Blue Ribbon has to be the most bearish pollster out there on UCLA football’s prospects for the year. As we noted in our Pre-season Rankings Summary, Blue Ribbon has us coming in as low as 6th in the conference! Now we have access to their report (HT to Biggie at BruinZone) and it’s not much rosier. If hearing bad things or seeing horror flicks gives you nightmares you may not want to read further. Blue Ribbon thinks that our offense will be the weak link that will determine just how bad this season will be:

If UCLA could magically combine their 2005 offense with this defense, the Bruins would be a legitimate challenger to USC, not only in the conference but for the national title. Alas, for UCLA, this offense is in another zip code from that of 2005, and that’s not even factoring in Jones-Drew’s contributions in the return game.

We witnessed our return game live last week… it’s not that good, although Alterraun Verner has a chance to be something special. The overall message here is not pretty, expect low scoring games for our team:

It’s going to be a frustrating season from a fan’s point of view, because while UCLA is going to win some games this season, the wins might be of the ugly, 16-13, 13-6, variety. Sure, they’ll be games where Olson, if he remains healthy, hits a few long passes and the Bruins will put 25-30 points on the scoreboard, but those Saturdays will be few … If UCLA falls behind 14-0 in the first quarter against a decent defense, chances are, it is lights out.

Put the razors away. We agree with the assessment that we will have some low scoring games. Hopefully we will not experience the frustration Blue Ribbon thinks we will. Our defense will keep us in games. Blue Ribbon agrees, but still think only 8-4 is the best we can hope for:

As with any team really, there are situations that could land UCLA eight wins and a third-place Pac-10 finish. Its defense alone should allow this team to enter every fourth quarter this season with a chance to win. But special teams don’t appear to be a strength outside of the punt unit, and the offense, even with 10 starters, seems destined to struggle.

Damn this is depressing even for us. There is a bit of hope though:

Maybe Olson lives up to the hype surrounding him coming out of high school, maybe he becomes an All-America candidate, maybe the offensive line improves its run blocking from a season ago, who knows? Is it possible? Maybe, but we’re certainly not expecting it.

The Bruins look a lot like a six- or seven-win team that finishes anywhere from fourth to sixth in the conference.

Well there you have it … the gloom and doom. Not even we think it can be this bad. If it is only a 6 or 7 win season then there is no doubt Dorrell will be gone. But that is not the way it will go down. Our prediction will be posted soon.

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