UCLA grades
Here is my report card from UCLA's 27-7 win against Washington:
UCLA 27, Washington 7
Record: 4-6, 3-4 Pac-10; Weekly grade: B
Quarterbacks
The problem with two of Kevin Craft's three interceptions were they came on horrible decisions to throw the ball into coverage.
Grade: C-
Running backs
Kahlil Bell (97 yards) and Derrick Coleman (42) gave a nice one-two punch, and the straight ahead running worked well.
Grade: B
Receivers
Forgotten about Dominique Johnson (4 catches) led the receiving corps, but it is hard to judge this unit when the QB is having problems getting them the ball.
Grade: C
Offensive line
UCLA rushed 50 times and had the ball for nearly 37 minutes. This group gets plenty of flack, but deserves credit for this performance.
Grade: B
Defensive line
The Huskies ran for 96 yards and had more success against this unit than they should have since DTs Brian Price and Brigham Harwell are in the middle.
Grade: B
Linebackers
Akeem Ayers (2 sacks) is a potential stud, combing his size and speed to get two sacks and force a fumble. And he's only a red-shirt freshman.
Grade: A
Secondary
U-dub QB Ronnie Fouch was 7 of 22 for 39 yards, and the Bruins had two INTs. Yes, U-dub is bad, but this unit played very well.
Grade: A
Special teams
PK Kai Forbath had a 49-yard FG, P Aaron Perez boomed a 57-yarder and Washington had one good return.
Grade: B
Coaching
A win is a win is a win. UCLA was supposed to win easily, and it did. Not often in the last six years one could say that after a road game.
Grade: B
Craft got a B and a C? Someone needs to put down that hookah. He gets an A for toughness, but every other category is an F.
Haha Craft goes 13 of 22 (59.1%) for 135 yards, 0 TD's and 3 INT's and that gets him a C-?? A C- is slightly below average. This my friend is a F of a game if I've ever seen one, especially since it came against a TERRIBLE UW defense.
I just hope the coaches don't have standards as low as you do Brian.
You realize that Washington is averaging giving up 39.9 points/game...and that is after they held us to 27, the least amount scored on them all year!
They are also averaging giving up 224.9 passing yards and 228.5 rushing yards per game and that is also after they held us to way below both averages.
I'm not too sure how the offense can get anything other than a D grade overall when the opposing teams defense has their best game of the season against us.
Brian,
What is the record for most QB interceptions? Both in UCLA, and PAC-10? I think Craft has a shot at both.
I always thought Cory Paus was bad all these years, guess I was wrong.
I agree with the theme here. Tim Cates was gushing over the Bruins 150 yard of rushing in the game (2x their average), but UW was giving up more than 200 rushing YPG. So, in short we under-performed. I hope the team doesn't come away with a false sense of confidence. ASU is as good or better than any of the teams we have beaten this year. Three of our four wins this year came against teams that are having historically bad seasons, and two of the teams we beat have already fired their coaches. None of these have been quality wins
Brian:
You are grading on the curve and the curve is being influenced by all the UCLA and Rutgers games you watch. UCLA continues to suck on offense and defense is not improving.
INTERCEPTIONS - NCAA
Game: 9 — John Reaves, Florida vs. Auburn, Nov. 1, 1969
Season: 34 — John Eckman, Wichita St., 1966
Career: 80 — Timmy Chang, Hawaii, 2000-04
INTERCEPTIONS - UCLA
Game: 5 — Steve Bukich vs Washington, 1974; Matt Stevens vs Oklahoma, 1986
Season: 19 — Dennis Dummit, 1970
Career: 41 — Cade McNown, 1995-98
Craft only needs 3 more interceptions to tie the 38 year old record.
When one grades, the first question is you are grading them compared to what? Compared to the average of college 1A football teams? Compared to their potential? Compared to THIS opponent? I think with regards the third approach, the final score does that. Perhaps the OLine and LBs played about as well as they can play at this point, but if it's some sort of combination of the first two, it's really hard to see how anyone can give out an A to any unit when it's close to unopposed....
Brian,
Seems a little lenient for the a team playing an 0-9 team. Craft was awful and its sad to think how low this program has sunk
"What is the record for most QB interceptions? Both in UCLA, and PAC-10? I think Craft has a shot at both."
PAC-10 record for most intercepted in a season is 24 and shared by 4 QBs.
2003 Derek Anderson, Oregon State
1973 Chris Rowland, Washington
1970 Dan Fouts, Oregon
1970 Ty Payne, Washington State
Craft is averaging 3 INTs per game and he will still be 2 shorts from the records.