If you haven't noticed yet, a new countdown clock is up. IIRC it is counting down to 6:00 pm PST, Monday, December 3, 2007. We are now fully expecting Dan Guerrero will make the firing of Dorrell official by cob that Monday. We are basing this upon his last two major high profile firings at UCLA - Lavin and Toledo - both of whom were fired the Monday after their last regular season game at UCLA.
As I mentioned yesterday I was able to catch some brief look ins into yesterday's game when I was able to sneak out of the reception and hover around the bar. And I was able to sneak in enough "action" to see Sheppard's drop, BD's dumb personal foul, and penalties killing our drives. On the other hand, I also saw enough action to see OR complete some nice passes, improvising under pressure, leaving no doubt he has all the talent to be a very good D-1 QB, and that there is no excuse for why it has taken so long for him to get meaningful action given what we saw against Notre Dame.
Well, it is all over but the shouting at this point. Bill Plaschke can see the writing on the wall:
"Football is a business, it's not the YMCA," he said, shrugging. "If we don't play well, we sit on the bench. You've got to win."
They have not, and so Dorrell will probably pay, and they know it, their fall nearly complete now, two games left against the two best teams in the conference, a season that has mirrored an era.
From the Pac-10 lead toward a possible bowl ban. From the excitement of 20 returning seniors to a silence of another losing locker room. From Hollywood to Toledo.
A couple of weeks ago, when asked about Dorrell, Bruins Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said, "I will be very interested to see how we finish the season. And you can use that."
Since those words were spoken, the Bruins have gone 0-2, been outgained, 821-588, accrued 121 yards of penalties, and blown leads in both games.
Even though injuries forced them to play Saturday with a converted wide receiver playing quarterback and two walk-on running backs, UCLA took a 13-10 halftime lead.
Then, what seemingly happens in all of Dorrell's big losses happened again.
The other guys made halftime adjustments, and Dorrell didn't.
In the third quarter, Arizona State outgained UCLA, 232-74. The Sun Devils offense scored 14 points, while the Bruins offense scored zero.
By the end of the game, the Bruin collapse had mimicked their season-long collapse.
In the second half of the Bruins' five losses this season, they have been outscored, 85-20.
Those are the numbers most closely watched by an athletic director whose program prides itself on finishing.
In the final three games of Bob Toledo's final three seasons, he was 2-9, and look what happened to him.
Before last week
Q: If the season was over today (with UCLA 5-3), do you think Karl Dorrell would be fired?
A: No. How do fire a guy who is in second place in one of the tougher conferences in the country?
Before this week
Q: If the season was over today (with UCLA 5-4) would Dorrell get fired?
A: I do not know, nor do I care. I don't deal in hypotheticals like that.
Oh sure we are going to hear from the players how they need to show courage and want to leave on high note next two games. Our next game is going to be against probably either a number 1 or number 2 ranked Ducks team, who will be playing for a spot in the championship game. We may see a one last ditch inspired effort from the players to pull off an upset to make a desperate case for the Doofus. We will hear more comments like these:
"The Pac-10 championship is obviously out of our reach. We have at least two more games, two big games. One against Oregon and one against those guys across the street."
The Bruins will get a week off to ponder all that.
"I think what we have to do as football players, and as men, is to be courageous and show character and continue to fight when there isn't a tangible thing to grasp," Taylor said.
Apparently players cut those pretty bracelets last week. We just have 22 days to go till we cut them off from the Doofus:
Photo Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times
Yeap.
Buh bye to the Thinker.
Buy bye to the Fixer.
Buh bye to the Sleeping Beauty.
Buh bye CTS.
It is all over but the shouting.
What a beautiful weekend for the BN:enjoying a Ben Ball highlighted by Love's spectacular debut, nailing of the Doofus' coffin, and LOLing at the gap closing jokers from South Central.
A perfect weekend really.
And on that note I am off to LAX.
Have a great Sunday.
GO BRUINS.