Editor’s note: Sorry that today’s “Sunday Morning Quarterback” is really more like Sunday Evening Quarterback. Sometimes, it takes more time than I like to get the words on the screen.
It was fun to be back at the Rose Bowl yesterday. While the heat certainly had the intensity to keep some folks away, the majority of the 31,973 fans in attendance, specifically those wearing blue and gold and not red and black, definitely enjoyed themselves.
For those of you who watched on TV, what you didn’t was that the West (Shady side) stands were packed.
For those of you who did stay home, it’s time to dust off that Bruins jersey (or maybe buy a new one) and finally come back to the Rose Bowl.
I know, I know.
Battered Bruin Syndrome has affected all of us to different degrees, myself included.
Last season, I really was only going to home games to tailgate and hang out with friends that I wouldn’t see otherwise because the games were dreadful.
Two weeks into the Chesney era, my love of UCLA football is quickly returning, and I sure hope my excitement has been coming through here on the pages of TMB.
If I’m being honest, I stopped buying the preseason hype toward the end of the Jim Mora era because the annual preseason hype inevitably turned to disappointment, usually when the calendar reached October or November.
But even then, I kept cheering for our beloved Bruins because I wanted things to go our way.
You may remember that I tried to warn the Athletic Department before Chip Kelly was hired, but even my fear disappeared into excitement over Chip’s “Three ships” statement at his introductory press conference.
That, too, proved to be preseason hype when Kelly lost his first game in blue and gold before going on to finish 3-9 that season. After three seasons, the team was just 10-21.
“You are what your record says you are,” Kelly was fond of saying all while many of us were saying in response, “Your record says you suck as a head coach.” Speaking of sucking, those three seasons literally sucked the joy of UCLA football out of the Arroyo Seco, so much so that the three decent seasons the Bruins had under Kelly were barely enough to get Kelly’s record over .500.
Bruin fans felt like we’d been sold a bill of goods and getting little joy in return for the millions Kelly was paid.
In the meantime, Chancellor Gene Block, who couldn’t tell the difference between a football helmet and a batting helmet, fell turned to a guy who was so busy promoting himself, to whom I’m not sure, that he couldn’t read the room regarding the overpaid football coach he inherited from his predecessor, who had overstayed his welcome by more than a decade.
Naturally, it was understandable that some folks doubted things would get better when Julio Frenk was hired as Block’s replacement. Fans wondered, “Could someone who has lived so many of his 71 years outside the US really fix UCLA’s most American of sports?”
I emphatically said, “Yes!” when I wrote about Frenk’s hiring back in 2024.
Of course, like any intelligent boss, Frenk didn’t come in and make rash decisions. A little over a month into his tenure in Westwood. Chip Kelly finally found some place else to go and bailed. In a panic, Martin Jarmond re-hired DeShaun Foster, who had left to become the Raiders’ running backs coach about a month earlier.
Frenk watched Jarmond’s choice go 5-7 in his first season as Foster struggled with everything including his infamous Big Ten Media Days press conference.
When the Bruins started 0-3 last year, it was clear a change was needed, and indeed, one was made.
After all that, it was indeed amazing that in a town, where there are plenty of choices for entertainment dollars, there was anyone coming.
Meanwhile, the lack of football attendance was busy blowing a big rig size hole in the budget for the entire athletic department.
Even after UCLA made the best coaching hire of last year’s coaching carousel, fans did not return immediately.
I don’t know the exact reasoning as to why Chancellor Frenk decided to fire Martinn Jarmond days before the start of football season, but I suspect that the fact that the athletic department couldn’t turn a stellar coaching hire into fans in the stands last night has a lot to do with it. The last decade of UCLA football had proven to be terrible enough that the love which many UCLA fans had for the Bruins has, in fact, turned not into hate, but apathy.
The good news is that Chancellor Frenk has replaced the self-promoter with Tim Harris, who understands the business side of sports. To be sure, he has a rather monumental task ahead of him. He has to convince UCLA’s now apathetic fan base why they need to fill the Rose Bowl to a level not seen since the early days of the Jim Mora era.
“We need to double our base of season ticket holders,” Harris said in a conversation with Bruin Report Online last week.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Harris bought and gave away 300 tickets to last night’s game and that Champion of Westwood did the same. It’s a brilliant marketing move by Harris. It’s the same marketing plan Costco uses in their warehouses every day when they give away free samples: Give consumers a taste of the product and you will sell more of it when they like it.
While it will certainly take a lot more marketing than 600 free samples to double the number of football season ticket holders, I can say confidently that Bruin football hasn’t been in the kind of position it’s in now two games into the season.
A cure has finally been found for Battered Bruin Syndrome. It’s time for Bruin fans and alums to rekindle their love for UCLA football.
They may not win every game this season, but they are going to compete, for sure. And, when they do win, like they did last night and last week, Bruin football is really fun again.
Give it a try. Buy some tickets to next Saturday’s game against Purdue. I know the game doesn’t kick off till 8 pm and that probably means getting home after midnight if you stay till the end, but these Bruins are having fun winning again, and I bet you’ll enjoy being there too!
Help Tim Harris “burn the tarps!”
In my time writing about our beloved Bruins, I’ve gotten to know former LA Times UCLA beat writer and current Senior College Sports reporter for the California Post Ben Bolch. Ben has definitely been a friend to me personally and to The Mighty Bruin as well.
He’s also someone who understands UCLA, Bruin athletics and everything associated with it better than most. If you aren’t reading him regularly, you should be. I suggest bookmarking the Cal Post UCLA sports page so you can.
Of particular note, Ben has penned an open letter to Chancellor Frenk today which I think is a must-read.
And, speaking of Bruin fans coming back home to the Rose Bowl, Bolch also penned a good piece about fans reacting to being back at the Rose Bowl for UCLA games this season after the possibility of a move to SoFi Stadium materialized last season.
Let’s now take a look at last night’s postgame interviews.
Last night’s postgame interviews, courtesy of UCLA Athletics, are all in one long video. Coach Chesney starts things off and he is followed by Semaj Morgan and Jalen Wood. Though the video says it’s Anthony Woods, it was actually Jalen Woods. Then, Nico Iamaleava and Wayne Knight finish things up.
Coach Chesney gave his impressions on last night’s game from the defense to getting the team to gel together and trust one another to the performances of Nico Iamaleava, Wayne Knight, Semaj Morgan and the offensive line.
Both Semaj Morgan and Jalen Woods addressed how the team has been able to finish late in both games. Woods said, “You can’t win the game in the first half.”
One of the other things Jalen Woods spoke about was his interception. He said:
I just know from watching film they like to do screens when it’s like third and medium or long and the back crossed. So, it’s going to be a screen because you went from right to left. So, just a lot of film…just watching them and just being able to execute it.
Wayne Knight spoke about executing plays when his number was called as being how he’s been able to find the end zone so much so far.
Meanwhile, Nico spoke about the frequent rotation of offensive linemen. Nico explained:
I think I love the the rotation with the O line. I think it keeps their legs fresh. We’ve got a lot of big bodies that that can play. So, no, I think it definitely helps us and then, even just coming out in the second half and and still having fresh bodies. We’ve outscored our opponents in the fourth quarter whatever it was…35 to 7. So, it feels good to have fresh bodies in there.
Go Bruins!!!
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I believe the new Chancellor, new AD, and new HC have combined to form the long overdue trifecta for positive change and long-term success at UCLA. A proven treatment and cure for BBS finally seems attainable. And, instead of burning them, I'd actually like to see the Rose Bowl tarps recycled by having them painted cardinal red and gold and sent across town to a new home at the Mausoleum.
Go Bruins!
IMO Julio Frenk has made two rock star hires with Chesney and Harris. And I was a student athlete in the early to mid 1980's and remember Chancellor Young very well. It's nice to see a Chancellor who not only appreciates but also clearly understands the role and importance of student athletics at an elite university. And as Ben Bolch points out, Dr. Frenk has more work to do and it will take some time. All of us Bruins know UCLA is not the University of Miami. But based upon what I have witnessed over the past year I cannot think of anyone better suited for the job. Thank you Dr. Frenk and the Bruin alumni are here with you and with Mr. Harris!