Post-game thoughts | Inside UCLA with Jack Wang

* A loss is a loss, and a team on a five-game losing streak ccan’t afford a moral victory, but if there is one, this was it.
* Kevin Prince learned in the fourth quarter that he can try to win rather than try not to lose. Taylor Embree told me he thinks Prince learned to trust his receivers in that fourth quarter, when he threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
* The 19-3 deficit might be just the thing UCLA needed to mature as a unit offensively. Now, they just have to keep that sense of urgency alive going into next week.
* This is a team that can. They might not. But they can.
* The defense continues to give up to much underneath, and unless they tackle better, it’s going to continue to kill them. A poor-tackling team turns a 2-yard hitch into a 6-yard hitch, and those four yards are devastating.
* Running the ball three straight times in the red zone on the first possession of the third quarter? Norm Chow said this: “People don’t understand. Tell me what the coverage was? Do you know what the coverage was? None of you know what the coverage was. The coverage necessitated that we run the football. That’s all it was.”

Blue Bruin

That comment is why UCLA sucks and why Chow should be dismissed. Nobody gives a God-damned what the coverage is! You can’t run three straight times like that and expect to score. And if the coverage DID dictate a run, how come UCLA got stuff so convincingly. Finally, what was the hang-up on getting a play called on the aborted fourth down. That’s been happening since the Dorrell days–indecision that runs down the play-clock and ruins any chance of the 4th down conversion.

It’s time for someone to say it and I have the guts to do it: The game has passed Chow by and he should be let go. This team, and the offense in particular, is markedly worse than last year and the play calling and Chow’s inane comments prove it. Good coaches find ways to at least get something out of players, no matter how mediocre they are.

Furthermore proof of just how out of touch Chow is are the defensive comments he made. Any time a coach has to trot out his expertise to fend of journalists signals that he IS wrong and everybody knows it, including half-witted journalists (how gracious host Mr. Gold excepted, of course!).

My criticism of Chow doesn’t mean Neuheisel is blameless, either. He’s the head coach after all, and ceding the play calling to Chow is his mistake. Though Neuheisel is a former quarterback, none of his proteges have shown any improvement at their time at UCLA. Everybody playing the position seems clueless.

And who says that Neuheisel has any credibility as an offensive coach, anyway? Remember his time with the Baltimore Ravens? That was our dear Ricky coaching the QBs, and eventually serving as OC, when the Ravens bland, insipid offense was at its unproductive worst!
Anonymous

Let’s see. Your team is averaging 2 yards a carry all day. It’s 3rd and 3 to go. I guess they’ve been “dictating” run all day.

RC was right. Chow doesn’t trust his players. They finally open up the play calling in the 4th and good things happened.
Anonymous

Oregon is leading the Pac 10 with a JC transfer QB and a bunch of freshman in the secondary…. SC is right there with them with a true frosh QB. But, I guess we’re just “young”…. Getting tired of the excuses, CRN.
edob3017

ATV is going to have nightmares tonight for dropping that easy INT. Had to caught the ball, it’d been the same score but a win for us.

Weird how it was Rosario, who couldn’t hold on to the ball the past two games, that came up big for us.

I guess the QB controversy is over…..until the next time KP struggles.
Bruin44

First of all, you should be able to throw a 3 yard pass against any coverage. Man, cover 2, 3, or 4 there is no way the coverage dictates that you should run in that particular situation.

Second, how did ATV drop that? This loss is so frustrating, because in the end a lot of blame goes to ATV. He would catch that 99 out of 100 times. It just wasn’t his day and at this point we can’t afford that. I can’t believe it.
Anonymous

the defense is over-hyped, atv got burned again and dropped a game saving pick, and the next time akeem ayers stays in position will be the first time. do these guys get coached?
Anon

1 game closer to getting rid of these scrub seniors and letting the players that deserve to play get reps.
Coach Thom

Kevin Prince’s awesome 4th quarter comeback reminds me of someone named ‘Craft’ against Tennessee last year. Hope the similarities end there.
doug4ucla

Let the young guys play, THIS SEASON IS OVER……….
WestCoastBias

Sorry people, I’m inclined to side w/ Chow on this one. You can blame the play calling all you want, but when the players make stupid penalties, drop passes, and make other mistakes, it’s obvious that the problem is execution & not play calling. And I’m inclined to side with the person that does this for a living & spends hours watching tape, instead of those that spend all day reading blogs & criticizing the coaching. In fact, no one has answered his question, what was the coverage? If you can answer that & then explain why the pass play would have worked, then go for it. But so far, everyone is just spouting steam w/ no real analysis.
Anonymous

I may not like all the calls that Chow has, but the execution hasn’t been there either. I certainly wouldn’t am not going to question his play calling b/c of it either. We had winnable games, but the execution on the correct play calling didn’t happen. In the end, if the players execute, the play calling would look like the correct calls plus the playbook will open up. Execute, execute, execute. Our offense will look more dynamic when it does and then we’ll all witness NC at his best. Love it how some of you try to come off as experts. Should quit your day job if that’s the case. Nevermind, just show up for work at 9am tomorrow.
cv

How about the fact that this team can not run on OSU? 1.9 yard average? Chow is sooo full of it!