College Football 2017

As a UCLA season ticket holder who had high hopes for this season we left the game at the half, after watching all the things we have done wrong for years crop up in the first half.

Gashed by the run - check.
Unable to protect Rosen - check.
Unable to run the ball - check.
Unable to get off the field on 3rd down - check
Dropped balls on 3rd down - check.

And Rosen wasn’t playing well at all - airmailing balls, and throwing behind receivers and just not looking good at all. Was thinking about dumping my season tix walking out of the Rose Bowl - especially after stopping at a TV and seeing A&M extending the lead to 41 (and eventually 44) to 10.

Then the comeback happened, but I was still really down - not even feeling like we had won the game, given how poorly we had seemed to play for 3 quarters, and thinking that all the old problems were going to be the same this year.

Flew home yesterday evening and re-watched the entire game.

Once UCLA switched back to their base 4-3 from the 4-2-5 which had been getting gashed, the bleeding stopped in the run defense and the Bruins started getting stops. Starkel being out did help, but not too much, as Mond wasn’t playing that poorly despite the stat line. Still, in such a close game, it may have been the difference.

UCLA also fixed their protection schemes and play calls to exploit weaknesses in the A&M defense, as well as give Rosen some quick-hitters on shorter drops, Rosen started playing better.

The running game also got a lot better, with Jamabo getting some chunk yards and looking good in both pass protection and out of the backfield.

And lo and behold, the Bruins team I thought would come out to play this season was the one we saw in the 2nd half. I don’t think we’ll see that big a screwup half again this year, but running QB’s may still give Bradley’s defense some issues (thinking down the road to the Arizona schools, Oregon and Utah especially), but it certainly seems like the pieces may be coming together like I thought they would this year.

We still have a very, very tough schedule (road trips to Memphis, Stanford, Washington, Utah and USC), but we look like we have a team which is capable of winning them all (depth is thin on the OL with our top backup out for the season however, it doesn’t look like we can afford any injuries there).

Note for some of the comments above.

  1. Texas A&M didn’t stop running the ball or blitzing. UCLA just got better on both sides of the ball per above.
  2. Yes, A&M could have tried a couple less passes in the 3rd quarter, but for the most part, they were doing a pretty good job of running clock in the 4th quarter, UCLA was just getting stops. I don’t really blame them for that, up 44-10, and having lost your starting QB, you may want to get the true frosh running qb some work on the passing game.
  3. I’m pretty sure Sumlin never, ever wants to face Josh Rosen in the 4th quarter again.

Chavis did try a ton of blitzes in the 2nd half, and did get pressure. However, it was a nice adjustment by UCLA’s new OC which really flummoxed A&M:

These route breaks, and Rosen’s timing and quick release, aren’t terribly common at the college level. This execution in the middle is a basis for some of the better NFL offenses, and the Aggies didn’t know what to do about it. So for a few drives, they were just roasted by Wilson or another receiver like Darren Andrews, who were operating in open spaces, thanks in part to Wilson drawing attention … and in part by the Aggies’ attempts to blitz their way out of this dilemma.

Bradley made similar adjustments at half to stop the bleeding from the gash runs against the nickel defense. A&M only had 70-80 yards rushing after half (though 20-30 yards in sacks really changed that line too).

What a great night of college football. I live for this shit.

Boise St -Wazzu, Pac-12 after dark!

You know what defines an awesome day in college football?

1–Oklahoma wins
2–Ohio State loses
3 extra special sauce: Ohio State’s loss is TO Oklahoma!

I passed out late in the 4th on this one. Looks like it was a great comeback. I love me some Mike Leach.

So my Cincinnati Bearcats travelled to the Big House to take on Michigan Saturday in a game Michigan was favored to win by 35 points. Thirty…five…points. Ouch.

Midway through the 3rd quarter and the game was Michigan 17, Cincinnati 14…and the Bearcats had the ball in Michigan territory. On a third down play a Bearcats receiver slips out behind the Wolverines safeties…Hayden Moore spots him…throws and…overthrows him by a good 4 yards. At that moment the game could have been Cincinnati 21, Michigan 17, and who knows what might have happened. Instead the Bearcats went on to give up 19 unanswered points, including a pick 6 AND a punt mishap that resulted in a safety. In fact, Michigan had TWO interception returns for TD in the game.

This is the difference between a Power 5 program that is on the rise and a program on the outside struggling to put all the pieces together at the same time. It was a rollercoaster ride of a game though, and it was VERY satisfying to hear the 100,000 Michigan fans in the Big House very very quiet for a good portion of the game. =)

Oh, and Ohio State losing brightened my day a bit as well. Being a Cincinnati fan/grad, sometimes my friends to the north can be just a tiny bit insufferable… ;-)

Then you might like this:

Haha! That’s excellent.

Bizarre play of the day: Division III Texas Lutheran kicker successfully converts off the ground a field goal that had been blocked on the first attempt. There’s some question whether this was actually legal and the game officials didn’t know, so they let it stand. The rules certainly allow for drop kicks and they allow blocked kicks to be advanced, but they also say it’s illegal to kick a “loose ball.” So the question is whether this qualifies as a loose ball. Assuming it stands, this was the freshman kicker’s first field goal and he has yet to make one from placement.

The illegality to kick a loose ball is to gain posession/yardage, remember that rule costing the Panthers a game a few yeas back.

It’s awesome enough it should be legal.

That said, speaking of kickers- you know it’s bad for your team when your kicker is on the 2nd string as a safety, and does a better job as a safety than as a kicker. The secondary and kicking are just miserable this year- rest of the team is top 25 talent.

Hell of a Saturday. Fuckin Texas almost did it to us again. Glad we played them in week 3 because Herman is going to have his kids cruising in November.

Was a heck of a game. That TD at the end of the first half turned out to be huge.

So last weekend Nebraska got beat by a MAC team, Northern Illinois. The Huskers look really really weak this year and the fanbase is pissed. In previous disappointing years there was at least an understandable reason. First year under a new coach, star QB injured early in the season, etc. This year we’ve had Mike Riley since 2015 and theoretically have a solid team talent wise with plenty of seasoned players. People were expecting 8-9 wins minimum.

I was just chatting with a friend this morning suggesting that the AD was going to have a hard time not losing his job at the end of the season after a NIU loss. Turns out he didn’t even make it to the end of week.

I’m assuming with this sort of chaos swirling, and an AD let go this early in the season, the intention is to bring in a new AD fast enough that he or she can hire a new football coach of their choice at the end of the season. The writing seems to be on the wall for Mike Riley.

Never thought Riley was a good fit there (though they’d be a lot better with a qb,which is huge right now for that team). Great coach, marginal recruiter. Could see Bielema there if he and Arkansas break up. Could see Riley back at Oregon state of there aren’t hugely bruised political egos from his leaving, otherwise someplace like NC State or BC would be a good fit.

I was never pro-Riley either, but last year at least was acceptable. Not really sure where the huge falloff this year has come from. Must be a recruiting thing, because last year the team was still heavy with players recruited by the previous regime. Now the Huskers have a Riley team with Riley systems and Riley players and it’s . . . pretty bad.

Amd a really bad qb,apparently.

My poor Hawkeyes. They gave it everything plus more. Hell of a game, though.

Gotta say, I was pleased with the Dawgs today. Don’t follow it as assiduously as I used to, but I do have two degrees from UGA and lived there like four times over the years. And I worked at UT in Knoxville for a year, and always hated Tennessee (and orange). So, 42-0 at Neyland, yeah, that’s good.