Spaulding Roundup: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, Pac-12 Shifts, Awards, and Derrick Coleman

There is no news out of Spaulding today as it is a walk-through day and the media doesn't attend.  We do know that Kenny Orjioke will be out for the year with an ACL injury, and Alex Redmond is questionable.  We have yet to hear anything new about Simon Goines (it sure has been a while) and we know that Randall Goforth is having surgery on both of his elbows before returning next season.

The big talk today seems to be the ramifications of the Oregon loss yesterday in Eugene.  Everything from, does this mean college game day might not come to Westwood to how does this help and/or hurt UCLA's chances of being a playoff team?   My advice, listen to Fox71.  You just need to win one game a week.  And this week the game is against the Utah Utes who will have a receiver on the field who dreamed of playing at UCLA.  So did his father, former UCLA wide receiver Willie "Flipper" Anderson:

It's kind of bittersweet. I wish he was playing there, but I'm happy that he chose his own path to do what he wanted to do. Utah, and what he's done there, has been great. I'm proud of him for it. The only hard part is that I think UCLA really has a chance to make it to the playoff, and I feel bad that my son is about to wreck it for them.

Well, let's hope Flipper is wrong!

After the Ducks' loss last night, Jack Wang pointed out that UCLA hasn't been the highest ranked Pac-xx team since  October 21, 2001:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>UCLA hasn&#39;t been the Pac-12&#39;s highest-ranked team since Oct. 21, 2001 AP poll. Could happen again if it beats Utah. <a href="http://t.co/EQDGZI3APr">pic.twitter.com/EQDGZI3APr</a></p>&mdash; Jack Wang (@thejackwang) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejackwang/status/517923646556618753">October 3, 2014</a></blockquote>

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and wondered if that might change on Sunday.  With Larry Scott being very confident there will be a Pac-12 team in the playoff:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;I&#39;m very confident we&#39;re going to have a playoff bid.&quot; — Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, one week ago.</p>&mdash; Jack Wang (@thejackwang) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejackwang/status/517918331144110081">October 3, 2014</a></blockquote>

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and with chances growing that that team could be UCLA, let us hope the Bruin football team isn't wondering the same thing or they could become the next undefeated team to fall.

Bruins received a "Lott" of awards this week (pun intended).  We have already discussed the Pac-12 players of the week Brett Hundley and Ishmael Adams.  Here are a couple more awards:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>.<a href="https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball">@UCLAFootball</a> LB Eric Kendricks <a href="https://twitter.com/EKLA6">@EKLA6</a> is the Week 5 Lott IMPACT Player of The Week <a href="http://t.co/0TNtxFsCpV">http://t.co/0TNtxFsCpV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoBruins?src=hash">#GoBruins</a> <a href="http://t.co/6hjQxgmAQP">pic.twitter.com/6hjQxgmAQP</a></p>&mdash; Lott IMPACT Trophy (@LottIMPACTrophy) <a href="https://twitter.com/LottIMPACTrophy/status/517014734588346368">September 30, 2014</a></blockquote>

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This is the second time Erik Kendricks has received the award this year and his excellent play will also help other Bruins:

It was the second time this season Kendricks has won the Player of the Week. The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation will make a donation of $1,000 to the general scholarship fund at UCLA to recognize Kendricks’ performance.

#Hundley4Heisman also received more recognition after his outstanding play against ASU:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Brett Hundley named <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MaxwellAward?src=hash">#MaxwellAward</a> Player of Week after 427 yds. of offense &amp; 5 TDs at ASU. <a href="http://t.co/eayEwSlmj4">http://t.co/eayEwSlmj4</a> <a href="http://t.co/ZreLobWZtd">pic.twitter.com/ZreLobWZtd</a></p>&mdash; UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball/status/517770353494331392">October 2, 2014</a></blockquote>

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Speaking of wonderful Bruins, Derrick Coleman was featured on CBS L.A.:

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CBS interviews Derrick's parents and Derrick about the challenges he faced growing up and the bullies that would come after him.  His mom and dad had great advice: walk away from those kids and find ones that will play with you, don't fight back.  His UCLA helmet gets a lot of play time (as it should) as do highlights from all three periods of his football career.  Warning: it might get a little misty as you watch.

For those going to the Rose Bowl for Saturday's game enjoy this video and as always ...

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Go Bruins!