"Well, aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how’d you like the play?”
Thinking about the prospects of the second half of the UCLA football season and listening to coach Karl Dorrell and his players try to spin the horrific quarterback situation as best they could, I couldn’t help but think about that stale, inappropriate punch line ““ the one about the theater usher making small talk with Mary Todd Lincoln after her husband has been assassinated.
After UCLA’s 20-6 loss at the hands of a previously winless Notre Dame team that couldn’t find a consistent offensive series with two hands and a flashlight, there wasn’t much Dorrell or his players could say to explain, or excuse, the loss. But they tried.
“What happened in the game is something you don’t really anticipate happening. … And it did,” Dorrell said. “It was unfortunate that Ben (Olson) went down early in the game. (Notre Dame) put pressure on our offense and pressure on our pass protection. Offensively, we made too many mistakes. (McLeod Bethel-Thompson) did a nice job given the circumstances. He kept fighting through it.”
Left guard Shannon Tevaga said: “I don’t even know what was going on (with our pass protection). I’m speechless. (Bethel-Thompson’s) a soldier. Mac has the biggest heart on the team. The job he did to come in, on the third string, break the huddle ““ he’s a soldier. I’d go to war with Mac any day.”
Reading the postgame quotes, one might think that the Bruins (4-2, 3-0 Pac-10) are going to fight through this and somehow piece together enough conference wins to make a bowl game. And maybe that’s true.
But here’s the situation: Ben Olson, the starter, has a partial tear in the lateral collateral ligament of his left knee after being sacked in the first quarter on Saturday, and his timetable to return is unknown. Pat Cowan, the backup who beat USC in 2006 and has already won a game in 2007, is out with an MCL strain in his left knee and could be out another two to three weeks. Walk-on redshirt freshman McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw four interceptions in Olson/Cowan’s place against the Fighting Irish. And wide receiver and former quarterback Osaar Rasshan has moved back to quarterback this week.
It’s still unknown whether or not the fifth quarterback on the roster, Chris Forcier, will see any action and lose his redshirt status.
What nobody in the program is willing to say, of course, is how a string of awful injuries at the game’s most important position has derailed UCLA’s season. The chances of Cowan recovering from his injury to play against No. 2 California are extremely low, even with the bye this week. We’ll probably see a Rasshan/Bethel-Thompson quarterback combo trying to keep up with arguably the nation’s most explosive offense. Unfavorable matchups against No. 9 Oregon, No. 10 USC and No. 14 Arizona State are still looming, too.
So while the cliched words of wisdom from UCLA are encouraging ““ if not completely predictable ““ it is totally useless to play coy at this point. Dorrell is going to be challenged these next six games like no other coach in the country. After starting the year with 20 returning starters and hopes of a Pac-10 title run, he quickly finds himself at the helm of a sinking ship.
Two things must happen: first, the fans must adjust their expectations to reality and understand that Dorrell might do the best coaching of his life over the next two months, and the Bruins could still finish 6-6. And second, Dorrell has got to let it loose on offense and take some chances.
If indeed Cowan’s injury lingers, it would be nice to see Dorrell embrace the dire situation by giving anyone and everyone a chance to make an impact. Why not put Rasshan into the game and see what he can do? Why not let him run outside the pocket and improvise? Why not give backup tailback Christian Ramirez some playing time now that Chris Markey and Kahlil Bell are dinged up? How about some more of tight end Logan Paulsen in the passing game?
If the wheels completely fall off the wagon, so to speak, the coaching staff shouldn’t be blamed, given the ridiculously bad luck that has followed the Bruins. That said, the second half of the year could either be very interesting to watch, or insufferably boring.
Hey Karl, now’s the time to have some fun, give the players a little bit of latitude, and see what kind of playmakers you’ve got at your disposal. At this point, why not?
E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu.