FanPost

Clock Is Ticking On Being Special


Allow me to say for all the Bruin fans who are going to default to this statement after the way UCLA beat BYU; "A win is a win."


There I wrote it so save all your replies and explanations of how much better any win is versus a loss. I get it.

After three games and leading Into the Stanford game it has become quite obvious to me that this UCLA football team is quite frankly not very special.

In order to win the Pac 12 South, win the Pac 12 Championship, contend for a major bowl game, or earn a spot in the final four you need to be special. This team, to date, has done nothing to prove to me that they are special.

That's not to say they can't become special this season or even this weekend but right now they are far from that.

A few things come to my mind when I prepare to write about Saturday's home win against the Cougars. First, I think of the color "Beige". Yes the color beige is what comes to mind when I reflect on said win.

Yea beige is technically a color but it ain't sexy and neither is this Bruin team. That win was definitely Beige.

The thought of "Salt Free Butter" comes to mind when playing this game back in my head. Yea it looks like butter, feels like butter, but once you taste it, something's missing from the whole experience.

Here are few other things that come to mind when thinking of Saturday's game:

Stale French bread

Vacationing in the rain

Losing the winning lottery ticket

Your parents agreeing to let you barrow the car for a date with your dream girl but give you the keys to station wagon not the Porsche

You get the idea.

The glaring problem is the offensive lines inability to get a push in the run game. The teams whole identity this season was geared toward being a physically dominating team on the ground and that simply has not happened. Yes they had some success against an under sized UNLV squad and had a few nice moments versus the Aggies in week one but as a whole they haven't come close to where the bar was set. Not yet anyway.

Coach Mora professed after the Nebraska loss last season that his team needed to get stronger and bigger. It appears they have but that is just part of the equation to being a dominant run team, execution being another.

The run game execution against BYU was laughable. It doesn't appear to be a "strength" thing to my old coaching eyes it seems to be more of a technique problem. Poor leverage, unable to maintain blocks because of bad positioning or poor foot work, and far to many times I see O linemen with their heads over their toes while simply not getting low enough.

Good news is that stuff is all coachable. There is time and practices to smooth out all of those issues.

I also think the coaching staff may have only wanted to show a watered down offensive attack last Saturday in preparation for the Stanford game.

That thought entered my mind several times during the BYU game; I hope I'm not giving our coaches too much credit with that assumption.

But if your team can get a win I week three without showing all your cards heading into a marquee game in week four, in this case versus Stanford, why not do it.

Might the staff try anything for a win against Stanford? Anything for a game that Jim Mora badly wants to win and quite frankly needs to win in order to exercise the Stanford lock down?

Why not lay back against BYU if you can? Eight consecutive losses to the boys from up on the farm is more than enough so I imagine the UCLA staff would be prepared to do anything within NCAA guidelines and the rules of fair play to gain an advantage or at least try to level the playing field that has tilted in Stanford's favor for far too long.

Who knows?

So Jim Mora and his team, and the rest of us for that matter, head towards another Stanford game with high hopes and a little trepidation as to what team will take the field Saturday at 5:00 PM.

Can the Bruins play at a high level while executing their game plan? Can shaky early season play calling finally find a consistent rhythm and be able to make quick adjustments against what Stanford does defensively?

Will the O line get low and open holes on the ground?

Can the defense which has justin played its best game of the young season last week slow down #5 just enough?

Can the receivers build on the BYU game and continue to squeeze the ball?

Is this the game that allows these players to believe they are capable of being special? Might a win Saturday propel this squad onto greater things this season?

If our Westwooder's can execute and play consistent on Saturday, Stanford might be seeing red at the end of the night for the first time in nine games; and I won't be seeing beige anymore.

GO BRUINS.......




This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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