On the Road

by Nestor on Oct 9, 2006 7:44 AM PDT in Football Comment 18 comments

We will start with the status on our starting quarterback. Ben Olson is supposed to have an MRI today. Here is the latest update from the LA Times:

The first report on Olson, who will have an MRI test today, was that he suffered a ligament sprain in his left knee. If that is the case, Olson could be sidelined for only a couple of weeks. But if his injury is worse, Olson could be done for the year.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that Ben's injury is nothing worse than a knee sprain. BTW as the Daily News notes BO is not the only key player who may sit out this weekend. Christian Taylor also injured his ankle against Zona. We will probably find out more about Taylor today as well.

The LA Times also has Dorrell's reaction when BO went down (emphasis mine):

"I've told Pat that you're always one play away. We kind of smiled at each other when that happened and I told him that this was his shot and for him to go out there and make the most of it."

Hmm. Not sure exactly how to react to that comment. So when BO went down the entire Bruins Nation was holding its collective breath, hoping for the best, Dorrell was smiling about the injury? Kind of bizarre. Well lot of things about this head coach is just weird and off.

One of the things that are off about Dorrell is pulling of road wins over winning teams. Has Dorrell ever won a game on the road against a winning team? Nope. Dorrell has 0 win against team with winning record on the road.

The most impressive road win in Dorrell's career came in 2004 when his team beat a 5-6 Oregon Ducks team in Eugene by a score of 34-26. That is it. That's the only impressive road (calling it impressive is being generous) win in Dorrell's average coaching resume. His most notable road win last year was a come from behind over time win against a 4-7 team Washington State team. He of course lost the last two road games in a humiliating fashion, and continued the trend this year in Seattle.

And the Oregon team we are going to face this season will be a little different than the 5-6 team from two years ago. We already took a look into Oregon last night. OC Register has more on the Ducks and how Cowan is getting ready for them:

The Oregon Ducks are 47-9 on their home field since 1997, including September victories over Stanford and Oklahoma, and they took a string of 42 consecutive sellouts into the season.

But the prospect of playing at Autzen didn't elicit much of a response from Cowan after he had completed 20 of 29 passes in the Bruins' 27-7 victory over Arizona after Olson went down with what is believed to be a torn medial collateral ligament.

"It's going to be fun, it's going to be new experiences, new places," Cowan said. "But when it comes down to it, it's just 100 yards. You just play football, and you can't let the outside distractions or anything get to you."

The Ducks still are leading the Pac-10 and are 11th among 119 Division I teams in pass defense, even after absorbing a 45-24 loss at Cal on Saturday. Oregon has allowed opponents to complete 50.7percent of their passes and an average of only 154 yards per game.

"It will be an experience," Cowan said. "I guess we'll see (what happens) next week. The team is confident, the way we're playing, and we just have to go play football."

So if the team is confident and the coaches are not planning to change anything up in offense, this would be a good time for the Bruins to pick up a quality win on the road against a team that actually has a winning record. Dorrell has had four years in this program. It is time for him to do something notable. Saturday afternoon he will get yet another opportunity against a hungry and talented Ducks team.

GO BRUINS

0 recs | Comment 18 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Dorrell Smiling...

... as bad as a coach many of us think KD is, I think we all agree he's a pretty good dude otherwise. I think he was just probably trying to settle Cowan down and make him feel comfortable. The smile probably comes from the fact that they had talked about "being one play away".

Anyways, I am not jumping on the Cowan bandwagon, but I kind of liked his swagger on Saturday. You like that in a QB... makes me feel more comfortable about him being poised in Autzen.

Go Bruins.

by uclaike on Oct 9, 2006 8:08 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Ryan McCann

had that swagger after beating Alabama and Michigan at home. And look what happened.

Again I wouldn't jump to any conclusions after 1 game against one of the worst Ds in the Pac-10.

by Nestor on Oct 9, 2006 8:11 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good Point...

... I guess I'm the eternal-optimist.

by uclaike on Oct 9, 2006 8:56 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nothing wrong with being optimistic

and in fact you should remain so. :)

I just have been around the block too long. So always have bring the perspective.

by Nestor on Oct 9, 2006 9:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

More worrisome is the inability to run the ball

by cv on Oct 9, 2006 8:29 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

get ready for some ugliness

The next two weeks are not going to be pretty. I see no chance of going into the WSU game at anything better than 4-3. Assuming we can beat WSU and Oregon State as expected, we're looking at 6-6 for the season, and hopefully DG will cut his losses at that point. As for KD's "smile" at Cowan, I'm pretty sure he really meant that "shake-your-head-isn't-this-ironic" type of smile.

by SactoBruin on Oct 9, 2006 9:26 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

SactoBruin, I can see where your coming from but,

I think Oregon has been exposed a little. Unfortunately for the Bruins they have played the weakest schedule in the conference to date.

by cv on Oct 9, 2006 9:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

exposed yes, but...

Can you honestly say that the inept Bruin offense has given us any reason to expect a win in Eugene? The Bruin coaching staff has been "exposed" 4 weeks in a row.

by SactoBruin on Oct 9, 2006 11:11 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

as cranky as I have been on KD

I want to give him one more chance this year.

We have more talent on our roster than OR. We should be able to pull out a win.

Those guys will probably devise a game plan keying on our anemic run game. So if Cowan can complete some passes early, hopefully that will open some holes for our running game.

If our coaches develope a good game plan we can win this game.

It's a big "if."

Let's see how these guys do this Saturday.

by bluestreet on Oct 9, 2006 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

chances for Dorrell

As far as I'm concerned, they guy has had MORE than enough chances over the past couple years, and he has amply demonstrated his inability to handle the job. Everyone wanted to give Lavin another chance and he slowly drove the program into the ground. I'm not interested in letting Dorrell follow Lavin's lead.

by SactoBruin on Oct 9, 2006 11:39 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with you dude

I am just trying my best not to sound like an unreasonable fan. lol

by bluestreet on Oct 9, 2006 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

umm...

we had ten wins last year. we have yet to play a truely significant game this season. i think its a good idea to wait until saturday before we talk about how this team is being run into the ground. i'd say that if we can win at oregon (which should have 2 losses at this point), we have a shot at beating an overrated notre dame, and then we'll have plenty of momentum for a 9 win season...and a huge showdown with u$c. im just hoping we don't get jobbed in autzen ala oklahoma.

by roney85 on Oct 10, 2006 9:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey Karl! Take a chance!!!!

More annoying than his stoic countenance is Koach Karl's conservative approach to the game. I'm almost thrilled to hear that he had the cynicism to smile at Cowan and tell him that this was his chance when Olsen got injured.

At heart, there are two key ingredients in a good football coach. One is a realistic (perhaps, callous is the better word) approach to his talent. The other is the creativity and daring to challenge the limiations of his teams ability.

The maddening quality of Dorrell is that he plays as if UCLA's talent base is equivalent to USC. At this moment, put aside SC, it's questionable whether UCLA is as talented as Cal or Oregon (or Notre Dame). Nonethess, Dorrell approaches the problem as if our queen, knights and pawns are as good as that of the opposition.

If you accept the notion that our players are not superior to the best teams that we play, then the question is how do you defeat superior or equal talent with less than superior force? Tommy Prothro had an answer to that question. His approach was with suprise and creativity--kick on third down, utilize unorthodox tactics. Unfortunately, Koach Karl's approach is to use a boring repetitiveness to his game plans.

While Prothro is a little old at this point, let me give a more modern example. Tyrone Willingham has won with inferior physical talent at both Stanford and he has played credibly with a lack of players at Washington. His performance against USC last Saturday was a textbook example. His on-side kick at the start of the second half was a move that Tommy Prothro would have loved. While it is a given that Washington has difficulty winning with its current crop of players, Willingham has performed with credibly and creatively with the hand he has been dealt.

To come back to Koach Karl, he is moving into the toughest part of his schedule. It will be difficult to win over the next few weeks. Grim faces and calls for dedication won't be sufficient. It's time for Karl to show a little creativity and to take some chances. Otherwise, it will be a grim few weeks.

by uclagradscdad on Oct 9, 2006 9:46 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Absolutely right

One of the marks of a great coach is to find a way to win games that, on paper, you have no business winning. Against the teams you mentioned, we will be heavy underdogs. Unless we have a great game plan, motivation, and preparation, these games have the potential to be very ugly and we will be in for another 6-6 season. And unlike the NFL, where when you lose you get a crack at better talent the next year, losing makes it harder to draw that top-level talent.

by godblesstyus95 on Oct 9, 2006 10:33 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

And we are not asking for much ...

All we are asking for is to win at least 1 of 3 against Oregon, ND, and Cal, and then hold serve in all of other games in which we should be favored.

Southern Cal is the exception of course. Its a rivalry game. And as has been pointed out in a great diary thread this is the best chance Dorrell will have in 4 years to beat those guys. Southern Cal has the youngest starting unit in the Pac-10. And if KD cannot beat them at home this year, it will never happen for him.

This year is it. Oregon is a huge test.

by Nestor on Oct 9, 2006 10:36 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cowan and his swagger

You could immediately see the confidence PC showed on Saturday and that was reassuring. He did execute the offense as if he had been the starter. BO, after Utah, acted tentative, which is a combination, IMO, of poor coaching preparation and self-confidence. If Cowan drops his confidence this week my guess is that will somewhat because of "overcoaching"....

BillSouthBay

by Mensgym on Oct 9, 2006 12:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

3 1/2 quarters

I am not going into buy too much into what Cowan did against a team, which was preparing to play a lefty, but got a righty.

I will wait to see what Cowan doesn against a Oregon team, which will have the whole week to prepare against him.

Lot of people had BO winning the Heisman and possibly going pro. after his first game.

by bluestreet on Oct 9, 2006 12:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Let it play out.........

Guys,

Don't care about Ryan McCann, don't care about what happened in the past with any other replacement or starting QB's, whether it was a good or a bad outcome. It has no effect on the games we have yet to play, using the players we have now.

We are beating down our team and they haven't played the games that some people are already predicting as losses.

We are currently 4-1 (regardless of how we got there)and until it is proven otherwise, we can go 11-1.

Once again, that's the optimist in me.

GO BRUINS!!!

by artybruin on Oct 10, 2006 10:19 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs