UCLA v. Stanford Report Card

Is anyone shocked we lost to Stanford? We lost to a team that is on a roll and has the number one pick in the draft. The season isn't over and we can still go to a bowl game.

Bruin fans are abandoning this team faster than Gov.Perry supporters after he defended supporting education for children of illegal immigrants.

We've lost the games we were expected to lose, and won the games we were expected to win. I guess everyone thinks this team should be 4-1, despite the odds.

Most Bruins fans think a "can win" = "should win".

Sure, we COULD have beaten Stanford, if we played a perfect game. Same for Texas and Houston. The entitlement complex of most of my fellow Bruins fans is downright shameful sometimes.

@Semi-Pro

The problem is that we have a lot of talent, and we aren't seeing results. That's a problem with coaching.

We should use the $20 mill for an extension of my contract and lower student tuition.

Fauria played well, but he wasn't really open and we forced it to him.
He was also taking some shots.
This is also why he hasn't been playing as much the last couple games. He needs to be used as a decoy more.
Hopefully we're growing and become more dynamic as the season goes on.

Mindshed: Do we really have talent? I think most fans vastly overrate the talent on this team.

We've got MAYBE 3-4 guys who look like they might make the pros, but certainly no bona fide 1st rounders. We haven't had a guy good enough to go in the 1st round for 5 years. Heck, the last time we had a guy go in the top 15 was CADE MCNOWN. We just don't have that elite talent, and haven't for a long time.

So when people say we've got all this talent, I really question that premise. Andrew Luck is talent. Matt Barkley is talent. LaMichael James is talent. Robert Woods is talent. Who do we have of that caliber? Nobody...not by a long shot.

The Stanford D is way over rated, it is noot as good as last years D. I'll say it again this is maybe a six win team

How about putting Hundley in, at least on goal line plays. It worked great for Tebow when he was a freshman. It gives us another option at the goal line and this may put more pressure on the defense. Then you can hit the little dump off pass on the run pass option. CRN, time to pull out all stops, what are you waiting for!!!!!

Semi Pro, I agree on the talent thing. Talented players make plays. Freddie Mitchell was making plays immediately as was Manning. The current roster have been tackling since Pop Warner, so missing a couple of live tackling drills is no excuse. Franklin and Coleman are nice running backs, nothing more. The OL is below average. Fauria is an excellent receiver, not sure of his blocking. The receivers are fine. The DL is terrible. Zumwalt may be NFL. Price can cover. Locke can punt.

@Semi-Pro

Check out this analysis:

http://coacheshotseat.com/coacheshotseatblog/archives/8163

Specifically:

"The Rivals.com recruiting rankings reveal a TRUTH that the folks in Westwood including Rick Neuheisel probably don’t want to face. According to Rivals.com over the past six recruiting periods Stanford has finished ahead in UCLA in recruiting in only…

ONE YEAR"

Yea yea, stars don't mean anything blah blah, but it's the quickest and easiest apples to apples comparison I can present to you on a news blog. Fact is that according to most evaluators of talent, UCLA has brought in a lot of talent and failed to develop that talent. Just because we don't have an obvious first round pick doesn't mean that some of these guys COULDN'T be first rounders given the right coaching and the right system (Maurice Jones Drew tearing up the NFL as a second round pick comes to mind).

Brehaut is overweight and slow. I hope they don't ruin Brett Hundley the same way. The vast majority of quarterbacks in college who can run are skinny, quick, and agile.

Most people are not shocked that UCLA lost to Stanford. If we won the games we're supposed to win and loose the games we're supposed to loose then we should be 3-2, not 2-3. But it's not just the won/lost record that people are mad about. Most people are fustrated that the team is underperforming, especially on the defensive side. Fans are fustrated with the missed tackles, blown assignments, blown containments, bad pursuit angles, stupid penalties, and drop passes. Teams are killing us with the short 5-6 yard underneath passes and still the slot receivers are allowed to run that pattern unimpeeded. If you have supposedly big strong physical corners they why are you playing them 10-15 yards off the LOS, especially when it's third and short. Why not put them up to the LOS and bump the receivers as they come off the LOS to throw off their timing. Texas was 5-7 last year and now they are 4-0, with new OC and DC. Stanford was 1-11 5-years ago and look at them now and they have even tougher academic standards than UCLA. It can be done but it's not getting done at UCLA. When you have a 6'8" TE, 6'5" and 6'3" receivers why not try play action pass or a fade pattern to the back corner of the endzone, at least once. We don't need run up the middle four times in a row. We need to show some creativity and score points. The coaches need to sit the underperforming players and give other players a chance and keep doing it until the players start playing to their potential. You may earn playing time in practice but you keep your playing time by performing during games.

Mindshed-

I'll let you in on a little secret about player development: it's almost entirely on the player themselves and their internal motivation to get better and be the best they can be. MoJo wasn't a great player because KARL DORELL was a great coach with a great system. Far from it. MoJo became a great player because he worked harder than anyone on the field. In the weightroom, in the film room, and studying the playbook. He took it upon himself to master his craft. THAT'S what the elite players really do. Do you see that kind of internal motivation in ANYBODY on this team???? I don't.

Again, even though we may have out-recruited Stanford overall in the past 6 years, they were able to bring in the one guy that completely skews the data in their favor. If Stanford doesn't have Andrew Luck, they wouldn't even be ranked in the top 25, let alone be a national title contender. That's the kind of talent I'm talking about. The kind of guy who just by himself makes his team a contender.

I was using MoJo as an example of a player who had the desire, had the talent, but didn't make the first round because of the poor coaching he and the team had to deal with.

Everyone, myself included, is confused by TE's botched punt. But, ESPN referenced the fact that Embree has NEVER muffed a punt before in 2 years. This isn't related to the fact that Josh Smith seems to have more play-making ability. But, I think the criticism against RN for putting TE into the game at that point (presumably just to fair catch it and give our offense a short field) is probably unfair. TE screwed up but we had no reason to believe, based on his previous play, that he was susceptible to that.

If team is goign to be broken down each week to this degree for purposes of grading, suggest coaching at least be broken into O and D, so that agressive/conservstive playcalling, run/pass mix, etc. can be assessed separately from, say 2nd half defensive adjustemnts (or in our case, the lack of any such adjustements)?

"If Stanford doesn't have Andrew Luck, they wouldn't even be ranked in the top 25, let alone be a national title contender."

Not quite. I agree they would not be contending for a national title, but they would still be one of the two best teams in the PAC-12 by a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGG Shot!

They have two OL who will be first round picks. One in fact will be a top 10 pick. They have two LBs who will be either 1st or 2nd team ALL PAC 12 (at least would have, before Skov got hurt). Skov would have been a threat for All-american honors. At least one guy in their secondary will be all PAC 12, probably more. (Watch Delano Howell, their safety for starters).

All 3 of their tight ends will end up as NFL draft picks. Fleener will be first team ALL Pac 12 and the 2nd string guy deserves 2nd ALL PAc 12, although that will go to David Paulson at UO.

Stanford has a wealth of very talented players right now.