Ordinarily, I think it's foolish to pull a Chicken Little and react so strongly to just one game. Unfortunately, this demoralizing scene from Salt Lake City has become too commonplace to just dismiss it as a fluke. Instead, it confirms the fear that this coaching staff simply doesn't have what it takes to get the UCLA football program back to elite status. I said last year that Dorrell was running out of chances. He's out of chances now. It's certainly within the realm of possibility for the Bruins to rebound from this debacle and have a really good season. But I seriously doubt that anyone who watches the team closely realistically holds on to that belief. More likely it will be just another five-loss season, and hopefully the last with this head coach. Nothing personal Karl, I would really like for you to succeed, but unfortunately we can't wait forever for you to figure it out. Not that you ever would anyway.

Before the season started, I had been joking about the state of the football program with one of my friends over IM. We were taking our shots at Dorrell while quietly holding out optimism for a good season. My friend made the ultimate insult of comparing Dorrell to loathed Bruin basketball coaching flameout Steve Lavin. While I don't think that's an entirely fair comparison, given how greasy and undedicated to the job Lavin was, the results have been eerily similar. Both guys had numerous embarrassing, unprecedented losses, led their teams to generally perform below expectations every year, yet somehow to did just enough to keep their jobs by surprisingly winning a couple of high profile games and having some cosmetic success (in Lavin's case, his run of Sweet 16 appearances; in Dorrell's case, the 2005 season and the USC win last year). But while they were allowed to keep their jobs, the programs that they ran were slowly getting run into the ground. And without a drastic move, the football program will continue to flounder.

If I sound pissed, it's because I am indeed FURIOUS. Sure, football is just a game. And these are just kids. There are many greater injustices in the world happening every day where this ire should be directed. I agree. But it is a personal affront to me and every other person who has invested time, money, and energy into the wonderful institution known as UCLA to have to be associated with such crap. It is insulting to watch people wear the Bruin name and not be prepared and focused, week in and week out. We don't expect to win every game. We do expect that our players will be put in the best possible position to succeed in football and in life, and carry forth the appropriate amount of effort to make that success a reality.

Last week, I went to an alumni event honoring incoming undergrad scholarship recipients in which legendary softball coach Sue Enquist, part of eleven national champion teams as a player and coach, was the keynote speaker. She exhorted the new students to work to become champions in whatever field they were going into because that's what it means to be a Bruin. At UCLA, we build champions.

If there's one thing to be taken away from Utah 44 UCLA 6, it's that as long as Karl Dorrell is running the show, there will be no champions built on the gridiron. Not just in terms of wins and losses, but in the way the game is approached, the way the game is played. No, Karl wasn't the one that made all of those mistakes on Saturday. But the disgraceful performance was a direct reflection of the leadership from the top. Or lack thereof.

This was supposed to be a big year for the Bruins and their 20 returning starters. That would have made it a big year for Dorrell, who entered his fifth season in Westwood with a 29-21 record that wasn't as impressive as it looks (and it doesn't look all that great).

The Bruins have been .500 -- or within one game of .500 -- in three of his seasons.

In the fourth, they were 10-2 because Drew Olson and Maurice Drew were around to bail them out of tight games ... until the Bruins were exposed as a fraud in a 52-14 loss at lowly Arizona.

If not for a handful of how'-d-they-do-that comebacks in 2005, Dorrell would be hovering around .500 for his tenure, which isn't what the Bruins had in mind when they hired him to compete for Pac-10 titles. [...]

[A]t some point, the coach has to coach -- really coach.

It seems to me that any grand plans for 2007 are essentially shot. At 2-1, having struggled more than they should have against BYU and then with the Utah loss, the Bruins look like the sixth or seventh best team in the Pac-10.

They look like a 7-5 team, and that's with all those returning starters and that supposedly vaunted defense.

If Dorrell can't win with this team -- if he can't get a veteran team to play hard each week -- you have to wonder just how much he can win with any team.