Instant reaction to schedule change
First and foremost, the changes in schedule were all for exposure purposes, and they're, in a word, stunning.
UCLA picks up a MAJOR ABC game with Texas and two big ESPN gigs, including a crucial Thursday night matchup with Oregon. Then there's the Friday, day-after-Thanksgiving game. These are the kinds of moves that take teams from also-rans to major players. Even if UCLA loses these games, the visibility rises.
Also, however UCLA picks up an extra bye week and a headstart on the Pac-10 schedule, with an early game against Stanford. Getting another game to prepare for Texas will help as well, and the Bruins could go into the Texas matchup at 2-1, and 3-0 isn't a major leap.
Just a major move for the UCLA program.
WHOA...but love the national exposure... GO BRUINS..
Thursday and Friday matchups are HUGE in exposure. Really no other games can challenge it so we have a FULL national game. Since the Texas game is a night game will we have the full national slot or opt for regional action?
This could be huge for recruiting
Whoa
How do you see us being 2-1 headed into Texas? KSU, Houston, and Stanford will likely be top 25 teams. More likely we'll be 0-3.
I think the changes are a joke.
HAHAHAHA,
the only game SC has scheduled is Sep 2 vs Hawaii. I think the pac 10 is bracing for SC sanctions (no tv). It kinda explains why UCLA is slotted for so many national games, they want the LA media market.
UCLA '64 said: "I think the changes are a joke."
Please explain. I'm genuinely interested in why you think that as most of us seem to think it is a fantastic turn of events.
FINALLY!!!!
This is great! I can finally plan my wedding for one of our bye weeks.
Wouldn't it be great to see a repeat of the '97 and '98 games? Oh, how I long for the prolific offenses of those years...
If this really gives us exposure that helps recruiting, that's great, but I don't like these changes at all. Here's why:
1. Thursday night at 9pm Eastern constitutes great national exposure? Really? Okay, but in my mind, major college football should be played, holidays excepted, on Saturdays. Thursday is for the MAC and the WAC, not the PAC. If we'd have lost a Saturday of tailgating at the Bowl, I'd be nuclear.
2. By moving the ASU game, we lose the extra 6 days of prep before '$C. Also, I can see the other side of this, but as someone who loves that he can drive to our games in Arizona, but who can't be out of town over Thanksgiving, I'm disappointed.
3. The Texas game was always going to get significant national play. Moving the date of the game doesn't change that.
4. You have to love that the Stanford game gets national play, but I'd rather have more time to get ready for Pac-10 play instead of Texas.
Double - prioritize! How can you plan your wedding for a bye week? Every few years, she'll want to celebrate your anniversary on game day. Get married in the summer, preferably before camp starts, so you never have to worry that sort of thing happening.
ucla84: "Thursday is for the MAC and the WAC, not the PAC."
Really? One of the biggest matchups of the season for the PAC10 was played on a Thursday (OSU vs OU) and that day is usually reserved for big matchups between BCS opponents. Friday usually features the WAC or MAC. Plus the ASU game two years ago was played Friday after Thanksgiving and no on had a problem with it (but more people complained about the game rather than the time slot.)
Call me old school, but a great rivalry game like the Civil War, especially one with the Rose Bowl on the line, should be played on a Saturday when devoted fans can enjoy a real live game day instead of having to race home - or worse, to the stadium - from work.
Can we all agree to never, ever mention the 2008 ASU game ever again? Ever. (I'm still having nightmares.)
P.S. Ever
I agree with you, lets never mention that game again!! Easily on of the worst holiday weekends of my life.
Man, u guys sound like a bunch of beeaches! This is great schedule, so I'm confused about what doesn't make sense about playing good teams on day that will yield high exposure? U guys are cryin that we might lose already to Texas and Oregon, are these the same people that said we would lose to Tenn...both years!
Sure, not sure how good team will be next, but give the program credit for schedule good teams on T.V.
What would you say if we had an easy schedule and beat everyone, then you would later bitch that they played no one.
Stop cryin, and enjoy the ride...it's a journey folks.
amen Joe
GO BRUINS!!!
The comment about the Pac 10 seemingly planning the TV schedule around USC sanctions is an interesting one.
Whether or not it's true, the network schedule still seems to reflect such an assertion. I love my Bruins, but 3 national TV games to USC's one seems a little suspicious. Go Justice. Go Bruins.
Hold on there, Bruin Fans. I'm working on getting some super secret celebreties to stand on our sidelines, so we will be getting more exposure than UCLA. We will be on MTV, Comedy Channel, and Versus.
So there. Just Cheat, errr, Compete!
THE Basketball Sanctions PROVE that USC Football Did NOTHING Wrong.
The basis for the BBAll sanctions was a "USC Booster" gave OJ Mayo money while he was at USC. When Guillory went to the BBall offices and told Floyd OJ wanted to come to USC he technically became a "USC Booster".
Since Guillory "presumably" gave Mayo money from the NorCal agents hoping to sign OJ (this has not been proven in a court of law), Guillory is now a "USC Booster" giving OJ money $$$, even though Guillory is not a "USC Homer" (ala OU's Car Dealer booster) and the money $$$ was not given to boost USC's chances of landing Mayo but rather, THE SPORT AGENT'S chances of landing Mayo as a client. This is an important LEGAL DISTINCTION.
The NCAA Sanctions Committee in all their glory doesn't care that USC was not the "intended beneficiary" of the money give-a-way to OJ Mayo, all they care about is that it happened while Mayo was playing Basketball at USC at the world-reknown Galen Center.
Now, on to Reggie Bush. Lloyd Lake and Bret Micheals cannot be considered "USC Boosters", there is no evidence showing either has EVER set foot on the USC campus let alone that either was an "Intermediary" between Bush and USC. Instead, these are outside people trying to make money $$$. That is why the NCAA hasn't acted: these are not "USC Boosters", they can't even be loosely classified as a "USC Booster" like Guillory. CASE CLOSED.
BE REAL
The Texas game was always going to be shown on national TV. Please stop the sunshine pumping, a little pimping Is OK.
Be Real:
This guy is funny! Paying amateur athletes makes them professionals. Playing professionals in an amateur sport is in violation of the rules of the game plain and simple. Sorry, no matter how you twist the logic, repeated violations occur in every sport at Southern California College regardless of the rules of the NCAA. Now that the NCAA is finally looking into it after a decade of looking the other way, you want to complain about it?
The subject matter was a change in schedule for UCLA's football team and not a chance to proclaim that USC's sports teams did not break the rules (as if there was someone alive that didn't know they broke the rules).
Playing ASU after thanksgiving, now that is a coup by Rick. BTW didn't someone else do that a couple of years ago?
The Friday after thanksgiving game is not even the best game of the day! Jon will it be a national telecast?
Wow - a lot of people from Tustin.