Gotta love U.C.L.A. football winning a game. We aren't good enough or consistent enough to start nitpicking the wins, but that's a blot on the program and not on these kids. I'm happy for their success tonight.
Here comes the nitpicking...
Arizona is going through a really bad patch though so it's hard to make big picture statements from tonight's game. If you take away last week's turnovers, I still think the Bruins played better last week against a better opponent. I was sort of underwhelmed by Griffin's play. He was very safe tonight, but as Dimitri pointed out in the game thread, the Bruins were clearly playing it safe and not really pushing things. And that's fine, and probably smart, against a team like AZ which is really down right now, so it may not be fair to criticize him for that. But if you keep the big picture in mind, tonight's performance may get us to the middle or upper-middle of the Pac-12 South, but it's not getting us to a South title or a look at a Pac-12 title or a top 25 ranking. Mediocre is not the goal.
But in the micro scheme, tonight was a good night. The OL was really good in run blocking (except on 3rd and 4th and short, no thanks to the play calling) and pass pro, Felton is outperforming all expectations, and the Defense is actually pretty solid. They aren't consistently extending a lot of drives with missed tackles or soft cushions or dumb penalties, but then the Standard's offense isn't a real juggernaut either.
We mostly comfortably beat a team we should have comfortably beaten. Job well done. Now let's step it up next week against ASU and keep working towards those bigger goals.
Did I just watch the team play solid from beginning to end? Did that just happen? Was our defense actually good? What in tarnations is going on here? I should be crying in my beer (again) but I actually felt good about this game. Will wonders never cease?
Gotta love U.C.L.A. football winning a game. We aren't good enough or consistent enough to start nitpicking the wins, but that's a blot on the program and not on these kids. I'm happy for their success tonight.
Here comes the nitpicking...
Arizona is going through a really bad patch though so it's hard to make big picture statements from tonight's game. If you take away last week's turnovers, I still think the Bruins played better last week against a better opponent. I was sort of underwhelmed by Griffin's play. He was very safe tonight, but as Dimitri pointed out in the game thread, the Bruins were clearly playing it safe and not really pushing things. And that's fine, and probably smart, against a team like AZ which is really down right now, so it may not be fair to criticize him for that. But if you keep the big picture in mind, tonight's performance may get us to the middle or upper-middle of the Pac-12 South, but it's not getting us to a South title or a look at a Pac-12 title or a top 25 ranking. Mediocre is not the goal.
But in the micro scheme, tonight was a good night. The OL was really good in run blocking (except on 3rd and 4th and short, no thanks to the play calling) and pass pro, Felton is outperforming all expectations, and the Defense is actually pretty solid. They aren't consistently extending a lot of drives with missed tackles or soft cushions or dumb penalties, but then the Standard's offense isn't a real juggernaut either.
We mostly comfortably beat a team we should have comfortably beaten. Job well done. Now let's step it up next week against ASU and keep working towards those bigger goals.
Oh, and who wants to talk QB controversy?? lol
Have a great week, Bruins!
Did I just watch the team play solid from beginning to end? Did that just happen? Was our defense actually good? What in tarnations is going on here? I should be crying in my beer (again) but I actually felt good about this game. Will wonders never cease?
Should we be worried at all about Felton? Wondering if there’s any news I might have missed.