From ESPN chat..
ESPN Pac-10 reporter Ted Miller fielded questions during a long chat session, and here are the UCLA highlights. I'll link to the full chat at the bottom.
"Stephen (Knoxville)
Ted, a Tennessee fan here with two questions about UCLA. How well does UCLA match up agianst Tennessee this year, and can they handle the trip to Neyland better than the Vols trip to Pasadena?
Ted Miller (3:43 PM)
Sounds like the Vols have some issues at receiver and UCLA is good on defense, so I'm guessing it will be a fairly low scoring game...The Bruins will be starting a redshirt freshman quarterback in Neyland... yikes... I know more than a few Cal players admitted to me that they were blown away by the atmosphere... it will be interesting to see if UCLA reacts better..."
"David (Riverside)
If Ayers and Jones step it up for UCLA this year how good will that defense be?
Ted Miller (3:47 PM)
If UCLA stays healthy -- it doesn't seem like the front-seven is very deep -- it should have a top-25 defense..."
"Rob (New Orleans)
Come on Ted, give us that score of the Trojans and Buckeyes......and when does UCLA start to challenge USC for the top spot in LA? Thanks Ted!
Ted Miller (3:59 PM)
the score?24-17UCLA is making its move... I figure by 2011 the Bruins will be talking about challenging for the conference crown..."
"jshufelt (Somwhere in Portland. Likely because of the Dharma Ini
Ted,Many people are anticipating that UCLA, Stanford, Washington programs to be moving up. That would imply that some other schools will need to be pushed aside. Which Pac-10 schools have hit their apex, and will move down to make room for these other schools?
Ted Miller (4:12 PM)
Not necessarily... I think teams in the middle will win 8, 7 6 games instead of 6, 5, 4 games.I think the seventh-place team will win six...And I don't think the top-4 will be shaken up... USC, Cal, Oregon, OSU."
"Jake (Honolulu)
Who or what would be your biggest X-Factor to sort out the middle 5 teams?
Ted Miller (4:25 PM)
Quarterbacks and O-Line play... UCLA, Arizona, ASU, Stanford... they are all breaking in new Qbs... and UCLA and ASU have issues up front...answer those questions and good things happen... I know genius..."
As much as I want him to say "UCLA will win every game forever", I have to admit that he's pretty accurate IMO. For a realistic shot at the Pac-10 crown, 2011 is not a crazy guess. Nor is it crazy to say that going to Tenn's stadium will be an interesting experience. I remember watching Cal go there a few years back. I hope we win, but their stadium seems like one of the loudest, most packed, and hardest in the country. I'm hoping we catch them by surprise a bit, since absolutely every analyst will pick against us.
Just read that the Tennessee starting center just went down with a knee injury and could miss several weeks. Brian Price should be lickin his chops....
http://onlineathens.com/stories/082609/foo_486104940.shtml
Well, the starting center going down is bad news, although he had likely already lost the starting spot to a walk-on. Either way it creates depth issues.