..ever had to do the eye cup rinse with Boric Acid? Like that..and it's going to get much worse! The cliché "sight for sore eyes" will take on a new meaning in mid-November for lovers of UCLA FB.
I feel like we're entering a new "doom loop" that we shan't escape in a decade.
Rambling on, all the signs are there: the minimal attendance (36,000 with most being Ute fans), DSF being "Dorrell lite", and Jarmond using his AD position to groom himself for a new gig as soon as one becomes available after turning UCLA (one of the finest institutions with a reputation for generating upset surprises post-Red Sanders back in the 50s) into a smoking crater centered on Strathmore and Gayley!
Hearken back to Prothro (UCLA 14 USC 7, UCLA 47, USC 7, UCLA 14 MSU 12), "Peptic Ulcer" Rogers (UCLA 20 NU 17 after NU was two-year NCAA FB champs), Dick Vermeil (UCLA 25 USC 22 in McKay's adios game, UCLA 23 OSU 10 in the RB again Woody), Tom Donahue* (151-74-8, 8-4-1 in bowls including 4 RB upset wins), and the much-maligned Bob Toledo who had a fantastic 20 game win streak and tacked on 3 wins to UCLA's 10-game win skein over USC in the 90s).
Any of those would have been a suitable replacement during our decade and 2/10ths since Dorrell. (In fact, Dorrell would have been a perfectly acceptable replacement had he continued on with his .565 record with his occasional surprises.)
I marvel at the fortitude of people like Joe and Dimitri who keep the blue and gold flags flying on this trail of tears! Frankly, between you and me, this wandering in the desert is getting old and my Galilee Gliders are filling up with sand!
Wish I could like this comment multiple times. The Murine product callback was that great. And then followed by the eye cup. There was one of those at my house growing up. Yikes!
Systane works the best for me. Whenever I administer it in both eyes, I fell like singing that hit song I can see clearly now ........ I can see all obstacles in my way ......
This was just flat out pathetic, especially from a defensive planning perspective. How is it that everyone can see the yardage stats on the scoreboard and know something has to change, yet fail to see that change play out on the field?
Nah they're only lapping our total yardage with their rushing because of our tackling!
Coach is right guys, if we want to win then it's on us!
Have a whole offseason to prepare for Game 1 and they come out looking like we were in Hawaii all over again.
I can't wait to see what golden parachutes unfurl once the house is cleaned out.
Thank for the work, Dmitri, you tried hard to find nuggets in what was basically a dismal embarrassment. "UCLA’s failures on offense were entirely execution-based." Amen!
Thank you for the effort, Dmitri, but you could have just jumped to the bottom line and said the game was a total shit show. My guess is that if we lose to UNLV, we will not have another win this season. We are 2.5 favorites but UNLV has won two games against inferior teams and we just imploded against a good team. To me, the majority of blame goes on the coaches for not preparing the team, not doing anything to compensate for our team weaknesses and not getting decent players in the portal.
Bruising but painfully on point; while I’m sure Busic is a fine fellow, he bears little resemblance to a D1 football player, and if he is the best option available at that position - yikes. Agree on Yoon and Ford as well; sometimes transfer guys need new opportunities and/or will actually grow into a position after 3-4 years in the program; other times, you see exactly why they failed to succeed at their prior stops, or that their development plateaued at a certain point in your program.
Thanks for pointing out that despite the ugly results, there were glimmers of hope in the new Sunseri scheme; I wanted to see more of it, but with Utah holding the ball on long drives and continually extending their lead, there was little chance of building any continuity. Looking forward to seeing what they can do against a Mountain West defense; if they can improve at C and LT (and you know the UNLV OC is working on ways to exploit those positions as we speak), we’ll have a better idea of what they can do.
Finally…regarding the missed pass to Matthews that seems to have branded Nico as an overpaid loser all around the internets - sure looked like it hit him in the hands to me. Sure, it would have been a tough diving catch, and he would have gone down right there, but…some rule about receivers not making tough catches that I’m not aware of ? Pretty sure I still see it in a lot of games, including last week. A “sure touchdown ?” Matthews appears more quick than fast, and the Utah safeties were in the vicinity. So…
…yeah, the team was awful and Nico was average at best…but let’s not get carried away with fantasy “what ifs” quite so early in the season. Go Bruins !
Here’s my take, as a Bruin. Not since Toledo has UCLA been competitive. Sure they have had mini spurts, but in totality, they have sucked eggs. We’ve watched former perennial bottom of the conference teams become superior to UCLA (Stanford, ASU, WSU, OSU, etc.). Why!? because their administrations understood the assignment - good hires and investment in football is the keystone sports program and massive PR, money generating vehicle. Unfortunately, UCLA’s administration has and continues to be the issue. That’s it. They are all hat no cattle. It is not Coach Foster’s fault for accepting the job. It is a no lose proposition for him. HeIl, I would have taken the job if offered. When Foster is fired- and he will be - he’ll have a whole new HC career open to him. Maybe not at the D1 premiere school, but someone will pick him up for his philosophy and good qualities - a school that just needs a coach to hold the fort down. UCLA will not be a competitive football school. It will be mediocre for ever more. Talk about destroying a brand and rep. UCLA football is the laughing stock of college football. The admin is clueless in the way of coach hiring affairs. One just needs to look across the years for proof of that. The issue is UCLA admin. 100% They are lazy, inexperienced, incompetent, not proven, and sloppy when it comes to hiring coaches. In fact, I think they just winds dress to look the part. As for me, I’ve resigned myself to just enjoying the game with no expectations. It’s easier emotionally that way. Instead, I invest my emotional equity watching my daughter’s Georgia Bulldogs get after it. And when my son heads off to college in two years, I pray to God he picks a good sports school that is academically solid. Go Bruins.
I disagree...UCLA is NOT who we (well, I) thought they were. They were far far worse than I imagined.
I do agree with DD saying that losing this game was not a surprise. But the absolute lack of anything that looked competitive all night long was a very sadly unwelcome shock. I expected UCLA to have D-1 caliber athletes on the field that looked generally well coached and positioned and prepared. Silly me for having such assumptions.
The offense is getting too much of a pass in this eye test. They got 10 points, at home, in the opener when they had all fall to game plan and prepare. Zero run game (due primarily to zero run blocking). QB missing gimme touchdown throws. No legit weapons. Now maybe the new OC can take all that and game plan a ball control offense that doesn't make mistakes and can count on FGs from a legitimately good place kicker and stay close if the defense can keep the score low, but...
There aren't going to be any low scoring defensive games. We railed on the perennial bad defenses under Chip Kelly who hired his buddies who were awful DCs, but they did at least bring in guys who could play at the college level and developed some of them into very good defensive players and NFL talent. Oh to have those problems. I hate to crap on our college players because I'm sure they're trying their best. But I saw our guys getting outrun by offensive linemen. I saw our guys with no understanding how to break down and freeze, let alone how to wrap up and tackle, a ball carrier. I saw our guys who could not come to a stop or who actually fell over trying to change directions. I saw our defense create just one single tackle for loss in an entire game, a one yard loss by our goal line defense when we had 9 guys in the box. That was the only play in the game when we forced the Utah offense backward. No other TFLs. No sacks. No turnovers. The only reason Utah didn't score 50 (or 60) is because they chose (or could only?) to execute multiple long inexorable run-based drives ripping off 4-5 yards on every play that ate up clock and mercifully ended the game before they could score more. We're lucky they couldn't or wouldn't attack downfield more often.
Two plus decades with Guerrero and Carnesale and Block and Jarmond (and Larry Scott too) have cratered large parts of the athletic department as a whole, and none more than football. A series of coaching hires that has ranged from mediocre to awful to desperate, a lack of understanding and adapting to the changes in college football, and a cluelessness about marketing and recruiting to players and the fanbase, both equally important to the long term health of this program, are some of the biggest reasons we are here now. Is Frenk the guy to turn things around? I doubt it, especially as the University is under attack in other more critical arenas. But I don't know who else is coming to save us, so except for maybe UNLV and New Mexico, I don't see our GPA getting much higher this year. And that sucks.
"Eye Test"?
..pass the Murine!
Excellent, I had to double take at Murine, as I don't do drops and thought you meant Marine, which made no sense at all 🤣
I thought my eyes hurt from staring at my computer screen.
But this game, this 'team' took me to a different level, smdh 😞
..ever had to do the eye cup rinse with Boric Acid? Like that..and it's going to get much worse! The cliché "sight for sore eyes" will take on a new meaning in mid-November for lovers of UCLA FB.
I feel like we're entering a new "doom loop" that we shan't escape in a decade.
Rambling on, all the signs are there: the minimal attendance (36,000 with most being Ute fans), DSF being "Dorrell lite", and Jarmond using his AD position to groom himself for a new gig as soon as one becomes available after turning UCLA (one of the finest institutions with a reputation for generating upset surprises post-Red Sanders back in the 50s) into a smoking crater centered on Strathmore and Gayley!
Hearken back to Prothro (UCLA 14 USC 7, UCLA 47, USC 7, UCLA 14 MSU 12), "Peptic Ulcer" Rogers (UCLA 20 NU 17 after NU was two-year NCAA FB champs), Dick Vermeil (UCLA 25 USC 22 in McKay's adios game, UCLA 23 OSU 10 in the RB again Woody), Tom Donahue* (151-74-8, 8-4-1 in bowls including 4 RB upset wins), and the much-maligned Bob Toledo who had a fantastic 20 game win streak and tacked on 3 wins to UCLA's 10-game win skein over USC in the 90s).
Any of those would have been a suitable replacement during our decade and 2/10ths since Dorrell. (In fact, Dorrell would have been a perfectly acceptable replacement had he continued on with his .565 record with his occasional surprises.)
I marvel at the fortitude of people like Joe and Dimitri who keep the blue and gold flags flying on this trail of tears! Frankly, between you and me, this wandering in the desert is getting old and my Galilee Gliders are filling up with sand!
..is it basketball season yet?
Wish I could like this comment multiple times. The Murine product callback was that great. And then followed by the eye cup. There was one of those at my house growing up. Yikes!
Systane works the best for me. Whenever I administer it in both eyes, I fell like singing that hit song I can see clearly now ........ I can see all obstacles in my way ......
This was just flat out pathetic, especially from a defensive planning perspective. How is it that everyone can see the yardage stats on the scoreboard and know something has to change, yet fail to see that change play out on the field?
Nah they're only lapping our total yardage with their rushing because of our tackling!
Coach is right guys, if we want to win then it's on us!
Have a whole offseason to prepare for Game 1 and they come out looking like we were in Hawaii all over again.
I can't wait to see what golden parachutes unfurl once the house is cleaned out.
To borrow from my pfp, Pathetic.
O-line is beginning middle and end. For both teams in this one.
Thank for the work, Dmitri, you tried hard to find nuggets in what was basically a dismal embarrassment. "UCLA’s failures on offense were entirely execution-based." Amen!
Thank you for the effort, Dmitri, but you could have just jumped to the bottom line and said the game was a total shit show. My guess is that if we lose to UNLV, we will not have another win this season. We are 2.5 favorites but UNLV has won two games against inferior teams and we just imploded against a good team. To me, the majority of blame goes on the coaches for not preparing the team, not doing anything to compensate for our team weaknesses and not getting decent players in the portal.
Bruising but painfully on point; while I’m sure Busic is a fine fellow, he bears little resemblance to a D1 football player, and if he is the best option available at that position - yikes. Agree on Yoon and Ford as well; sometimes transfer guys need new opportunities and/or will actually grow into a position after 3-4 years in the program; other times, you see exactly why they failed to succeed at their prior stops, or that their development plateaued at a certain point in your program.
Thanks for pointing out that despite the ugly results, there were glimmers of hope in the new Sunseri scheme; I wanted to see more of it, but with Utah holding the ball on long drives and continually extending their lead, there was little chance of building any continuity. Looking forward to seeing what they can do against a Mountain West defense; if they can improve at C and LT (and you know the UNLV OC is working on ways to exploit those positions as we speak), we’ll have a better idea of what they can do.
Finally…regarding the missed pass to Matthews that seems to have branded Nico as an overpaid loser all around the internets - sure looked like it hit him in the hands to me. Sure, it would have been a tough diving catch, and he would have gone down right there, but…some rule about receivers not making tough catches that I’m not aware of ? Pretty sure I still see it in a lot of games, including last week. A “sure touchdown ?” Matthews appears more quick than fast, and the Utah safeties were in the vicinity. So…
…yeah, the team was awful and Nico was average at best…but let’s not get carried away with fantasy “what ifs” quite so early in the season. Go Bruins !
Joey Aguilar is making UCLA decision-makers look bad
Here’s my take, as a Bruin. Not since Toledo has UCLA been competitive. Sure they have had mini spurts, but in totality, they have sucked eggs. We’ve watched former perennial bottom of the conference teams become superior to UCLA (Stanford, ASU, WSU, OSU, etc.). Why!? because their administrations understood the assignment - good hires and investment in football is the keystone sports program and massive PR, money generating vehicle. Unfortunately, UCLA’s administration has and continues to be the issue. That’s it. They are all hat no cattle. It is not Coach Foster’s fault for accepting the job. It is a no lose proposition for him. HeIl, I would have taken the job if offered. When Foster is fired- and he will be - he’ll have a whole new HC career open to him. Maybe not at the D1 premiere school, but someone will pick him up for his philosophy and good qualities - a school that just needs a coach to hold the fort down. UCLA will not be a competitive football school. It will be mediocre for ever more. Talk about destroying a brand and rep. UCLA football is the laughing stock of college football. The admin is clueless in the way of coach hiring affairs. One just needs to look across the years for proof of that. The issue is UCLA admin. 100% They are lazy, inexperienced, incompetent, not proven, and sloppy when it comes to hiring coaches. In fact, I think they just winds dress to look the part. As for me, I’ve resigned myself to just enjoying the game with no expectations. It’s easier emotionally that way. Instead, I invest my emotional equity watching my daughter’s Georgia Bulldogs get after it. And when my son heads off to college in two years, I pray to God he picks a good sports school that is academically solid. Go Bruins.
I disagree...UCLA is NOT who we (well, I) thought they were. They were far far worse than I imagined.
I do agree with DD saying that losing this game was not a surprise. But the absolute lack of anything that looked competitive all night long was a very sadly unwelcome shock. I expected UCLA to have D-1 caliber athletes on the field that looked generally well coached and positioned and prepared. Silly me for having such assumptions.
The offense is getting too much of a pass in this eye test. They got 10 points, at home, in the opener when they had all fall to game plan and prepare. Zero run game (due primarily to zero run blocking). QB missing gimme touchdown throws. No legit weapons. Now maybe the new OC can take all that and game plan a ball control offense that doesn't make mistakes and can count on FGs from a legitimately good place kicker and stay close if the defense can keep the score low, but...
There aren't going to be any low scoring defensive games. We railed on the perennial bad defenses under Chip Kelly who hired his buddies who were awful DCs, but they did at least bring in guys who could play at the college level and developed some of them into very good defensive players and NFL talent. Oh to have those problems. I hate to crap on our college players because I'm sure they're trying their best. But I saw our guys getting outrun by offensive linemen. I saw our guys with no understanding how to break down and freeze, let alone how to wrap up and tackle, a ball carrier. I saw our guys who could not come to a stop or who actually fell over trying to change directions. I saw our defense create just one single tackle for loss in an entire game, a one yard loss by our goal line defense when we had 9 guys in the box. That was the only play in the game when we forced the Utah offense backward. No other TFLs. No sacks. No turnovers. The only reason Utah didn't score 50 (or 60) is because they chose (or could only?) to execute multiple long inexorable run-based drives ripping off 4-5 yards on every play that ate up clock and mercifully ended the game before they could score more. We're lucky they couldn't or wouldn't attack downfield more often.
Two plus decades with Guerrero and Carnesale and Block and Jarmond (and Larry Scott too) have cratered large parts of the athletic department as a whole, and none more than football. A series of coaching hires that has ranged from mediocre to awful to desperate, a lack of understanding and adapting to the changes in college football, and a cluelessness about marketing and recruiting to players and the fanbase, both equally important to the long term health of this program, are some of the biggest reasons we are here now. Is Frenk the guy to turn things around? I doubt it, especially as the University is under attack in other more critical arenas. But I don't know who else is coming to save us, so except for maybe UNLV and New Mexico, I don't see our GPA getting much higher this year. And that sucks.
Final score: Utah 43-10
Coach DSF: "We were close".
A much different eye test, or maybe he used Visine to get the red out and couldn't see any Utes when watching the game film.