October 7, 2007
Guerrero Grades: Notre Dame
This will be a bit obvious today, given yet another embarrassing loss to Notre Dame yesterday, but we will stick with it because we must be relentless until the outcome (Dorrell is fired) is secure. For those who are new to DD or are coming back after a hiatus, we have been using Dan Guerrero's own words to assess Dorrell's performance during the season. Here is what Guerrero said he expects this season:
"The important thing this year," Guerrero said, "is that we don't beat ourselves, that we play with consistency, that we're an excellent second half team and that we improve as the year progresses."
As we have posted all season and will continue to do, here is our assessment of Karl Dorrell's performance yesterday against Notre Dame with Guerrero's clear points of analysis in mind (obviously this won't be surprising):
- We don't beat ourselves. Grade: F. 7 Turnovers, 11 penalties, 5 sacks, unfocused, outschemed, outcoached, outgamed, out-adjusted. Why we passed more than we ran when Notre Dame had one of the worst rush defenses in the country while at the same time we had a freshman walk-on QB who'd never thrown a pass is a question for the ages. Other questions … why did we have that same QB passing on 3rd and 6 from our 5 yard line?? Why did we have him passing on 4th and 1 when we had the lead and were in field goal position against a team that literally could do nothing on offense?? We're pretty sure that this game will be a case study in Football 101.
- Play with consistency. Grade F. As usual, there was consistency on the field yesterday, horrible play-calling, horrible game strategy, horrible adjustments on offense. No intensity, no fire, no enthusiasm … and we were at home! The defense played well, but this was an offense that had scored all of 6 TDs all season!
- Excellent 2nd half team. Grade F. 0 points in the second half. What adjustments did Karl make?? Did he decide we needed to pass more with a freshman walk-on QB with no game passing experience when we had the lead against a team that couldn't move the ball at all?? We had the lead and gave up the ball 5 times on pass plays we didn't need to call. The defense could have won this game, Notre Dame had barely 100 yards offense through 3 quarters. Yet Dorrell decides to go for a 4th and 1 in field goal territory with a pass play for a freshman walk-on QB with no passing experience and with no one in the backfield and we were up by 3 already. WTF?
- Improve as year progresses. Grade F. For all the Dorrell talk about how we are getting better, how we are "disciplining our resources," how he is the "added coach" and how Dorrell himself has "answered the bell," we now have lost to 2 horrible no-win teams in embarrassing fashion with too many turnovers and penalties. Although it was obvious that Dorrell coached hard, we are actually getting worse … which is no surprise but a reminder that talent gets wasted under Dorrell and that sadly recruits with any chance of going to the NFL will not develop and will lose a potentially great future for themselves and their families. Did you not hear the bell Karl??
Fire away with your thoughts …
9 Comments on Guerrero Grades: Notre Dame
October 7, 2007
Nick @ 11:11 am:
I think your grades are fair. While I usually dont agree with you guys, I have to admit that the high number of passes thrown by Bethel-Thompson was puzzling. We shot ourselves in the foot WAY too many times (Cowan’t TD called back, Bell dropping a TD, fumbles, picks, etc.) I dont know how good a chance we have against Cal. Who’s going to be QB? Cowan probably will not be ready, and Ossar has not practiced at QB all year. It’s a tough situation, and hopefully our D can bail us out until Cowan returns. But I’m stayin positive. Be prepared for a great upset on Oct. 20 @ Pasadena: UCLA: 23 Cal: 20. GO BRUINS!!!
TommyBruin @ 11:16 am:
He’s redefining what it means to be a failure as a head coach.
mark @ 11:45 am:
Enough already. He’s a nice guy. Hard working. But not smart and not a good coach. Go hire someone who knows what he’s doing.
Matthew Alan Roberts @ 2:25 pm:
I am neither hot nor cold about UCLA as a school or a college sports program because the Bruins are really not worth the effort to like or hate. Sure, I laugh at all the duds UCLA puts into the NFL like Cade McNown and JJ Stokes as most people do. Of course, I get a chuckle out of when the Bruins lose a football game to a team of scrubs like Utah or Florida State. Under most circumstances, I would be tickled pink to see the 2 college football teams in the center of the ESPN sports universe (ESPN drives it down our throats every day that sports do not matter outside of Boston, New York, and Los Angeles) lose on the same day.
However, I am the chief hater of Notre Dame on the planet Earth, so I can no longer sit by quietly after the disgrace that Karl Dorrell unleashed last night. Now, thanks to this no talent twit Dorrell, I will have to sit through a renewed pro Notre Dame push on ESPN (Notre Dame is considered part of New York and Boston by ESPN due to all the Micks in Boston and New York). Lots more senile Beano Cook (still waiting for those 2 Ron Powlus Heismans), Lou Holtz (angling to get his job back at Notre Dame when loser Weiss gets fired this year or next), and the other Fleeing Irish boot lickers kissing Notre Dame butt all because Karl Dorrell can not figure out how to run the ball against the worst run defense on Earth. Who cares that the Bruins were a fraudulent 4 - 1 going into the game with wins only over cream puffs or that Notre Dame only managed 100 yards of offense against this poorly coached Bruins team because ESPN and their other media lackeys will always spin everythhing for Notre Dame despite the facts.
I demand Karl Dorrell be fired now for his incompetent coaching last night and all season. If Dorrell was not black he would have already been fired. This season is over for the Bruins because you are already way behind California and Arizona State in the Pacific 10 Rankings, Dorrell has no shot to beat Arizona State, California, Oregon, or the Trojan Condoms this year (even if Dorrell gets to a bowl, he will lose like he did last year).
Hire a coach who can recruit 3 quarterbacks so you have good depth (the Bruins do not even have 1 quarterback right now). At least hire a coach with brains enough to move a wide receiver to quarterback rather than have a walk on, redshirt, freshman throw 50 times in a game (Oklahoma would never have gone to the Fiesta Bowl last year if Dorrell were coaching them). Hire a coach who knows to run the ball all over the worst run defense in college football. In other words, hire a coach who can actually explain and execute “FOOTBALL 101!!!!!”
mikey @ 2:59 pm:
It came to us last night after the failure of Dorrell to even comprehend the word F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L!! He should be fired NOW! Earlier in the season we waited for the inevitable failures that would bring an end to the Dorrell dynasty, the logic being that a mid-season firing would cause havoc in the ranks and precipitate even further disasters. BUT enough is enough! A mid season dismissal would do the one thing that needs doing at UCLA, It would send a clear message that, season or no season, Dorrell’s coaching days are OVER! Not next season, not next week. Right freakin’ NOW!! Enough of TD’s legacy. End it and take all the hangers on football staff with him.
Ed @ 4:54 pm:
To be concise:
Dorrell sucks. The ball should have been run for those 3 quarters. There is no reason why this kid should have thrown the ball more than ten times in those three quarters. Had we run the ball, we would have at least stood a chance. KD has got to go. I’m tired of all this rebuilding, maturing, learning from mistakes BS, and I want to start watching games where we actually win.
Stu @ 5:05 pm:
Hell yes…I totally agree with the grading. I didn’t even realize that Guerrero had said that. Sheesh!!! (Maybe Dorrell’s TRYING to get fired!?!) Oh…and if he needs to make race an issue, I believe Gary Coleman’s available…no doubt he’d be a step UP from Dorrell!!
October 8, 2007
Jake @ 7:44 am:
It’s time now for the inevitable second half of the season death spiral for a Karl Dorrell-coached team. Dorrell’s teams can be counted on to throw in the towel on the season after suffering a humiliating loss in a game they should have won. With upcoming games against ranked teams Cal, ASU, Oregon and USC, and road games at WSU and Arizona, UCLA will be lucky to win one more game, in a season where we supposedly had a “perfect storm” brewing: 20 returning starters, and the opponents who figured to be tougher at home. The Bruin faithful can only hope that AD Dan G. will hire a coach with both experience and success as a Division I head coach, instead of continuing as an on-the-job training program for coaching “prospects.”
Bob Levin @ 12:25 pm:
Let’s promote KD to a new position in the Chancellor’s office:
MINORITY OPPORTUNITIES ADVISOR.
Last year there were only 96 black applicants out 4,800.
His qualifications that DG liked so much would fit, BUT NOT FOR A D-I FOOTBALL COACH.
BL