October 23, 2007
Tuesday Notes
We will get to Wazzu probably tomorrow. There are still some residual Cal notes so lets just get right to it:
- Bruin players disappointed in 4th and 1 call. The players words speak for themselves, from Greg Patton - Press Enterprise: "We have players who want the ball," said Breazell, speaking for the players who were willing to express themselves. "We didn't want to turn it back over to them. That's why we were upset." Guard Shannon Tevaga just shook his head and held his tongue. "Coaches' decision," he said. "We were a little disappointed," admitted Bell, but defended the coach's call. "We thought they'd be antsy, and jump, and we'd get the first down."
- Dorrell worried about making mistakes. Dorrell on the 4th and 1 call, from Patton: "'I just didn't want to make a mistake and put us in a bad situation,' he said, adding that he thought the subsequent punt would have been better executed, pinning Cal inside the 10. 'We were only down by one point.'" What Dorrell showed to his own offensive players is that he didn't have confidence in them to gain a yard on both 3rd AND 4th downs there. He also showed his own defensive players that he didn't have confidence in them to stop Cal should they have gotten the ball at Cal's 38 yard line. Pathetic. As Patton noted when talking about the Rose Bowl crowd booing Dorrell on that call: " Smart crowd."
- Cal press, fans, and even DeSaun Jackson, question Tedford's playcalling. If you hear some Dorrellista saying Dorrell called a great game tell them to go read what the Cal beat press and fans AND players are saying about Tedford's choke job. Here is DeSaun Jackson, from Robert Kuwada OC Register: "Jackson afterward said he would like to have seen the Golden Bears mix it up more, get the ball into the air on first and second downs. 'I honestly do say that. I say that to myself. I can’t ever go to the coaches and say that, but I honestly feel like we should open the ball up more and pass on first and second down and not just wait until third down,' Jackson said. 'If we open things up for us, it’s better for us. But we weren’t able to do that.'" A Cal beat reporter did the numbers and agreed: "And then there this: Did the playcalling get conservative in crunch time Saturday? The answer to that last question, based on my research, is an absolute, indisputable YES!" Read the entire article, its interesting. Bottom line, Tedford goes for a field goal and Cal more than likely wins, and our press would be hammering Dorrell and talking replacements.
- Christian Taylor doing well. Brian Dohn updates the Christian Taylor situation: "UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said LB Christian Taylor was doing well. He said Taylor went to all of UCLA's meetings Sunday and had lunch, but was still suffering from a headache. Dorrell added he believed the doctors would be conservative with Taylor, making it questionable whether he would play against Washington State." We hope he gets better and should stay out as long as it takes to do that.
- Bruin Show resumes tomorrow at 6 pm PDT. Have something to say about Dorrell or UCLA football??! Lets hear you talk your smack live on The Bruin Show Wednesdays at 6 pm PDT!! Listen to UCLA and Wazzu football bloggers and fans LIVE online and/or call in and give your take. We might be having Washington State bloggers joining us. This is not ad-supported corporate radio, its a free for all!!!
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16 Comments on Tuesday Notes
October 23, 2007
Ted Nichols @ 12:39 pm:
Over here we had the same reaction as the crowd and team
apparently! Mr. Thinker looks more like Mr. Gutless!
Even so , I feel justified in asking for K.D.’s resignation
effective immediately….In westwood we don’t accept
defeatism so easily and passed off as conservatism.
Ted Nichols
Lisa @ 2:08 pm:
Are Bruins most confounding team of all?
Randy Hill
FOXSports.com, Updated 2 hours ago
STORY TOOLS:
we are obliged to sift through the rubble and decide which team can seize the title of the nation’s most confounding.
This, of course, is quite a competition.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Did any of you really believe the Irish would be this bad?
Really?
Anyway, an anticipated rebuilding year has morphed into a referendum on Charlie Weis’ ability to read a defense or the rally-chant sign on the Irish locker room wall. And that’s just nutty.
Sure, the game plan has been sabotaged by horrendous blocking, but the blockers themselves aren’t exactly intramural-league refugees. The season began with three upperclassmen — all rated as four-star prospects as high schoolers by the recruiting-service sharpies — and returning freshman All-America Sam Young (a five-star guy) on Charlie’s front wall.
So, where’s the player development?
Maybe Weis underestimated the challenge of collegiate practice-duration issues compared to the preparation-time element associated with life in the NFL. There’s more to program-building than developing a clever offensive game plan.
It’s also difficult to have anyone prepared to lead the offense for 2007 when Brady Quinn is throwing all but two Irish-QB-affiliated passes during a 2006 season that featured six victories with point spreads of at least 19. Maybe Weis didn’t trust his defense enough to take his foot off the gas pedal.
The current starter, Evan Sharpley, was allowed to chuck the ball just twice last season; maybe Weis assumed that freshman wunderkind Jimmy Clausen would just ride in and handle Georgia Tech, Penn State, etc.
Notre Dame will improve … it has to. Despite the caterwauling about selling fast players on a cold-weather school, the available talent pool is too high (it would seem) for the Irish to sink this low.
Since things can’t get much worse for Notre Dame, it’s safe to expect improvement. (Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
The players shouldn’t appear to be that overmatched and Weis really does know a lot more about football than you, me and the bloggers combined.
But this level of terrible is certifiably confounding.
“I’m responsible for all this stuff,” Weis, who’s probably more confounded than any of us, said after the 38-zip loss to USC.
UCLA Bruins
Take a bow, Karl Dorrell. By punching out the Cal Bears, you and your Bruins have completed a cycle of fan torment that has invited half of the school’s alumni to beg for mercy.
There was that 44-6 shellacking at Utah on the heels of a high national ranking we knew — based on personal and school history — would be compromised by a silly loss (like this one). It just happened more quickly than usual.
Fine efforts against Stanford, BYU, Washington and Oregon State also were mitigated by that home loss to the worst Notre Dame team we’ve ever seen. Even with two injured QBs, the Bruins must do better than serve up seven turnovers on the back of a walk-on freshman.
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Lisa @ 2:10 pm:
Sorry…this article is on foxsports.com by Randy Hill. Didn’t know if you saw it.
Lise
October 24, 2007
Jim @ 8:24 am:
Any inside info or can anyone determine if KD or DW have taken time away form their golf game this week to watch film on the Cougars. Or is KD still trying to figure out how to program the clock on the damn thing.
e40wadw @ 8:53 am:
Lisa@2:08, Good post. You are absolutely right in regards to your conclusion. KD and Callahan jr. should have never put UCLA’s 3rd string qtrbk in a position to make those critical turnovers. The defense alone was good enough to when the game for UCLA. Once Olsen went out the gameplan should have been run, run, run, screen pass, & run some more. Which is what Wies did after ND took the lead. Another clear example that KD is in over his head. He reminds me of Norv Turner, good OC but terrible HC(i.e 2007 San Diego Chargers vs. Martyball).
e40wadw @ 9:03 am:
Jim LOL’s!!! Im sure DW is getting his Dfense prepared properly. A. Verner said it himself that last week against Cal they studied film which abled AV to recognize the play which led to his int and TD to seal victory.On the other hand, KD and West Coast offensive minded Callahan jr. were spotted playing tidlywinks in the faculty bathroom all day yesterday.
e40wadw @ 9:32 am:
Nice job Mr. Server. Not allowing this $c garbage on the website.
dana @ 1:50 pm:
“Another clear example that KD is in over his head. He reminds me of Norv Turner, good OC but terrible HC(i.e 2007 San Diego Chargers vs. Martyball).”
Wait a minute. For that comparison to be apropos, when was KD ever a good to great OC?
October 25, 2007
e40wadw @ 6:50 am:
You’re right dana, He was an average WR position coach at Colorado under Rick Nuehiesel.
Dr. C. @ 8:37 am:
On the 4th and 1 thing…
The bigger picture here is that The Bruins were not prepared to go for it on 4th and 1. Calling a timeout before running a play on 4th down is the absolute worst thing you can do. Look around at other teams (even lowly Bruin-owning Notre Dame) and see what they do.
The psychology of the thing is easy to understand. The defense has just given their all to stop a team on 3rd down. They’re thinking their job is done and before they can catch their breath the other team is lining up for another play. The defense is on their heels in react mode and any sort of trap or blast play will likely get positive yards and a first down. SC does this, LSU does this, Florida does this…
The key is you have to commit to being in four down territory on third down. You have to have the second play called and have the right personnel on the field so you can run it without delay. That’s where Dorrell and Norvell failed in this instance and continue to fail in most other cases — basic preparation.
Doc
Diego @ 12:18 pm:
The other strategy to employ, if you want to try to draw them offside, is to go to the line and try to make them jump. At the same time, though, YOU do have a play called. You go to the line, you give your three hard counts to make it seem like you’re only drawing them offside, then you do run the play. This also catches the defense ill-prepared.
None of that was done, though, becuase we have a terrible HC.
Buycker @ 1:35 pm:
This collective board is afraid of TRA (The Reverend Al),
and rightfully so.
Jim @ 5:48 pm:
“This collective board is afraid of TRA (The Reverend Al),
and rightfully so”
The Reverand Al will soon be making his absurd claims of white people in San Diego being treated better than blacks in New Orleans so he should be pretty occupied….but DG will cover his sorry ass by placing DW in the headset of the Doofuss and all the affirmative action numbers shall remain static for Big Al.
October 26, 2007
Diego @ 3:32 am:
If Al Sharpton shows his face near my school, I’ll straight up get militant.
e40wadw @ 5:55 am:
This has nothing to do with race. Im BLACK and I want him gone more than alot of other ethnicities. My opinion is solely based on KD’s performance. Granted UCLA has never had a storied football program like U$uC but the potential has been there. Plus given the wealth of talent within a 500mi radius there’s no excuse why UCLA isn’t a top 15 team every year.
e40wadw @ 5:57 am:
Don’t worry Diego, if Al did show up just take him to a game. He would be a faithful blogger on DD after that.