Let’s start with some good news on the football front (I am not joking). Per Foster in the LA Times Ben Olson’s arthorscropic surgery revealed "no cartilage damage in his injured knee." It will take Ben three or four weeks to fully heal. If I were a member of his family, I’d urge him to hold out for rest of the season, and wait on a brand new head football coach, who would be able to figure out how to utilize his talent.
Because by all accounts his current "coach" still seems to have zero clue wrt to our quarterback situation:
"We're trying to do Plan A, B, C and D," Coach Karl Dorrell said. […]
"They can know a portion of the things we can do, but I don't know if two weeks is enough time to learn everything we want to do," Dorrell said.
It may be that UCLA will use more than one quarterback against Cal, even if there are no additional injuries.
Uhm, it takes two weeks to learn how to hand of on first and second downs before chucking it aimlessly on 3rd and long? Okay whatever you say Karl."They can know a portion of the things we can do, but I don't know if two weeks is enough time to learn everything we want to do," Dorrell said.
It may be that UCLA will use more than one quarterback against Cal, even if there are no additional injuries.
Meanwhile, Patrick Cowan has no clue as to whether he will be ready for the Cal game. From The LAT report as well:
Asked whether he'd have the opportunity to play, Cowan responded, "Good question. Will I be given the opportunity to play? I feel that if I'm able to play, I feel I will be given the opportunity to play."
Such is the chaotic state of the Bruins' quarterback situation -- now reduced to waiting on a player with a partially torn medial collateral ligament while trying to bring other less experienced backups up to speed.
McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the non-scholarship player who was sent in when Olson sustained an injury to his left knee Saturday against Notre Dame, is still in the mix. Osaar Rasshan has made a boomerang journey, from quarterback to wide receiver and back. And freshman Chris Forcier was promoted from a leading role on the scout team to auditioning for time in the spotlight.
I have said it again it would be absolutely unfair to C-Force if he is thrown to the wolvers just so an incompetent head coach can make one desperate attempt to save a job he doesn’t deserve. And UCLA as an institution will look specially foolish if something bad happens to C-Force behind a line that cannot "block a soul," costing him his red shirt season in perhaps a promising career under a new head coach.Such is the chaotic state of the Bruins' quarterback situation -- now reduced to waiting on a player with a partially torn medial collateral ligament while trying to bring other less experienced backups up to speed.
McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the non-scholarship player who was sent in when Olson sustained an injury to his left knee Saturday against Notre Dame, is still in the mix. Osaar Rasshan has made a boomerang journey, from quarterback to wide receiver and back. And freshman Chris Forcier was promoted from a leading role on the scout team to auditioning for time in the spotlight.
The decision here should be a no brainer. Dorrell should go with the kid who has been in the program for two years, and who is anxious to contribute as a quarterback:
"I definitely would like to stay at quarterback, but I think that's the head man's decision," Rasshan said. "I believe ultimately it will come down to sitting down and talking to the coach."
Again given what we have seen from Dorrell’s offense last 4+ years it shouldn’t take a kid with junior high level education more than a hour to familiarize himself with the predictable playbook.Paul Oberjuerge from the Daily News (Dohn was somewhere which I will get to in a bit) has more on our QB situation:
We're thinking that Dorrell and first-year offensive coordinator Jay Norvell, presumably fond of their paychecks, will pour their energy into getting Bethel-Thompson properly prepared and Rasshan at least ready to go in and run around, if MBT gets hurt.
A sensible gameplan vs. Cal, barring a miracle recovery by Cowan, would call for a heavy workload for tailback Kahlil Bell behind the competent offensive line, and a handful of careful attempts to get the ball to open-field threat Brandon Breazell - via end-arounds and short, safe passes.
These are dangerous times for the Dorrell Regime.
Unless Olson or Cowan returns quickly and stays healthy, UCLA's offense will be sporadic from here on out.
And if the O remains as sloppy with the ball as it was vs. Notre Dame, finishing 6-6 might be the outer limits of this team's capabilities.
The next 10 days could tell us a lot about Dorrell and his staff.
Actually Paul we don’t need 10 more days to learn about this clown and his incompetent coaching staff. We have seen enough.A sensible gameplan vs. Cal, barring a miracle recovery by Cowan, would call for a heavy workload for tailback Kahlil Bell behind the competent offensive line, and a handful of careful attempts to get the ball to open-field threat Brandon Breazell - via end-arounds and short, safe passes.
These are dangerous times for the Dorrell Regime.
Unless Olson or Cowan returns quickly and stays healthy, UCLA's offense will be sporadic from here on out.
And if the O remains as sloppy with the ball as it was vs. Notre Dame, finishing 6-6 might be the outer limits of this team's capabilities.
The next 10 days could tell us a lot about Dorrell and his staff.
If we haven’t said it, we will say it now, even a win over Cal will do nothing to change our stance wrt to the incompetent buffoon who has destroyed our program in his last 4+ years in Westwood. It’s too little too late to show character and perseverance. He has enough chances and has been given every opportunity so that he can be successful. And he has failed and spectacularly at that. Even a last ditch desperation run at a Pac-10 championship fueled by a favorable schedule (with Cal, ASU and Oregon at home and an exposed Southern Cal squad which is starting remind us of Larry Smith and John Robinson’s overhyped TrOJie squads from the 90s) will not be enough to take the heat off an incompetent clown who has miserably failed to live up the expectations he set when he was ushered into Westwood.
The buffoon we all know as Karl Dorrell has embarrassed UCLA enough. Even a desperation victory over a Cal team with suspect defense will not be enough to save a job, he never deserved in Westwood.
GO BRUINS.