Last November news came out that Dan Guerrero against UCLA's best interests scheduled a "neutral" site game against Texas in Dallas. We discussed why that game was a classic case of dumb scheduling here and here. So we are not going to repeat those same discussions again. However, it appears it is just not us here at BN, who thinks this kind of scheduling is ridiculous.

Bryan Fischer notes on CBS that Pac-12 will no longer permit non-conference "neutral site" football games "unless the conference gets their cut of the media rights":

No member institution shall enter into an agreement to play a neutral-site football game (except in circumstances where such neutral-site game is the away leg of a home-and-home series) unless such agreement provides the Conference with the exclusive broadcast rights and digital rights in all media, and copyright to such neutral-site game.

In other words in the future Pac-12 will not allow incompetent administrators like Chianti to schedule "neutral" site games against Texas in Dallas, unless the Longhorns also agree to come out to LA. It is too bad that this rule was not in place last year.

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It's Super Bowl Sunday. The most-watched event on television. With the Niners eliminated in heart-breaking fashion by Eli and the Giants, there's no real personal stake in it for many of us on the West Best Coast. So, I imagine many will be rooting for whomever gets them the most money on their bets, waiting to see which commercials light it up and which ones flop, and/or if there's another wardrobe malfunction during half-time.

But, for at least two UCLA Bruins, there's a football game to be played today. Former Bruin return man Matt Slater will line up for the New England Patriots in both the return game and as a wide receiver, while former Bruin safety Bret Lockett will watch the Super Bowl from the sidelines as part of New England's injured reserve. And as bryanucla noted, there isn't a single Trogan on New England's roster, while the Giants have zero Bruins and a single U$C man, reserve defensive back Terrell Thomas, so I guess I'll be rooting for Tom Brady's bunch.

With that, let's turn to your special edition Super Bowl bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Starting with the Super Bowl (obviously), USA Today has an article talking about all of the unheralded players that will have a chance at ultimate NFL glory today, discussing the bumpy road to today's big game that guys like Danny Woodhead, Victor Cruz, and our own Matt Slater took to making it in the NFL. At the tail-end of the piece, Matt talks about being drafted in the late rounds, and the sense of urgency he felt to go in and fight to stay in the NFL.
• Sticking with our Bruin in the Super Bowl, the Charlotte Observer has a similar piece, discussing the unheralded guys who didn't get love on draft day, who are now playing the biggest game of their lives, including none other than Matt Slater, a fifth-round pick, who has been versatile for Belichick's squad this year, even lining up as a safety against the Colts earlier in the year.
• In a quick-hitting rapid report, CBS Sports' Paul Dehner Jr. got a couple of quick quotes from Matt Slater on his preparation for the Super Bowl and trying to stay focused on the game itself.

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Culture change has been a big topic here on BN since the arrival of Jim Mora. He mentioned how the "culture of UCLA football needs to change" when over the wall nonsense happened during bowl preparation week. He pledged to stop that BS by declaring it "completely unacceptable" and not part of UCLA. Then on his first official day as the head coach he sent another strong signal by kicking out couple of players for "violating team rules" from the program and letting go of another due to academic issues.

It appears Mora has installed some new team rules in attempt to establish much needed sense of accountability with the program. In recent days from tracking tweeter conversations among current and former players, we have pieced together information that Mora has installed a "strike system" at UCLA.

From what we understand here is how the strike system works for team. If the players miss class, tutoring or any other program set out by Mora and his staff that is considered a "strike." If they are late to class, meetings or practice that is considered a "strike" as well. If strikes pile up for a player, he (and his team-mates are disciplined) in the following progression:

• 1 strike equals "5 am punishment" (which we are assuming 5 am workouts) for the violator.
• 2 strike equal "5 am punishment" TWICE for the violator.
• 3 strikes equal "5 am punishment" for the violator's position group. So if the violator is part of running back crew, all the running backs will be mandated to partake in 5 am workouts.
• 4 strikes equal "5 am punishment" for the whole side of the ball. So if the violation is part of the running back crew, the entire offensive unit will be forced to partake in the 5 am workouts.

Needless to say this kind of disciplinary system will raise the stakes for everyone. This way every member of the team will have incentives to make sure not only he is abiding by team rules, but also keeping an eye on his peers from his respective position group and side of the ball to ensure, they are not repeatedly getting in trouble. We will have to see how the strike system plays out under the new regime.

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We may be in the middle of the week, but Coach Mora and the rest of the staff are hitting the recruiting trail hard. Coach Mora and Coach Klemm were in Georgia and Texas, respectively, yesterday. Coach Mora apparently offered WR Juwan Dickey and Class of 2013 RB/WR Josh Danforth, clearly showing an attempt to set up a Georgia pipeline, while Coach Klemm met with massive OT Simon Goines. We haven't seen an "8Clap" tweet from Coach Klemm yet, but Goines appears close to committing to the Bruins.

Other news worth checking out:

• UCLA has updated the official website to include bios of the new coaching staff. You can check it out here. Unfortunately, most of the coaches haven't had time for their photo shoots yet.
• 5* WR Bryce Treggs enjoyed his official visit to Westwood last week. He'll visit again unofficially before visiting USC and Cal. He is close to Coach Yarber, who might have just enough sway to pull him away from Cal.
• 3* WR Kenny Walker said he nearly committed to UCLA during his visit last weekend, but he will visit UW this weekend according to Greg Biggins.
• Sal Alosi has begun offseason training, and yes, 6 am and 8 am lifts do sound like a grind.
• UCLA currently has 25 commitments and is tied for the 10th best class.

Stay tuned for more updates as the daily news breaks.

So yes we are going to have an open thread again this weekend taking in the NFL action. BruinsNation is filled with 49ers' faithful (which includes bunch of us on the homepage). We are going to be vested in the second game of the NFL double header. The connections are way too many to list. Just for starters there is the relationship between our current head coach and his tenure as a DC for number of years at Candlestick. We have sons of at least two 49er legends playing in our current team. There is also Niner legend Randy Cross routinely channeling our thoughts and often mentioning us by name when discussing UCLA. It goes on and on.

The euphoria after the Niners game here last Saturday was pretty evident in the comment thread. I have been meaning to follow up on a specific comment made by islandbruin after that epic game, which I think is pertinent to big picture discussions here at BN. Here were islandbruin's money observations after Niners pulled off that epic win against New Orleans Saints:

Harbaugh Did Not Play It Safe

Biggest takeaway for me today was that good things happen when you trust your players, and let them loose. I can't imagine many NFL teams running a QB sweep on 3rd and long in field goal range- too worried about fumble or some other problem, so run it up the middle for a FG. The result instead- TD.

Then on the final drive, less than 20 seconds, FG sends it to OT. So what does Harbaugh call? Pass for the winning TD. Quite a contrast to David Shaw, who took the ball out of Luck's hands and left the entire game on the skinny shoulders of a freshman place-kicker.

It is clear that the Niners players would run through a brick wall for Harbaugh. It is easy to see why. Hope we can get that kind of passion, intensity and take a risk mindset in the future.

Well the comparison to David Shaw couldn't be more appropriate. That was the exact thought going through my head when Harbaugh and his coaches dialed up "Vernon Post" in that last drive. I didn't get to watch the Smith run because I was rushing back home from the airport and following it all on the BN thread. But looking back the highlights, the call seemed amazingly courageous and yes a huge contrast with what we saw from Shaw, and what we experienced under Terry Donahue and his disciples in Westwood.

I have no idea what is going to happen on Sunday. The Giants are going to be pretty tough. I know many of my Giants friends here in DC (amazingly) are not big fans of Tom Coughlin. As an outsider though I see a team that seems pretty well coached, disciplined and peaking at the right time under the leadership of who I think is one of the best QBs in the game. Plus we have a soft spot for Coach Coughlin here on BN for obvious reasons. As balanced as well coached the Niners are, I think they will be the underdogs. It should be a classic game. As a long time Niners fan, I am still bitter about the Giants ending the career of Number 16 in 1991, while the Giants' fans are still complaining about a blown call in 2003. So we are well set up for an epic rubber game on Sunday night.

What I do know is the Niners will go into this game in a fearless state of mine and with a coach who will be playing to win every step of the way. Now bringing this back to UCLA, thinking about our program, as encouraged as I have been about what Mora has accomplished in his early weeks as the head coach of Bruins, the question in my mind is whether he has those Harbaugh instincts that will shine through on game days?

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January has been a good month to the Bruin football program, and it looks like it's going to get better. Late Monday night, 5* DT Ellis McCarthy committed to UCLA. A few hours later, Jim Mora officially announced that Lou Spanos was hired as DC. Topping off yesterday's wild ride, 3/4* QB Kevin Millweard committed to the program. Yes, yesterday was a good day.

At this point, our coaching staff consists of the following:

Offensive Coordinator: Noel Mazzone
Offensive Line: Adrian Klemm
Running Backs: Steve Broussard
Tight Ends: Marques Tuiasosopo
Wide Receivers: Eric Yarber

Defensive Coordinator: Lou Spanos
Defensive Line: Angus McClure
Defensive Backs: Demetrice Martin
Special Teams/LB: Jeff Ulbrich

Strength & Conditioning: Sal Alosi

More on our staff and recruiting news after the jump.

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I was there last Sunday.

Tim Tebow Highlights 2011 2012 Broncos DEMARYIUS THOMAS (via stumpshus)

Perhaps some of you saw the highlights of this game. Maybe some of you have even heard of this Tim Tebow guy. As with the BCS game, I thought maybe Tebow wasn't being adequately covered in the press, so I thought I'd try to do some justice here on BN.

My wife and I have had season tickets in the South Stands for 15 years, and that goes back to the old Mile High Stadium when that section really meant something special. So I saw a lot of Elway's 4th quarter comebacks, a lot of big games, and a lot of playoff wins. Sunday was different. That second video is one that I took that with my phone over 5 minutes after the play, after we were done hugging and high-fiving every stranger within a 15 person radius. Everyone is still dancing and yelling and going nuts. No one wanted to leave. Everyone wanted that moment to last forever. It was incredible and unique and I've never experienced that big of a moment in the middle of that big of a crowd.

But there are some other moments which still rank a bit higher for me. Follow me after the jump...

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There is one more college bowl game tonight.

The BCS Championship Game (which not an NCAA Title, btw, so no one is gaining on us tonight) will get going tonight, featuring a rematch between the LSU Tigers (13-0) and the Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1). These two teams met during the regular season in Tuscaloosa with LSU edging the Tide in an unattractive game by an underwhelming 9-6 score. The dominating defenses (and utter futility of the offenses) soured many fans on seeing a rematch in the title game. However, LSU finished as the only undefeated team in the country, so their appearance was guaranteed. Alabama was the only SEC team amongst the one-loss teams, so their appearance was guaranteed. Someday there will be a playoff. Until then, we get the de facto SEC Championship Game filling in as the BCS Title Game.

It would be far more interesting for me to see this game at a truly neutral site, but this is almost a home game for the Tigers. While Alabama fans are flooding the Big Easy, being just under 300 miles from New Orleans, the distance from the LSU Football Ops building to the doors of the Louisiana Superdome is only 80 miles. Tonight's rematch will feature the nation's top two defenses, two strong running attacks, and a pair of Heisman finalists. And then there is the rematch between arguably the top two coaches in the country, LSU's Les Miles and Alabama's Nick Saban. I realize it's difficult to find any news or analysis about this game anywhere, so for a closer look at the matchup, follow me after the jump...

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