Weekly Answers, Pt. 2
1) Is Bryan Price going pro? Can BB be successful in a bad pac-10? - fanofbruins
Well, Brian Price will probably go pro. And the basketball team can be successful as long as Nelson and Honeycutt stay healthy and some of the shooters start to hit their shots. Which they will.
2) Mr. Gold, I am a big time USC fan and I am not here to upset the UCLA fanbase, but my question is how is UCLA viewing the rebuilding USC season? Does it feel that they are getting closer to the same talent level or that UCLA maybe missed their best chance to defeat USC? Thank you in advance. - Gilligan
Thanks for stopping by, lil buddy. UCLA sees chinks in the armor, and sometimes seeing those cracks gives a team hope. This is a team that needs hope. Sounds corny, but UCLA needs to see that USC is struggling to get some of that swagger back, and I think they do get it back. Next year, a closer game. The year after, even closer. I don't think this year was their best chance at beating USC. The Trojans, despite all their issues, were still a very good team. Great secondary, great offensive line. UCLA will get better, though, and it should be fun.
3) Any real word on whether Brian Price is leaning towards staying or heading to the NFL this year? - Stephanie
When I last talked to him about it, he gave a wry smile and said, 'I don't know yet, man.' But there was a gleam in his eye and a head nod that implied that he was good as gone.
4) Is Mobley supposed to finish at the JC in December and start at UCLA in January, or not finish until June and join UCLA in the summer? - Stephanie
Mobley backed out of UCLA and committed to Arizona. He couldn't make the grades UCLA needed him to.
5) How do we look for Terrance Jones? Do you view him as more a one-and-done type? - Kevin
I look at him as a two-and-done, but not for UCLA. I see him ending up at Kentucky or one of the Northwests.
6) Do you think we lead for Lazeric Jones at this point? If we whiff on both McCallum and Jones, do you think Ben offers LaBradford Franklin? - CalBruin
I think Howland put too many eggs in the McCallum basket, and that might end up hurting them if he picks another school, if only because he's going to pick so late. Wouldn't be surprised if they bite on Franklin.
7) Do you see any of the Freshman who played this year (Carrol, Thigpen, Hillard, Brehaut) redshirting next year? Can you give us a list of who redshirted this year? - UCLAVES
I can't see any of those four redshirting, but I could see Hasiak taking a year to get himself settled back in. They haven't released a list yet.
8) Have you heard if any of the recruits (Jones, James, Ward, Nottingham) are planning on enrolling early for Spring Ball? - bruin95grad
Haven't heard any of them will do it.
9) Who will be the best offensive player on the football team next year? - bruinbrian
If he stays healthy, Kevin Prince will surprise a few folks. Su'a-Filo was fantastic, and if he forgoes his mission, which he's leaning to, he'll be all-conference without a doubt. Rosario has the chance to be a really good one, if he can hold on to the dang ball. It'll be interesting to see how big Franklin gets in nine months - if he comes back 10 pounds stronger, he's a star.
10) Before this football season, many fans believed UCLA would win 8 games and finish in the top part of the Pac-10. After finishing with only 6 wins and 8th in the Pac-10, would you say this season was another failure? - Anonymous
Anybody who thought UCLA would get eight wins is, sorry to say, an idiot. This was NOT an eight-win team. This was a six-win team the whole season, with only a couple of games that could have gone either way. Maybe with Prince in there, they beat Stanford. Maybe. A stroke of luck, and they beat Oregon. But both of those teams were better, and I'm not surprised they lost. This is a 6-6 team next year, too. Then comes the leap.
"Well, Brian Price probably go pro."
Who needs an editor, when word spell checks for you.
Is it just me, or did Gold just call Dohn an idiot?
Gold called Dohn an idiot.
Gold reminds me of the current UCLA bball and fball teams. He thinks he knows what he's doing, but still has a long way to go. Here's a tip, either stop answering questions that you don't know the answer to or get better informed. UCLA is not seriously interested in LaBradford Franklin, and Terrence Jones is supposedly a UCLA/UW/Oregon fight with UW/Oregon leading. His answer to the 8 win question really made no sense either, etc. I'm not going to go through all of his incorrect/misinformed answers. I do appreciate it when he posts up quotes, UCLA news releases, and first-hand information that he actually gets though.
2) Mr. Gold, I am a big time USC fan and I am not here to upset the UCLA fanbase, but my question is how is UCLA viewing the rebuilding USC season? Does it feel that they are getting closer to the same talent level or that UCLA maybe missed their best chance to defeat USC? Thank you in advance. - Gilligan
Gilligan, I think you have gone off the deep end. USC was a much older and experienced group of football players than UCLA. Supposedly USC was just reloading this year until they lost a bunch of games then it was rebuidlign to suit their self inflated egos. USC had 3 senior starters on the O line with somewhere around 12 years of previous experience in their program in just those 3. Our O line had 4 years of experience at UCLA. Your running backs were all upper classmen and for most of the season our were freshmen. Both our Qbs were frehsmen, b ut that was your coaches choice, CRn didn't have much of a choice.
Well, Gold has been calling 6 and 6 and at best 7 and 5 ever since the 3 and 0 start. So I would say he was spot on. Appreciate the info Jon.
Everyone needs to leave Gold alone. He's a fantastic journalist and an asset to all us Bruin fans.
Btw, are you free Friday night Jon? Wanna meet up at the Abbey?
xoxo
Not only did Gold just call Dohn an idiot, he also called a majority of the UCLA fans and analysts an idiot as well.
yup he did call most of us idiots, but he said he was sorry.
nice work jon, we like strong opinions around here.
on the SUC blog when Wolf says anything critical about the trOJans, everyone practically bepisses themselves, it is a riot, seriously they are wah wah sissy babies over there, man.
I miss Dohn
usc had:
Eight new starters on defense.
Three new starters on offense, including a true freshman taking snaps.
And most importantly, a new offensive coordinator.
I'm sorry to say, someone is an idiot.
This was the year to knock USC on their asses.
I dont think it was unrealistic to think UCLA could have won 8 games! You said it yourself Gold, a couple of those games could've gone either way, including OSU.
To be honest, a lot of UCLA fans ARE idiots. No more so than any other program, but still. People assume that because Neuheisel has had a year, our team should have way more wins, and we should be really good. Well, we are progressing, but the combination of talent and experience isn't there yet. Dorrell left us in tatters.
And yes, this may have been our best chance to knock off USC... As a team languishing in the bottom half of the Pac-10 without a ton of talent. Our team has a lot of undeveloped talent, and in a few years, probably two, we will really start to see his results and be able to compete with USC not just because it is a rivalry but because our team will be talented enough.
Why does it always seem like we are saying "in 2 years we are going to be good." Then, two years later, we are saying the same thing. When is THAT year actually going to come to fruition?? Doesn't seem like it will be any time soon.
You thought we were going to be good KD's last year? Or Neu's 1st year? Or this year?
Re: I dont think it was unrealistic to think UCLA could have won 8 games!
I don't think anyone thought Stanford would make the jump they did this year, and I thought we would win the Arizona game.
Those two would have put the Bruins at 8-4 and near the top of the pac-10. So I don't think the 8 win prediction was an idiotic prediction before the season started.
We could have won 8 games this year. most games hinge on 1 or sometimes 3 or 4 plays.
IF ATV holds on to the ball at OSU in the last minute of play we most likely would have won that game. If we score a TD in the Oregon game and go up 10-0 at half and come out pumped in the second half we likley win that game also. If Ayers would have played his proper angle, Best gets 0 yards instead of a 93 yard back breaker. Instead of 3rd and long on their own 3 it becomes a 14 point lead. If Moya does not get knocked down and gets into the flat the DB has to cover Moya and Prince does not break his jaw. No broken jaw and not losing 4 critical weeks of practice in the midle of the season slowed his development.
Wow!!!!!
well i still think we should have finished 8-4... Mistakes kept us from having a better year than we did... I was at the Stanford & Arizona games and the Bruins could have easily won them both...Even the south central game - one big play from our offense could have turned the whole game around with the way our defense was playing..
But what do i know? i'm just an idiot... And why did you love it so much when the southern cal fans were ripping our Bruins?
close only counts in horeshoes and hand grenades, my friend.
Anonymous said:
close only counts in horeshoes and hand grenades, my friend.
Sorry, wrong again. Close also counts in slow dancing.
I don't see how thinking we could have won eight games makes anyone an idiot. I'm sorry but get over yourself because you guessed 6-6 or 7-5. If ATV catches that pick against OSU there is a good chance we win that game. That would put us at 7 wins with a pending bowl game. One play having gone for us would have made eight wins a very good possibility.