October 7, 2006
Gameday - Arizona
The story lines have been written for this afternoon’s game against Arizona. Today is a day to avenge a humiliating defeat by an inferior opponent last year. Today is our last chance to get the offense in gear against yet another average defense.  Today is our last chance to open up the playbook and take risks without too much consequence - to not be conservative and safe, and play to win, not lose. Today is the last chance to give our guys the confidence they should have in their abilities and in their team. Â
After today we won’t have the luxury of playing bad teams to cover up our “growing” and “learning” mistakes. After today we won’t have many opportunities to fail in the red zone. After today, we play good and great teams, coached by great coaches who will exploit our many weaknesses, and they will have the players and plays to accomplish just that. They will also have lots of game film on us. The game film that shows our offense still can’t handle blitzes, at all. The game film that shows we have only a few plays in our playbook in the red zone, none of which involve going for the end zone. The game film that shows our coaches don’t make good in-game adjustments, or call plays that exploit the weakness of our opponents. The game film that shows we run straight down the middle on two downs then go to the pass on third and long.Â
Today should be a shining day for our Bruins. Today, we put points on the board, starting with those mythical things called touchdowns. Today, our defense shuts down another nation’s worst offense. Today should be a blow out win. We will hear from the coaches, predictably, that all the problems we’ve had are solved, that we worked through them. That we are ready for the likes of Oregon, Notre Dame, and Cal. We should head up to Oregon with a 4-1 record, perhaps touching the top 25, with all the bravado such a record, shut-outs, and happy talk affords. We know the story … the coaches have got to go out and get it done today. Go Bruins!!
