Oct. 19, 2007 | (link)
Realize his potential
Oct. 17, 2007 | (link)
Face it: we need to get creative
Oct. .9, 2007 | (link)
Is Weis breaking coach pipeline or just unlucky with Irish?
Oct. 5, 2007 | (link)
Olson making positive growth
Oct. 1, 2007 | (link)
Olson must make a statement
Sept. 27, 2007 | (link)
Photo Gallery
UCLA vs. Ariz.
Photo Gallery
UCLA v. Ariz.
QUARTERBACK REPORT
THE GOOD: While Pat Cowan was under center for the Bruins, he did not provide too many highlights. When he left the game early in the third quarter, Cowan had completed 7-of-18 passes for 65 yards. His one highlight was a 9-yard touchdown pass to brother Joe Cowan that gave the Bruins a 14-10 lead. When Pat Cowan went down with a concussion and a slight collapse of his right lung, Osaar Rasshan made his debut, and the Bruins scored 13 unanswered points. The biggest play of the game came at the end of the third quarter when Rasshan completed a 42-yard flea flicker to Dominique Johnson.THE BAD: For the second consecutive game, Cowan was ineffective and the offense failed to gain momentum. After the Bruins scored 14 points in the first quarter, the offense fell silent in the second. Cowan missed on throws and was put under intense pressure. When Rasshan came into the game, the Bruins were able to move the ball, yet Rasshan completed only three of his 10 attempted passes and had a costly delay of game penalty at the end of the game which put him into a fourth and long situation he as unable to convert.
THE VERDICT: It’s not entirely clear when Cowan will be healthy enough to play again, but for now it appears that the Bruins’ best option at quarterback is Rasshan. While his numbers through the air were not great (3-for-10, 78 yards), Rasshan was able to make plays with his legs, gaining a total of 57 yards on the ground, and brought a much needed sense of energy to the stagnant Bruin offense. Even though the Bruins were unable to complete the comeback, the Bruin offense ran more efficiently with Rasshan under center.
Compiled by Andrew Howard, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Photo
Photo by Derek Liu
Two straight losses to teams near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings have led to speculation that this might be coach Karl Dorrell’s last year in Westwood.
Extra Points: Dorrell’s stoicism is all he has left
All his answers are cliches, but what more can we ask of a guy who’s probably losing his job soon?
TUCSON, Ariz. — Karl Dorrell emerged from the corner of the field on Saturday afternoon, just minutes after his team was convincingly beaten by another mediocre opponent with a losing record, trying to answer questions that he was in no position to answer. A small battalion of media huddled around Dorrell, as they dissected Arizona’s 34-27 win over UCLA. But one couldn’t help feeling an undercurrent of tension, as Dorrell was staving off questions about his team’s collapse.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that everyone within earshot of Dorrell was trying to get him to comment on his tenuous job security, and wondering if he felt the pressure that comes from an entire fan base calling for his immediate dismissal.
It would have been easy to listen to Dorrell’s explanations, and become infuriated. He’s just giving us those cliche answers, I thought, he doesn’t have it in him to tell it like it is.
“We played very, very hard,” he said. “They played admirably. But we just came up short. Defensively, we had a tough day. They made some plays on us in the first half; they made some plays on us in the third quarter. We fought back, but in the end it was just too much to overcome in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got to continue to fight through this season. We have a lot to play for. We don’t control our own destiny. But we need to continue to keep working and see how we turn things around out there.”
Like I said, it was pretty annoying to hear Dorrell point out the obvious like that. But when I stopped to collect my thoughts, I asked myself just one question: What else do you want him to say?
Nothing. So I ask all of you: What else could he say?
After watching the Bruins (5-4, 4-2 Pac-10) get beat so thoroughly by the Wildcats – a team that has underperformed so consistently over the last few years that their own coach, Mike Stoops, is likely going to be fired at season’s end – it should be fairly obvious to everyone by now that Dorrell’s program is not good and it is showing no signs of improvement. The loss to the Wildcats wasn’t simply a matter of horrific injuries taking their toll – Osaar Rasshan played far better than Pat Cowan – or having anything to do with a lack of discipline or focus. The Bruins didn’t have any mental lapses out on that field. They just got dominated in every facet of the game, by a team that had more talent on the field.
The UCLA football team is downright mediocre, and Dorrell’s chance for success in Westwood has slipped through his hands.
Barring the most improbable series of events, such as the Bruins winning their last three games and winning the Pac-10, Dorrell will just about certainly be fired as head coach. And he should be. He was unable to improve an underachieving program he took over five years ago. In fact, there’s strong evidence to suggest the program has regressed.
But there shouldn’t be any more vitriolic comments thrown Dorrell’s way. He is an extraordinarily decent man in a profession rife with scumbags, and he never once hid behind petty excuses to explain his team’s play. Quite frankly, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero took a chance by hiring a relatively young NFL wide receivers coach to grow into the job.
However, the expectations at UCLA are not that modest, nor should they be, considering the resources at the university’s disposal, and Dorrell was unable to meet such lofty expectations while he was still learning how to run a college program. Dorrell wasn’t ready for the job, and if he is indeed fired, there should be no tears shed. After all, he’s going to be rewarded with a $2.05 million severance package.
But those who have been grasping for answers have resorted to infantile comments that revolve around Dorrell’s “stoic” demeanor or his “blanket stare” on the sideline, or his “bland” postgame press conferences.
But after this latest defeat, one that made it more likely than not that the rumors of Dorrell’s dismissal are just about to become a reality, I have finally realized that Dorrell has handled disappointment and failure about as well as possible. He’s given vague answers because he wasn’t going to throw a hissy fit on the sideline just to appease the fans by making it seem like he cared. Dorrell knows that he cares, and it seems like he would rather focus his energy on getting better. The problem was never his demeanor. It was that his program never got any better. Nobody would have protested to Dorrell’s personality if the Bruins were wining 10 games each year and regularly making BCS appearances – a realistic goal that hasn’t been met.
So that’s why Dorrell was standing there, sounding like a broken record, trying like hell to find some positive angle that he could sell to his players after such a demoralizing loss.
“Well, we lost two games in a row. I won’t say that the losses are starting to mount. But we go back home and play the rest of our games in Los Angeles for the rest of our schedule, and we’re just going to keep fighting to get ourselves better. We have some guys that are having to come in (because of injuries), and they’re playing hard. It may not be the prettiest play, but they are playing hard and giving everything they have.
“We’re optimistic that if we keep working hard we’ll get some guys back (from injuries). And that will help us. (But) there are no excuses. We’ve still got to play and compete. And we still have three games to play to see how things end up.”
Seeing the morose look on Dorrell’s face, and then walking around the locker room and sensing the fatalism that has engulfed the players after four embarrassing losses, it is obvious that everybody knows how things are going to end up.
While the expediency of a coaching change will be welcomed, and totally justified, nobody should take pleasure in the way things will likely end for Karl Dorrell at UCLA.
E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu.
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