« Monday stuff | Main | Olson's nickname, other tidbits »
September 04, 2006
Report card
As requested, this is my report card from the game. So you know, the report cards run in Monday's paper, and have nothing to do with holidays. Anyway, here was mine.
UCLA 31, Utah 10; Week 1 GPA: 2.84 (B-)
Quarterbacks
What better start could Ben Olson have? He completed his first nine passes, went 25 of 33 for 318 yards and three touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. The one downside were the two mishandled snaps.
Grade: A
Running backs
There wasn’t a lot of running room for Chris Markey and Kahlil Bell, who combined for 68 yards on 23 carries, but neither of the backs made something out of nothing. Frosh Chane Moline (7 carries, 17 yards) as choice for third running back is no surprise.
Grade: C-
Receivers
Matt Willis made four catches (40 yards), which is one more than he had last season. Brandon Breazell made a couple of nice catches and Logan Paulsen gave the Bruins a presence at tight end. The downside were the drops by Junior Taylor and Paulsen.
Grade: B-
Offensive line
Olson didn’t find himself on his back once, which is a major reason for his success. But the lack of a running game was troublesome despite an ever-present twisting Utah front. Averaging 2.6 yards per carry won’t cut it very often.
Grade: C
Defensive line
UCLA didn’t get tons of pressure on the quarterbacks, but did force Tommy Grady and Brett Ratliff into some bad throws. The Utes averaged 4.9 yards per rush, but ran just 23 times for 112 yards. Given UCLA’s resent past, it was a good day.
Grade: B
Linebackers
Starters Aaron Whittington, Christian Taylor and Reggie Carter combined for seven tackles, but that is misleading with Utah running the option and spreading out the defense. Positioning was solid and Taylor made the right calls for the defense.
Grade: B
Secondary
Frosh Alterraun Verner had the big play with a 34-yard touchdown on an interception, but this group did more. Forced to play with five defensive backs much of the way because of Utah’s system, the lack of depth didn’t hurt. They are the reason Ratliff and Grady completed 14 of 34 passes.
Grade: B+
Special teams
This was the worst performance by UCLA. Markey muffed a punt, which the Bruins recovered and Justin Medlock, returning from a DUI suspension, missed a 46-yard field goal attempt. Aaron Perez was consistent, averaging 42.8 yards on five punts.
Grade: C-
Coaching
There was very little confusion with getting plays in on defense by new coordinator DeWayne Walker and new offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda called a very nice game, mixing short passes and not abandoning the running game despite not having success in it.
Grade: A
Posted by Brian Dohn at September 4, 2006 09:43 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.insidesocal.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/944
Comments
Brian, it said in the paper that the Bruins had five fumbles. If one was the muff what were the other ones?
Posted by: Chris at September 5, 2006 09:16 AM
It's odd that a "B-" results in a 31-10 win. I'd say you were a little harsh with the WRs and the OL. Considering there were no sacks, despite the lackluster rushing offense, I think deserves a higher grade. And is there really a need to highlight that Justin Medlock is coming of a DUI suspension?
Other than that, thanks for the great coverage of UCLA and congrats on your marathon. Are you going to run again and try and break 4 hours?
Posted by: Happy4LA at September 5, 2006 11:00 AM
I have to say your B- was a fair assessment of the Bruins performance on Saturday. I wasn't impressed but I wasn't disappointed. Clearly, certain aspects of UCLA's game needs to be improved before we can compete for the conference championship. Fortunately, we have a practice session against Rice this Saturday. I expect nothing short of another 300-yard, 3-td performance from Southpaw Jesus and the Bruins putting up 50 points on the scoreboard and limiting the Owls to under 20.
GO BRUINS!!! BEAT RICE!!!
Posted by: Chey at September 5, 2006 02:55 PM
Hard to give the OL a C, while the RB's, who get the holes from the OL got a C-. It should be switched. Well, maybe the OL should be "A" for pass blocking...and "F" for run. I guess that's your "C" huh?
It's not like the RB's fumbled, slipped, and missed their blocking assignments on pass plays.
Posted by: Gary in Ventura at September 6, 2006 09:39 PM