton or Keyes in the roster.   Only thing he can do right now is to try to get back with his players and get them to refocus on the fundamentals for next weekend at the Rose Bowl.

Now let’s shift our attention towards the offense. Again there is not much either Neuheisel or Chow could do yesterday. If you go through the game, I am not sure how much second guessing we can do about their play calling. If anything, they actually tried to be aggressive. They head faked the BYU coaches into taking a TO, when they showed as if they were going for it on 4^th and 1 in our first drive. They mixed in good calls on first downs. Loved those quick outs and bubble screens to WRs on first downs that worked like running play.

But all that didn’t hide the stone cold reality about our OL, which once again generated only 16 yards in 9 carries (See box score). I have always liked the effort the Chane Train gives out there. But he is not really an every down back. We didn’t have Bell out there and Carter got dinged up early on. My main reservation from yesterday was that I wish our coaches had tried out Dean or Franklin out there early. My understanding is that Dean was out there for 1 carry and got hurt (update below). I think it would be good for coaches to get these kids out there lot more (if Dean is healthy) next week and just give them their chances. Because they need something.

As for Craft, again this is a kid who is giving everything they have. He did missed couple of easy passes. But his production was decent (23 for 39, 240 yards, 1 pick). He did what he could to move the chains. Then again we saw the extent of his athleticism when his hailmary pass at the end of the first half fell more than 20 yards short of the end zone. Once again, it’s telling about the talent level of our program when our best QB prospect (including the current kids on the roster) is probably a helicopter ride away from Westwood.

What happened yesterday was a total implosion that’s a result of a decade long roster and recruiting mismanagement in this football program. And the problems on both offense and defense metastasized and spilled over into every facets of the team which we saw in the repeated breakdown of special teams. As painful and dispiriting as it is, there is not much we can do about it.

We already posted CRN’s message re. adversity. As  T pointed he has standing when he talks about dealing with adversity given what he has gone through last few years. There is no one better in terms of offering to lead by his own example. He also had this to say about yesterday’s loss:

"We have to get better, and that's across the board," Neuheisel said. "All of us have to get better. This loss is pinned on every one of us. The bottom line is what do we do to fix it?"

I think in terms of fixing the problems, as alluded it will probably start with going back to basics on defense. Same goes for both offense and the special teams. I imagine coaches are going to be working on with basic drills of holding on to the ball. CRN had to say this about our offense:

"Our game is always going to be the same; we're going to have to stay on the field, keep our defense off of it,'' Neuheisel said. "We could not do that. We left our defense out there far too long, and BYU was methodical.''

And that plan falls apart when the offense keeps turning the ball over. For the long term issues silverlakebruin nailed it:

The Key now is to get the troops rallied, play with pride the next 10 games, hope for a .500 season, and one more thing::

ITS ALL ABOUT RECRUITING… CRN MUST HAVE STELLAR RECRUITING THE NEXT TWO SEASONS

Then we will be in a position to be excellent in 2010.

As for injuries here was the update from Don following the game:

Center Micah Reed injured the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, and it appears he will not be ready for next week against Arizona.
Linebacker Kyle Bosworth injured the MCL in his left knee, and was pulled from the game so not to injure it more.
Running back Raymond Carter has a bruised knee, but said he didn't believe it was serious.
All three will have MRIs Monday or Tuesday.
Running back Aundre Dean sprained his ankle on his only carry and defensive tackle Jerzy Siewierski suffered a strained neck. Not sure on either's status for next week until the next few days.

I haven’t seen any updates yet. If you see it, please post it in the comments on the fan shots.

Right now ... we don't need outsider's "pity" or calls for "gut check" who in their cursory interest in writing about our program never really cared to deal with with facts and failed to recognize what our program has gone through this past decade. Let the MSM types cackle all they want. We need to stick together with this team and with each other.

So, I will reiterate what I wrote last night. We saw this play out in Howland’s first couple of years again, again, and again. Under the best coach in college hoops, kids with UCLA stitched in front of their jerseys were getting humiliated at Pauley and on the road in blowout losses to Arizona, Notre Dame, St. Johns and on and on. In fact Howland’s best moment his first season was a close loss against Tubby Smith’s Kentucky team in Anaheim. I remember those days clearly because it makes the taste of success we have experience last three years that much sweeter. Especially sweet for those of us who stay with the team for the entire ride.

So chin up … take a deep breath.

GO BRUINS.

So lot of BYU fans are feeling pretty confident about their games against us on Saturday. They are coming off an emotional win at a tough Pac-10 venue and are now fired up to get over their main obstacle – UCLA – on their road to a BCS bowl game. So can’t really blame them for getting all fired up.

As of Sunday BYU opened up as 9 point favorite over UCLA per the Salt Lake Tribune:

BYU is a nine-point favorite over UCLA in this Saturday's game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, according to this Web site.
I figured the Cougars would be favored between four and six points, but what do I know? I think the betting public will go with UCLA, and wouldn't be surprised to see the point spread drop to around seven by game time.

Not sure where the line is right now. But 7 points seems to be a fairly substantial margin.

Yet according to some BYU fans like byujim, who have been offering some good takes here on BN, Bruins will have a chance to pull out an upset on Saturday:

The way to beat BYU? I’ve been watching long enough that I know how it’s been done. The first is to get them riled up. Emotion works against this Cougar team (they should be more mature due to their age, but a lot of times they aren’t). Get a lot of penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, holding and false starts. Next, get a good defense in there to stop the run. UCLA has good enough cover corners to stack the box with 9 if they wanted to and effectively take away both dimensions of this game. And lastly, get Craft to play like the second half of the Tennessee game instead of the first!

Well, right now there are big question marks IMO on exactly how Craft is going to play. I know lot of folks are hoping Craft’s second half performance will carry over into Saturday. But I think we will have to wait and see. As we have been tracking practice reports, he can be very streaky.

Also as mentioned this am, it would really help if we can put together a semblance of a running game. I know some folks are wondering why Moline is starting (since Bell is looking “doubtful”) in place of some one like Carter who has the speed to break through. Well, Chow alluded to the fact that Moline is a good “zone runner”. I think another factor we might have to consider that coaches probably think Moline is a better blocker within their protection scheme (See tasser's point here). I think this is probably a significant factor into Chow’s game planning.

Anyway, as Tydides pointed out right now there are lot of questions despite the exhilarating win from labor day re. what our Bruins can bring to the table:

If for no other reason than for their opponent, this is the first road test for a very young team. For better or worse, we had quite a bit of experience last year. What kind of experience we had is up for debate, but it was certainly more than what we have currently. Frankly, if we see a repeat performance of the first half from the Tennessee game, that will likely be game over, and there’s no doubt that our defense will be called upon to shoulder more than its share of the burden, as will probably be the case the rest of the season. The UW game showed that BYU knows how to execute. They are the known quantity. What will the Bruins bring to the table? I think that’s the real question, and I don’t think anyone has the answer to it.

Again here are some of the questions swirling around our team:

• Which Craft are we going to see on Saturday: the one from first half or the one who led the glorious comeback in the second?
• Will our offense be able to put together some semblance of a running game giving Craft some room to operate and helping us to sustain some long drives?
• Will the defense be able to put enough pressure on Hall to get him off rhythm?
• Who will win the battle of trenches between BYU's OL v. the UCLA DL (anchored by the Killer B's)?\
• Will our LBs be able to contain Pitta?

I am sure you all can think of few more. But just like Tydides right now I don't have the answers.

So I think once again it’s important for all of us to not lose perspective after first game while we wait to find out some of the answers on Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

Bruins continue to prepare for the Cougars while working through injury issues on a number of fronts. While we lost Paulsen for an extended period of time (possibly the entire season) and Everett for few games, there was some hope re. Bell coming back on Saturday. Dohn reports that right now it is looking very “doubtful” that Bell will be in action against BYU: 

UCLA running back Kahlil Bell was in full practice gear Tuesday, but remained a spectator at practice as the Bruins moved forward in the likely event the senior running back will not play Saturday at No. 18 BYU.

While an official decision on Bell's lack of availability is expected today, running backs coach Wayne Moses said junior Chane Moline would start and redshirt freshman Raymond Carter would be the backup if Bell does not play.

"It's closer to doubtful than it is probable on Kahlil," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "I'll leave it as questionable because I don't want to doubt the kid. He's really trying. But it's a long season, and this is only game two. I don't want to have it be one of those things that hamper him for a long time."

Moline and Carter lack Bell's experience, but the duo combines to give offensive coordinator Norm Chow versatility in the running game.

"I think Chane Moline is a good zone runner," Chow said. "I think Raymond gives us a good burst."

If we are hoping to hang with the Cougars this Saturday, we are going to need better performances from both Chane and Raymond. Neither of them got it going against the Volunteers. I think Chane is one of those physical tailbacks who can be effective in short yardage situations. As for Raymond he needs to do a much better job of recognizing the holes to better make use of his speed. Hopefully it starts coming together this weekend. In addition we would love to see Dean or Franklin get some shots against the Cougar defense.

Meanwhile, the team is working through bumps and bruises:

Bosworth (left ankle injury – BN Ed.) and Harwell (got his left arm examined. – BN Ed) sat out the last part of practice, though Neuheisel said both would be ready to play against Brigham Young on Saturday.

Said Neuheisel: "Knowing the Bosworth boys as I know them, it would have to be an amputation for them not to play."

Harwell, Neuheisel said, "has a bruised elbow. He'll be fine."

The Bruins can absorb injuries more readily on the defensive side, as "our front seven is deep," defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said, adding, "We have some talented young guys. They just don't have experience."

The offensive front is another matter. Glicksberg will play Saturday, but said he tweaked his shoulder. "It's going to be sore. I dislocated it last season. But it's nothing I can't work around."

Well it looks like Glicksberg and his team-mates are doing what they can. Kevin Pearson from the Press Enterprise reported the OL had a good practice on Tuesday along with some positive news re. Ketchum:

Wide receiver Gavin Ketchum, who missed the opener with mono, worked extensively with the first team on Tuesday and will make his season debut this weekend.

After being critical of the effort of the offensive line a day earlier, Neuheisel said he was pleased with the way they practiced on Tuesday.

Shifting our attention on the opponent, there is good article in the Salt Lake Tribune on BYU’s efficiency in converting 3rd downs in first two games of this season. The Cougars converted 12 of 14 3rd downs against Washington and went 7 for 10 against Northern Iowa:

The Cougars have yet to attempt a field goal, and they've punted just five times - three against Northern Iowa and two against Washington.
    Hall has not been sacked, and most of their penalties on offense have been 5-yarders, so they've rarely faced third-and-long. Of the 14 third-down situations they faced against Washington, only two were longer than 8 yards, and on the longest, third-and-14, Hall threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Austin Collie.
    "It is just what you see out there," Collie said, pointing to BYU's practice field. "It is just execution, and working on it every day, and making that one of our goals. I think a lot of credit has to go to Max and what he is doing behind center."
    The BYU offense will face a much tougher test this week against UCLA (Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Versus), however. The Bruins (1-0) held No. 18 Tennessee to 5-for-17 on third down in their 27-24 overtime win on Labor Day.
    BYU was just 5-for-14 on third down in the Las Vegas Bowl last year against UCLA.

I think it is safe to assume that our defensive coaches are all over this stat. If our defense find themselves in constant 2nd and short/3rd and short situations against Hall on Saturday, it could turn out to be a long afternoon. And this also goes back to the need for our offense to put together clock chewing drives against the BYU defense, allowing our boys to stay fresh and mount all out pressure against Hall. More than ever it will require a total team effort on Saturday, if the Bruins are looking to pull off an upset against a team that IMHO will be lot tougher than Tennessee.

GO BRUINS.

In midst of the euphoria of last 48 hours we talked about slowing things down a bit last night. Apparently Coach Neuheisel agrees with us and hit on the same point yesterday:

Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel, had a message for the giddy masses.

He was thrilled with his program, from the players to his coaching staff, but stressed that much more work is needed.

"It's way to early for us to be considering ourselves anything close to a finished product," Neuheisel said Tuesday. "We need to improve drastically, but I think we have the kids that will understand that, and buy into that, and do the work necessary to get it done.

"We're never going to beat anybody just by showing up. We have to play intelligent football."

Pressing matters include a trio of injuries to senior starters, a nonexistent running game and a leaky run defense, all of which must be improved before the Bruins return to the field Sept. 13 at No. 15 BYU.

Running game is going to be one of the main (among many) issues fix heading into next game. It will be interesting to see how many reps Dean gets in practice in the coming days and whether even “Jet Ski” and Knox are considered in the mix. I would think if Bell is not ready to go in next game, coaches will have one of the last two guys in the mix because it’s always good to have more than 3 backs lined up and ready to go.

The main concern with Carter right now is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. We didn’t see much of that in our last game. I wonder what Dean and other backs can bring to the table wrt to that skill because in Chow’s scheme tailbacks ability to catch it out of the backfield can have a discernable impact on the overall offensive game plan.

Dean, “Jet Ski” and Knox are part of a freshmen class that is already making its presence felt. Chris Foster from the LA Times has a report on the freshmen rising to occasion on Monday night:

UCLA's freshman class has been lauded and applauded. That it deserved such treatment seemed clear after the Bruins' 27-24 overtime victory over Tennessee that bumped the Bruins to No. 23 on Monday in the Associated Press poll.

Moore recovered a fumble and was mistake-free at safety.

Linebacker Sean Westgate returned a blocked punt for the Bruins' first touchdown.

Wide receivers Taylor Embree and Nelson Rosario had key receptions during UCLA's two fourth-quarter touchdown drives.

Tight end Cory Harkey, wide receiver Antwon Moutra and defensive back Tony Dye all logged playing time.

So the UCLA class of 2012 displayed its class in 2008.

"I'm amazed on a couple fronts," Coach Rick Neuheisel said. "One, that the freshmen were playing so well. Two, that they had to be playing. It is always gratifying when young kids answer the call, that's what makes them so special."

Foster also noted a specific veteran move by Rahim Moore when he recovered a key Arian Foster fumble in the second half:

"I saw the ball bouncing and I could have picked it up and gone the other way," Moore said. "Instead, I fell on it. Maybe I could have gone all the way, but I would rather we had the ball right there than to take the chance of giving them the ball back."

Credit here goes to DeWayne Walker. As we have been reading during the Fall camp, Walker wasted no time in throwing the whole kitchen sink at Moore (part due to Moore’s talent and part due to the necessity arising from Lockett’s suspension). Walker treated him like a veteran from the get go and got him in a kind of mindset in which he had to embrace his responsibilities as a key cog in the defensive scheme. It will be interesting to see whether Lockett gets his starting assignment back when he becomes eligible to return.

As good as Moore was (along with Verner) our DBs will have to play even better in the next game as they prepare to face a prolific passer in Max Hall. More on that game in the coming days.

Lastly, we will end this roundup with a note re. reactions to some Fulmer post-game comments (which generated some discussion on BN here and here) after the game. From the OC Register:

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said after the game that his team would see tougher opponents when it enters SEC play.

Maybe, but the record indicates that the Pac-10 is 10-6 against the SEC in the BCS era, including 6-2 in games played on the West Coast.

That prompted USC coach Pete Carroll to say UCLA's victory “does make a big statement.”

Neuheisel stopped short of saying that.

“I don't usually pay too much attention to what coaches say after a game,” Neuheisel said. “I know he was very gracious when we met at midfield and I know he's got a tough schedule ahead. I'm concerned about our tough Pac-10 schedule.”

CRN’s comments pretty much diffuses any controversy that might have resulted from those Fulmer comments heading into next season. But it’s funny to hear about Pom Pom taking note.

Also along the same topic, before we finish closing the book on this year's UCLA-Tenn game, we need to note the class and grace shown by Tennessee fans from Rocky Top Talk. I already let Joel know in an email yesterday what a pleasure it was to go back and forth with RTT heading into Monday night’s game. They have built a wonderful community with some incredibly knowledgeable and classy bloggers over at RTT. I think the Vols will rebound from their heartbreaking loss (and we have had our share of those) and go on to have a great season. We will look forward to the same back and forth next season, when we get ready for Knoxville.

As for matters on hand – as CRN mentioned above while we are all enjoying the euphoria from Monday, we need to get back to reality and worry about how the team can build from the first game. Coaches and players still have lot of issues to fix and collectively we still have a long way to go.

GO BRUINS.

Thank God we don’t have a game coming up this weekend. If we did, I have no idea how collectively we would have been able to pivot and put our focus on the next opponent. It will take at least another day to shake off last night’s exhilaration:

Photo Credit: Leigh Alvarez/The Daily Bruin

It sure looks like last night’s fireworks have already sent a shockwave coast to coast in the world of college football. Bruins have already cracked the Top-25 and showing up in some prominent polls. This is where everyone needs to slow down just a little bit and catch up with reality. Instead of getting ahead and start coming up with readjusted predictions for rest of the season, we still need to reassess more on what took place last night and the price we had to pay. And then look over the issues our coaches can resolve for helping this team improve from week to week.

So let’s start with the injury news. Once again the news is somewhat sobering (via Dohn):

He (Rick Neuheisel – BN Ed.) said tight end Logan Paulsen's broken right foot will keep him out for the long-term. Paulsen is expected to have a screw inserted in his foot, and is likely out at least eight weeks.
Talking about tailback Kahlil Bell's high ankle sprain, Neuheisel said it was "anybody's guess" how long he would be out. More should be known after Bell's MRI is read.
Receiver Marcus Everett has a dislocated big right toe, and Neuheisel said "I don't know how long that will be, but that's a very, very painful injury" and Everett will "just have to battle through it." I'm hearing there is a chance he could play against BYU.
And, finally, middle linebacker Reggie Carter has a partially torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, but it is only believed to be a slight tear. He will likely undergo an MRI, but Neuheisel said "I think he'll be ok."

The news on Paulsen is a huge bummer. It’s disappointing especially considering it looks like TE will indeed be prominently featured in our offense. It was awesome to see Moya to step up in such a huge way. But having a healthy Paulsen will help. Hopefully Cory Harkey can step up like other true frosh.

We will have to cross our fingers re. Bell. However, in the next game I would love to see little more of Carter (and perhaps Dean) and little less of Moline. I like Moline a lot. He seems like a tough back. But I think may be we can use him in certain short yardage situations that calls for tough running up the gut or in plays allowing him to catch short passes for tough YACs. But I would love to see some more speed at our TB courtesy of Carter and perhaps Dean. I am assuming this is something the coaches will be thinking about and working on next week.

As for Everett’s injury, that’s tough. But I rather not have the kid rush back. Looks like we have some depth (knock on wood) at the WR spot right now. Also, don’t forget we will get Gavin Kethcum back in couple of weeks (hopefully) as he battles back from mono. Re. Reggie Carter’s injury, I have no idea what to think of that. If the MRI will shows that he is ok and if he gets clearance from his physicians, hopefully he can play and be effective. I will not be surprised with Carter’s injury we see some shuffling around our LB corps, allowing a kid like Ayers to break into the rotation.

Speaking of our defense, let’s get back to the chatter re. our prevent defense. From Jill Painter in the Daily News:

Tennessee had a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in the final six minutes. The Volunteers used a 13-play, 67-yard drive that ran nearly five minutes off the clock. Montario Hardesty broke free for a 20-yard touchdown run with 1:54 left to give Tennessee a 21-17 lead.

The Bruins marched down the field and scored with 27 seconds left to put UCLA ahead 24-21.

And the defense failed to deliver again.

Tennessee used a five-play, 27-yard drive that resulted in Daniel Lincoln's 47-yard field goal as time expired to send the game to overtime.

"My defense worked really hard," Harwell said. "It was the first game, and they got us a couple of times but the guys didn't stop believing and the coaches said it was going to come down to a field goal and that's what (happened)."

I voiced some concern re. the defense in last two drives in my first post today. However, there are other fair points we need to take into consideration. bucknellbruin pointed out it wasn’t so much the last drive of the regular period, but the last TD drive he was more concerned about:

My only problem with Walker’s scheme was the end of Tennessee’s last TD drive. We were blitzing on every single play to start that drive, and after they converted that 4th and 1 we stopped. Only 3 or 4 guys were rushing each play, and Crompton was able to move down the field enough to give the RB’s a look at the endzone. I love Walker, and he blitzed more that game than anyone else would dream of doing (which is, in my opinion, a huge reason we won), but I don’t understand why he got so conservative on that drive.
As for the last drive, what can you do…they had to avoid giving up a potential TD play. The staff had the confidence that we would win if it got to OT, so if Tenn made a play to get in FG range, so be it.

Then ryebreadaz pointed out that we went to prevent defense on the final play of the drive (I am assuming he is referring to the TD drive)

Given the way our defense played its heart out the entire game, keeping us in competitive even though we were facing some unreal adverse situations with our QB and injury issues, I don’t think we can really complain too much here. Moreover, as CRN pointed out it was him who had asked Walker to call a "conservative" scheme playing the field position:

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel gave defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker and his defense credit for solid play but perhaps Neuheisel should have made sure there was an asterisk by that statement, to note that it didn't include play at the end of regulation.

"DeWayne's defense kept us in the game," Rick Neuheisel said. "The seven points they had to make it 14-7 was an interception for a score.

"We came into the game with an idea of how to manage field position. I told him to be a little more conservative on their end of the field. I thought it worked to a 'T.' It was a field position game. I told them at halftime, 'Get it to the fourth quarter.' ... that's all you could ask for."

Considering all the blitz packages we saw from Walker throughout the game, cannot imagine what happens when he decides to get ultra aggressive. I would have to think once his secondary gets more experience (and get Brett Lockett back) Walker is going to get even more aggressive in the coming weeks. Fun stuff.

Moving on, we also have some work to do on special teams despite that crucial punt block from last night. From bornagainbruin:

I disagree with your analysis of special teams. Sure, we blocked a punt early for 6, but other than that the special teams were very poor, in my opinion. For instance, we were totally dominated on both kick offs and kick off returns. Second, on punt returns we never again came close to the punter and didn’t have any good returns. On our punts, Tenn had a few good punt returns. These special team issues cost us field position all night long.

To throw in a few numbers, Tennessee averaged starting on their own 36 after UCLA kickoffs, while we averaged our own 25 after Tennessee kickoffs.

Fair enough. I imagine Coach Gansz has already looked at the tapes and those data points and I think we can assume, this is something we are going to be working on during next 10 days. Man, it would have been nice to have Matt Slater for one more year.

Going back to the big picture scheme of things, Scott Wilson’s write up on Fox Sports has this how CRN motivated the team heading into last night:

"There's so much passion associated with college football," Neuheisel said. "Not that there isn't in the NFL ... but it doesn't have the same feeling of everything hinging on every play. You have to get used to that and weather the storm and not get too high or too low. The other thing is you never know when you're winning or when you're losing. You don't keep hoping for things, you just keep playing. I was really impressed with the way we did it first time out."

Neuheisel's players said he kept things very positive in the weeks leading up to the game, despite the obstacles that injuries and a thin depth chart overall presented.

"He's a great motivator," defensive tackle Brigham Harwell said. "In his meetings, everybody's sitting up. He's so emotional. In the hotel, he just told us to keep fighting for four quarters. It went to overtime, but we still kept fighting."

I would add couple of more notes to this big picture stuff.

First, what lot of folks haven’t touch on yet is CRN’s vision. Heading into last night’s game we read a lot about how it was a huge risk for Neuheisel to shake up the schedule so that his team could debut in the national spotlight. rye's post sums it up beautifully the kind of risk CRN took in moving this game to Monday night on Labor Day. We haven’t had a head coach in my lifetime of following UCLA football (I have no idea how Dick Vermeil operated as the leader of this program off the field in the public area) with the CRN’s vision of our program. He as much any hard core UCLA football fanatics has total command over our history, our tradition as a college football program, and knows exactly where this program needs to go in the coming years so we can honestly say that we are indeed back. And he knows to push the right psychological buttons to get everyone around the program fired up and ready to go, while he is taking his players on the way to redemption. What could work out perfectly for UCLA is the tough and painstaking experiences he underwent as a brash/young HC at Colorado and at UDub is the exact seasoning he needed to emerge as a polished and seasoned head coach, enabling him to do this for the third time, the right way.

Second, have I mentioned the feeling of seeing our head coach PLAYING TO WIN? There was one grumbling comment in the game thread last night, about CRN/Chow deciding to throw the ball towards the end of the first half resulting in that pick 6. I absolutely had no problem with that. As painful as that pick 6 was, CRN/Chow sent the right signal to his team and the opponent that they were not going to sit back and play it safe. They were going for it. They were coming at it. They were relentless. It’s obvious that mindset has taken hold of our entire team, given the valiant and tenacious total team effort in the second half.

Now … we still need to slow things down. Yes, we are ranked. But we can’t get caught up in all that. We still have some serious injury issues to deal with and our entire offense still is a work in progress. Moreover, now that the whole country knows what is transpiring in Westwood, we are not going to sneak up on teams and pull off another ambush. So, I still think we are looking at a long, tough season, but it is going to be one during which our coaches and players are going to fight week after week. Still it is nice to finally have hope and a dream a little bit about our program’s future.

It’s been a while to experience this kind of afterglow following a UCLA football game:

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

That's not the last time Rose Bowl will look like that at the end of UCLA football game in this new era of Bruin football

GO BRUINS.

Let’s continue to study up some more on this weekend’s big game by looking at the offensive and defensive statistics from last year. Now right off the bat we have to remind ourselves that we have to take these numbers with grain of salt considering our Bruins are going to unveil a new offense under a new staff and without the returning starters from last season. We also lost 75 percent of our starting secondary and are looking to replace couple of our emotional fire starters in Bruce Davis and Christian Taylor. Similarly Tennessee is looking to not only break in a new coordinator, the Vols are also going to feature a new starting QB – Jonathan Crompton – who attempted a total of 12 passes last season. So numbers from last year will not necessarily establish much in terms of what we can expect on Saturday. However, it would be good to keep them in mind as data points for reference as we try to get a total picture on Saturday’s matchups.

I will start by looking at the numbers comparing the Bruin defense v. the Vols offense from last season:

As mentioned in my last post Tennessee’s fans are looking forward to the unveiling of their Clawfense under their new OC Dave Clawson, which will reportedly feature elements of a spread offense. Whatever it is, I think it will be reasonable to expect these guys to serve up a heavy dose of Arian Foster behind their experienced offensive line. This is where I think where the numbers from last year might be instructive because as we can see Walker has put together a pretty solid rushing defense at UCLA. If the Bruins are going to have a chance this Saturday, it will have to start with Harwell and Price upfront. They will need to do their best to clog up the running lanes for Foster.

Bruins will have to force the Volunteers to beat us with their passing game. We have discussed before how Walker has had issues with spread offense in the past. We can expect a pretty interesting chess match between Clawson and Walker on Saturday. Clawson is going to be breaking in a brand new QB in Crompton, who doesn’t have much experience (actually less experience than Craft who IIRC started 3 games at San Diego State, see career stats via WWL). However, on the other hand Walker is going to be breaking in basically a brand new defensive backfield featuring only one returning starter in ATV. He will probably be throwing in some of his true freshmen including Rahim Moore into the fire who will be going up against a core of Volunteers receivers spearheaded by Lucas Taylor (73 rec-1000yds-5TDs) and Josh Briscoe (56 rec-557yds-6TDs). If Crompton gets decent time in pocket enabling him to find these guys we will be  in for a long night. So it will be up to our defense to make sure not only to contain if not shut down their running attack, but they also need to put pressure on their new QB disrupting his rhythm and not allowing him to get comfortable.

As for what happens when the Bruins are on offense, this is the great unknown at this point of time. Here are the numbers from last year:

But right now we are not sure what we can take from those numbers because we don’t have any data on our current coaches. We have beaten to death about the concerns re. our offensive line and the inexperience of our QBs. The question will be whether our line will be serviceable enough to mount a decent running attack and give our QBs enough time to get a short passing game going which will move the chains?

Looking at last year’s stats it looks like Tennessee’s opponents routinely ran up some huge numbers on the ground. They gave up more than 200 yards rushing 3 times last year (Cal 230/37, Florida 255/46, La.Lafayette 234/48, LSU 212/47). Yes, I doubled checked the stats re. La. Lafayette. Also Wisconsin, USC and even Arkansas St. put together productive running attack against the Volunteers. Does that mean Bruins will have a huge night against the Vols through our running game? Not sure. However, I think the trend lines from last year does point to an opportunity. And it is probably a safe bet that Chow and Neuheisel will attempt to get it going via the running game on Sat night. The question is how they are going to do it. And that’s where it will be interesting for the first time in a long time we will probably not have a running game which will involve repeatedly asking our tailbacks to slam up the middle.

Again it will be up to Craft (or Forcier) to get in the mindset in which they don’t get too excited or feel pressure for having to win this game (easier said than done I know). But I think our coaches will get them to be in a place where they know they won’t have to be heroes on Monday night, instead looking to play an assigned role within Chow’s scheme which will require them to make quick and easy (hopefully) decisions. Chow will probably look for decent play from our QB with a multifaceted running game (through Bell, Carter and our talented frosh) kick started through different looks. Can’t wait to find out on Monday night.
GO BRUINS.