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What's Bruin: What has Jim Mora learned from coaching almost 600 games?

What's Bruin: What has Mora learned after coaching almost 600 games? Men's Soccer beats 6-0 against UC Berkeley, and more!

By UCLA_beer&mathematics Updated
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

It's Tuesday and football is just around the corner as the UCLA Bruins prep to host UC Berkeley at the Rose Bowl on Thursday night. Let's see What's Bruin around the UCLA-verse.

Football: UC Berkeley Prep

First up is Mora speaking with the press after Monday's practice.

Injury Update: Mora says that UCLA left tackle Connor McDermott is 'very questionable' to play this week as he recovers from a knee injury. The injuries just keep piling on with key starters injured at almost every important group (OL, DL, LB, CB) so I'd be terrified if I was a RB, WR, or....I dare not type it. This means Kolton Miller, RS Fresh, will likely start and Mora says he played well against Stanford.

Besides the weak, coach-speak intro where he says the team "put the loss behind [them]" and they've internalized the "lessons learned," I found the following bit kind of annoying. When responding to the question about the similarities between this season and last (namely, drawing on the two early losses then 5-game win streak before face-planting against the Trees), Mora had this to say:

I hope its similar.  I'll tell you what you learn. I told them after the game, I've coached a lot of football. I went back and counted the games I've coached. Like 590 plus, 600. So you've been through 2-3-4 game losing streaks. The important thing is that you don't rush to the other side of the boat and take on water. If you believe in what you're doing, you get better. You try to put your players in the best position and don't panic. It's about having a positive attitude and being a part of the solution and not the problem. I know one thing, stay the course, if you believe the course is the right thing.

(Big thanks to David Woods of BruinReportOnline for transcribing the video and to Jack Wang of InsideSoCal for the video).

There's two points worth discussing:

1) Bringing up that he's coached in almost 600 games comes off as desperate to me. This is especially true in light of Deon incident. To me, it reeks of Mora trying to validate that he is a good coach even though he can't beat a good team like Stanford.

2) Mora believes in what they're doing. Okay, where to start? Is being one of the most penalized teams something you believe in (including two targeting ejections!)? Is teaching players to tackle with a shoulder instead of wrapping up something you believe in? What about the unimaginative playcalling? If Mora looks in a mirror, he might be scared to realize he's part of the problem by not firing his OC and OL coaches. It's en vogue to fire coaches during the season now, so Mora: do what must be done!

There's more in the video about penalties but it's nothing that hasn't been said before. Well, Payton keeps it real below saying "penalties kill us." If you're looking for comedy, you'll find some in this video. Reporter: "What did you think of the offensive PI call" Payton: "Uh" (LONG PAUSE) Payton: "which one?" This was funny to me... with so many penalties, I'd get confused too! Always enjoy Payton's interviews since he gives very good, political answers.

(Thanks to Jack Wang of InsideSoCal for the video).

Oh, here's a little friendly public service announcement for those going to the Rose Bowl:

Football: Recruiting

All's quiet on the recruiting front, though there may be cause for a big #Boom in the next week or so. Blue-chip WR Theo Howard visited aTm this weekend, but looks like it's down between the Bruins and the Trogans. Rivals reports that Theo was seen wearing UCLA gloves on Friday, though 247sports puts the odds at 60-40 that he's going to *$outhern Cal. Howard is making his decision in the next.

Looks like the Bruins are in the lead for Plano Texas WR Audie Omotosho, 6' 2" 189 lbs, who is a composite 3* according to 247sports. He looks big and fast (4.56 40 time) though I wonder why neither Baylor nor TCU (sorry Tejas!) has offered him a scholly. Omotosho does have 30 offers including UC Berkeley, Utah, and Texas Tech.

Finally, the Bruins are going hard after 5* LB Mique Juarez after he decommitted from $outhern Cal:

Let's hope Momma can come through

Men's Soccer

Congratulations to the UCLA Men's Soccer team shut-out UC Berkeley while pouring in 6 goals.

I'll leave the commentary to the resident futbol expert, Bruinette!

UCLA-verse

LA Times has a heart-warming article about how at UCLA they are helping young adults with autism develop their social skills:

UCLA scientists might have discovered evidence for life on the planet dating back to an unimaginable 3.8 billion years -- take that methuselah!

We'll end with some nostalgia...the beautiful Royce Hall.

Go Bruins!

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