but showed potential in other areas.
http://gallery.me.com/hyselig#100149
Went to the scrimmage and was happy with the nice sized crowd. I'd guess about 7500 or so, maybe 10000. The air was festive with the mostly empty Rose Bowl looking surreal as the sun set behind the fans.
The kicking game that started before the scrimmage showed off the spectacular talents of Locke and Forbath. They are unbelievable. There were some early muffs by the returners but then they got in the groove and seemed fine.
Either we have a really awesome defense or our offense may still be in trouble. The D line was by far the best unit, followed closely by the secondary and the linebackers. The D line ate up the QB numerous times. The secondary was like glue and made some spectacular interceptions.
The offense may have been hobbled by the "no tackle" and "only touch" the QB rule for the scrimmage. This made a quick whistle on some "sacks" and made it almost impossible for the QBs to get much when they optioned to keep the ball. At times I think they would have normally picked up some big yards, but were ruled down just as they were cutting up the field because they were "touched."
Nevertheless, the passing game was weak with some exceptions. Prince looked harried again, like the SUC game. He threw one real nice pass downfield to Harkey the TE. Other than that he was just off most of the time, for instance, barely overthrowing receivers deep a few times. Brehaut looked better actually, but was still only average. Actually Crissman looked sharp in comparison. Even Landers wasn't bad though he must have been playing with "scrubs," I guess.
The wide receivers looked very good to me, especially Fauria and Rosario. Marvray showed some flash as well as Presley and Carrol. I think we're fine, really fine here.
The running game was average except for Coleman. He was the stud today. Any hole and he goes north and south with tremendous power. Franklin had some okay runs. Knox and Thigpen didn't get many touches. Coleman essentially was the sole creator of the "Prince" touchdown drive. He ran the ball down the field with power most of the drive and then scored from the five easily.
Our oline was okay, looked better overall, but had problems with blitzes. Not so good on pass protection. Fairly good on the run.
I like the Pistol or Revolver. After a sluggish start you could see the numerous, numerous options and counterplays that can be built in, but the coaches pretty much kept it plain vanilla most of the night. I especially like that,, as NC recently reminded us, IT IS THE OLD SINGLE WING which was UCLA'S signature formation in its glory days until Billie Barnes went to the T formation in the very early 60s. Would love to see the Bruins come out serpentine to start a game.
Overall, I was impressed by the dramatic increase in size and speed out there tonight. Many of the players are simply studs, especially on defense and wide receiver. Lots of promise.
I think Brehaut narrowed the gap, although Prince is still clearly the coaches guy. He did not sew it up tonight, unfortunately, with his overall mediocre performance. Maybe he was going against the 1s and Brehaut the 2s. It seemed to me the 1s were out there against both for the first half of the scrimmage. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
GO BRUINS!