School hasn’t even started, but it’s already time
for a report card.
That’s because the UCLA football team has been in session
for over a month now, and as students return to Westwood, it only
makes sense to assess the Bruins’ progress to date.
The story of UCLA’s young football season begins with
expectations, which weren’t exactly top-notch from the
outset. The media picked the Bruins to finish eighth in the Pac-10,
and no one outside the program seemed to expect much from this
group in coach Karl Dorrell’s second season at the helm.
Though it’s hard to say for sure whether or not UCLA has
exceeded expectations in the early going, some things are clear
““ the team is 2-1, the offense looks great, the defense looks
shaky, and sophomore tailback Maurice Drew is making fans forget
about DeShaun Foster.
The Bruins, though, are playing to prove that this is a
legitimately good team, and that people should have expected
more.
“We know we’re still the underdogs,” said
senior wide receiver Craig Bragg after the Bruins’ second
consecutive victory, a 37-31 thriller over Washington in the Pac-10
opener on Sept. 18. “We’ll always see ourselves as that
after that eighth place projection.
“We took that to heart and are going to play with that
chip on our shoulders.”
After the team’s first game, however, the outlook
didn’t look good.
Oklahoma State came into the Rose Bowl on Sept. 4 and ran all
over the Bruins, gaining 426 yards rushing en route to a 31-20
victory.
It looked like UCLA might be headed towards a start just like
last season’s end, wherein the team lost its final five
games. The defensive line was thoroughly dominated by Oklahoma
State, and the offense, though it looked much better under the
direction of first-year offensive coordinator Tom Cable, committed
four costly turnovers that perhaps cost the Bruins the game.
But UCLA righted the ship the following week, taking advantage
of a weak Illinois team on the road and securing a 35-17 win to
snap a six-game losing streak. The defense improved from week one,
forcing three turnovers, and the offense operated incredibly
efficiently within the West Coast scheme.
All that set the stage for last Saturday’s match-up in
Seattle, undoubtedly the team’s most important game to date.
Fortunately for UCLA, the offense had another breakout performance,
thanks largely to Maurice Drew. Though the team was down24-7 early
after committing two turnovers, Drew carried the Bruins to victory,
rushing for an incredible 322 yards and five touchdowns on 26
carries.
“Our kids really showed something about themselves today
to be able to come back from a huge deficit like that,”
Dorrell said after the game. “They didn’t bat an eye.
They kept pushing and coming back and making plays.”
The Huskies’ inability to stop the Bruin offense was a
stark contrast from a year ago when the defense was largely
responsible for the Bruins’ big win over Washington.
Last season, UCLA finished 110th of 117 Division I-A teams in
total offense. On the ground, the Bruins averaged less than 100
yards a game and junior quarterback Drew Olson was under constant
pressure from opposing defenses. This year has marked a tremendous
turnaround. Olson has plenty of time in the pocket, UCLA is ranked
11th in total offense (490 yards per game), and the running game
has been nothing short of spectacular.
“You have a bunch of people around playing great,”
said Cable, who also coaches the offensive line. “Great group
effort. That’s the thing I’m most excited about. Good
team football.”
The offensive line has probably been the most positive sign from
the first three games. That group took a lot of the heat for the
failures of last season, but with Cable and a new scheme, the
results thus far have been incredibly impressive. UCLA is averaging
296 yards per game on the ground.
“We just worked so hard this season, we did not want to
have a year like last year,” junior tackle Ed Blanton
said.
Unfortunately for UCLA, the defensive line isn’t having
the type of year it had last year, either. All four starters from
last year’s stellar line are gone, leaving an inexperienced
and relatively undersized group this year.
Oklahoma State tailback Vernand Morency consistently got through
to the secondary, and Illinois and Washington also had success
running the football.
The defense hasn’t put much pressure on opposing
quarterbacks either and the only turnovers the team has forced came
in the Illinois game.
But the only numbers that are important to the team in this bye
week are two and one, the wins and losses in the first three
games.
The story after the Washington game could have been completely
different.
Charles Frederick could have found the endzone, rather than the
one and a half yard-line on the game’s last play. UCLA could
have given up when they got down big early, but they didn’t.
And that has them talking.
“I like this team,” senior safety Jarrad Page said.
“It’s a lot of heart on this team. The way we got down
in that first quarter, some teams could have given up, and we
didn’t. That’s the biggest aspect.”