We will start this Humpday roundup with a quick update on two Bruin freshmen.
Terrance Austin continues to get press. This time its from the OC Register, which reports how Austin is making his first road trip with the team as a member of the special teams. Hang on to the football Austin!
Unlike Austin, another (redshirt) freshman WR hasn't gotten a lot of love in the local media. The LA Times has a story on WR Jamil Turner, from Washington, who picked UCLA over Washington. Currently Turner is working hard for the scout team, being patient, biding his time for an opportunity to make a contribution on Saturdays. I am sure his time will come.
The LA Times also has its daily UCLA notes, which has a shocking revelation on Washington recruiting heavily from Southern California high schools. lol. Thanks for sharing that Lonnie. Like we didn't know pretty much everyone from the West comes out to LA and fights for the recruits, who haven't been bought up (j/k) by Pom Pom or signed by Karl Dorrell. Anyway, Lonnie does have this key nugget on Saturday's matchup:
A key to Saturday's game will be how well UCLA's defense plays against the run -- it leads the Pac-10 in giving up only 82.5 yards a game -- and how it does against Washington's run offense, which leads the conference at 210.7 yards a game.
""It's going to be a real physical game," junior defensive tackle Kenneth Lombard said. "We have to stay low and come off the ball hard."
For more on the matchup, checkout this breakdown on Dawgman.com.""It's going to be a real physical game," junior defensive tackle Kenneth Lombard said. "We have to stay low and come off the ball hard."
From Dawgman.com's breakdown, here are the key players for the Husky offense, which is triggered by the multi-dimensional Isaiah Stanback:
Isaiah Stanback is the toughest Husky to defense because of his 10.4 100 meter speed and his size (220 pounds). He can hurt defenses and make them commit to him, and then stop and fire a laser to a receiver that the defenders had to ignore because of the threat of Stanback. Last week against Fresno State Stanback did a nice job of squaring up and throwing on the run, not forcing too many bad balls. He had five passes dropped but didn't let it get to him or his team. The five offensive line starters never come out, so Husky coaches keep their fingers crossed that no injuries occur. Marcel Reece doesn't start but when he's in the game, he makes his presence known. At 6-3 and nearly 250 pounds, he's a load but has wheels. The double-headed rushing threats in the backfield are starter Kenny James, the between-the-tackles guy, and Louis Rankin, the speed threat that has shown great improvement in pad level and at hitting the hole quicker that he was in 2005. Rankin ranks fifth in the Pac-10, averaging 92 yards per game. Anthony Russo and Sonny Shackelford are Stanback's other favorite targets.
Seems like those guys are really high on Stanback after his performance against Fresno State. From what I have seen briefly of Stanback he never came across to me as a guy who is the most accurate passes. I am sure DeWayne Walker will have his front-7 fired up. If they can generate heavy pressure on IS, keep him in the pocket, and force him to get rid of the ball early they will able to wreck havoc in that offense the same way they disrupted the Utah's O in the first game of season. More from Dawgman.com on Husky defense:
Washington's defense has been somewhat abused through the air this season. They have given up an average of 28.7 points per came thus far, ranking 8th in the league, and rank dead last against the pass (245 yards per game). Up front the Dawgs use a lot of people but the main guys emerging inside are Wilson Afoa and Jordan Reffett. Donny Mateaki plays a lot as well. On the edge is where bookend defensive ends Daniel T'eo Nesheim and Grayson Gunheim have made an impact, combining for 18 stops and 3 tackles for loss. The linebackers are Scott White, Tahj Bomar, and Daniel Howell returns to the lineup after flying home last week to mourn the sudden loss of his father. White has 20 tackles and Chris Stevens has 14 in a reserve role, while leading the team with 2 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. The secondary includes Pac-10 leading tackler CJ Wallace, Jason Wells, Matt Fountaine, and Roy Lewis. They're going to be tested severely on Saturday.
And one way Bruins may be testing the Huskies is by going deep:
Early in the third quarter of the season opener against Utah, UCLA tight end Logan Paulsen caught an intermediate pass, looked around, saw no defenders near and rambled for a 46-yard gain.
It stands as UCLA's only pass play for more than 24 yards, and begs the question of whether the Bruins will throw downfield.
Saturday's game at Washington may be a prime time to do so. The Huskies rank last in the Pacific-10 Conference in passing defense, and they are allowing 245 yards per game. In the past two games they allowed sixpass plays of 25 yards or more.
"We'll probably take some shots this weekend," Bruins receiver Marcus Everett said. "We haven't in the past twogames, but we're definitely going to have to start doing some just to keep the defense honest so they can't sit on any routes. You have to threaten them deep sometimes."
Also, Washington is allowing 8.1 yards per reception, the second-worst mark in the conference, and opposing quarterbacks are completing 66 percent of their passes against the Huskies.
"We have a lot of (deep) plays, and we work on them," UCLA receiver Brandon Breazell said. "We're just waiting. It's frustrating to wait."
Well considering the left cannon of Ben Olson, Svoboda has at its disposal hopefully Breazell and co. will not have to wait past Satuday for those deep routes. I am sure Bruins will continue to work on the running game which saw signs of coming into life in its second game (albeit it was against Rice). But they will have to put togther a well balanced scheme allowing Ben to throw when opportunities present themselves, and help him get started on the right note by throwing in the right mixes of short and medium range passes (to TEs and TBs) along with an efficient running game.It stands as UCLA's only pass play for more than 24 yards, and begs the question of whether the Bruins will throw downfield.
Saturday's game at Washington may be a prime time to do so. The Huskies rank last in the Pacific-10 Conference in passing defense, and they are allowing 245 yards per game. In the past two games they allowed sixpass plays of 25 yards or more.
"We'll probably take some shots this weekend," Bruins receiver Marcus Everett said. "We haven't in the past twogames, but we're definitely going to have to start doing some just to keep the defense honest so they can't sit on any routes. You have to threaten them deep sometimes."
Also, Washington is allowing 8.1 yards per reception, the second-worst mark in the conference, and opposing quarterbacks are completing 66 percent of their passes against the Huskies.
"We have a lot of (deep) plays, and we work on them," UCLA receiver Brandon Breazell said. "We're just waiting. It's frustrating to wait."
After two weeks off we are expecting the Bruins to put together their balanced offensive package on display in Seattle.
GO BRUINS.