So some in the traditional media (again in this case its someone who was a former UCLA beat writer) are already penning obituiary pieces for the Doofus pleading he should get a second chance somewhere. I don't really care what happens to Dorrell after Saturday. I just want him gone from UCLA.
Some weird notes from Foster in the LA Times on how Dorvell's O is getting ready for the Trojan D:
Cowan is just back from a collapsed lung, and did most of the work with the first team during practice Wednesday. Olson is still bothered by a knee injury that forced him to sit out four games. Olson sat out most of Tuesday's practice because of a sore knee but was able to participate Wednesday.
Olson, though, has to show he can maneuver enough to be effective.
"This is a pretty fast defense," Dorrell said. "Whoever is playing has to have his mobility. That's a concern with Ben, given his injury and his recovery from the injury. We want to make sure if he's available for the game and that we feel good about his health and movement."
Protecting him, or Cowan, falls on an offensive line that has given up 29 sacks this season. Olson has been sacked 16 times while playing only three complete games, plus one quarter against Notre Dame and one half against Oregon.
USC averages 3.3 sacks. Lawrence Jackson has 9.5 sacks and Sedrick Ellis 8.5.
"They're quick up front and they're very shifty," UCLA guard Shannon Tevaga said. "Those guys can play."
I still don't see the reason why we are putting back in a kid in this kind of game who suffered a collapsed lung, just about a month ago, and who is also recovering from bad kneed injury and (IIRC) torn hamstring he suffered before the season. Why are we rushing him back in action?Olson, though, has to show he can maneuver enough to be effective.
"This is a pretty fast defense," Dorrell said. "Whoever is playing has to have his mobility. That's a concern with Ben, given his injury and his recovery from the injury. We want to make sure if he's available for the game and that we feel good about his health and movement."
Protecting him, or Cowan, falls on an offensive line that has given up 29 sacks this season. Olson has been sacked 16 times while playing only three complete games, plus one quarter against Notre Dame and one half against Oregon.
USC averages 3.3 sacks. Lawrence Jackson has 9.5 sacks and Sedrick Ellis 8.5.
"They're quick up front and they're very shifty," UCLA guard Shannon Tevaga said. "Those guys can play."
And if Dorrell is going to rotate in two or even three QBs, what is the point of publicly naming the starter before Saturday?
Also confusing was the following comment from OL Chris Joseph in the LA Times:
Still, asked if there was concern about pass protection given how fragile the Bruins' quarterbacks have been this season, Joseph said, "He's not going to get hit. But we have more quarterbacks if he does."
May be it was just me. But that comment from Joseph came across as a little cold. I got the sense he almost doesn't care whether one of his team-mate get hurt or not. Just odd.
Speaking of odd Rodney Van told the OC Register that he doesn't really care about winning or losing and that the football team has had a "good season":
As the number of games remaining for the Bruins' seniors dwindles to two (maybe one, if the Bruins fail to make it to a bowl game), Van said this senior class is not going to be defined by an overall record or by a season in which injuries have forced them to play four quarterbacks and deal with injuries to seven other starters.
"It's still a good season. I don't look at it as bad. I can look at it as disappointing, but I don't look at it as a bad season," Van said. "Anytime you have as many trials as we've had, you can take this into life, you can take this into the next level, whatever it may be for me from here, I'm always going to look back on this and say, `There's something I learned from that, there's something I took from that.'
"It would have been nice to go 10-0 or 12-0 or whatever, but I don't think I would have got as much from that as I'm getting right now. ... I'm not saying that I didn't want to go 12-0, but given our circumstances right now, I think I'm going to take a little bit more from my senior year than I would have if we were 12-0. ...
"I'm not so concerned about the wins and the losses because I don't think those measure you as a person. They may measure the program. But they don't measure the relationships here, you as a person or the people around you."
Maybe Van will get to spend more time with Bruins like AA, Luc, DC, Love, Westbrook, and other kids playing in other championship caliber programs, and ask them whether winning or losing matters, and whether striving for excellence on the field is mutually exclusive with striving for a great experience as a student athlete in the social environment at UCLA."It's still a good season. I don't look at it as bad. I can look at it as disappointing, but I don't look at it as a bad season," Van said. "Anytime you have as many trials as we've had, you can take this into life, you can take this into the next level, whatever it may be for me from here, I'm always going to look back on this and say, `There's something I learned from that, there's something I took from that.'
"It would have been nice to go 10-0 or 12-0 or whatever, but I don't think I would have got as much from that as I'm getting right now. ... I'm not saying that I didn't want to go 12-0, but given our circumstances right now, I think I'm going to take a little bit more from my senior year than I would have if we were 12-0. ...
"I'm not so concerned about the wins and the losses because I don't think those measure you as a person. They may measure the program. But they don't measure the relationships here, you as a person or the people around you."
Rodney is not the first Dorrell coached athlete who has given us the impression who is content with mediocrity and settling for lower standard of success, that is no where close to the bar UCLA professors, students, and student athletes set for themselves in every other facets of our institution.
Oh well, however Saturday turns out, I am sure Dohn is going to come up with a heart wrenching piece on how they had a "good season." Although this week he is busy recalling the memories of 1985 when a Donahue coached mediocre football team backed into the Rose Bowl. Seems like Dohn is praying hard for the same outcome so that he can that wax poetic about a great season, which in his mind surely buy Dorrell one more year at UCLA.
GO BRUINS.