38 Comments

Next Season starts NOW! Thanks, Chip. Goodbye Now. Thanks DTR, go to class. Your services are no longer needed. BriThanks Defense Coordinator, your services are no longer needed, Goodbye now. All Seniors are benched. Bring Garbers in and get him game action starting now. Get his backup ready also. Next season starts now. Let these new players make us bowl eligible. We have a program to get back on track. Thanks. Heads Roll Now!!!

Expand full comment

It’s basketball season! Football culture is the same as it ever was…. A little better then .500 ball but same old same old. Let’s get Bona and Mark Mitchell. Deepest squad in a long long time.

Expand full comment

All in all a HUGE disappointment. We had every opportunity to win but once again came up short.

Expand full comment

Sorry, Joe, but I totally disagree with your assertion that DTR's "pass accuracy was terrible all game." I thought he was pretty accurate most of the game (22/41 is far from terrible); I can recall only one pass that made me shake my head. If anything, it was play calling that hampered this offense, as exemplified by DTR's 4th quarter play when he made some (longer) amazing dead-on passes while getting rushed (and hit) by one of the best DEs in the country. You neglected to mention how many times he put the team on his back and bull-rushed his way to a first down, but I guess that doesn't support the narrative you're going for.

Expand full comment

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!! This Chip Kelly experiment has offered nothing but stagnant, lethargic, pathetic results. I am exhausted, and he offers nothing but arrogance in his demeanor which expands my frustrations further. Sir you and your defensive coordinator are not innovative, your food program isn’t elite, nor is your recruiting. The transfer portal has helped Chip, it couldve actually been worse. Smh.

Expand full comment

This game was heartbreaker but it didn't have to be.

Kelly could have replaced Azzinaro anytime in the last two years and brought in even a minimally competent DC who could design a defense that doesn't leave national broadcasters aghast at the soft cushions we give up play after play, week after week, game after game, year after year. Another death by a thousand 5 yard passes and YAC.

And sometimes we get lucky and the opposing OCs are really the dumbest mf'ers who get so impatient and think they are so damn important that they call deeper pass plays with crappy passers and let us back in a game.

Expand full comment

Utah lost to Oregon St, this is big. If UCLA can somehow find a way to beat Utah, they still may have a chance to get to an Oregon re-match or face Oregon St. Its still possible. Oregon St may also beat Ariz St ! I think Oregon St has a good chance to beat Oregon.

Expand full comment

UCLA could have won that game but will rue missed opportunities and there’s plenty of what if’s to mull. The loss is down to the Defense though, I think if you score 30+ you should win. DTR was DTR. He played a gutsy game (and he certainly has plenty of heart), but I thought very up and down. Missed some throws long (and a couple of wide open receivers), th generally was pretty serviceable. Held the ball too long in the pocket too often, which seems to be one of his long-standing issues. You do wonder if he could have pulled it off if he didn’t get hurt. Garbers was fine, but it just seemed like he didn’t have the whole playbook as it looked like the same play 3 times in a row, which is asking to be picked off. I wonder if he’s had enough reps to take over the offense as I felt like the wind went out of the sails at that point and the O didn’t have the same confidence. I thought Chip emphasized the run too much in Q2 and Q3 - it was like we were trying to pound it like it was late in the 4th and we just were trying to run the clock out. It made for too many 3rd and long situations.

I never like to blame the refs for a loss and I won’t do that here, but they were abysmal. Missed holding calls, missed PI calls, and some just embarrassing mistakes. It’s pretty bad when the commentators are making fun of how bad (and random) the officiating is. The whole situation with the Oregon Defense trying to induce false starts was crazy too. If you need the police to escort the officials into the locker room because of abuse from a coach, somebody should be ejected, but instead it seemed to have the effect that Oregon wanted and I’d say Oregon got a lot of favorable calls (or non calls really).

But, as we’ve come to get used to, it was the lack of Defense that killed us again. To someone who didn’t see the game, it might not seem so bad, but I think our terrible play was masked a bit by turnovers. While the secondary is really bad, and not helped by a scheme that doesn’t seem to know what it’s trying to do, this game made me think that a large part of the problem is the lack of a pass rush. Even so-so QBs can make plays when they have the time. In the first quarter I thought Oregon was trying to establish their run game, which played into our strength, but once they switched to short passing plays and screens they exposed the team badly. The announcers were carrying on about Dye having multiple TD touches in a row, which really just hammered home that it was all passing until they were a few yards out and the handoff for the TD. Lake’s interception that was nullified for OS was unfortunate (he stepped forward on the hard count), but it’s inexcusable to repeat that on the next play. Again, the lack of pressure is the real problem, leading the Bruins to try and get an edge by guessing the snap, but this kept backfiring. I feel like Oregon had picked up on this from previous games and had a plan to try and draw offsides, and on the flip side it’s something our coaches haven’t addressed.

So, 5-3, without really beating any good teams (It’s clear LSU is only OK and ranked preseason due to their name). I think this continues next week with a loss to Utah, and then 3 winnable games. 8-4 or 7-5 to finish, 3rd in the South, and a spot in the whatever bowl sponsored by meh.

I’d like to think Azz will go after the season is over, but I’m not holding my breath. I doubt Kelly goes anywhere until his contract is up. I have this feeling like he’s more interested in playing with Offensive concepts and play design more than winning, and certainly doesn’t seem interested in building a program. Still, unless the tooth fairy shows up with $9M, I foresee 12 more months of this.

Expand full comment

I'm not actually totally anti-Chip. I think the offense has been decent, and DTR has improved his decision making, and I like the way he's embraced the transfer market. But if I were AD, the only thing that would save him at this point is canning Azzinaro. I realize they're limited in the secondary, but when it's third and four, and you start the DB five yards off the line and have him immediately back up five more yards, and this happens again, and again, and again, and again... He's not going to change. I've watched so much of this season at 2x speed on DVR, because I just can't spend anymore emotional capital hoping that they'll get stops on third down.

Expand full comment

"I hate 3rd downs" -- Comment made by my Bruin engineer. And more to the point on UCLA defense - "yards don't matter, only the down." I describe the UCLA defense this way - "it's like they are running down the field with a can of gasoline in one hand and a lit match in the other. What could go wrong?"

Expand full comment

This team sucks. They really do.

Expand full comment

In the silver linings department, the game thread had 699 comments. That's great for a home game and it shows there are a lot passionate fans who still care, and it shows how much this site matters. Thanks to Joe and all the writers and everyone chiming in on here. Let's at least keep that part growing strong.

Expand full comment