clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Winning a Road Game Against a Winning Team?

By Nestor

Back to reality:

0-7

That is Karl Dorrell's record on the road when his takes on a team with a winning record (his over all road record is also a pathetic 7-10). Take a look. It's not pretty:

Year Opponent Record Result
2003 Oklahoma 12-2 24-59 (L)
2003 Washington St. 10-3 13-31 (L)
2003 Southern Cal 12-1 22-47 (L)
2004 California 10-2 28-45 (L)
2004 Arizona St. 9-3 42-48 (L)
2005 Southern Cal 12-1 19-66 (L)
2006 Washington 4-2 (to date) 19-29 (L)
2006 Oregon 4-1 (to date) ?
2006 Notre Dame 5-1 (to date) ?
2006 California 5-1 (to date) ?

The only close loss (a moral victory as some Dorrell apologists would call it) was the one against ASU in '04 during which a wonderful prevent defense (and 4 Drew Olson ints) helped the Bruins to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

So we are now in year 4.  Dorrell's team has already blown its first chance to pick up a win over a team with winning record on the road, when it gave the game away to Washington.  Now it will have three more chances.

This week we get Oregon, a team which was somewhat exposed by Cal, and then ND with a vulnerable defense. Will Dorrell be able to finally win a road game against a legit team with a winning record?

From Bruin columnist Charles Chiccoa on BRO (free article):

UCLA does seem to have got the knack of winning at home, but in order to get where they want to go, where we need them to be, they're going to have to finally come up with a big win on the road, something they haven't shown any talent for. Just during the KD years, they've blown the Colorado opener at Boulder, lost at Stanford, lost badly at Washington St., blown it against Fresno St. (wherever the wretched Silicon Bowl is played), got killed in Berkeley, blew a game at Arizona St. and another to Wyoming in the wretched Vegas Bowl... and of course that awful performance in Seattle a few weeks ago. We don't even need to talk about the SC experiences. Which is not to say the Bruins haven't won some big games, and some games on the road, only that they haven't won big enough to be taken seriously. "We're number 28!" doesn't quite get it.

Since former UCLA defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti still has a job, Oregon is certainly beatable. It's good this game precedes the game in South Bend, which should be the tougher of the two. Cal stuffed the very dangerous Jonathan Stewart and apparently forced Dennis Dixon to beat them. Result: three picks. Dixon seems to me a prototypical running quarterback, a short passer who throws hard but without a lot of touch downfield. Sure it'll be loud up there, but at least Cowan shouldn't be going against some kind of suffocating defense in his first start, which is always a more difficult proposition than coming off the bench. I notice the line opened too heavily in Oregon's favor and immediately dropped a few points. We'll see.

I hate waiting 'til next year, mainly because it's hard enough to count on this year, never mind who might not be around next year, or who might get hurt, or how the schedule might shake out, or God knows what other unwelcome surprises. I want it now... squeeze every once of juice from this season. The next four games should decide whether the SC game will be meaningful in the very best sense, or whether the Bruins will just be right back in their old place trying to ruin the Trojans' season while making their season with this one game (a loser's proposition). This game in Eugene is a sort of elimination game between UCLA and Oregon, and one more chance again for the Bruins to get some much needed attention. It's about time they come through.
Just like CC we are sick of waiting till next year too.

We need to make something happen this Saturday or in our next two road games.

Oh and moral victories will not cut it. We've had more than three years of that spin.

GO BRUINS.

More From Bruins Nation