Remember Karl Dorrell has already come out on record saying this was his best team yet. So 7 games into this season what do we get? Well Dohn is calling it as he is seeing it. Dorrell's team is just not that good:
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, most likely unknowingly, summed up UCLA's plight when he complimented his Fighting Irish for Saturday's spectacular 20-17 win at Notre Dame Stadium.
Weis simply said "good teams win games like that."
So what does that make UCLA?
Well, it means UCLA is not good.
Not with losses to the three best teams Washington, Oregon and Notre Dame the Bruins played so far, and not with the way UCLA (4-3) found ways to lose on two of those occasions.
Lest everyone forget, UCLA blew a 16-point lead at Washington, and imploded in the fourth quarter when the offense couldn't get out of its own way and the defense made one too few plays.
Sure, Washington is no Notre Dame, not in talent nor in name, but a similar situation played out against the Irish, and resulted in the most devastating loss of coach Karl Dorrell's four seasons. Getting the Bruins emotionally ready to host Washington State on Saturday will be this week's biggest chore.
Well in my book it is unfair to these kids to tag them as a bad team considering it has been their clueless coaches who have hamstrung this team with sorry decisions, poor clock and game management all season long. It is really their coaches who have game in and game out stood in their way of win after wins. Dohn has more on how it was the coaches who let our players down:
Weis simply said "good teams win games like that."
So what does that make UCLA?
Well, it means UCLA is not good.
Not with losses to the three best teams Washington, Oregon and Notre Dame the Bruins played so far, and not with the way UCLA (4-3) found ways to lose on two of those occasions.
Lest everyone forget, UCLA blew a 16-point lead at Washington, and imploded in the fourth quarter when the offense couldn't get out of its own way and the defense made one too few plays.
Sure, Washington is no Notre Dame, not in talent nor in name, but a similar situation played out against the Irish, and resulted in the most devastating loss of coach Karl Dorrell's four seasons. Getting the Bruins emotionally ready to host Washington State on Saturday will be this week's biggest chore.
A few things that played significant roles in UCLA loss:
On the road, ball control is vital. The Bruins possessed it for less than 26 minutes and rushed for 26 yards.
The inability to get plays into the huddle quickly in pressure situations. A bugaboo all season reared its head a few times against the Irish, the most damning on a third-and-7 late in the fourth quarter when the Bruins had no timeouts. A hurried UCLA offense came up short of the first down and had to punt.
After the defense stopped Quinn on a sneak to get the ball back with 2:20 remaining, the world knew UCLA would run. Still, the offense's job is to finish the game, and a first down was all that was needed. Three running plays netted one yard and the Bruins punted.
After tormenting and agitating Quinn into a pedestrian 59 minutes, defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker did what defensive coordinator's do late in tight games. He tried to trade yards for time and didn't blitz. Three plays later, and one play before Walker said he was going to resume blitzing, Samardzija scored.
One of the names Dohn left out in those was Jim Colletto, Bruins OL coach. Of course Colletto was one of Dorrell's much ballyhooed hire during the off season who was brought in to replace the departed Tom Cable. While Dorrell apologists were celebrating Colleto's hire as bringing in more NFL "experience" (yeah we never heard that line before), we were the only ones raising red flag over the Colletto hire pointing out that the guy has been pretty much fired from every high profile job he ever had as a head coach or an assistant coach. And there was our OL coming up short yet again on Saturday mounting a rushing "attack" that barely yielded 1 yard per carry and failed to provide adequate protection for Pat Cowan. Our OL schemes are a mess (if not non-existent) and right now there are no signs that things are going to get better any time soon. All this despite have talented kids playing in our OL.On the road, ball control is vital. The Bruins possessed it for less than 26 minutes and rushed for 26 yards.
The inability to get plays into the huddle quickly in pressure situations. A bugaboo all season reared its head a few times against the Irish, the most damning on a third-and-7 late in the fourth quarter when the Bruins had no timeouts. A hurried UCLA offense came up short of the first down and had to punt.
After the defense stopped Quinn on a sneak to get the ball back with 2:20 remaining, the world knew UCLA would run. Still, the offense's job is to finish the game, and a first down was all that was needed. Three running plays netted one yard and the Bruins punted.
After tormenting and agitating Quinn into a pedestrian 59 minutes, defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker did what defensive coordinator's do late in tight games. He tried to trade yards for time and didn't blitz. Three plays later, and one play before Walker said he was going to resume blitzing, Samardzija scored.
It really comes down to our coaches who are being exposed as not very good. Yet again in Dohn's weekly "report card" coaches came up short getting a below average grade:
Coaching
Two things stand out: defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker's decision not to blitz on ND's game-winning drive in the final minute and the inability to get the offensive plays into the huddle in a timely fashion. Preparation was great, and UCLA was 62 seconds from its biggest win under coach Karl Dorrell.
Grade: C
That's really it. Dorrell is basically "C" level mediocre coach who is not showing any signs of "growing" and learning even though that's what he has been pointing towards as excuses seemingly after every losses in his four mediocre years in Westwood.Two things stand out: defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker's decision not to blitz on ND's game-winning drive in the final minute and the inability to get the offensive plays into the huddle in a timely fashion. Preparation was great, and UCLA was 62 seconds from its biggest win under coach Karl Dorrell.
Grade: C
OC Register notes yet another dubious milestone for UCLA football during the Dorrell era in Westwood:
The Bruins did not receive any votes in The Associated Press or coaches polls, and have been ranked for only nine of 45 games - including this week against Washington State - under Coach Karl Dorrell, all of them coming during last year's 10-2 season.
It took Dorrell 28 games before one of his teams was ranked.
Bob Toledo took 14 games before one of his teams was ranked in the Top 25, and Terry Donahue, Dick Vermeil and Pepper Rodgers all were ranked in their first games at UCLA. Tommy Prothro took six games in his first season, 1965, before the Bruins were ranked.
Dump Dorrell has the low lights of a coach's resume being exposed as just not that good:
It took Dorrell 28 games before one of his teams was ranked.
Bob Toledo took 14 games before one of his teams was ranked in the Top 25, and Terry Donahue, Dick Vermeil and Pepper Rodgers all were ranked in their first games at UCLA. Tommy Prothro took six games in his first season, 1965, before the Bruins were ranked.
1. No wins against Southern Cal.
2. No wins on the road against teams with a winning record. He is 0-9.
3. No big game wins (#10 Cal last year was overrated and ended the season 7-4).
4. No Pac-10 championships.
5. No BCS bowls.
6. Worst starting 3 year record of any UCLA football coach since WW2, including Bob Toledo who was fired.
7. Worse winning percentage than Bob Toledo, who was fired.
8. 3-10 against ranked teams.
9. Embarrassing losses to Wyoming, Fresno State, Arizona, Southern Cal.
10. Revolving door for assistant coaches.
11. Stands like a statue on the field.
12. 80% of Bruins fans polled on Bruinsnation.com disapprove of the job KD is doing.
Right now UCLA should be at least a 6-1 football team (if not 7-0) thinking about BCS. We have already shown UCLA has more over all talent than any other program in the Pac-10 besides Southern California and perhaps Cal. As mentioned above Dorrell himself stated before the season this was his best team yet. But here we are again looking towards the prospects of another meaningless December bowl that no one is going to care about.2. No wins on the road against teams with a winning record. He is 0-9.
3. No big game wins (#10 Cal last year was overrated and ended the season 7-4).
4. No Pac-10 championships.
5. No BCS bowls.
6. Worst starting 3 year record of any UCLA football coach since WW2, including Bob Toledo who was fired.
7. Worse winning percentage than Bob Toledo, who was fired.
8. 3-10 against ranked teams.
9. Embarrassing losses to Wyoming, Fresno State, Arizona, Southern Cal.
10. Revolving door for assistant coaches.
11. Stands like a statue on the field.
12. 80% of Bruins fans polled on Bruinsnation.com disapprove of the job KD is doing.
Karl Dorrell still has a mathematical chance to meet the minimum expectations for this season. Shoot I will be happy if we win 8 regular season games and beat Southern California at this point. The question is should the Bruins fail to meet the minimum expectations during a season in which Dorrell boasted he put together his "best team," what will Dan Guerrero do?
Right now though there is only one thing that is becoming increasingly clear to every member of Bruins Nation: Dorrell is just not that good.
GO BRUINS.