Spaulding Roundup: Brett Hundley Praises the O-line & Receivers, Ismael Adams, and Defending the Defense

Today the Bruins returned to practice after playing their best football of the year Thursday.  Two Bruins, Ishmael Adams and Brett Hundley were named Pac-12 players of the week.  From Jack Wang:

The redshirt junior threw for 355 yards and four touchdowns on just 23 pass attempts, and finished the game with just five incompletions — none of which came in the second half.

Brett Hundley spoke with the media about his performance:

Thanks to Jack Wang, Inside UCLA, for the video.

About playing with a brace Hundley said:

It’s a little concern — not too much.  Obviously, the more I practice with it the more comfortable I feel. Obviously, it adds a bigger piece of weight to your arm. It distributes weight a little different. But at the same time, you practice with it and it’ll be fine.

Hundley also said:

• About his elbow: "What did you do to it?"  "Basically messed it up."
• After watching film: Everything went well,  Kenny Lacy and the whole offensive line played outstanding.  They meshed and "really did their thing out there".  "Everything meshed together and they just executed really well."
• Ismael Adams still surprises Brett, even though they know it's just how Ish is.  "Ish is one of the hardest working players on the team."  He's difficult to throw against because his mind set is that he's never going to lose.  Hundley says that while it might be nice to have Ish out there on offense, it's best to leave him out there on defense.  "We have  Eldridge Massington and Jordan Payton."  He is physical and that's how he makes up for his height.
• On the physicality of the receivers:  We've seen a lot of teams do different things...respect to our receivers.  They are one of the best blocking units in the country.
• Penalties:  Basically they're not good, he hates them.  "We've just got to figure out a way to stop them." I wish they had asked him why they stopped in the second half!

As for Ismael Adams, according to Ed Lewis of Bruin Sports Online, Ish is trying to get his redshirt back after missing most of his freshman year:

#UCLA defensive back Ishmael Adams is still working on getting his redshirt back after freshman year surgery ($): https://t.co/54SaZvoqyS

— Edward Lewis (@EdwardLewisBSR) September 29, 2014

According to the official site Adams:

Saw action in the first two games of the season before sitting out the balance of the season due to injury.

About his great game and return against ASU Adams said:

I had put that game to bed that night, enjoyed it with my teammates, but I couldn't resist watching it again. I missed the kickoff return. I fell asleep.

Ish's return had quite an impact on the game and on those in the stadium according to Chris Foster:

"The air [in the stadium] got quiet, the wind stopped blowing as hard and I could hear my teammates even more,"  He said Sun Devils fans "couldn't even boo.

Jim Mora spoke with the media in a conference call Sunday night.  According to Chris Foster, Mora was challenged about the performance of the defense UCLA played Thursday night.  In response to questions about the about of yards ASU put on the UCLA defense (over 600 with almost 500 coming through the air by the back-up QB Mike Bercovici), Mora said:

I have been coaching defense since I was 22 years old, and played it for four years before that, and yards have never been an issue,I don't think I'm going to change now. Most coaches I know don't worry about yards.

Mora continued:

"How were they getting the yards? That's a different story.  Were they getting them because you were out-schemed, or because they were playing better than you or because you were up 62-27 and you were trying not to give up the big one?"...

The answer Thursday, he said, was, "All of the above."

Jack Wang, Inside UCLA said that Mora went on to say:

There’s only a few people that know what the defense is supposed to be doing on every single play. It’s certainly not the announcers in the booth, and it’s very seldom the fans in the stands. It’s the coaches on the field and the players on the field. …

Wang pointed out that Mora says things are different today and defenses should be judged accordingly:

Judging a defense based on yards allowed is too simple given the variables that come with each game, and considering the type of prolific offenses that exist today in college football. He pointed out Florida State, which despite being the defending national champion and the No. 1-ranked team in the country, gave up 520 yards in a 56-41 win over North Carolina State.

Foster compared UCLA's yards given up with Oregon's.  UCLA is 128th & Oregon 121st among FBS teams in passing yards allowed with 313.8 and 315.3 respectively.  UCLA allows 450.8 total yards per game, Oregon 443.5.

IE Angel gave our defense a C+ for the ASU game with his usual in-depth, play by play analyses.  Orlandobruin and robotchampion give their takes as well.  I would love to get IE in on one of those conference calls or better yet set up a conversation between IE and Coach Mora about defense!

There is news on the Oregon game which will begin at 12:30 p.m.  The game as been moved to Fox from Fox Sports1:

Update: UCLA-Oregon game moved to Fox, instead of Fox Sports 1. Good news

— Chris Kalra (@chriskalra) September 29, 2014

In case you missed it, Ryan Kartje and Ed Lewis resumed doing a Cover Two Recap of Thursday night's game:

That's all for today.  Enjoy your evening, and as always...

Go Bruins!