Continuing with the pre-season rankings reports, today we bring you the Washington Post’s rankings (HT Nestor at BruinsNation). UCLA is at #11, ahead of Cal at #18 and Oregon State at #20 and behind SuC at #1. Much of the basis for WP’s ranking comes from the defensive side of the ball, and the 20 returning starters, tops in the nation. There is no discussion about the offense, but then who knows what really went into their analysis. There is something interesting in their report, a quote from Safety Chris Horton:

“You know, we’re an experienced team, offense and defense,” said safety Chris Horton, an all-American candidate. “We’re going to demand a lot of ourselves. We want others to demand a lot of us, too. We come in with high expectations. We’re not going to tolerate the small mistakes.”

Great to see this attitude coming from the players. No excuses now. No reason to lose focus. It sounds as if the players know they are ready to start playing and winning. For a full roundup of all pre-season rankings and other significant media notes for 2007 check out our summary page.

UPDATE: From Chris Foster, new UCLA beat reporter for the LAT: “Guerrero was not made available to address how UCLA’s background check on Scott was mishandled or whether changes would be made in the process.” Shame, just as we have been saying. Foster also had this report: “The arrest brought to light Scott’s criminal history, which Guerrero said he had no knowledge of despite a standard background check. Dorrell has said he was aware of some of Scott’s troubles but said he was not aware of his arrests.” That differed from Dorrell’s statement given earlier to the LAT: “Coach Karl Dorrell also acknowledged in a statement that the school knew about the former Crenshaw High player and coach’s criminal background when it hired him.” Regardless of the glaring inconsistencies and omissions, this will finally most likely be put to bed. Character and Integrity have long since left the building anyway.

Dorrell has drawn the line in the sand. He has put his hat in the ring with Eric Scott and all the issues surrounding his hiring and arrest. We have no problem with Dorrell taking a stand, if that is what he really believes in. We can’t fault him for his beliefs. But now he has the added responsibility of accepting everything that comes with Eric Scott being on the sidelines. That he cannot avoid or dismiss ever. Dorrell could have declined to reinstate Scott to send a very clear message about Character and Integrity. Dorrell chose not to, and Dan Guerrero let Dorrell make his bed and sleep in it.

There is no question that Dorrell lost wiggle room, and that his relationship with Guerrero must be affected. Dorrell made his decision, the consequences are his to bear now. No amount of scapegoating can shield him from responsibility should anything go wrong. And he certainly can’t waive the Character and Integrity flag around in his own defense anymore. Dorrell (Perelman, LA Times):

“We feel this is the right thing,” said Dorrell, “and the best thing for our program is to get him back in the fold and keep ourselves moving forward.”

Best thing for the program? Or read more

Brian Dohn is reporting that Eric Scott will meet today with Dan Guerrero and that a decision on his reinstatement is expected later today. The decision as has been long suspected will be to reinstate Scott, as Dohn confirms with his sources. If this indeed is going to happen, Guerrero would be wise to make it publicly clear that there will be a “zero tolerance” policy on Scott getting in trouble. Hanging around the wrong crowd when trouble goes down, regardless of his culpability, should be enough to get Scott dismissed. If Guerrero must reinstate, that is the minimum condition that would have to be placed on Scott.

We of course disagree with bringing Scott back. Too many questions about the integrity of the hiring process are left unanswered. How a program that prides itself on Character and Integrity allows these questions to linger is beyond our comprehension. A clean program would first eliminate any appearance of impropriety and that surely has not occurred here. Further, if Eric Scott were honorable in his intentions to be a coach at UCLA, and if he truly believed he has departed from his past behavior, he would have disclosed his conviction record to Dorrell and Guerrero, which both men have said did not occur, instead of intentionally or unintentionally trying to game the system by remaining silent on the issue.

What a shame. If it goes down this way, read more

The more Dorrell speaks the more we can pin him down on the potential this team has this year. Remember Dorrell has tried to downplay expectations at Media Day even though his players have played up their potential, saying “BCS or Bust“. Today, Perelman at What’s Bruin, reports that Dorrell had this to say about the offense:

“I think this offense has a chance to be pretty special,” he said. Dorrell noted that the offense was going through the fifth day of “installation” of the offense under new coordinator Jay Norvell and that more of the play packages would now be getting repetitions in practice.

Great. Let’s SEE it! Let’s not go back on what you are saying now at a later time if the season turns out bad. We are recording what Dorrell is saying for this reason … it is his MO, right before he scapegoats every coach. And here is what Dorrell had to say about the emerging injuries:

Addressing the obvious injury issues, Dorrell said “We have more depth now than we have in a long time,” and noted that UCLA does not play until September 1.

Great! So no excuses on that front. That is the mantra for this season … No Excuses! Even the players are saying it. Go Bruins!!

Bookmark to:

Quick roundup of the news:

• Has the OL improved? With 2 positions changes, including the most important position of center, and with a 4th OL coach in 5 years, the OL is a critical question mark going into the season. Last year the OL was abysmal. Judging from the Spring, the OL could be our great weakness this year. What do you think Dorrell has to say? Happy talk as expected, Robert Kuwada, OC Register hits it:
• In the spring, the offense struggled to rush the football and the line also had difficulty protecting the passer. And yet Coach Karl Dorrell kept praising the work of those up front. He continually said the line had shown the most improvement. There have been some position changes and a new coach is in place, but they are going to have to prove it.
• Training Jay says he will open up the offense and that he is a pass-first coordinator. That’s definitely a change for Dorrell. We like hearing it. But what will happen if we get a lead late in the game, will Dorrell force him to go conservative as is his nature (Notre Dame anyone)? Training Jay hasn’t called one play yet in college football and until he does we will withhold praise.
• “I love to throw the football,” Norvell said - but he added the running game needs to be efficient, “which means 4 yards an attempt.”"I think the best combination is a physical running game and play-action passing, and high-percentage passes,” Norvell said. “The beauty of what we do is balance.”
• Training Jay made DVDs and cue-cards of his playbook for the players. Chris Markey got a 7-set DVD to study. Not a good sign. Right there is the main problem with the WCO. Too many plays, too much to learn in too short a time. There will be undoubtedly be mistakes made. But give the guy credit for going all out. Not hard to do when you’re making $300,000 a year (which we are cool with).
• “He made the DVDs of the system, of the plays and the concepts, and he actually put in plays from the spring, and he is on the DVD talking about each play,” Markey said. “That shows how much he is committed. … It boosts our confidence because we know that he knows the offense like the back of his hand.”

With Training Camp in full swing, the beat press is out in full swing. This morning on the local news, Ben Olson was asked about expectations for the coming season. Here is what he had to say:

“We know everyone has high expectations of us this year … but we have even higher expectations of ourselves.”

Great to hear our QB talking this way. Exciting. And no excuses!!

We have been chronicling the releases of 2007 college football pre-season rankings by various services since the beginning of the year. Now that most have come in, we summarize them for you here along with other notable prognostications and public comments about Dorrell and the season. We are going to just list rankings by source, descending from the highest ranking on down and then bullet the other items of note following that. If you see anything you think we should add let us know.

10 - Sporting News - "UCLA gave Dorrell another year on the new deal he signed a year ago, guaranteeing him through 2011. But that doesn't mean his seat won't warm up if the Bruins sputter."

11 - College Football News - "If everything comes together this might be one of the 5 best teams in America."

11 - MSNBC - "The Bruins are on the upswing - finally - with 20 returning starters and a realistic shot at earning a BCS bowl bid."

11 - Washington Post - "With a national-best 20 starters returning for this season, became a chic preseason selection."

13 - CBS Sportsline - "Karl Dorrell needs to go to shells and shorts in August. Twenty starters are back. Why risk injury?"

14 - Associated Press - UCLA ranked #14 behind #12 California and #1 SuC.

15 - Athlon Sports - "The arrival of DeWayne Walker from the NFL coaching ranks as defensive coordinator was just what the doctor ordered."

17 - USA Today - UCLA ranked #17 nationally, behind #11 Cal and #1 SuC.

17 - Street & Smith - UCLA ranked #17 nationally, behind #11 Cal and #1 SuC.

20 - Dallas Star Telegram - "UCLA should have enough talent to stay near the top of the Pac-10."

20 - ESPN - "This will be a very important season for coach Karl Dorrell, who seemed to be on his way out until UCLA upset rival USC."

21 - Phil Steele - UCLA ranked #21 nationally, behind #18 Oregon and #1 SuC.

22 - Lindy Sports - "If the Bruins could be trusted to be more consistent, the ranking would be even higher."

23 - Vegas Oddsmakers - Tied for #23 with Tennesse, Texas A&M and the Field (any other team)

24 - Sports Illustrated - "Now, 20 starters return. It's time for Karl Dorell's team to take it to the next level."

28 - Jim Feist - "There are high hopes for 2007 with 10 starters back on both sides of the ball."

Unranked - Rivals - UCLA among "others receiving votes." Cal ranked #15, SuC #1.

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

Other prognostications, rankings and comments worth noting: read more

On the occasion of the opening of Training Camp, the beat press has come out with their UCLA football preview articles … and surprisingly the message is getting out there folks: Dorrell is on the hot seat and he must deliver this year. No excuses. Incredible. Less than a year ago, after the shocking victory over title game bound SuC, the beat press and main stream media were lauding the great Karl Dorrell and his coaching prowess, keen as they were to shed that “in over his head” image they all finally admitted they had of him until December 2. He had “turned the corner” finally, they said. Never mind that he turned around and got blown out by an average FSU team in the Nut Bowl, Dorrell had made his mark, was among the nations young elite and was now an obvious future NFL coach.

We, of course, didn’t buy that message as you all know. We kept pushing the facts of Dorrell’s mediocre tenure despite the irrational exuberance following the SuC victory and we are satisfied to see that our efforts, and the efforts of countless others, are finally paying off. With the story lines being printed recently and today Dorrell will not be able to hide behind all the excuses he pulls out every year: bad assistant coaches, lowered expectations, growing and learning, new systems, 3 game seasons, injuries, etc. etc. etc. This year, as all the beat press is pointing out, Dorrell has everything in place to succeed. If he doesn’t, he is solely to blame. Nice.

To prove our point, here it is in print, read more

According to an article on Yahoo Sports, it looks like the players feel the same way we do, that this season it is BCS or Bust (HT to Nestor at BruinsNation). We, of course, add Pac-10 championship to that expectation, but it's good to see that the players know what they can do.

In talking with the players' it is BCS or bust in 2007. The players' have high aims for the coming season. What was notable is they are approaching the season one game at a time. More than one player said that anything less than BCS will be a disappointment. That kind of mentality is important. These guys want to win and they want to win a lot. Anything less will not be tolerated. This is the first time in the Karl Dorrell regime where there will be solid depth across the board.

We agree, anything less than a BCS bowl should not be tolerated. Nowhere to hide, no more excuses! Too bad Dorrell couldn't speak with the same confidence as his players at Media Day last week, saying only that the team has "worked very, very hard to get ourselves in the position to factor into the Conference race." Huh?! Looks like the players expect more than Dorrell. Having been embarrassed by his own misplaced optimism the last 4 years (including having the team wear ridiculous bracelets with "Pac-10 Champions" on them last year), and in fear of losing his job, Dorrell downplayed expectations this year, as we expected. Pathetic. This rah-rah article, by the way, was written by Rick Kimbrel of BruinBlitz writing for Rivals.com and published on Yahoo Sports. Last week he wrote a touching piece on how Eric Scott is a great man and he should be reinstated. Just a little bias there.

You read that bold bit of chest thumping correctly. It's on page 3 of the UCLA Football Spring Practice Guide, according to Howland-hater Dennis Dodd of CSBSportsline.com. Our Sports Information Director (SID) Marc Dellins, apparently peaved that Dodd left UCLA out of his preseason 2007 rankings, sent Dodd the glossy guide even before it was ready for publishing along with a note that informed Dodd that UCLA had 20 returning starters from the team that beat SC.

The Bruins are in! You knew that, and you didn't know that. Final Four? Sure. The Spring Top 25? Let's just say I am making Marc Dellins' day. Dellins is the UCLA Minister of Propaganda — they call him the sports info director in Westwood — who was quick to point out that his Bruins have 20 returning starters from a team that beat Southern California.  

This is an issue because the Bruins got, uh, well, somehow left out of my first 2007 Top 25 in January. Being the good MOP that he is, Mr. Dellins quickly shipped me the galleys of the spring guide. He apologized in advance for the typos (the bound version is coming). I didn't notice any except the bold prediction on Page 3 about beating USC. Again. By 20. To win the Pac-10. Now that's a good MOP.

Dodd, that perfectionist and detail-oriented nut, recalculated his high precision analysis and, presto, he now has UCLA ranked #9. But we digress. This is BIG. Morgan Center is stating in bold clear language, printed in a glossy media guide they will send out to journalists across the country, that Dorrell will take our football team to the Coliseum and beat USC by 20 points!! AND … and … in doing so Dorrell will have won the Pac-10 championship that he hasn't come close to sniffing as head coach. Well hello EXPECTATIONS!! Might as well call out Carroll and his thugs by name while you're feeling confident.  Heck, call out the read more