UCLA-UofA report card
Here is my report card for UCLA's 31-10 loss to Arizona. Feel free to vote your own grades.
Arizona 31, UCLA 10
Record 1-2; Weekly grade: D
Quarterbacks
Grade: F
Kevin Craft was 15 for 31, 81 yards with an inexcusable attempted flip pass beyond the line of scrimmage.
Running backs
Grade: C-
Chane Moline (11 car, 72 yds) ran hard, but blitz pickups for RBs were problems.
Receivers
Grade: D
Dominique Johnson dropped what should have been a big play for an unspectacular unit.
Offensive line
Grade: D
If not for Moline's 40-yarder, running game would have averaged 2.8 yards per carry.
Defensive line
Grade: B
Kept the running game in check and was able to pressure QB Willie Tuitama.
Linebackers
Grade: C
Reggie Carter forced a fumble, but Steve Sloan had nary a tackle as starting MLB.
Secondary
Grade: D
S Bret Lockett was beaten for two touchdowns, but CB Alterraun Verner had a nice bounce-back game.
Special teams
Grade: F
'Cats averaged 23 yards on seven punt returns, kickoffs were short and the return games did nothing.
Coaching
Grade: C
Life gives you lemons, make lemonade? But what happens when sugar is the missing ingredient?
you said it when you wrote what can you do when the sugar is the missing ingredient. The coaches are trying to get a bunch of kids ready to be a bigtime football team. This fall is a spring practice. As long as they continue to play hard right to the end of every game and show some individual improvement, setting the stage for future achievements, the coaches will have done their job - and so will this group of players to the best of their ability....
Kinda harsh for so many to give the Defense Fs when they kept us in the game till the fourth quarter. How could they do much better with the short field they constantly had ?!?
Finally an F for special teams. Austin is a disaster - 4 fumbles in 5 games? And the few times he catches the ball he goes down with the first hit. Is he the only option? Rotstein can't put a kickoff inside the 20. I thought we hired a special teams coach to address this important aspect of the game. The team has never looked so lost in all three areas.
I think we need to break Punter out into it's own category - that may be the only place we see an 'A' this year.
How do the coaches get a C for the game?? UCLA looked terrible (against UA!), yet you feel the coaches were average in this game? If these are the types of standards set by the UCLA coaching staff as well, then it's easy to see why the team sucks so much.
The coaches got all the praise for the victory over Tennessee, but take no blame for the UGLY showings the past two weeks? How does a team regress so badly? Hmm...maybe poor coaching??
Coaching grade: F
Can I have my old job back now?
I see very little enthusiasm from the kids, that goes directly to the coaches. We might not be that good but we should be excited about the opportunity. If kids are not absolutely thrilled entering the field as a UCLA Bruin, then try others that are. Coaches need to start looking at the heart of the player and not just their grade in school. Sometimes the turn around isn't just physical it is mental. We need mentally tough players that absolutely can't live with the fact we can't move the ball. I don't see this and some of the blame has to be put on the coaches.