May 21, 2007
Chorus Getting Louder
We are interrupting our May break with a quick note on the word getting round the media: Karl Dorrell needs to produce this season. It is now part of the talking points on college football this year. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, whom you may recall already has Dorrell on the hot seat and picks UCLA to finish no better than 3rd in the conference this year, continues his mild assault on Dorrell with this little rip:
Can UCLA finally put together a complete season under coach Karl Dorrell? The Bruins have 10 starters back both on offense and on defense. Quarterback Ben Olson is healthy and might finally live up to his lofty billing. He’ll have to if UCLA is going to improve an offense that averaged only 330 yards and 23 points per game last season. Defensively, the same team that dominated USC 13-9 and nearly won at Notre Dame also allowed 37 points to Washington State and gave up 44 to Florida State in the bowl game.
This is what we have been saying for so long … thank you Mark! At least someone at ESPN isn’t drinking Dorrell’s or Walker’s kool-aid and reports on the facts of their performance. And not to be outdone, Schlabach’s partner at ESPN, Ivan Maisel, continues to push the staff turnover story, as you may recall Maisel did back in March, with this shot:
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell made over his offensive staff — again — and coordinator Jay Norvell, late of Nebraska, has the task of turning quarterback Ben Olson into the kind of passer his press clippings say he can be. A midseason stretch of three games — at Oregon State, vs. Notre Dame, vs. California — will tell us what we want to know about Olson and the Bruins.
True dat. But ESPN college football analysts don’t stop with their talking points there. Ted Miller goes onto break down our football team with this parting shot:
Is the offensive this bad? The Bruins laid an egg most of spring and were particularly impotent during the spring game, scoring only a field goal before being placed into red-zone situations. That could be growing pains with a new coordinator or it could be [the defense].
Actually, what Ted did not refer to and perhaps didn’t know was that the 2nd defensive team was on the field against our first team offense. Miller goes on to pretty much say what we at DD have been saying for a while, Walker is gone after this season:
Walker away: Considering he transformed the personality and production of a unit in just one year, it’s fairly obvious that defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker is a hot coaching property. Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis tried to lure him away, but Walker is likely holding out for a head coaching job.
If the defense improves against college spread offenses and does what it did last year against pro offenses then Walker will have his pick of plum jobs (not UCLA where hopefully DG will finally end our ‘no experience necessary’ experiment).
It is great to see MSM outlets finally getting the story straight and the message out there often. This is not true for all outlets of course, as we witnessed not weeks ago with the moronic piece by CSTV’s resident idiot Trev Alberts, who boldly said Dorrell was doing an “incredible job.” We are looking forward to a season where it all finally comes together. The great promise of 20 returning starters, 17 of them seniors, a soft road schedule, the return of Ben Olson, and the chicken coming home to roost on the Karl Dorrell era, with all the pomp and circumstance First To 100 is going to bring to Pasadena and Westwood. Go Bruins!!
