Bruins Demolished As Expected In Manner Worse Than Expected

Well, we can at least say that we were prepared to get blown out. I don't think anyone here really even gave the Bruins a chance and while anything can technically happen, many of us finding the 24 point spread to be rather low said all that needed to be said about our expectations for tonight. Unfortunately, everything we feared might happen at Autzen Stadium did as the Ducks put an absolute whoopin' on the Bruins from the opening kick off. It looked like UCLA might have a chance as they moved the ball early on in the game, but Richard Brehaut did exactly what inexperienced players do and hesitated before making a poor throw for an interception. It was all downhill from there for the Bruins who got absolutely demolished by Oregon, 60-13. Here's the box score, but beware, it's ugly.

Once again, Chuck Bullough came out looking unimaginative and unprepared. Now, Oregon's offense is simply unbelievable and would put up a crooked number on nearly every defense in the country so being overmatched by the Ducks isn't something to be ashamed of, but this is not the first, second of even tenth time Bullough has looked just like he did tonight. The rest of the coaching staff is under fire right now as well for conservative coaching. We finally got to see a screen pass from CNC and it went for 18 yards, but I guess that's the best we saw and CRN opted to go conservative on fourth down. I can see the logic behind going for three the first time around because the team needed to see points on the board, but going for the second half field goal is inexcusable. None of the coaches will want this tape on their resume.

It wasn't all bad for the Bruins though. Read through the jump for a couple positives.

For all the fears about Brehaut getting killed out there, he didn't look too bad. To borrow my comment from the game thread, we weren't going to bury the kid no matter what happened tonight and I’m not going to put him on a pedestal either. He’s a ways off still, but showed some encouraging things. He was a mixed bag tonight, as is to be expected, but he could have been a hell of a lot worse. If nothing else, I think it's fair to say that Brehaut will leave Autzen Stadium a better quarterback than he entered it. That may or may not be good enough to become UCLA's starting quarterback for good, but for one night, it was more than enough from the inexperienced signal caller.

Despite what some others think, I didn't see a team that gave up on the field tonight. I think they were stunned at times, overmatched at others and completely puzzled, especially on defense, for spurts, but I think the physical effort was there from the players all the way until the end. In a game like this, we've seen teams look a lot less interested in the second half so that's one small thing to take away in a game of huge problems. The Bruins also finished with just four penalties, an area where UCLA has struggled this season, although that could be attributed to not being able to catch enough Oregon players to commit a penalty on them.

This game was never going to be close. Let's be completely clear there and if you didn't believe it earlier today, I think you will believe now that UCLA is a long ways off from competing with the best. That said, some of the things, specifically with regards to the defensive gameplan, are issues that the program needs to address if they want to succeed week in and week out versus Oregon or Northwest South Dakota A&M Tech St. I'm not calling for CRN's head right now and anyone doing so at this moment is delusional about the situation he walked in to, but there are concerns about the program that need to be taken care of in the next two years, when it will be fair to evaluate the program as a whole as his.

This is your postgame thread so fill it up with reactions and comments about the Bruins in Eugene and if you feel so, the program as a whole. WARNING: Do not fill the thread with name calling and vile attacks against those who represent UCLA. Criticisms of their play or coaching are 100% fair game and that is what we want to see when deserved after games like this, but make sure you are following the rules of the site.