My takeaway from week one is the transfer portal and NIL going forward are going to be more important than recruiting out of high schools. That said recruiting will also be more important to get the nuts and bolts of the team to support the NIL stars. The fancy pants QB is not going to throw for many TDs with a 300 lb. DE sitting on his arm, neither will the crazy legs running backs rip off very many yards after being whacked in the backfield once or twice. All this then amplifies the importance of the field goal kicking game in the close games typical of the Big 10 (I refuse to call it the B1G because that makes no sense to me). The more things change the more they stay the same...
It was shockingly unexpected how unready Ethan Garbers looked in the first half—almost like a Freshman QB making his first start. His second half was closer to what I expected from him. By this morning, I was thinking of John Barnes and feeling better about Garbers and Bruins prospects.
Thanks, Joe, your info on the travel lag is interesting, but no excuse. The only player I saw that was fired up was their guy Manuma. Of course he was worth 30 yds of offense to us via penalties, but he was still fired up. The season has just started. Go Bruins!
Good write up, Joe. As with many fans, it’s sometimes very difficult not to overreact - I’m usually the guy saying “let the game play out”, but I have to admit to mumbling “0-12…0-12…0-12…” a few times in the second quarter. Fortunately, the fellas finally shook off the jet lag and got to work in time to get the W.
A few thoughts…
…not overly concerned with Garbers, who started poorly last year against Coastal Carolina as well…plus, running a new offense with a fair number of new players. Think he’ll be fine…but with that LSU-Penn State-Oregon gauntlet coming soon, won’t be surprised to see some Jadyn Martin, just to keep Garbers in one piece for some of the winnable games later.
…while Garbers can be a perfectly competent QB, this game also confirmed that his arm strength continues to be iffy…he’s okay striding into a pass down the middle, but on deep outs and deep balls in general, he’s more of an “area” thrower - get the ball near the receiver, hope he makes the adjustment. Contrast that with the balls Miller Moss was dropping in against LSU last night - got some great catches from his WR’s, but was consistently putting the ball in places they could make the play. After the Dante Moore debacle we know that arm strength isn’t everything, but have to admit I’ll be glad when the next guy with above-average arm talent gets to Westwood.
That said…that shot to Flores was nice, although poorly played by the FS.
….as regards WRs - if Logan Loya can’t get on the field very often, we’ve got a pretty good group…although I suspect we’ll see more of him in coming weeks. I was a little surprised Sturdivant didn’t transfer out considering how erratically he was used last year, but…watching him struggle to separate from Mountain West DB’s is beginning to make me wonder if he’s more of a guy who looks good rather than plays good. Would be thrilled if he proves me wrong, but we’ll need improved QB play and an OC who really features him to find out for sure.
Finally…odd game for the OL, who - with the exception of that strange play call at he end of the half - seemed to do a fine job in pass protect, but couldn’t get much movement in the run game. Will be interesting to see how this group hopefully improves week-to-week, and how Biememy adapts to what they do and don’t do well…I have some optimism that Harden in particular will look a lot better as the OL improves. And…a little more Keegan Jones, please…..
Jim, I agree with most of your comments here. Right now I view Garbers more as a game manager, than the quarterback most of our competition has (I was very impressed by both $C and LSU QBs, as I mentioned on another thread), which means our OL needs to open up more holes for our running game. Yeah, we definitely have receivers to throw to, so hope they continue to make separation. As for Keegan Jones, we definitely need his speed! Finally, I'm curious about which games you still feel are "winnable" later; certainly not Fresno State, who looked much better than we did out of the gate.
99% of teams that fly to play Hawaii do so from a farther distance than UCLA does and they do fine. Need proof? Vanderbilt flew to Hawaii to open their season in 2022. A distance that dwarfs UCLA's flight. 11 hours and 4300 miles. No excuses necessary Vandy won that game 61-10. Because that's what even bottom dwelling Power 5 teams do with Hawaii.
But this gem of yours really takes the cake for me. Some elite foreshadowing going on here.
"If DeShaun Foster doesn’t have the program moving in a positive direction by his fifth season, then we have a reason to be concerned."
5 Seasons for DF to show positive momentum and then we can be concerned? You can't really expect to be taken seriously with this statement.
I agree that that was ridiculous. No one would accept using travel as an excuse if Chip Kelly was still the coach.
5 years is also A LOT of time. Dorrell was gone after 5. Neuheisel was gone after 4. This blog suggested getting rid of Kelly after 4 (https://www.themightybruin.com/p/ucla-football-chip-kelly-serious-martin-jarmond). Colorado fired Dorrell after 2.5 (well, basically 2 because one was a COVID half-year). Plus with the transfer portal, you can build a team faster.
See my above explanation for giving DeShaun five years instead of the usual four.
If you look at the timelines you mentioned for Dorrell and Neuheisel, I would argue that Dorrell was given too much time and CRN was probably not given enough.
Why?
As far as Dorrell goes, it was painfully obvious at the time that Dorrell was in over his head. Not only weren't the on-field results there, recruiting was in the toilet.
He left the cupboard totally bare for Rick, who had to fix recruiting before he could fix the on-field results. For the most part, he did that.
The lingering question of the Neuheisel era is "What would have happened if Rick had played Brett Hundley during Rick's last season rather than redshirting him?"
Well, one argument is that Brett would have improved the results enough that year that Rick would have kept his job. In fact, a good case can even be argued that if he hadn't redshirted Hundley that he might still be at the helm in Westwood because Rick was recruiting well. If he kept recruiting well and the on-field results were the same as the first half of the Mora era, the program under Rick in Year 5 and beyond may have actually seen the sustained success we all desire.
If Rick had not redshirted Hundley or if he had been given a fifth year, the trajectory of the program may have been significantly different than it actually has been since.
But it doesn't change the fact that DeShaun should be given four recruiting classes to get the program on track.
You just can't hold this season against him at all though because Chip was in charge of recruiting, or the lack thereof, leading up to National Signing Day.
It was sad that Neuheisel's tenure had to end like that, but the fact that he redshirted Hundley showed that his passion bucket was full for UCLA, and that he was thinking long-term. That being said, if a true freshman QB excelling is what you need to keep your job, is that really an argument in your (Rick's) favor? I don't know.
Hypothetically, if Foster is sub .500 for 4 straight years (complete hypothetical, we have no idea how this will turn out), it becomes very difficult to justify a 5th, regardless of recruiting, even if this one is a throwaway because he got hired in February.
Normally, I would say four years, because that's how long it takes a new coach to get all his guys into the program.
The issue with that in this case however is that that's when a new coach is hired when the season ends.
But because Coach Foster wasn't hired until after National Signing Day, the 2024 signing class isn't his. So, this season is really Year 7 of the Chip Kelly era, except Chip isn't running the show.
Next season will be the first season where DeShaun has a recruiting class that he owns.
So, if we give him four recruiting classes, that means this season plus four recruiting classes, which equals five seasons.
The first half was obviously a disaster - and I'm most critical about two coaching decisions: the decision to kick a 52 yard field goal on 4th and 4, and the decision to try to take it out of the endzone with thirty seconds to go that thankfully only led to a Hawai'i field goal. Those were bad, bad decisions.
That said, the staff made some good second-half adjustments and I think Bieniemy grew into his playcalling. The lack of any form of O-line push looked really worrying. Keegan Jones looked a better fit for the lack of north/south running lanes compared to TJ (obviously). The defense still looks really good, but let's wait until we play someone that's not in the Mountain West before we get too excited.
Garbers is servicable - he reminds me a lot of Stetson Bennett circa 2022 (I'm also a UGA grad, so pardon the comparison). 2022 Stetson was however very streaky and made lots of silly decisions ala Garbers in the first half. The difference is Garbers has nowhere near the talent around him, particularly on the lines.
It's not fair to criticize Foster as a hire after one game, and I'm definitely in the camp of rooting for the guy, but it was hard to defend a couple of those decisions in the first half - and until just now, I even forgot that penalty decline on the 3rd and 4 that also just sort of spoke to not having a lot of experience related to game management.
That said, if the coaching staff can get recruiting right over the next couple of years these things will come right, but I'm fully expecting a 5-7 type of year this year.
Do not know what was on Facebook that was so onerous that Joe deleted those posts even if he did not agree with them? I was the first to post after the game that UCLA would be fortunate to win 3 games this season. Not meant to be "mean", or "angry", or "disrespectful" but just realistic after watching the team's performance. No doubt, Chip screwed us with his lack of recruiting players from high school and the portal. Can not make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Lynn leaving and poaching our two best secondary players did not help. The late hire of a head coach was also a disaster--I like Foster and his enthusiasm but an experienced head coach would have been preferred. The running game was almost non existent due to the quality of the OL and there are no quality back ups if a player goes down. (BTW, I do not buy the travel thing as an "excuse" for the performance.). Bottom line, I hope that the 3 game prediction is wrong and we win the BIG but that is not realistic so I am sticking with an optimistic 3 wins. Trust this post is not deleted.
Aloha! In addition to adjusting to the time zone and long-distance travel, the Bruins were also the visiting team to a popular, tropical vacation spot. It was an ugly game, but at least Coach Foster eked out a victory in his very first one as a head coach. Don't have high expectations for this year's team going forward, but achieving anything better than Chip Alford's 3-9 inaugural record would be great (that 2018 season was an absolute nightmare!).
I really appreciate your point of view on this you forgot the ultimate reason why I think they started really rough I think is the heat was unbearable maybe even first game glitters overall I feel that last year they would of lost that game for many reasons bad play calling unable to complete a catch but overall they showed believe in the coach and quarterback and play calling to get the W so if they win next get ready for a wild ride Go Bruins UCLA
Agreed. GO, BRUINS!!
My takeaway from week one is the transfer portal and NIL going forward are going to be more important than recruiting out of high schools. That said recruiting will also be more important to get the nuts and bolts of the team to support the NIL stars. The fancy pants QB is not going to throw for many TDs with a 300 lb. DE sitting on his arm, neither will the crazy legs running backs rip off very many yards after being whacked in the backfield once or twice. All this then amplifies the importance of the field goal kicking game in the close games typical of the Big 10 (I refuse to call it the B1G because that makes no sense to me). The more things change the more they stay the same...
PS Herbstreit is the WORST. How that guy keeps working on tv is beyond me.
Face it, we really miss Charb! And yes both lines need work.
the transfer portal has been more important than high school recruiting for about 3 years now
Well said! We are 1-0 in a new era. Patience is the name of the game so Coach Foster has time to rebuild and show what he and his staff can do.
It was shockingly unexpected how unready Ethan Garbers looked in the first half—almost like a Freshman QB making his first start. His second half was closer to what I expected from him. By this morning, I was thinking of John Barnes and feeling better about Garbers and Bruins prospects.
Thanks, Joe, your info on the travel lag is interesting, but no excuse. The only player I saw that was fired up was their guy Manuma. Of course he was worth 30 yds of offense to us via penalties, but he was still fired up. The season has just started. Go Bruins!
Good write up, Joe. As with many fans, it’s sometimes very difficult not to overreact - I’m usually the guy saying “let the game play out”, but I have to admit to mumbling “0-12…0-12…0-12…” a few times in the second quarter. Fortunately, the fellas finally shook off the jet lag and got to work in time to get the W.
A few thoughts…
…not overly concerned with Garbers, who started poorly last year against Coastal Carolina as well…plus, running a new offense with a fair number of new players. Think he’ll be fine…but with that LSU-Penn State-Oregon gauntlet coming soon, won’t be surprised to see some Jadyn Martin, just to keep Garbers in one piece for some of the winnable games later.
…while Garbers can be a perfectly competent QB, this game also confirmed that his arm strength continues to be iffy…he’s okay striding into a pass down the middle, but on deep outs and deep balls in general, he’s more of an “area” thrower - get the ball near the receiver, hope he makes the adjustment. Contrast that with the balls Miller Moss was dropping in against LSU last night - got some great catches from his WR’s, but was consistently putting the ball in places they could make the play. After the Dante Moore debacle we know that arm strength isn’t everything, but have to admit I’ll be glad when the next guy with above-average arm talent gets to Westwood.
That said…that shot to Flores was nice, although poorly played by the FS.
….as regards WRs - if Logan Loya can’t get on the field very often, we’ve got a pretty good group…although I suspect we’ll see more of him in coming weeks. I was a little surprised Sturdivant didn’t transfer out considering how erratically he was used last year, but…watching him struggle to separate from Mountain West DB’s is beginning to make me wonder if he’s more of a guy who looks good rather than plays good. Would be thrilled if he proves me wrong, but we’ll need improved QB play and an OC who really features him to find out for sure.
Finally…odd game for the OL, who - with the exception of that strange play call at he end of the half - seemed to do a fine job in pass protect, but couldn’t get much movement in the run game. Will be interesting to see how this group hopefully improves week-to-week, and how Biememy adapts to what they do and don’t do well…I have some optimism that Harden in particular will look a lot better as the OL improves. And…a little more Keegan Jones, please…..
GO BRUINS !
Jim, I agree with most of your comments here. Right now I view Garbers more as a game manager, than the quarterback most of our competition has (I was very impressed by both $C and LSU QBs, as I mentioned on another thread), which means our OL needs to open up more holes for our running game. Yeah, we definitely have receivers to throw to, so hope they continue to make separation. As for Keegan Jones, we definitely need his speed! Finally, I'm curious about which games you still feel are "winnable" later; certainly not Fresno State, who looked much better than we did out of the gate.
99% of teams that fly to play Hawaii do so from a farther distance than UCLA does and they do fine. Need proof? Vanderbilt flew to Hawaii to open their season in 2022. A distance that dwarfs UCLA's flight. 11 hours and 4300 miles. No excuses necessary Vandy won that game 61-10. Because that's what even bottom dwelling Power 5 teams do with Hawaii.
But this gem of yours really takes the cake for me. Some elite foreshadowing going on here.
"If DeShaun Foster doesn’t have the program moving in a positive direction by his fifth season, then we have a reason to be concerned."
5 Seasons for DF to show positive momentum and then we can be concerned? You can't really expect to be taken seriously with this statement.
I agree that that was ridiculous. No one would accept using travel as an excuse if Chip Kelly was still the coach.
5 years is also A LOT of time. Dorrell was gone after 5. Neuheisel was gone after 4. This blog suggested getting rid of Kelly after 4 (https://www.themightybruin.com/p/ucla-football-chip-kelly-serious-martin-jarmond). Colorado fired Dorrell after 2.5 (well, basically 2 because one was a COVID half-year). Plus with the transfer portal, you can build a team faster.
See my above explanation for giving DeShaun five years instead of the usual four.
If you look at the timelines you mentioned for Dorrell and Neuheisel, I would argue that Dorrell was given too much time and CRN was probably not given enough.
Why?
As far as Dorrell goes, it was painfully obvious at the time that Dorrell was in over his head. Not only weren't the on-field results there, recruiting was in the toilet.
He left the cupboard totally bare for Rick, who had to fix recruiting before he could fix the on-field results. For the most part, he did that.
The lingering question of the Neuheisel era is "What would have happened if Rick had played Brett Hundley during Rick's last season rather than redshirting him?"
Well, one argument is that Brett would have improved the results enough that year that Rick would have kept his job. In fact, a good case can even be argued that if he hadn't redshirted Hundley that he might still be at the helm in Westwood because Rick was recruiting well. If he kept recruiting well and the on-field results were the same as the first half of the Mora era, the program under Rick in Year 5 and beyond may have actually seen the sustained success we all desire.
If Rick had not redshirted Hundley or if he had been given a fifth year, the trajectory of the program may have been significantly different than it actually has been since.
But it doesn't change the fact that DeShaun should be given four recruiting classes to get the program on track.
You just can't hold this season against him at all though because Chip was in charge of recruiting, or the lack thereof, leading up to National Signing Day.
Thanks for fleshing this out. I think you're the only one I've seen raise the idea that maybe retaining Neuheisel might have been the thing to do in hindsight, (https://www.themightybruin.com/p/ucla-football-smqb-putting-first-game-of-deshaun-foster-era-in-perspective) which is an interesting possibility to think about.
It was sad that Neuheisel's tenure had to end like that, but the fact that he redshirted Hundley showed that his passion bucket was full for UCLA, and that he was thinking long-term. That being said, if a true freshman QB excelling is what you need to keep your job, is that really an argument in your (Rick's) favor? I don't know.
Hypothetically, if Foster is sub .500 for 4 straight years (complete hypothetical, we have no idea how this will turn out), it becomes very difficult to justify a 5th, regardless of recruiting, even if this one is a throwaway because he got hired in February.
I'm going to explain why I said five years.
Normally, I would say four years, because that's how long it takes a new coach to get all his guys into the program.
The issue with that in this case however is that that's when a new coach is hired when the season ends.
But because Coach Foster wasn't hired until after National Signing Day, the 2024 signing class isn't his. So, this season is really Year 7 of the Chip Kelly era, except Chip isn't running the show.
Next season will be the first season where DeShaun has a recruiting class that he owns.
So, if we give him four recruiting classes, that means this season plus four recruiting classes, which equals five seasons.
The first half was obviously a disaster - and I'm most critical about two coaching decisions: the decision to kick a 52 yard field goal on 4th and 4, and the decision to try to take it out of the endzone with thirty seconds to go that thankfully only led to a Hawai'i field goal. Those were bad, bad decisions.
That said, the staff made some good second-half adjustments and I think Bieniemy grew into his playcalling. The lack of any form of O-line push looked really worrying. Keegan Jones looked a better fit for the lack of north/south running lanes compared to TJ (obviously). The defense still looks really good, but let's wait until we play someone that's not in the Mountain West before we get too excited.
Garbers is servicable - he reminds me a lot of Stetson Bennett circa 2022 (I'm also a UGA grad, so pardon the comparison). 2022 Stetson was however very streaky and made lots of silly decisions ala Garbers in the first half. The difference is Garbers has nowhere near the talent around him, particularly on the lines.
It's not fair to criticize Foster as a hire after one game, and I'm definitely in the camp of rooting for the guy, but it was hard to defend a couple of those decisions in the first half - and until just now, I even forgot that penalty decline on the 3rd and 4 that also just sort of spoke to not having a lot of experience related to game management.
That said, if the coaching staff can get recruiting right over the next couple of years these things will come right, but I'm fully expecting a 5-7 type of year this year.
Agreed. I don't care how great your coaching is, you've gotta have the horses. Chip left the cupboard bare.
Do not know what was on Facebook that was so onerous that Joe deleted those posts even if he did not agree with them? I was the first to post after the game that UCLA would be fortunate to win 3 games this season. Not meant to be "mean", or "angry", or "disrespectful" but just realistic after watching the team's performance. No doubt, Chip screwed us with his lack of recruiting players from high school and the portal. Can not make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Lynn leaving and poaching our two best secondary players did not help. The late hire of a head coach was also a disaster--I like Foster and his enthusiasm but an experienced head coach would have been preferred. The running game was almost non existent due to the quality of the OL and there are no quality back ups if a player goes down. (BTW, I do not buy the travel thing as an "excuse" for the performance.). Bottom line, I hope that the 3 game prediction is wrong and we win the BIG but that is not realistic so I am sticking with an optimistic 3 wins. Trust this post is not deleted.
Go Bruins!
They would have merited removal if they had been posted here too, and I can't remember the last time we had to remove a comment here on TMB.
Well said...Calm down people!
Aloha! In addition to adjusting to the time zone and long-distance travel, the Bruins were also the visiting team to a popular, tropical vacation spot. It was an ugly game, but at least Coach Foster eked out a victory in his very first one as a head coach. Don't have high expectations for this year's team going forward, but achieving anything better than Chip Alford's 3-9 inaugural record would be great (that 2018 season was an absolute nightmare!).
Go Bruins!
Chip would've lost that game.
I really appreciate your point of view on this you forgot the ultimate reason why I think they started really rough I think is the heat was unbearable maybe even first game glitters overall I feel that last year they would of lost that game for many reasons bad play calling unable to complete a catch but overall they showed believe in the coach and quarterback and play calling to get the W so if they win next get ready for a wild ride Go Bruins UCLA
James Joyce, is that you? :-)
No I'm Ernest