September 22, 2007
Gameday: Washington
It's gameday and we will still don't really care to take a hard look at the Huskies … damn. Every UCLA grad we know is down on the program right now. Sure, we will watch, we will make noise for our guys to win. But we all feel let down in a big way. We are firmly in The Suck. And it worse to know that the players are dealing with this train wreck when they should be pumped and playing for bigger things. Whatever. Let's just kick some Husky butt today. Incidentally, we think we will win today more than we think we will lose, how's that for a prediction?! 28-24. And look for the Dorrellistas to come out in full force after the win saying we rushed to judgment on Dorrell and the team. On to the notes, and Go Bruins!!!
Gameday Notes:
- Locker room already disintegrating. Just as we said here and on Wednesday's Bruin Show, players are starting to point the finger at each other and call each other out. Brian Dohn: "So destructive was last week's annihilation that it resulted in a players' only meeting in which, according to team sources, individuals were singled out for not working hard enough during the week, and not being prepared to play." Nothing good will come from this. How will they be able to play as a team now? How will Dorrell be able to lead those who feel singled out? How will Dorrell be able to rally a dysfunctional group of under-performers whose morale has been annihilated? The battle now is within. Dorrell has this team a hair-trigger from collapse. HT to Nestor at BruinsNation.
- Dorrell STILL looking for buy-in from players. With this senior heavy team full of Dorrell recruits, Dorrell is STILL looking for buy-in to his program?? Per Dohn, "'It's time for the leadership to step up more,' UCLA senior receiver Brandon Breazell said. 'It's not just the 25 seniors we have. We need everyone to grow up, and everybody to buy into the program.'" WTF? Today is the day … if we lose here without a fight, expect total collapse. Dorrell will have lost this team and be headed for a 4 or 5 win season. Maybe Dorrell should make a note to himself to refrain from saying his publicly players aren't that great.
- Longtime Seattle reporter joins Dorrell hot seat watch. Longtime Seattle sports reporter Bud Withers joins the Dorrell hot seat watch as he notes Dorrell and Arizona's Stoops are already feeling the heat from fans in September: "But by the Ides of September, here were two Pac-10 coaches getting fried by their faithful, some of whom are ready to mail in their beer money to buy them out. These aren't the best of times for either Karl Dorrell of UCLA or Mike Stoops of Arizona. Dorrell's teams have a nagging tendency to forget they have a game — as they did in losing 44-6 to injury-ravaged Utah — and Stoops' rebuild seemingly can't get out of neutral."
- Matt Stevens, former UCLA QB, says Dorrell can't get team to work. Former UCLA QB Matt Stevens, who is a color commentator for UCLA football games on AM 570 went on the air with Big Joe McDonald and made a curious comment about Dorrell's lack of control of the team. Stevens said that Dorrell had confided in him during the summer that he couldn't get his team to work. Stevens: "(Dorrell) had mentioned before: 'Hey you know what, these guys don't practice perfection' … UCLA you go out there and sometimes you see some balls dropped, guys not really hustling around. Well that is not going to get it done." HT to MarcoTheBruin at BruinsNation.
- Video of hit on Olson late in Utah game. The OC Register found a clip of the hit that Olson took with less than 8 minutes left in the Utah game when we trailed 44-6. Could it be the hit that gave Olson the concussion? Why did Dorrell leave him and his starters in … risking injury?? Tevaga (knee), Olson (concussion) and Everett (ankle) were all left in late in the Utah game only to come away with 4th quarter injuries. All three are out for today's game. Nice job Karl. Now we will look forward to you using the injury excuse.
- Meanwhile, Dorrell profiled for National Coach of the Year. This just beats all. ABC's Keith Jackson and Kirk Herbstreit are running segments during the season on the college football coaches they think are in the running for the National Coach of the Year. Today, they will be featuring, among others, Karl Dorrell. Yep, file this with the What Are They Thinking department.

















2 Comments on Gameday: Washington
September 22, 2007
Dennis Tye @ 10:17 pm:
This team’s tackling is very poor, they take bad angles to the ball in pursuit, and are extremely undisiplined. I can’t see this team going very far. They keep the other team in the ballgame.
September 24, 2007
Louis Miranda @ 10:32 am:
In response to Matt Stevens saying that KD told him he cannot get his team to practice perfection among other negative things; I can only say who’s fault is that coach? Paul Bryant would practice his players so hard so that the quitters would quit during practice and not during a game.
Those same players would then be kicked off the team no matter who they were. Now that I have read what Matt Stevens was told by coach Dorrell; there is no use rooting for this team until they get a coach who will weed out these players with their lousy attitude. Terry Bowden was right and as the Utah game proved; this team and their coach lack the passion and the discipline to ever reach the championship level. Expect an improvement this year to maybe 9-4 or 8-5 and if they are lucky a trip to the Sun
Bowl.