I am currently overseas, Ireland in fact, visiting a buddy from my grad school days. Because of our friendship, he is also a bruin fan. We watched the highlights on YouTube and read the comments posted. UCLA should win this game hands down and we did, warts and all. All your comments were precisely what I would have made were I watching the game live. Kelly is kelly. I have a hunch this season may remain similar to previous ones. Time will tell. Because I have been rather vocal against retaining him, which it did happen, my words drew the ire of his defenders reminiscent of the Alford era. Hence, I want to remain optimistic that perhaps this year will indeed be positively different. UCLA will transition into Big Ten competitions in high note.
To say this game was never in doubt is, in my opinion, not accurate. There were large portions of the game where CCU moved effectively against our corners. Mistakes and timely sacks by our D-line kept them out but at 14-13 early in the 2nd half and our offense sputtering, the game was highly in doubt. The TD to JMS from Moore provided just enough breathing room before finally putting the game away in the 4th. Glad for the win but as always "things to clean up."
Agreed - being at the Rose Bowl, as Coastal was in the midst of what was looking like a 99-yard drive to take the lead, as the 4th quarter started it sure felt very much in doubt! Then came the 2nd & 3rd down stops to force the long improbable FG try, followed immediately by the Dante to J. Michael lightning bolt - doubt alleviated!
Certainly much to clean up for sure but I'll bet this will look like a much better win by the end of the season than many might think right now... McCall's a three-time conference player-of-the-year who we picked as many times last night as he threw all last season & Pinckney will play on Sundays... to continue a theme from the game thread, I don't want to hear defensive coaches put up an Eminence Front about our performance, but this isn't a bad start against a quality opponent.
Half of the team might transfer if UCLA ditches Kelly ? How would that be ? Are you sure these players could be that loyal to him ? Other teams changed head coach too. When Riley left Oklahoma, only the quarterback tagged along. When Frank Kelley left Notre Dame for LSU, I believe - correct me if I am wrong - nobody quit nor followed him. Enough for me now, or certain people might out castigating in full force.
Henry, this is in reference to Prime's bringing half of his former team to Colorado and dropping half of the Buff team to accommodate his players. I truly doubt Chip inspires such loyalty :-) As for Oklahoma, you better check your facts. Riley also brought several players and coaches to Western Oklahoma/U$C.
Without wasting too much space, let's just say along with a 5 star QB, two 4 stars in Latrell McCutchin and Mario Williams came over, too, with the 5 assistants. It's safe to say, Henry, if you were to ask any college coach, yes that is quite the coup.
But I get your point. I was focused on how Riley cleaned house, bringing in 13 players via the portal. Only a few came from Oklahoma, you are correct, but many players left OK when Riley did, and his move decimated it. He also got rid of some trogans as well upon arrival. Coach Prime, however, brought 87 players with him to Colorado, which was my original point. 71 Colorado players had to leave the program to make room for them. Hence the joke about Kelly.
Honestly, if you have to explain a joke, it just wasn't that funny...
Well said, my friend. To pry loose Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma is by itself a coup too. USC paid roughly 12 million in severance to Clay Helton, a struggling average coach comparable to ours, and landed Lincoln Riley after months and months of secretive negotiation behind the scenes. Then Carol Folt arrived from North Carolina to seal the epic deal. This bold move is worth emulating by UCLA but for the dithering Guerrero mentality still plaguing the administration. That is why Block decided on a two year reprieve to let his successor grapple with the inevitable in his or her first year chancellorship.
My dear friend, we are on the same page. The incoming chancellor will make the call if and when the situation warrants it. But I have made it clear. Certain fans, not yet appearing here, were belligerent towards my past comments regarding the issue to the extent that almost anything I said, they challenged and argued with me. Somebody calling himself proud father fan, I am sure you all know it, became irate and wanted refund on the subscription fees even. That is why I said time would tell how our team does. Right now, let's keep our fingers crossed that this season, regardless, would end in a high note
It is the AD's domain to decide whether to retain or dismiss a coach and who to hire for replacement under the oversight of the chancellor. The latter has final say. Kelly's two year extension is a reprieve to buy time for AD Jarmond to scout for a possible replacement to coincide with the arrival of a new chancellor after this year.
Despite the final score and my heat rate during the game I came away surprisingly...encouraged?
The bad:
Offense: Oline protection was awful. The QBs were getting killed nearly every drive in the second half. Both QBs seemed too lock on receivers too long -- didn’t work out for Ethan.
Defense: same old story with the corners. One of these days I would love to have outside guys who know how to break on a ball without giving up a five yard cushion. DLine needs to cool it on the offsides.
Special Teams: Yankoff should not be returning kicks, especially after he fumbled the opening one. Put a speedster in there.
The good:
Offense: Dante and J. Mike are the real deal. I would put them up against Shedeur and Hunter as the best QB/WR duo in the conference. That TD pass was something you see in championship teams -- time will tell if we get there. I would out Harden at RB1 right now -- more fluid, agile runner just like he was at the end of last year.
Defense: Kamari Ramsey was the best secondary player, hands down, and it can not be understated how special it is to have TWO picks against a quarterback who previously had a total of EIGHT for his entire four year (going on five) career. Front six looked strong and disruptive after adjustments in the second half. Impressed by how linebackers started processing and flying around after halftime.
The last few years we’ve had stiff tests against a quality mid major we’ve responded better and better as each year passes. Talent certainly helps. Two years ago this we would have lost this game like we did against Fresno. Last year this game would have been a toss-up like South Alabama.
The added talent certainly helps, but nothing I saw on Saturday wasn’t something fixable or correctable.
The only concern I have is the QB situation -- Dante should be the starter moving forward, especially if he and Ethan were essentially even. You can see it with how the offense responded. Hope the next two weeks further solidify that.
We haven't had a consistent, non-turnstyle defense since the DeWayne Walker years. Gave up some yards, but pressures, turnovers and stops--could get used to this. Go Bruins.
Is this Kelly’s 6th year? Guess what? Nothing has changed except the names on the jerseys. Offsides? Tackles missed. Both lines had their hands full. Inconsistency, a Kelly trademark, is plastered all over this team. They were lucky to win.
I am currently overseas, Ireland in fact, visiting a buddy from my grad school days. Because of our friendship, he is also a bruin fan. We watched the highlights on YouTube and read the comments posted. UCLA should win this game hands down and we did, warts and all. All your comments were precisely what I would have made were I watching the game live. Kelly is kelly. I have a hunch this season may remain similar to previous ones. Time will tell. Because I have been rather vocal against retaining him, which it did happen, my words drew the ire of his defenders reminiscent of the Alford era. Hence, I want to remain optimistic that perhaps this year will indeed be positively different. UCLA will transition into Big Ten competitions in high note.
To say this game was never in doubt is, in my opinion, not accurate. There were large portions of the game where CCU moved effectively against our corners. Mistakes and timely sacks by our D-line kept them out but at 14-13 early in the 2nd half and our offense sputtering, the game was highly in doubt. The TD to JMS from Moore provided just enough breathing room before finally putting the game away in the 4th. Glad for the win but as always "things to clean up."
Agreed - being at the Rose Bowl, as Coastal was in the midst of what was looking like a 99-yard drive to take the lead, as the 4th quarter started it sure felt very much in doubt! Then came the 2nd & 3rd down stops to force the long improbable FG try, followed immediately by the Dante to J. Michael lightning bolt - doubt alleviated!
Certainly much to clean up for sure but I'll bet this will look like a much better win by the end of the season than many might think right now... McCall's a three-time conference player-of-the-year who we picked as many times last night as he threw all last season & Pinckney will play on Sundays... to continue a theme from the game thread, I don't want to hear defensive coaches put up an Eminence Front about our performance, but this isn't a bad start against a quality opponent.
Apparently we should've canned Kelly and hired Deion.
Only if we wanted to lose half of our roster LOL Still, get your point. Buffs looked good yesterday
Half of the team might transfer if UCLA ditches Kelly ? How would that be ? Are you sure these players could be that loyal to him ? Other teams changed head coach too. When Riley left Oklahoma, only the quarterback tagged along. When Frank Kelley left Notre Dame for LSU, I believe - correct me if I am wrong - nobody quit nor followed him. Enough for me now, or certain people might out castigating in full force.
CU has only ten returning players is the point I think.
Henry, this is in reference to Prime's bringing half of his former team to Colorado and dropping half of the Buff team to accommodate his players. I truly doubt Chip inspires such loyalty :-) As for Oklahoma, you better check your facts. Riley also brought several players and coaches to Western Oklahoma/U$C.
You're right, my friend. His assistant coaches came over. What a coup.
Without wasting too much space, let's just say along with a 5 star QB, two 4 stars in Latrell McCutchin and Mario Williams came over, too, with the 5 assistants. It's safe to say, Henry, if you were to ask any college coach, yes that is quite the coup.
But I get your point. I was focused on how Riley cleaned house, bringing in 13 players via the portal. Only a few came from Oklahoma, you are correct, but many players left OK when Riley did, and his move decimated it. He also got rid of some trogans as well upon arrival. Coach Prime, however, brought 87 players with him to Colorado, which was my original point. 71 Colorado players had to leave the program to make room for them. Hence the joke about Kelly.
Honestly, if you have to explain a joke, it just wasn't that funny...
Well said, my friend. To pry loose Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma is by itself a coup too. USC paid roughly 12 million in severance to Clay Helton, a struggling average coach comparable to ours, and landed Lincoln Riley after months and months of secretive negotiation behind the scenes. Then Carol Folt arrived from North Carolina to seal the epic deal. This bold move is worth emulating by UCLA but for the dithering Guerrero mentality still plaguing the administration. That is why Block decided on a two year reprieve to let his successor grapple with the inevitable in his or her first year chancellorship.
My dear friend, we are on the same page. The incoming chancellor will make the call if and when the situation warrants it. But I have made it clear. Certain fans, not yet appearing here, were belligerent towards my past comments regarding the issue to the extent that almost anything I said, they challenged and argued with me. Somebody calling himself proud father fan, I am sure you all know it, became irate and wanted refund on the subscription fees even. That is why I said time would tell how our team does. Right now, let's keep our fingers crossed that this season, regardless, would end in a high note
the incoming chancellor will not have a damn thing to do with it
It is the AD's domain to decide whether to retain or dismiss a coach and who to hire for replacement under the oversight of the chancellor. The latter has final say. Kelly's two year extension is a reprieve to buy time for AD Jarmond to scout for a possible replacement to coincide with the arrival of a new chancellor after this year.
Despite the final score and my heat rate during the game I came away surprisingly...encouraged?
The bad:
Offense: Oline protection was awful. The QBs were getting killed nearly every drive in the second half. Both QBs seemed too lock on receivers too long -- didn’t work out for Ethan.
Defense: same old story with the corners. One of these days I would love to have outside guys who know how to break on a ball without giving up a five yard cushion. DLine needs to cool it on the offsides.
Special Teams: Yankoff should not be returning kicks, especially after he fumbled the opening one. Put a speedster in there.
The good:
Offense: Dante and J. Mike are the real deal. I would put them up against Shedeur and Hunter as the best QB/WR duo in the conference. That TD pass was something you see in championship teams -- time will tell if we get there. I would out Harden at RB1 right now -- more fluid, agile runner just like he was at the end of last year.
Defense: Kamari Ramsey was the best secondary player, hands down, and it can not be understated how special it is to have TWO picks against a quarterback who previously had a total of EIGHT for his entire four year (going on five) career. Front six looked strong and disruptive after adjustments in the second half. Impressed by how linebackers started processing and flying around after halftime.
The last few years we’ve had stiff tests against a quality mid major we’ve responded better and better as each year passes. Talent certainly helps. Two years ago this we would have lost this game like we did against Fresno. Last year this game would have been a toss-up like South Alabama.
The added talent certainly helps, but nothing I saw on Saturday wasn’t something fixable or correctable.
The only concern I have is the QB situation -- Dante should be the starter moving forward, especially if he and Ethan were essentially even. You can see it with how the offense responded. Hope the next two weeks further solidify that.
We haven't had a consistent, non-turnstyle defense since the DeWayne Walker years. Gave up some yards, but pressures, turnovers and stops--could get used to this. Go Bruins.
Is this Kelly’s 6th year? Guess what? Nothing has changed except the names on the jerseys. Offsides? Tackles missed. Both lines had their hands full. Inconsistency, a Kelly trademark, is plastered all over this team. They were lucky to win.