July 3, 2007
ESPN’s Schlabach: UCLA 9th Toughest Schedule
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach has anointed our football schedule as the 9th toughest in the nation. Though we like Mark for finally stating the truth about Dorrell being on the hot seat, we have to disagree with him on this one. Mark must be looking at last year’s records and teams because the reality is that this year’s schedule is not that difficult. The reason he gives such tough marks to our schedule is because of our OOC games against BYU, Utah and Notre Dame. That is where he went wrong in his analysis. Here is what Schlabach has to say:
9. UCLA: The Bruins received some favors from the Pac-10 schedule makers, with four Pac-10 home games and only one back-to-back road trip (at Washington State on Oct. 27 and Arizona on Nov. 3). But give UCLA credit for its challenging nonconference schedule, which includes BYU at home on Sept. 8, Utah on the road on Sept. 15 and Notre Dame at home on Oct. 6.UCLA plays California, Arizona State and Oregon at home, but travels to Washington State and Southern California.
Nonconference opponents: BYU (home), Utah (road), Notre Dame (home)
Toughest game: at Southern California, Dec. 1
Easiest game: at Stanford, Sept. 1
Schlabach clearly recognizes that our conference schedule is as easy as we could ever hope to get, with home games coming against the toughest teams except SuC. The problem is that he must be looking at last year’s records and teams to assess our OOC schedule. BYU, a good team last year, lost a ton of starters and players to graduation - the exact opposite of our situation. This is a rebuilding year for them. And we play them in the Rose Bowl.  We manhandled Utah last year with most of the same team we have this year, even with our coaching staff. How is that supposed to be a tough game?  And Notre Dame is rich in tradition but not in talent, not yet anyway. We all saw how we should have beaten them AT South Bend last year, and they are losing key players in key positions. Sure, their recruiting class is tops but that isn’t going to help them when they come to Pasadena. Notre Dame will be no patsie, but we should win that game.
The schedule is set up for a Pac-10 championship and BCS bowl bid. Dorrell and UCLA will not see this kind of perfect storm of returning starters, seniors, and easy schedule for another 10 years if that. Schlabach got this one wrong.
