The 2007 Story Begins With Media Day Next Week - Already There Is No Consensus

We are heading into Media Day next week and Training Camp with a bunch of mixed signals. Last year that really wasn’t the case. Last year at this time we were coming off a suprising 10-2 season, with a typical late-season meltdown. There was the predictable excitement in Bruin Nation and many fans thought that ‘06 was THE year, even though we lost some star players. Media Day last year was about the hype Dorrell and Morgan Center were spinning .. the “best team yet” … “this year is going to be special.”

We at DD didn’t buy a moment of it. Neither did the experts, who all pretty much had UCLA finishing in the middle of the pack in the conference. We KNEW that it was going to be a bad year and that Dorrell would do his usual scapegoating. And we were right. So were the experts. Consensus expectations were met as the standard Dorrell mediocre season unfolded.

This year is a different story, there is no consensus. This year the hype is muted, inconsistent and countered by a growing criticism in the MSM about the job Dorrell is doing (finally). Major outlets are saying that we will go 11-0 heading into the Coliseum or that we will win only 6 or 7 games. Some are saying Dorrell is on the hot seat, or calling Dorrell one of the 5 worst coaches in college football. There is no consensus on our pre-season rankings either. Experts rankings are all over the map. Some have us finishing #6 in the conference, some have us ranked #9 in the country, and yet others have us as a sleeper pick to win a national championship. Morgan Center of course is out hyping - they printed in a mockup of the Spring preview sent out to journos that we would win the Pac-10 and beat SuC by 20 points at the Coliseum this year.

But none of that makes sense. By now you know all about how we’ve got a great season lined up. All the returning starters, all the seniors, the easier road and OOC schedule, 2 returning QBs. Fans expectations are this year reasonably high. We SHOULD be highly ranked and competing for the Pac-10 title and a BCS bowl. What is wrong with this picture? As we have said, it’s the job Dorrell is doing. If he were even a good coach, there would be more consensus and that consensus would be that we would be competing for the conference title and a Rose Bowl bid. We will get into that more later as the season comes closer into focus.

Now, however, we can’t help but be excited about what we can do this season. This team CAN do something special, unlike last year’s team. And despite the purpose of this site and our well documented case against Dorrell, we at DD are going into Training Camp and Media Day with an excitement that we haven’t ever had in the Dorrell era. Could this be real?? We want to believe.

Are we drinking the kool-aid. Hell no. But we are going to be positive about this team when the season starts until Dorrell gives us reason not to be. And make no mistake, this year is all on Dorrell, there can be no excuses. We will still report on all things Dorrell and UCLA football, including the negative. And we still have our plans in place should things turn out wrong. But this year we can do damage and there is nothing more that we would like. Stay tuned.

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