Let’s get the Colbert Report’s ‘You’re On Notice’ board up for Arizona.  There are more changes.  OL coach Jim Colletto, despite his amazing resume, is making his debut on the board this week.  The OL line is simply not getting it done against the blitz, nor in rushing situations in the red zone. They look confused protecting BO.  The OL line is not playing disciplined ball and they don’t look prepared.  That is all on Colletto.  You’re on notice Jim, welcome to the board.

OC Jim Svoboda has earned a permanent spot, after yet another horribly called game, along with regulars KD and Dan Guerrero.  This notice board is not having an impact on their performance.  We can’t figure that out.  We’re working on it.  DC DeWayne Walker remains on the board, despite a decent performance against arguably the nation’s worst team.  He deserves his spot because, unlike say Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden, Walker gloats over wins against horrible teams and looked for a scapegoat in the loss at Washington.  After Florida State’s 55-7 rout of familiar foe Rice two weeks ago, Bowden, referring to FSU’s explosive offensive performance and Rice’s defense, noted:

“It’s not like it was Notre Dame.”

That’s right, Rice and Stanford are not like Notre Dame. Great coaches, even good coaches, don’t gloat over beating bad teams.  Our coaching crew doesn’t get this yet, so Walker stays on the board.  Note that we also remain as the Bruins can still prove us wrong and win out the rest of the way.  The Board:

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The odds on the game against Arizona Saturday have UCLA - 11.5 to -12.0 depending on the service.  That would be in line with what Brandon Johnson, blogger for the Arizona Daily Star and yesterday’s guest interview, thought the result would be.  He has UCLA winning 27-10 over his Cats.   It’s also in line with what the majority of Bruinsnation poll respondents think as well.

We can’t play like we did against Stanford and expect to beat that spread.  Arizona’s defense is much better than their numbers suggest.  They held a good Southern Cal offense to just 13 points through most of the game.  Were it not for a late blocked punt deep in Arizona territory Southern Cal might have only scored 13 for the game, not 20.  A good defense is going to note that in nearly every game our offense has had a hard time with blitzes.  Stoops is going to come at our offense. 

It may be our defense that wins this game in the end.  Let’s hope DC Walker is reading this Arizona offense right, and goes after that OL line that Brandon Johnson said was the source of all of Arizona’s offensive problems.  We should be able to shut down this Arizona team pretty soundly.   All in all, should be an easy win … lets get it done KD!! Go Bruins!!

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The Stat of the Week this week come to us courtesy of the Bruin offense: 8 touchdowns in 4 games.  Given that we have played 3 of the worst defenses in the country and one average one, this stat almost offends us. How many more games will KD and Co get to “grow” and “learn” and still have a chance to win?  We think this Saturday might be the last such game this year.  By the time we reach another gimme in Oregon State in mid-November we could very well be on a 4 game losing streak and excuses such as those won’t work anymore.  8 touchdowns in 4 games will not cut it against the likes of Oregon, Notre Dame, Cal, and maybe even a resurging Washington State.  It might not cut it against an awful Arizona this weekend.  Jim Svoboda, Jim Colletto, Karl Dorrell have got this one last game to get this offense in gear.  17 points, all in the second half, against the awful Cardinal - that has to embarrass them, no matter how much happy talk and happy thoughts they offer afterwards.

After Arizona, we start playing real teams, with great coaching staffs, who have plenty of game film on us.  They are going to exploit the stat of the week.  Lets get it done now coach.  Go Bruins!!!

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Today we have a Q&A with guest Brandon Johnson, sportsblogger for the Arizona Daily Star, on the upcoming game against Arizona.  Thanks Brandon for joining us on DD today.  Let’s get to it:

• Arizona is off to a 2-3 start, and 0-2 in the Pac-10.  Was this expected? Do you think you still have a shot at a bowl game?

When the season started, most Arizona fans looked at the schedule and felt like the ‘Cats could win the necessary six games to make a bowl.  The consensus  was that Arizona would need to beat BYU, Stephen F. Austin, Washington, Stanford, Oregon St., and Washington St.  Odds are one of those games would be lost and possibly one gained elsewhere still yielding the necessary six wins to reach a bowl game.  Now that Arizona has lost to Washington and Wazzu looks better than expected, the Wildcats may have to find two victories they weren’t expecting if they still want to make a bowl game.  The good news is ASU looks horrible and it’s a home game this year.  That leaves the team needing to beat UCLA, Cal, or Oregon.  Realistically Arizona needs a win against UCLA or they can forget about a bowl game.

• Your offense is near dead last in the country with barely 250 yards per game.  Why is Arizona having problems offensively?

The offensive problems begin and end with our young, inexperienced offensive line.  Three freshmen are starting and the two returners aren’t much to write home about.  On top of this, the jury is still out as to whether or not any of the linemen are really good enough to start for a winning Pac-10 team.  This has created a total inability to run the football. If you take out the game against I-AA Stephen F. Austin when Arizona had over 200 yards on the ground and factor in all the sacks they’ve given up, their rushing total for the season is 76 yards (by my calculation).  Obviously this puts tremendous pressure on the passing game and thus far, it has failed to step up to the challenge. 

• You hammered us last year on the ground, 300+ yards rushing, and on the board with 50+ points.  No one thinks that will happen again, but if you are productive offensively, how will it happen?

The offensive line will have to grow up in one week’s time.  Since this is unlikely, I don’t see any reason to believe that Arizona should put up anywhere near the numbers they did last year.  They may not have had a great offensive line last November, but they were experienced.

• Your defense has average numbers as well.  Are your stats misleading because of the teams you have played, or is your defense as average as the numbers suggest?

This is one area where the numbers don’t tell the whole story.  The mere fact that the defense is out on the field so much has led to their average stats.  However, they have played pretty well for most of the season and kept Arizona in games longer then they should have been.  In a lot of ways they’ve had a “bend but don’t break” mentality.  An inability to rush the quarterback has helped teams move the ball but when it comes to time for opponents to score, the defense seems to come through.  If it hadn’t been for a muffed punt on their own 10 yard line with under five minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Arizona would have held USC to 13 points.  As I’m sure your aware, the Trojans have scored 20+ points in 56 straight games.

• Stoops looked like he was turning your program around, is that still the case?  What are the faithful thinking about the direction of the program under Stoops?

The intelligent and faithful Wildcat fan will still tell you that Stoops is turning the program around because he is.  The fair weather fans (who are now leaving for the year) are predictably calling for Stoops to go.  His contract runs through 2010 so that’s not going to happen any time soon.  I think the fact that the school gave him a 7 year contract to begin with was an acknowledgment of just how bad things were in Tucson.  No coach in Arizona history has ever inherited the situation that Stoops did when he came to Tucson.  While Stoops is safe at season’s end, it remains to be seen if offensive coordinator Mike Canales will be back after the season.  His contract is up next summer and I don’t think anyone really knows what Mike Stoops and AD Jim Livengood will do at that time.  Stoops has thus far managed to steer criticism away from Canales and point to the inexperience of the offensive line.  We’ll see if that’s still the case should Arizona finish the season near the bottom of the NCAA in offense (which it looks like they will).

• What does UCLA have to do to win Saturday?

UCLA needs to do two things on Saturday to win this game. The first is avoid turnovers in their own territory.  Arizona’s offense hasn’t shown the ability to take a turnover 75 yards for a score but a turnover on the UCLA 35 puts them in at least field goal range from the start.  The second thing UCLA must do is put pressure on quarterback Willie Tuitama.  He has yet to find his timing and a lot of that has to do with the o-line problems.  If UCLA can get to him they’ve got nothing to worry about in this game.  He’s not very mobile, has already been banged up this year, and lacks a real “go to” receiver when he’s hurried.

• Your prediction.

I haven’t seen much of UCLA this year.  I saw five minutes of the Rice game and I watched the first half of the Stanford game on a re-run.  Obviously UCLA didn’t get it’s offense going until the second half of that game.  That said, Arizona has yet to show an ability to move the ball.  Until they do, it will take very little to beat this team.  Do I think Arizona has the potential to win this game?  Yes.  Do I think they will? No

UCLA 27  Arizona 10

Excellent comments! Check out Brandon Johnson’s article on Arizona lacking a winning attitude on the Arizona Daily Star website.  As we have suggested, and Nestor at Bruinsnation documented well, UCLA should have no problem beating Arizona Saturday.  More on Arizona later …

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We thought this game would be a test for the Bruins, and that we would lose.  That was our prediction pre-season, even though we thought Arizona would be mediocre at best.  But Arizona has not lived up to even our mediocre prediction.  They have been awful in amassing a 2-3 record.  A quick look at the commentary and it appears their young offensive line has thwarted many drives with many mistakes and penalties, and conservative play-calling hasn’t helped.  Sounds like they are having some of the same problems we are.  It appears that their offense may be playing right into our newfound defensive capabilities as well.  DC Walker and Co say they are looking for another shut out.  They said the same thing about Washington and didn’t get it done, so let’s hope one game against the worst team in the country isn’t getting to their heads.

We believe that our preseason prediction is wrong on Arizona and that we will win.  We think offensively Arizona will not have near the same success as they had last year when they humiliated us and put 300+ yards rushing and 50+ points on the board in ending our unbeaten streak.  Arizona is near dead last in offense in the country, #109, putting up 250+ yards per game. Defensively, Arizona is not the force they expected to be either.  Currently, they are ranked #86 nationally in yards against at 370 per game.  In rushing, they allow an average 130+ yards.  So, we are hoping now is the time Svoboda tests Arizona’s rushing and passing defense, unlike last week when he failed to thoroughly test the nation’s worst rushing defense. Mix it up Jim!! 

There is something to note about the Arizona stats.  Arizona amassed their awful stats playing LSU away, USC, Washington and BYU, all great or at least average teams.  If our stats were only the Washington game stats, we would not look as good either.  So these Arizona stats are somewhat misleading.  Against an average team, Arizona may put up better numbers. Lets remember also that UCLA could not put up big yards against the worst defense in the country, only 390 to Stanford’s normal 470 yards against. 

If we cannot put up 300 yards against Arizona, look for this game to be close.

Finally, although Arizona is 2-3 and still looking to a bowl game, Stoops and Co find themselves in a bit of a desperation game.  They are 0-2 in the Pac-10 and need to get back on track to save their season.  A clean game on their part can eliminate some of the frustration they have experienced in building momentum on drives.  If they are close to mistake free, they can be dangerous.  We have to watch out for Arizona building any momentum. They are desperate for a win and they know what they did against us last year.  We are potentially a saving grace for this team.  Nevertheless, we think KD will get a win here.  Without mistakes, we will put some distance on the board.

If KD loses, look for the excuses to come. Growth, mistakes, the same key words that have become hallmark of mediocre coaches like KD.  Remember, this his his “best team  yet.” Let’s play like it KD.  Let’s get it done. Go Bruins!!

More tomorrow …

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