We have a game this week against a top 10 team, and by the looks of it no one cares. As with the Notre Dame game, interest is muted. Not many in college football are paying attention to our football team. As someone pointed out on one of the boards, had we simply beat patsies Utah and Notre Dame we would be headed for a top 10 showdown with Cal at the Rose Bowl that would most surely be College Gameday’s Game of the Week. The interest that would have generated would have brought millions to UCLA in additional revenues in game receipts and an increase in emblematic merchandise sales, as we should expect. Thanks to Karl Dorrell UCLA our athletic programs, our fans, and our student athletes lose out again. Mediocrity doesn’t pay!
Morgan Center all year told us that the Notre Dame game was sold out … we called their bluff and sure enough only 75,000 people showed. Lets see, 20,000 fewer people at $100 per total receipts … that’s $2 million. Now we are hearing on some of the boards that the Cal game is sold out. We don’t believe it, despite the huge number of Cal grads in the area. It will probably be another 75,000. Had we won the easy games we were supposed to win, instead of getting crushed, we would have most likely sold out the Rose Bowl for Cal or come very close to it. That’s another $2 million. Add the 2 games and you are looking at a loss of roughly $4 million (and that’s if all those attendees at Notre Dame actually paid … we know that Morgan Center gives out hoards of free tickets to kids and veterans to boost attendance figures). Someone explain to us why we can’t afford a good coach?! Again, this Commitment to Mediocrity doesn’t pay!
We will get to our own notes on Cal later this week. We are busy getting info on the billboard, getting the graphics for the new DumpDorrell tshirt finalized, and in keeping the message out there in the media. We are mailing the classic Save Football Dump Dorrell tshirts tonight so if you want yours by the Cal game you have to get your order in today!! We are not making any more of these classic tshirts so get them before we run out. Next up, tonight we are going to be on a taped radio program, CFB Weekly on the Porcupine Radio Network (an online radio show), talking about getting a new coach. Look for the podcast of the interview on their site later in the week. Finally, The Bruin Show will be back on Wednesday at 6 pm. We probably will have Cal bloggers on this week to join us. Get your smack on and put it on your calendar to listen and call in. One more thing … there is no line yet on the game as it appears the decision on whether Cal QB Nate Longshore will play comes tomorrow and apparently Heismann candidate WR DeSean Jackson is questionable.
Here we are in week 5, October, we are 4-1 and at #25 in one poll, USA Today coaches poll, and out of the rankings in the other, AP media poll. This is not how we, or most people, envisioned this season going. We should be at 5-0 and in the top 10 and yet we are only relieved to be at 4-1. It's even more odd that a UCLA team can be 4-1 and not be ranked in one poll and only ranked #25 in another. Not odd obviously when you consider pollsters are tired of being burned by Dorrell. Dorrell is living in a Missouri state of mind … pollsters are saying "Show Me." At #25 in only 1 poll, an argument can be made that we may actually be the worst 4-1 team in the country.
All that won't matter if Dorrell wins the conference. Next up is our last OOC game. 0-5 Notre Dame is coming to Pasadena this Saturday knowing that read more
Now that we have the bounce back win, "erasing the memories" of an embarrassing blow out loss at the hands of a JV 0-2 MWC team, Dorrell gets back to the task of trying to get this team to play to their potential. Emotion won't carry the team this week against a middling Oregon State team at Corvallis (a team that nevertheless beat Utah 24-7). They will have to get back to the sorts of things Dorrell doesn't do well: prepare, focus, scheme, inspire, lead, execute, adjust. All while classes start this week. Bill Plascke, LA Times, drives the point home:
Don't know how long it will last. Don't know whether it will be enough to save either this inconsistent team or its enigmatic coach. Driving to the Rose Bowl before Saturday night's scuffle, the problem with Dorrell football became clear. Less than two hours before the game, the roads around the bowl were mostly clear, the speeds were fine, the trip was easy. Once again it became apparent, every time there is any sort of buzz around UCLA football, Dorrell's team kills it.
Before we match up against real competition in October, we have to read more
Right on time like a Japanese subway train … Dorrell delivers his scapegoats and excuses for the beatdown at the hands of an 0-2 MWC junior varsity Utah. From Chris Foster, LA Times:
"This was a complete team effort, in terms of how well we did not execute in offense, defense and special teams."
Did Dorrell just blame the entire team and not take any responsibility himself??? Looks that way to us. Doesn't the effort and responsibility of the $1 million a year coach, and his $300,000+ per year OC and DC hyped coaches, count for anything? Dorrell also read more
Lots of unhappy people despite our 2-0 start. Reminds us of last year after Rice. The Dorrellistas are out in full force defending "a win is a win" and offering every excuse in the Dorrellista handbook. We have seen blame being placed on Ben Olson, on DeWayne Walker, on Training Jay, on BYU's 'dirty' players, on poor officiating (against UCLA!?!), on injuries (look for more of this), and finally on students and fans not showing up to games on time and making noise. Never does a Dorrellista EVER point the finger at Dorrell. Fortunately, some of the main stream media is not exactly on the same page. To the news, bulleted for speed:
- TJ Simers takes shot at offense and coaching. LA Times columnist TJ Simers is at it again. Simers railed at the playcalling and specifically at Training Jay, who is finding out that calling plays is more than just watching the head coach do it. Simers: "WHAT A bore. Shoot, what a disappointment. UCLA has all these seniors, a highly touted quarterback, a 20-0 lead and the Bruins go on to play as if they're afraid to lose. They get the kind of offensive play-calling that will get them knocked off in the Pacific 10 Conference later this season, and good for them — they've beaten Stanford and Brigham Young, but if this is how they're going to play it, forget any real lofty goals."
- TJ Simers calls Training Jay out for scapegoating players. Looks like Training Jay has taken a page from Dorrell's book and decided to scapegoat his players for the lack of offensive production, and Simers called Training Jay out on it: read more
It's Labor Day .. everyone have a good and safe one. Today we will have a speed post, and get to BYU tomorrow:
- Ben Olson National Player of the Week? Ben Olson has been named one of 4 candidates for national college football Player of the Week selected by ESPN, according to Brian Dohn, Daily News. The other 3 are Hawaii QB Colt Brennan, Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards and wide receiver Tiquan Edwards of Rutgers. Congrats to Ben for making the list. Read the article to see how you can vote for Ben.
- CBS Sportsline's Dennis Dodd flops again: There aren't many sportscasters these days that have much credibility in this over-hyped era of sports and media, but Dennis Dodd is among the worst journos out there. After calling Ben Howland an "a-hole" and saying he treats his players "like dogs" Dodd came on local radio and changed his tune and said it was all a joke. This past week he picked Stanford to beat UCLA. Now, he changes his tune again and ranks UCLA at #12 in his power rankings (there is still a top 25 game to play today!). From a loss to the worst team in the nation to now top 12. What a tool.
- Rodney Van ok. Rodney Van hurt his ankle in the game Saturday. Brian Dohn is reporting that Van's ankle is ok and he will most likely play this Saturday against BYU.
- BYU has Pac-10's number. read more
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are on a once a week (Monday) schedule for the off-season, although we will post things of note no matter when. Towards the end of last week there was some activity regarding Dorrell, specifically a somewhat chastising article on ESPN.com regarding Dorrell’s now solid reputation for churning assistant coaches. Many of you have sent in links to the article, thanks! Other sites have picked it up and have reported on it. It was one of those weeks where DD editors had business trips and a funeral of a close friend that left us too early and we just couldn’t get to the news. We will address the ESPN article in a couple of days in more detail.
Like everyone, we are watching our basketball team. A win against UDub and we would have locked our #1 seed in the West. Now we have some work to do to get that important seed. Who cares about #1 overall seed, it doesn’t matter at all. Ben and the boys will get it done. Ben Howland has shown what a real coach can do. 2 Pac-10 championships in 4 years, 2 in a row! 1 Final Four appearance, 1 Finals appearance in 3 years! First home court undefeated season since the 70s. We’d say Dan Guerrero can check off Howland on his performance review as getting the job done. What a stark contrast we have in Karl Dorrell, 0 Pac-10 championships in 4 years - not even a 2nd place finish. No BCS bowl games … and well you know the grim details. We will just keep pointing to the man, Ben Howland, and his tenacious teams and his elite program. Go Bruins!!!
The news cycle on football has slowed down now that the January firings and hirings have pretty much concluded. We will continue to watch all things football as it pertains to UCLA but expect the postings to not be as regular or numerous. We will have at least one post a week, a Monday Morning Roundup, and we’ll see some other action from time to time. So keep checking back, keep sending us your comments. Spring practice is right around the corner and we still don’t have an OL coach nor a WR coach apparently. We will keep an eye on these developments, and any other big news in college football.
Happy Holidays to everyone. We at DD are going to be sitting back having fun with friends and family and watching the Lakers take on the Heat. Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa, or all three, we hope you all get to enjoy the day with friends and family, and have a safe holidays. We will be back tomorrow with more on the Emerald Bowl. Cheers!
Editors note: one of our editors will be on live today on The Big Show with Mason & Ireland on ESPN radio AM 710 at 4:20pm for a 5 minute interview. Yeah, we expect them and some of their callers to take some shots at us.
Damn it’s good in Bruin Nation! We are still on the phone laughing it up with fellow Bruins across the country, hungover from the pure joy of beating the hated. We will remember this for a long time. This story will be etched in our collective memory. Where were you, is what we will be asking in 10 years.
The significance of ending the streak at 7, of keeping our record of domination over the Trojans in supposedly their game, and of taking away their shot at a championship, is still being felt. The Trojans themselves won’t know how much until years later, and some therapy. This may make read more
