I for one am getting excited about the potential this team has.  If they can get it together against the lower teams we face in the early season, we could see something special in November and December.  We of course will have to see it to believe it, but the offense should be par with last year and the defense can't get much worse than last year.  I can easily see this team shocking us all and going better than the minimum 8+SC.  It will all depend on what they've learned, coaches and players alike.  

   Even more important to me than the win/loss record is how they play.  They need to be ready and compete, not roll over for 3 or more quarters.

And we haven't won since I graduated.

So, despite being quoted to the contrary (which regarded whether or not Dorrell needs to be fired, not what my expectations are for this season), I agree with just about everything you say here.

"It is time to put up or shut up."

If 2006 falls apart somehow - and I don't think it will - and 2007 is also a letdown, Karl Dorrell will be officially and completely out of excuses, as he'll be working entirely with his own recruits after four full recruiting seasons by then.  And all the comparisons to Steve Lavin will be fully deserved by then.

The fact that preseason publications show us no respect is Karl Dorrell's problem to solve (one of them anyway). Seeing the si.com ranking of the 119 teams makes me want to vomit: TCU, Utah, Iowa State!, Texas A&M, Northern F'in Illinois! and other programs are ahead of us, who pull in at #45! We are clearly viewed as a joke to the rest of the country. Let's give them a new punch line, Karl.

I have no doubt (well maybe just a little) that most or all of those teams will fall below us after a few games. But I NEVER again want to see the four letters "UCLA" besmirched by being behind loser schools. I repeat: Northern Illinois!!??!?! Hell, we'd only be 3rd in the State of Utah if these rankings are correct.

Fortunately for us, preseason rankings are a load of crap. Dorrell and the entire team and university cannot accept them as a starting point for our expectations. Neither should we. I agree with those who say we can and should expect to be better next year (we lose no one, will have an experienced QB and play an easier schedule), but we must expect to do great things every year.

8-4 might not make me vomit, but it will disappoint me. 9-3 may not disappoint me, but I won't be pounding my chest like I've won anything special. 10-2 will keep my interest and have me feeling good, especially if the 2 are close and 1 of the 10 is against USC (and then we'd have the expectations where they should be next preseason--in the top 5 or 10). 11-1 will make me proud (think Earl Watson showing the letters). 12-0 will send me through the roof with excitement.

Thrill me, UCLA football! THIS YEAR.

We all know that going 10-2 last year was the product of several miracles, not just one.  After all, how many times can a team come back from the brink of disaster?  Since we lost three terrific offensive stars (DO, MD, and ML), have a QB who hasn't started a game at any level for years, and have so many holes to fill on defense, is it realistic to expect 9-3 and a win over SC?  Or is this a dump-Dorrell setup?

No doubt Nestor will have plenty to say in response.

MacBruin

9 wins and Beat SC + a BOWL WIN is definately reasonable. This is Dorrel's 4th year as our head coach and his damn foundation should be set by now. The UCLA Football program has been mired in mediocrity for too long (I don't care what anyone says a 10 win season that includes 2 beatdowns from a crappy ARIZONA team and our arch rivals + a SUN BOWL Victory is mediocre). It's time for Mr. Dorrel to live up to his word and make UCLA the elite program it once was. He's had 4 years to make this a successful program, and despite the fact that he is doing a decent recruiting job, I still do not see the results on the field.

If Dorrel can meet the expectations for this year (9 wins and Beat SC and a Bowl win) I will be more than happy to keep him as our head coach.  

P.S. All those people who hope for a big 2007 season with total disregard for the 06 season are complete morons. If you look at the depth chart for the 06 squad we should have a better team than last year. Sure we lost MJD, ML and DO but the only one of those players was irreplaceable: ML. And we hardly utilized him enough in the first place. At RB we have more of a pure back in CM and KB and we have two potentially lethal punt/kick returners in incoming freshman Jeremy McGee and Terrence Austin not to mention Rodney Van who is lights out fast. At QB we have SOUTHPAW JESUS finally taking the reins, a major step up from the inconsistent Drew Olson. And then there's the defense which cannot possibly be any worse than last year. And it is due to this we should not expect a regression from last year, we should see improvement. Good programs have 10 win seasons year in and year out, not once every 7 years.  

"It is really amazing to see how so many Dorrell backers are ratcheting down expectations for this upcoming season by basically saying we should be happy with a 7 win season. Why should these so called Bruin fans be so intimidated by a program like ASU and Oregon?  What have they really done last two years?"

EXACTLY.  Seriously, WTF have those teams done?  Oregon was an embarrassment to the conference for being so highly ranked and then getting beat by OU, a team we had no problems with.  ASU?  Oooh, you throw the ball alot.  Have they won a big game in this conference since 1996?  If they have then I don't remember it.  So those games are on the road.  Big deal.  This is my favorite football quote ever - Brian Billick after a road playoff game during the Ravens 2001 Super Bowl run -

"When you go into the lion's den," said Billick, "you don't tippy toe. You carry a spear, go in screaming and saying, 'Where's that son of a bitch?' This is football, not diplomacy."

I'm not confident that Dorrell can inspire that sort of rage in our players, but maybe one of the players, or Bullough or Walker can inspire them for him.

Oh and I just have to laugh at all the hype out of  Berkeley these days - hype that they wont be able to live up to, especially after they get tooled by Tennesssee.  At least when we played Tennessee, they had Peyton Manning and were actually a good team.  FUCK Cal.  Their sham 10-2 season was as much of a joke as Oregon's was, and the subsequent crying about the BCS followed by the predictable loss to Texas Tech just made me want to vomit.

Oh, and about that syndicate of rapists over at Figureoa Tech, its gotta become a pride thing for us.  If they beat us one more time that makes 8 straight, which means our glorious run in the 90's is matched by those cheating jerkoffs and rendered completely meaningless.  Apparently, Booty looks like shit, Brandon Smallcock I mean Hancock just tore his ACL (yea right) and Carroll isn't happy with the way the offense is going.  Why not the take advantage of the opportunity this season?  If not this year, when?