The Quitter

Making mistakes is more acceptable than giving up.  I'd rather have a stupid coach than a gutless one.

The thing that will stand out for me about yesterday's loss to Oregon was how Dorrell basically gave up towards the end of the game.  No matter how much better the other team is, you should go down swinging.  There is no honor in "accepting" a loss.  Here are three examples of this loser mentality from yesterday's game.

1. Punting when you're down in the fourth quarter-  

When you're down by a lot and there's not a lot of time left, you go for it on fourth down.  We got bailed out on that play, but it was still a cowardly move.  Do we not want to win anymore?

2. Not showing emotion when the referees decide to screw you on a key play in the game-

We stopped the Ducks on fourth down, but the refs placed the ball a couple yards ahead of where it should have been.  The reaction from Dorrell?  Blank stare.  Duh, what do I do know?  No emotion.  No yelling.  No hollering.  Nothing.  We got screwed on that play and our leader had nothing to say about it.  I can't think of any other coach who would react like that.

3. Not using timeouts and not using a hurry up offense when it's called for-

If you're down in the fourth quarter and time is running out, don't let a bunch of time pass after each play.  This is very simple clock management.  Karl Dorrell played college football.  He worked as a receiving coach in the pros.  He's the head coach at UCLA.  He knows more about this game than most people, yet he does not manage the play clock correctly.  

It felt more like a lack of effort than a lack of intelligence yesterday.  We couldn't win the game, so why even try to score points, right?  Just let twenty seconds pass between plays.  This is quitting and it's not acceptable.

If you're going to quit during the game, then how about just quitting the job period?  I want a mean, passionate SOB running this football team.  Instead we have a dull quitter with no killer instinct.  Karl Dorrell the man seems to be a good guy.  Karl Dorrell, the coach, to put it bluntly, lacks balls.