Post-Practice Update
* Sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince was given Monday night off to rest his sore knee and had an MRI done, with the results to be discovered shortly. Richard Brehaut got most of the reps with the first team, with Darius Bell in spotty relief.
* Brehaut was fantastic at times and poor at times, but he seemed much more comfortable today than he did last week. He had a great deep fade to Randall Carroll in stride that Prince yelling and clapping from the sidelines, 'There we go!" At the very least, the two quarterbacks seem to be handling the "controversy" or whatever you'd call it pretty well.
* Liked what I saw out of Isaiah Bowens today at scout team linebacker. During 1s vs. scout drills, he had three very nice plays, with two run stuffs and a sack.
* Looks like Malcolm Jones is running really well. He had a nice burst on a couple of runs, and is not running with the tentativeness that he had after his fumbling issues crept up a few weeks ago.
* Working with the 2s, Damien Holmes had a really nice stuff at defensive end, and while Keenan Graham and Owa Odighizuwa have moved ahead of him in the depth chart, I expect him to still get plenty of reps going forward.
* And the bads: Still seeing too much push on the exterior offensive line in pass protection. Expect Oregon to be extremely aggressive after watching that Cal film. Norm Chow will need to have a couple screen passes in the works, though screens have not been this team's strong suit he last couple years.
* Brehaut was not effective in 7-on-7 drills, including red-zone work toward the end of the session. Brehaut completed 2-of-6 passes, including a dump-off to Johnathan Franklin and a touchdown up the middle to Cory Harkey. Courtney Viney had a great pass breakup, Rahim Moore had an interception, Brehaut overthrew Ricky Marvray and was sacked once.
* Receiver Nelson Rosario is still out with a sprained ankle, and his return for Oregon is at best doubtful. Glenn Love, Dalton Hilliard and Anthony Barr are back practicing, as was Keenan Graham (hip flexor) and Jordon James (hip).
* While Rick Neuheisel said in the press conference that Sheldon Price could return, I'd put him at doubtful.
''Cal did a really good job in bringing a defense that we hadn't seen. But that was two weeks ago. We've got to move on and we've got to work on our weaknesses. We've got to be prepared as we can be going into Autzen Stadium and playing the No. 1 team in the nation.''
Chow is way past his prime and won't have anything remotely clever or bold enough up his sleeve to outwit Oregon. The Ducks will have to beat themselves in a major, major way for UCLA to have any shot.
And why don't they just name Dicky Brehaut the starter now? Prince missed practice...again? Does the coaching staff realize the game is Thursday, not Saturday? We're really running out of time for being "given a night off."
Thanks for the write up.
Sounds like we are in for a tough game. We are not even at full strength. With no turnovers we might beat the spread.
Prince still isn't ready or healed. I hope he doesn't start again and we get blown out yet again due to his QB play and not practicing. Neu should start Bre and see what th kids got against Ore. Go Bruins! 38-21! Ucla
Prince still isn't ready or healed. I hope he doesn't start again and we get blown out yet again due to his QB play and not practicing. Neu should start Bre and see what th kids got against Ore. Go Bruins! 38-21! Ucla
I'm so dang tired of Prince. I wish he'd just go away.
34, didn't we see what the 'kid' has against wsu? was he not in the whole game? can't say i'm expecting a huge difference between then and now in Brehaut's play.
You announced that Kevin Prince is the starter after practice on Sunday night (after taking all the reps), and then he does not practice the next day and is awaiting results from a MRI on Tuesday for a game on Thursday? All this after fielding the least efficient and worst rated passing offense in all of college football for the first half of the season? What kind of an operation is Neuheisel and Chow running?
As usual, if the defense holds Oregon under 30 points (like against Houston, Texas, and Washington State), there will be a chance for victory. If not, watch out, it could get very ugly, FAST.
Anonymous, we did see what Behaut has. Granted it was against WSU. However I've seen deeper completed and more accurate passes from Bre than Prince. Deeper passes and better accuracy give our offense a chance to keep moving the chains and keep Oregons offense of the field, so yeah. Bre should start. Besides Prince is hurt yet again. Ever since h got hurt against Tenn. he's never been the same. Looks like Ben Olsen all over again.
But we will still beat Ore!!!
Shocked to see Prince has knee problems. Chow and Neuheisel have been clinging to a fantasy that Prince will at some point transform into a QB who 1) is not injury prone and 2) can throw. In the meantime, they have made no effort to upgrade Brehaut's confidence. Witness Chow's snide remarks after the Stanford game. It's time to move on to the next guy.
Ok, guys, admit it. As ugly and mean as it sounds you're all hoping that the MRI comes up positive and the decision is taken out of the coaches' hands.
Anon (7:25), I'm hoping that Prince stays healthy and can participate in ALL practice sessions leading up to the game (has that happened for even a single game this year?) OR that Brehaut gets to practice with the first team for ALL practice sessions during the week and gets the start...
@anon 07:25am
No, we're hoping the MRI is negative and the coaches wake up to the counter productive decisions they've made with respect to the qb and start Brehaut.
For all the uber-focus on the QB position, scant attention is paid to the O-line still getting drilled by the outside pass rush in practice. Thus, we absolutely HAVE to be able to run the ball to slow the game down and keep the Oregon linebackers honest. Hope The Filthy Five, JF, DC, and MJ are up it this week.
As for the D, I hope there has been extra conditioning during the bye week and the scout offense has been running offense at a frenetic pace.
ucla34 said: "Deeper passes and better accuracy give our offense a chance to keep moving the chains and keep Oregons offense of the field, so yeah. Bre should start."
While I agree that it seems like Brehaut should start this week due to Prince's injuries, I don't think that deeper passes and better accuracy necessarily give our offense a better chance to keep the chains moving. I say that because we don't run a pass-centric offensive scheme; ours is run-centric. ...IN THEORY.
If healthy, Prince is a better runner and the offensive scheme runs at higher potential with him at QB. But Prince is not healthy. Having been there (twice), I know that if you're getting an MRI done on your knee, you're NOT EVEN CLOSE to 100%, regardless of whether or not you have a torn ligament or meniscus. You get an MRI partly because it hurts like hell...
Final Score
Oregon 49
UCLA 10
I hope Dan Guerrero is paying attention.
Nah, Dan Guerrero is too busy attending to more important matters like luncheons and receptions where he is impressed with his own importance. Like Chow he earns a great salary for mediocre performance.
we've seen what Prince has over 20 games and it's not pretty. we saw Brehaut in 1 game. it wasn't great but it was a better effort than what Prince was dishing out. kid deserves an honest shot just like Prince had.