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.

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The media’s love affair with Dorrell continues. Sporting News college football analyst Matt Hayes is calling Dorrell’s hire of Training Jay Norvell as OC “the best move of the offseason.” Bigger than, oh, say perennial doormat North Carolina hiring Butch Davis? Or say Arizona State hiring Dennis Erickson? How about Louisvillie picking up Steve Kragthorpe? Miami picking up Cam Cameron for OC? Hard to believe that Training Jay, who has never called one single play himself, whom Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan didn’t trust as OC for 3 years to call a single play, is a better pickup than any of those.

Maybe we are being a little unfair here, maybe Matt Hayes really does know what a great play-caller Training Jay is. Let’s take a look what Hayes says: read more

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This year’s recruiting class, in case anyone was in doubt, is a good class. We picked up some good players, and that is never unexpected. We are UCLA and we have advantages that no other school has. This class was small, so if Dorrell had to go get more players it is pretty much a given that they would not have been as good as the ones we signed, most of whom were committed before last season. Dorrell’s recruiting problems are well documented … he has never been a threat to USC, and has been hurt by Cal and Oregon in the past.

But we have always had athletes that can play. We just don’t have read more

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Morgan Center is out doing its job … and the results seem foreboding.  The optimism flowing from Bruin Walk would make Disney proud.  Spin or confidence??  You decide.  Nestor at Bruin Nation provides his full analysis after the jump.

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