Postgame Florida State: Dorrell Pushes Everyone Off Bandwagon
Welcome back mediocrity … where have you been? So much to say it will take days. Let’s just start by saying the obvious, this game was completely disappointing. What a letdown. Dorrell had one chance to make everything right, one last shot. Everything gained from the victory over USC has vanished, as Dorrell himself said would happen. Sure, there is no substitute for the epic USC win. We will take that any day and all day. We have Karl Dorrell to thank from here to eternity for that. But the USC win should be his parting gift to us. He should be fired. We deserve better, the players deserve better.
That Lavin Feeling
Even after 3 weeks of euphoria after December 2, 2006, we don’t have that lovin’ feeling anymore. As Nestor at BruinsNation pointed out so succinctly, we have that Lavin feeling. 7-6 in his 4th year folks. Dorrell had so many upperclassman starting for him. He had a weak Pac-10 this year (0-3 in bowl games thus far, worst out of all the conferences). He had a legend on his knees, with the worst Florida State team in 3 decades on the field. Dorrell just is not the coach to take us to the “next level”. Next year, only a real head coach can have this team reach its true potential. Face the facts; were it not for the win against USC, you would all want him fired right now. Even most Dorrellistas. One game. One game is all he has given us. Just like Lavin, he bought himself some time. Just like Lavin, he should go. Thank you Karl Dorrell, now goodbye.
We Deserve Better
We all deserve better. And diehard UCLA Bruins know that we can be and we will be a great football program again. We will not accept mediocrity, we will not accept that we cannot be the best. Next year we have a chance at something special. Next year we have a shot at the “next level.” Karl Dorrell will NOT get us there. You all know it. He has shown no capacity to be a consistent winner. He has shown no capacity to lead. He has shown no ability to win the big games (once in 4 years is not coaching ability). He has shown no championship metal. His teams play like he coaches: inconsistent, not measuring up, no urgency, no championship fire. We need a real head coach that can win.
Dorrell Got Schooled
Karl Dorrell got schooled. In the first half, he looked calm and composed and even like he was enjoying himself. We had a couple of good offensive plays, a bad break, and the lead. The second half he was out of the game, looking across the field with that deer in the headlights look. He was out of huddles again. He was looking at players as if they had just cost the team the game. Meanwhile, the legend on the other side of the sideline was scheming, pressing, pressuring, never letting up. Because that is what champions do, they never let up, they never stop winning.
Forget that this was a horrible FSU team … an offense that barely got 300 yards per game. Forget that Weatherford is a horrible QB - his passing was atrocious, and yet, he ended with much better numbers than Cowan (who simply is not the right QB for our team). Bobby Bowden schooled Karl Dorrell. He took a worse team on paper, a worse team on the field and made them winners. Bobby Bowden showed a team of lesser players that they could win. He showed them that they could come back .. from a horrible season, from a bad first half, from down 10 points.
More, much more, tomorrow. Just want to leave you with this. Our team next year, with all our returning starters, will all our seniors, with are easier schedule, should win the Pac-10, and more, with just any decent head coach. Would you have Dan Guerrero give that golden opportunity to Karl Dorrell, or someone else?? We know what our answer is. Tomorrow …
P.S. So much for Walker’s vaunted defensive coaching abilities. He was just beaten by a guy who was FIRED!! He’s definitely a step up and in the right direction, but let’s not talk about making him our head coach.
December 28th, 2006 at 9:02 am
This just in: UCLA signs FSU’s Offensive Coordinator…Dorrell overheard saying, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
December 28th, 2006 at 9:24 am
The game was competitive for 3 quarters. That’s huge. Trust me, I want a competitive Pac 10. It works out for all us fans.
But when to you recall when this football program was great? The 8-0 run against ‘SC doesn’t count DD. Since they just dumped 7 on the mighty blue.
Even the Navy has a few heisman trophies and a national title. But even when the Navy had the Admiral (David Robinson) they were never considered a “basketball power.” Let’s keep things in perspective.
Please review the line of coaches UCLA has had in the past. Arguably the best Bruin coach ever, Donahue never found himself in the title game. Bob Toledo (former USC asst. coach, under Robinson) got as close as one game. Hmmm, (why does that ring a bell?)…had he not accepted a “do over” in Miami…well, you know how that went. Red is the top the shelf at UCLA when it comes to football. And that was 50 yrs ago. Let it go. Quit living in the past. “Build it and they will come.”
Dorrell is not being given a fair shake. He got a class of senior coming with strong recruits next year. The defense is solid. Now the offense needs a bit of help with (ironic, considering he’s an ‘offensive minded’ guy). Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
December 28th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Dorrell’s record: 6-7, 6-6, 10-2, 7-6.
A one-game improvement over four seasons with almost entirely HIS recruits? A 1-3 bowl record? Blown leads from the 1st half? One win against a top 25 team in four years?
Don’t fire Dorrell! Keep him so we can keep our football program cheap. I hear Dorrell is good with remembering birthdays, we need that kind of guy in our department. Hell, we’ll never win the Pac-10 again, but hey, we’re a basketball school right? Dorrell’s team is growing and will continue to grow after four more years. You can always count on that!
December 28th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Correction: Three wins against top 25 in four years.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Look, Im no Dorrell fan, but you are not being fair if you think we have a better team on paper than FSU. Look at the recruiting rankings the last 4 years. Its not even close.
I fault KD for the field goal at the end of the half, and the very conservative defense we played in the second half, and our recruiting, but I don’t think he had a team of better athletes today.
December 28th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Tradegreen, you are right … when it comes to recruiting Bowden and FSU have the better team. But what you are overlooking is that FSU started far more underclassman that we did. On defense they started 4 sophomores and 1 freshman - due to injuries. We started only 1 underclassman, freshman Reggie Carter. On offense they were only slightly younger, but on the depth chart they fell off with many more underclassman than we had. So we had more experience on the field which made our team better on paper.