UCLA Game worries

[beanman]

The same argument being applied by you guys to your LB corps can also be applied to our DBs. Yes we lost all four starters, but we had no pass defense to speak of last year (See the Baylor game). The guys replacing them are far more talented but obviously will have much less experience. We could have a strange situation where Nebraska throws all over us and we run the ball all over Nebraska, due to inexperience at those spots.

If my aunt had a package she would be my uncle

100% guarantee that this defense will be harder to run the ball against than last years D, especially at the edges.

Some people also forget, last year UCLA was the wake up game for coaches to even make an attempt to get speed on the field - and that is when Bo was pondering whether he should yank peoples redshirts.

And he did. And the one that appeared as though he would make the most significant difference wound up with a torn ACL after just one game played. Then at the end of the year, the only real consistent cog on the Dline was put out for the last 2 games..

I know. Excuses, excuses. But there has been some real unfortunate luck to go along as well.

Rewatching the first game, I forgot how well the Blackshirts stuff the Wisconsin run game. I mean it was near impossible for UW to get anything on the ground, especially in the 2nd half. The first game crystalized for me just how much the injuries on the D-line hurt us. Hopefully they can build better depth with the young bucks and we have a bit better luck with the injury bug.

The first game Wisky ran the same sh#t up the middle over and over again. If their offensive coordinator had any imagination in that game they could have won it by double digits.

 

[HuskerShark]

Watching the games from last year, we very easily could have been 6-6 if not for luck. Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Michigan (depends if you think we still would have won if Denard stayed in, or if Hoke had put in Gardner) all could have been losses very easily.

So luck was the only reason? Not skill, heart, determination, .....

You know that's not what I meant. (I hope).... I don't have much of an interest in discussing nitpicked semantics.

No, it's not only because of luck. I've watched the comeback wins multiple times in the last few weeks, and every time, I find myself saying "How in the hell did we win this game?" and I know most every other person thinks the same thing. In those games, either the defense got gouged a few times (MSU, PSU, Wisconsin) or the offense didn't play well until the second half, or sometimes the 4th quarter (NW, MSU at times, Wisconsin).

I'm just kind of hoping we don't have a recurrence of the Cardiac Cornhuskers again this year :lol:

 

[Landlord]

Watching the games from last year, we very easily could have been 13-1 if not for bad luck. UCLA, Georgia, and Ohio State (depends on if you think one big run by Miller opened up the floodgates when we were trading haymakers before) all could have been wins very easily.

Fixed it.

 

[Bruleif]

Please. I've been to many different college football venues, including Nebraska's. I can tell you from experience that the Nebraska home field is no more intimidating the the home fields for Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio State, just to name a few I have been to.

I've also been to all of the PAC-12 venues and no stadium that I have been to has better acoustics for the home team than Washington's stadium.

I won't argue with you Brulief. I been in Memorial Stadium for some snoozers. Our crowd can be a bit sedated sometimes, not sure why, but probably no different than any other stadium in the country right? I mean, I haven't been to any others, so I don't know. By what I've seen on T.V. I'd say VT and Wisconsin look like two of the most kickass crowds to be in. Looks like a lot of fun.

Either way, as sedated as we can be, I've seen some of the loudest and craziest moments in college football happen in Memorial Stadium, and when things are going right, there's no stopping the Big Red Machine or the crowd that roots for them. Watch out, cuz' if we get rolling on UCLA, your asses won't know what hit ya til' it's over.

On the record though, I think it's gonna be a good game and count me as one that thinks this thing will be close. ^^^just a little sh#t talking. I'm AMPED! GBR!!!!!

So we are on the same page. Of course we could BOTH be wrong and it could be a blow out by one team or the other but I really, really doubt that. I think the quality of the coaching on both sides will prevent that from happening.

Besides, the likelihood of the game being close is what makes the anticipation of it so much fun.

 

[Bruleif]

Please. I've been to many different college football venues, including Nebraska's. I can tell you from experience that the Nebraska home field is no more intimidating the the home fields for Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio State, just to name a few I have been to.

I've also been to all of the PAC-12 venues and no stadium that I have been to has better acoustics for the home team than Washington's stadium.

I won't argue with you Brulief. I been in Memorial Stadium for some snoozers. Our crowd can be a bit sedated sometimes, not sure why, but probably no different than any other stadium in the country right? I mean, I haven't been to any others, so I don't know. By what I've seen on T.V. I'd say VT and Wisconsin look like two of the most kickass crowds to be in. Looks like a lot of fun.

Either way, as sedated as we can be, I've seen some of the loudest and craziest moments in college football happen in Memorial Stadium, and when things are going right, there's no stopping the Big Red Machine or the crowd that roots for them. Watch out, cuz' if we get rolling on UCLA, your asses won't know what hit ya til' it's over.

On the record though, I think it's gonna be a good game and count me as one that thinks this thing will be close. ^^^just a little sh#t talking. I'm AMPED! GBR!!!!!

On the topic of homefield advantage I was at Texas Stadium (I think it was called that then) in 1997 when UCLA beat Texas 66-3. The Bruins were 0-2 going into that game and not ranked. Texas was undefeated going into the game and ranked #11. It was just one of those days when Texas could not do anything right and UCLA could not do anything wrong. I think it was 36-3 at halftime. That was an example of ZERO homefield advantage. I think most of the Texas fans had left by halftime. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium.

The funniest thing about it was that there was a couple sitting behind my girlfriend and me that was totally decked out in UCLA regalia but who spoke with obvious Texas accents. Out of curiosity I finally asked them "Are you guys UCLA alums?" They responded "No, we are Texas A&M graduates and we hate Texas so much we root for anyone who plays them.". Ouch !!!!

 

[Bruleif]

I just finished listening to a two-hour podcast that is a recap of the first week of Bruin fall practice by two gentlemen at Bruin Report Online. Their summary is basically that the freshman class looks like it will be ready to contribute more than was previously thought. Raves for the DL and OL. FWIW.

 

[Bruleif]

Since we are all over-analyzing something we have absolutely no control over, I thought I would toss one more more factoid into the mix. This upcoming season is the first season since 1998 in which UCLA has had both the Defensive Coordinator and the Offensive Coordinator back from the previous season. 1998 was not a bad year for UCLA - the Bruins came within 4 points of playing Tennessee for the NC.

 

[2ndNnine]

Since we are all over-analyzing something we have absolutely no control over, I thought I would toss one more more factoid into the mix. This upcoming season is the first season since 1998 in which UCLA has had both the Defensive Coordinator and the Offensive Coordinator back from the previous season. 1998 was not a bad year for UCLA - the Bruins came within 4 points of playing Tennessee for the NC.

Instead, they got rectally violated by putrid Wisconsin in the rose bowl.

 

[Bruleif]

As opposed to the bowl performance of Nebraska at the end of the 1998 season, which was a loss to that perennial football powerhouse, the University of Arizona, in the always highly prized Holiday Bowl.

 

[2ndNnine]

haha - I thought we were talking about how good the bruins are/were/whatever...We decided to let some other people play for it after 94 95 and 97.

UCLA trophy case

 

[knapplc]

It can get worse. Inexperience can be a tremendous handicap. We can't count our inexperience as an asset.

Alabama's starting freshmen on defense would like to have a word with you...

These are definitely words, and in this order they make a sentence. I'm hoping a random sentence generator was used in the creation of this sentence, because as a reply to what was quoted it has no meaning. Alabama's defense isn't remotely comparable to ours, nor are the players they rebuild around comparable to the players we have. The freshmen they've recruited are better on tape and recruiting stars/ratings than ours. The product they've put on the field, the track record of the coaches and the results of their coaching is far better than ours.

Oh come on now,you're much too intelligent to not understand what I was inferring. Seriously man, if you're having trouble then there's nothing more for us to say to one another.

You've made no point. You've vaguely referred to "freshmen at Alabama." Who, specifically, are you referring to? How well did they play?

 

[Saunders]

Interesting note I saw last night. Not only did Jonathan Franklin have the best season for a UCLA RB (rushing yards) but last year's UCLA offense scored the most points in school history.

 

[Saunders]

I just finished listening to a two-hour podcast that is a recap of the first week of Bruin fall practice by two gentlemen at Bruin Report Online. Their summary is basically that the freshman class looks like it will be ready to contribute more than was previously thought. Raves for the DL and OL. FWIW.

This is being said at just about every school in the country.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I refuse to poke fun at Bruleif. It's bad karma. We went through this last year. I don't wanna do it again.

 

[True2tRA]

Interesting note I saw last night. Not only did Jonathan Franklin have the best season for a UCLA RB (rushing yards) but last year's UCLA offense scored the most points in school history.

Interesting to me how Mora and his team are setting school records in such a short time of him being HC there. Six years in and Bo and his team set a few school records last year, but in quite the opposite fashion. Now, I'm not bashing Bo, or Nebraska, just interesting we have fans expecting us to blow them out of the water this year.