State of the Program - Football

With the heat of summer bearing down upon us all, I thought I'd toss off a few words concerning the state of the football program under Coach Neuheisel.

First, and most obvious, is the fact that Neu was able to build a very well-respected staff (spearheaded by coordinators Norm Chow and DeWayne Walker) and hold onto basically the entirety of a well-stocked recruiting class built by departing coach Karl Dorrell and assistant coach Walker. This gives the team a sense of positive energy moving into the latter half of the year, and moving towards the season. It remains to be seen if the team will be able to manifest that energy into on-field results, but it would be hard to argue that the program has a greater sense of vitality than it has had in years. That would be due largely to the difference in personality types between Dorrell and Neuheisel, who in many ways reminds me more than not of Pete Carroll. The similarities between the two could be a good thing, or a very bad thing. We'll find out.

Obviously, there has been, as referenced in the post below this, some dissent over what kind of season it would be reasonable to expect. However, one must believe that to demand an enormous improvement in any coach's first season - especially one in which he loses so much talent on both sides of the ball - is rather unfair. When talking about the chance to transform that energy into game results, one must expect the buck to stop right at the foot of the Tennessee Volunteers. Expecting a win is, perhaps, too much at this juncture. However, the team must come out with a sense of visible purpose and desire to attack that has been lacking in previous years. Getting embarrassed on national television in the opening game of the Neuheisel regime - especially in the Rose Bowl - would put a huge screeeeching halt on all the momentum the program has been building over the last half-year or so.

The lull in the sports world that presides over the mid-summer months will cause many fans to salivate wildly in anticipation for the tiniest bits of information regarding the program. But it is important to remember that the big picture must be one that requires taking a step back, in order to view it all. This is not a championship-caliber team. That should not be where the focus lies for the short-term. Instead, be excited for a new era in the UCLA football tradition, and hopefully one that will last long and bear many great successes.

State of the Program - Football

The news for the football program compared to that of the hardcourt is… Well, we’ll call it ambiguous with a chance of optimism. Though UCLA shut out the top-10 Oregon Ducks this past weekend, winning 16-0, the win hardly felt like an accomplishment. This post by Dave over at the Oregon blog Addicted to Quack may be more descriptive of what the game does to OU's Rose Bowl hopes, but it nevertheless also provides an example of what most viewers probably wished would happen to the Rose Bowl partway through the game this past Saturday. The offensive ineptitude was epic.

Oregon started its second-string QB, Brady Leaf, who went down with an injury in the first quarter. Deep reserves Cody Kempt and Justin Roper couldn’t do anything on offense, and the Oregon run game faltered as a result. Excellent OU tailback Jonathan Stewart was also playing despite a lingering injury. UCLA’s win was more a result of Oregon’s inability to move the ball without Dennis Dixon – and a number of its other offensive weapons, also lost to injury – than it was due to Bruin defensive prowess. The defense played well, to be sure; but how well is almost impossible to determine.

Meanwhile, UCLA’s air attack was nonexistent. In the first half, I mean that in a literal fashion – wait, I take that back. Nonexistence would have been preferable to the actual outcome, in which the Bruins completed more passes to Oregon’s secondary than their own wide receivers. Osaar Rasshan went 0-7, with one interception on an attempted deep pass play. Coming in at the start of the second half in a return from injury, opening day starter Ben Olson had some success, limited though it was. He went 4-10 with an INT in the back of the end zone on a spectacular play by a Duck cornerback, but did seem to provide at least the threat of a passing game. That finally opened up some running lanes for UCLA’s tailbacks, mainly Chris Markey and walk-on Craig Sheppard, the latter of whom scored the game’s only touchdown on a 21-yard run.

Not in the box score, but deserving a mention, was a trick play worthy of Bob Toledo on the opening kickoff of the second half. Markey took the kick, and then threw across the field to a wide-open Matt Slater, who raced untouched into the end zone. The play was nullified, however, because Markey threw the ball (obviously) forwards instead of backwards. The day as a whole was marked entirely by offensive ineptitude, so it was a sad moment indeed to see the by far the most successful pass of the day called back. I suppose it's really a condensed version of the story of the game, and in a macro sense, of UCLA's entire season.

And so the Bruins find themselves facing a resurgent USC Trojan team that is coming off a 20-point whipping of Arizona State and looking to return to the Rose Bowl. With this year's game being played in the Coliseum, UCLA’s chances look grim. During Karl Dorrell’s tenure at UCLA, games played on USC’s home turf have featured Trojan victories of 25, and 47 points. The two contests at the Rose Bowl were a 5-point win for USC and last season’s astonishing 13-9 upset by the Bruins. Suffice to say, UCLA plays USC far more evenly at home than on the ‘road’ (despite the fact that the L.A. Coliseum is actually closer to Westwood than the Rose Bowl).

The Bruins look to a hopefully healthy Ben Olson to lead them against the Trojans, an opportunity he missed last season. If Olson can’t play, UCLA turns next to either last week’s starter Rasshan, or last season’s hero Patrick Cowan, who may be available coming off his own injury. For UCLA to have any chance in the game, they must establish some sort of offensive consistency early. Probably through the passing game, where the Trojan defense is the "most" (finger quotes sadly necessary) suspect. Otherwise the Bruins are in major trouble, as expecting to hold USC’s offense to less than 10 points two times in a row seems the unlikeliest of outcomes.

With both the football and basketball teams facing major tests this weekend, it will be interesting to view how the two programs do, given the upward trend of basketball and the general downward spiral of football.

State of the Program - Basketball

So. Back again – once more, hopefully for longer than a couple days. Life intervenes. Let’s see if this’ll stick this time. Plenty has happened since I last posted, so let’s try and get up to speed from the point I left off (end of October).

Let’s start with the good news. And, where UCLA basketball is concerned, there’s plenty of news indeed, most of it good. The Bruins are the top-ranked team in college basketball, at least as far as the coaches are concerned, ahead of the North Carolina Tar Heels. UCLA remains #2 in the AP poll, behind UNC.

Though the Bruins have put in a number of victories against sub-par competition, they have a pair of solid non-conference wins already. Both came during the CBE Classic, held in Kansas City. In the CBE semi-final, the Bruins struggled in the first half before jumping to a 20-point lead in an eventual 12-point victory over a good Maryland team from the ACC. Following that, UCLA somehow managed a come-from-behind nailbiter against top-15 opponent Michigan State in the CBE finals.

All this success has come despite the absence of preseason All-American point guard Darren Collison, and 3-point specialist Michael Roll (not to mention sophomore forward James Keefe). The injury toll continues to rise, with F/C Alfred Aboya going down due to a fractured orbital bone during UCLA’s win over Yale. However, relief appears on the horizon. In addition to having the junior forward cleared to potentially play as soon as tonight’s game against George Washington, Collison appears to be nearing a return. Roll’s return date is still uncertain, though likely in the near future, while Keefe will be out until at least the start of conference play, if not longer.

And if there have been plenty of injuries, the silver lining is the increased minutes for many of UCLA’s younger talent, which could pay off handsomely down the road. The heavy workload and on-court success for top freshman recruit Kevin Love comes as no surprise, but several other UCLA reserves have received key minutes. Notably, sophomore point guard Russell Westbrook has offered solid minutes in replacing Collison, averaging over 12 points and 6 assists a game thus far.

The Bruins face a key test this week, with Texas, the #8 team in both polls, coming to Pauley on Sunday. Ken Pomeroy’s excellent writing has moved over to Basketball Prospectus, but his statistical wizardry can still be found at KenPom.com. And according to his tempo-free stats, Texas has been the most effective offensive team in the country so far, scoring over 1.3 points per possession (the Bruins score a little less than 1.1). Texas's Effective FG% is over 65% - for comparison, the Bruins are at 50%. A brief explanation of the stat can be found here. The Longhorns will be an excellent test for UCLA’s now-trademark defensive intensity, and should the Bruins prevail in that contest they will almost certainly enter conference play undefeated. And even with a loss, UCLA will begin the Pac-10 season as a heavy favorite, challenged only by Washington State. Because all the other major conference contenders suffered surprising upsets in the early going, the Pac-10 seems weaker than initially advertised. The UCLA Bruins, however, do not.