SB Nation - Aaron Perez

Predicting the Season - UCLA Bruins

dvieira — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:42:14 -0000

via ucla.freedomblogging.com. Rick Neuheisel may wish he could come in and play some QB for the Bruins this year

UCLA had a rough go of it last year, compiling a 4-8 record under first year head coach Rick Neuheisel. Karl Dorrell left the cupboard bare when he was unceremoniously fired but the Bruins have put together very good back-to-back recruiting classes that should start to contribute more to the games starting this season. In 2008, Oregon had just come off a devastating 44-10 loss at USC in welcoming the UCLA Bruins into Autzen Stadium. Under the lights, the home crowd saw Jeremiah Masoli complete 5 passes out of 19 attempts for a whopping 42 yards. One of those passes was a diving score by Chris Harper in the second quarter. The rushing game ruled the day with the Ducks rumbling for 323 yards on the ground, including a 69-yard touchdown scamper by LeGarrette Blount to seal the win for Oregon.

This year, Oregon travels to Los Angeles to face off against the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl. Oregon will be coming off a 4-game homestand while UCLA will have already had a bye and a trip to a tough Stanford team on the road. The Bruins will be better in 2009 but will they have any advantage against Oregon when the teams meet in October? Let's run the numbers.

Oregon Offense vs. UCLA Defense

The Bruin Defense is definitely the brightest spot for the entire team and you don't have to look farther than 6-2, 295-pound junior defensive tackle Brian Price. He was first team Pac-10 last year and will most likely go out early to the NFL. His 14 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks were huge for an interior lineman and will cause lots of problems for opposing teams in both the running and passing games.

Kyle Bosworth will be coming back after a sprained knee sidelined him for the 2008 season and should give UCLA depth at the linebacker position. With 4 guys having starter experience, the combination of a tough defensive line and a solid linebacking core give the Bruins the potential to have an extremely stingy front 7.

If there is one concern, it would be speed around the edge and this is where Oregon should be able to take advantage, especially if LaMichael James breaks out in the first couple of games. During the middle of the season last year, there was a 4 game stretch where UCLA gave up 200 yards on the ground on average to the teams they faced. If Oregon can work sideline to sideline and get those linebackers and defensive lineman working horizontally, the speed of the Duck attack should loosen the middle up for big gains.

In the secondary, CB Michael Norris and S Brett Lockett are both gone from a unit that was ranked 8th in the nation against the pass and got better as the season wore on. Alterraun Verner will be back and locking down everyone on his side of the field. On the other side though, redshirt freshman Aaron Hester will see a lot of passes his way as teams look to go away from Verner's side. The secondary, as a whole, is young. The two-deep coming out of spring has one senior, four sophmores and three freshman. This year will be filled with growing pains as those young guys adjust.

When UCLA faced Oregon last year, Jeremiah Masoli had barely gotten his feet wet after taking over for Justin Roper. The passing game hadn't developed but the running game did a great job of helping the team win. This year should be a different story as Masoli comes in as a major passing threat. Against some young corners and linebackers that don't have blazing speed, Oregon should find a lot of success in the wide receiver screens and getting the ball to the outside with one on one chances against the secondary. With Verner on Jemere Holland, that should leave Jeff Maehl and DJ Davis with plenty of opportunities.

Oregon Defense vs. UCLA Offense

The biggest news concerning the UCLA Offense is that Kevin "Interception Machine" Craft is out as quarterback having been replaced by 6-2, 226-pound redshirt freshman Kevin Prince. A highly touted recruit, Prince will get a trial by fire during the upcoming season and unless he is the second coming of Tim Tebow, look for a lot of freshman mistakes as he learns the ropes. You would think that Kevin Craft would be the backup right? Richard Brehaut had a great spring and clearly outplayed Craft but still has a redshirt year that I'm sure the Bruins would love to keep intact.

On the offensive line, UCLA just has problems plain and simple. After the injury bug hit them hard last year, the best thing you can say is that at least they have experience. With 8 different lineman earning at least 2 starts, they will excel at lineman by committee. After a tough year last year, spring didn't look any better as bad snaps, missed blocking assignments, and issues with fundamentals continued to plague the line. Oregon, even with rebuilding their defensive line in the off-season, will have a clear advantage in the trenches. With a leaky offensive line combined with a young and inexperienced quarterback, it might be a long day for whomever is back there for the Bruins.

Running backs in Christian Ramirez, Derrick Coleman, and Johnathan Franklin all come in with a combined 72 carries among them. UCLA will probably employ a "Thunder and Lightening" attack, with 6-2, 220-pound Ramirez as the thunder and Franklin as the lightening. With how athletic the Oregon front 7 appears in the spring, look for the Ducks to neutralize the running attack and force Prince to beat them through the air.

Prince will have some options to throw to as the three top receivers for the Bruins come back for another round. Taylor Embree, Terrence Austin and Ryan Mota all come back and should give Prince opportunities in space. With a young quarterback and the lack of a truly dynamic receiver, the Bruins might have some difficulties stretching the field. With the lack of a deep threat, look for the strong Oregon secondary and linebacking units to aggressively fly to the ball, hoping to disrupt the passing and running attacks.

Special Teams

Kai Forbath is dynamite in the place kicking game, including 6-for-6 from beyond 50 yards. He just might be the biggest offensive weapon the Bruins have next year. If the defense can keep it close, Forbath might be just the guy to pull out a couple of wins for the team. UCLA will be replacing their all Pac-10 first team punter Aaron Perez and Jeff Locke looks to be getting the nod. He was the nation's premiere punter coming out of high school in 2008. Given how the offense looks, Locke should get plenty of opportunities for playing time.

Oregon should have an advantage in kick returns as the coverage teams for the Bruins were miserable nationally last year in both kick (100th) and punt coverage(107th).

Conclusion

I like Oregon's chances in this game. UCLA may have improved from last year but Oregon will be greatly improved from when the Bruins and Ducks last met. In all skill positions, Oregon is better than it was last year for this matchup and with UCLA having some inexperience in the secondary, look for Oregon to exploit the holes in the defense in the running and passing games. UCLA's season offensively will all depend on how Kevin Prince adjusts to being the man with the plan. If he struggles out of the gate, Oregon will have a field day. If Prince can get his legs under him before the Oregon game, the passing attack will allow the Bruins to stay in it, especially if their defense can get some key turnovers.

The kicking and punting game should factor into this game as both teams have some challenges. We could see a 14 point swing from special teams alone. That being said, Oregon should be able to handle the Bruins at the Rose Bowl.

Oregon 30 – UCLA 13

Spaulding Roundup: ATV Keeps Blogging, More Previews & Other Offseason Notes

Nestor — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:24:21 -0000

I have been getting excited every Friday morning not just for the weekend but also because of looking forward to reading ATV's weekly blogposts. We have never been shy about being (rightfully) critical about the quality and the style of content packaged on our official website. At the same time we have to give them props when do something right. Featuring ATV this summer to provide off season updates via blogposts (ok we are being charitable calling it a "blog") has been IMHO the best feature I have read on the official site. So ATV has posted his fifth update and I lol reading about his experience from his Romanian class:

Good day everyone, or in Romanian it would be, "Buna Ziua". We are rapidly approaching the end of summer and the class is starting to wind it down and keep to repetition of what we know. We have learned more verbs, the subjunctive of the verbs, clothing items, family members, and colors.

"Eu am doi surori, un tata, un mama in familia mea". That last sentence in English is "I have 2 sisters, a father, a mother in my family". I got a 29.5/30 on the midterm from last week, which I will take after thinking I had done a lot worse. We have seen many great presentations in class on the Romanian flower of love, Dacian weapons, the legend of Dracula, etc. It has been interesting learning so much history.

You can bet that's what the commentators will talk about all the time - his Romanian class - this coming season when the camera is focused on ATV. On the football side, he has couple of really interesting updates. He writes about the incoming freshmen "testing off the wall" when they were being measured for "progress":

For football, we had to do a little testing this week to measure our progress. I personally improved in everything except one thing. We had a lot of good marks in our group. Glenn Love had an amazing vertical jump. Many did well in other tests. The one surprise was the speed of some of the freshmen. They were blazing, testing off the wall, which is something that we really haven't seen in a while. Very impressive, it would take too long to list all of them, so I will just say the whole group. We still got after it in the weight room, even though we did the testing.

And then he mentioned how the offense "ran the tables" on our defense:

"7 on 7" drills have been going exceptionally well, with the offense looking better and better. They ran the tables on the defense last Thursday and made plays everywhere. It was a little shocking, but good at the same time. On Tuesday, it came back down a little to the defense doing what they do. But overall, it has been productive, as we approach fall camp.

Well. When it comes to reading off season practice reports I have become a cynic after a decade of disappointments under Toledo and Dorrell. I have told myself how I am not going to get excited from reading sunny off season stories. Still I can't help but get caught up ATV's enthusiasm and excitment when reading his updates. As we have mentioned over and over again, we have to be pragmatic about our expectations for this coming season. Still right now you can't miss the good vibes around the the team. More after the jump.

Speaking of keeping expectations in check, CPBruinFan over at Bruin Roar has followed up his offensive preview with notes on our 2009 defense and special teams. While we are all excited about returining talents such as ATV, Carter and Price, CPB smartly raises the caution flag re. depth concerns at our DL and LBs:

The biggest threat up front is Brian Price. He'll again be asked to do a bit of everything this season: placing pressure on the quarterback as well as stopping anyone coming up the middle. His quick first step and immense physical abilities will draw instant double teams.

The rest of the defensive tackle depth is a big concern. Jerzy Siewierski will lineup next to Price and the strong 290 lb senior can hold his own but after that UCLA is scary thin up front.

The defensive ends will likely see a rotation with Jones, Stokes, Bosworth, and Holmes. None of them have really emerged as a serious pass rushing threat, though I think Boswoth should be in the backfield with some consistency this season. One of these guys will need to step up and help take the pressure off of Price.

I think this might be one of the more athletic linebacking corps at UCLA in recent years. Reggie Carter is the big name in the middle, but I could see Akeem Ayers getting some press this season as well. He had a breakout true-freshman season in 2008 and that success should continue on this year. Senior Kyle Bosworth is back from injury and will anchor the other outside slot.

Depth is a concearn among the linebackers as well, with virtually no proven experience nor size among the backups.

Meanwhile on special teams punting game (even though we know Locke apparently can be faster than ATV lol) and punt returns are question marks:

The one big unknown this season is the punting game. Aaron Perez had a great career for the Bruins and his big leg lead the league in punting average last season. Jeff Locke takes over this season and reports are that he has an even stronger leg. He'll be making his first start this season and I'm sure it will take a while for him to find the consistency that Perez had as a senior.

UCLA was a middle of the pack team in punt returns. Austin didn't have any big returns but the team did block a few punts and added a couple of touchdowns. The offense will need as much help as it can get this season, so some big returns or a timely block could jump start a drive.

I wonder if CRN will try out someone like Carroll or Thigpen in punt returns and see if they can turn on their jets. That also depends on how they can handle it. It takes special fearless mindset to get out there as a punt returners.

The concerns listed above illustrate how right now it is impossible to predict the W-Ls for our team this coming season. There are number of tossup games and lot of them will be determined by how healthy we are throughout the season along with the key concerns about our OL and inexperienced QB. No wonder people are having hard time figuring out where UCLA will finish in the conference this season.

Speaking of the coming season, we will end with the OC Register's very early brief look at San Diego State (courtesy of Athlon Sports):

OUTLOOK: The Aztecs figure to be better this season. Not because things can’t get much worse for a defense that ranked last in nearly every category, but because they brought in Brady Hoke (pictured) to coach the team. Hoke led Ball State to a 12-1 record before taking over at San Diego State. Employing a get-tougher approach, he pushed his team toward an aggressive routine during spring drills and hopes that can get the Aztecs going. San Diego State also lowered its non-conference expectations by dropping Notre Dame and San Jose State from its schedule, for Southern Utah and Idaho.

BEYOND THE HUDDLE: The Aztecs are 0-20-1 against the Bruins so a Week 1 victory over UCLA would give San Diego State the confidence that it’s been lacking for the past decade.

I am sure we are going to be delving into the Aztecs lot more next month. But I would love to hear from BNers San Deigo if you guys have any early notes to share on Brady Hoke. He strikes me as one of those no nonsense coaches from the midwest, who will bring some much needed structure and discipline in that program. While we will have the advantage in term of talent, I think it will be a huge mistake to over look this team because you can bet they are going to be fired up to make a splash for their new head coach.

We should especially be aware how the "excitement" factor for a new head coach can work well for a team in his first game, given what transpired at the Rose Bowl last season:

ucla vs. tennessee 08 last play (via mjmbruin)

Here is to that home team sideline jumping up and down again in 43 days.

GO BRUINS.

Bright Spots (In A World Of Reality)

Nestor — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:08:05 -0000

We are now three games into Rick Neuheisel’s first season at UCLA, and I think it is starting to become clear to everyone in BN, precisely what we were foreshadowing when we were writing all those posts with taglines “dose of reality” during this off season. There is no escaping from it. We find ourselves at this position not by accident. This is a result of total mismanagement and lack of competent leadership this program has endured for more than a decade (note we are not just pinning this on the previous HC, even though he hastened the downward spiral this program has been going since December 5, 1998).

Right now, I am not sure if there is any use for UCLA fans to get upset every loss this season and probably the next one. I agree with Telemachus that more than ever we need to stand behind our team and with Class of 66 that we need to circle the wagon by getting behind the kids we have in our program, while we wait for the recruits CRN, Chow and Walker bring in next few years. However, at the same time, I think it is important for us to make honest observations about our week to week performance that will enable us to maintain perspective and appreciate the week to week progress that might not be showing up in the final scoreboard.

With that in mind, I will start with the offense. Kevin Pearson from the Press Enterprise flagged the obvious positive marker from yesterday:

An offense that had gained a mere 38 yards rushing in two games, 29 inches for each of the 47 carries against Tennessee and BYU, had just picked up 115 yards and averaged 4.1 yards against the Wildcats.

Those totals beat Arizona's 111 net yards and 3.2-yard-per-carry average.

And how about the somewhat unlikely pair that put up those numbers. First was 232-pound Chane Moline, with a mere 23 yards in 13 attempts coming into this game, who ran for 72 on 11 carries (a 6.5 average).

Moline's first carry of 9 yards eclipsed the Bruins' previous season high of 7 by Ray Carter, one of three UCLA running backs to miss this game. Carter was out with a knee injury. Kahlil Bell and Aundre Dean were out with ankle problems.

So there was Moline, a junior from Mission Viejo, twisting and turning for 40 yards at the end of the first half and eclipsing UCLA's two-game team total in one run.

"I thought we rushed the ball all right," Moline said. "But we gotta stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We had a good week of practice. We focused on running the ball. And we had a chance today. But we've got to be perfect. And we have to build on it.

"We have to improve even more running the ball this week to get ready for Fresno State."

We also have to give our beleaguered OL some credit. They showed improvement yesterday and they started to get it going starting with the last drive at the end of the first half. Note how the coaches put in freshman Jeff Baca at LT to replace Kia to start the second half. I think that was a clear message sent to the entire OL that no one’s starting assignment is safe. Sure, the production of OL is not close to where we want it to be. But we still have to appreciate the obvious progress that took place yesterday. (UPDATE: It looks like Baca was inserted due to Kia's backpain (HT Bald Eagle). However, as noted the OL played much better once Baca got it).

Speaking of bright spots, Derrick Coleman made a nice debut at the Rose Bowl as he rushed for 24 yards in 7 carries. In the limited carries he got, it was clear DC hits the holes with authority and aggression. I liked the term Papadakis used to describe him as someone who runs with “violence and fight.”

That said, we can’t escape the fact about what went wrong with the offense. Tele already noted the bad and ugly below. I think we have to discuss the QB situation. There is no doubt the kid is giving a valiant effort and we will never forget his second half performance against Tennessee (who BTW is turning out to be a very over-rated, mediocre team which might be firing its head coach at the end of this season). However, based on what we have seen last two weeks, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for coaches to ponder about what other options they might have to jump start the offense. Here is Rick Neuheisel in Jill Painter’s DN report:

Craft's not getting the job done, and it's unclear if UCLA will turn to someone else - be it Kevin Prince or Ben Olson when he returns from injury. Everyone's position is tenuous, according to Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel.

"We're going to evaluate all the positions," Neuheisel said. "It's easy in these situations to hide behind the team. When you're the quarterback, you don't get to hide. It's easy to say he must be the reason you're unsuccessful.

"Kevin wants to (be successful). He works hard, and I hope he can continue to work hard and continue to improve. Just like all positions on the team, we're going to evaluate them and keep working to find answers."

And Norm Chow:

Asked if he was concerned Craft might be taking the brunt of the criticism, UCLA offensive coordinator Chow said: "He should. He's the leader of this group, and he needs to take responsibility. The other 10 guys need to take responsibility as well."

I think Craft is doing the best he can in terms of managing the game. To his credit he hasn’t thrown a pick since the first half of the Tennessee game. But at the same time the coaches need a little bit more at the QB position to keep the offense moving.

From what we have seen to date, it looks like KC doesn’t have the arm strength to look off the D and complete a medium range pass over 10 yards. That’s a problem because it is allowing the opposing D to cheat and bring up their LBs to completely stuff the short passes. Those short passes are effective when the defense has to be wary about the QB being able to go downfield. Right now from what we have seen it looks like KC doesn’t have the physical tools to keep the opposing D honest and off balance.

Also there were couple of plays yesterday that really pointed to the glaring talent issue (I know it’s not a fun topic to discuss, but it has to be pointed out to keep things in perspective) in this offense. There were two potential situations that could have been game changing moments in Bruins favor. First, there was that Moline rumble for 40 yards. Moline was able to get himself in a nice space and then bust into the open field. All he had to do is just break away from one takler. But he didn’t have the speed to break away. Again, big ups to Chane for giving the effort he did yesterday. However, you would have to think that if the Bruins had an elite back with true breakaway speed, the game could have turned. Similarly Dominique had a chance to catch a Craft slant pass and house it. I think that’s the kind of opportunity we have to take advantage of. As I pointed out during the game thread Arizona had three dependable game breakers in Gronkowski, Thomas and Grigsby (along with Tuitama). To date we have no one has emerged as a game breaker in our team.

I think Chane is getting lot of reps because he looks like he is the best blocker among our backs. And given the tenuous situation with our OL, it is understandable why coaches would give him large chunk of our reps. Hopefully Bell will get healthy soon because if he comes back in top form, our offense could become serviceable if the OL continues to show same the improvement it did on Saturday.

Shifting our focus to defense, Walker’s unit made a decent showing yesterday. The run defense was much better as Harwell and Price sealed up the middle. We are still having issues with tackling though. Perhaps as our young secondary gets more experience, they will become better at it.

Also, speaking of our secondary, our pass coverage is still an issue. I think Walker has been solid in terms of scheming against pro-set base offense. However, I think for him to emerge as truly one of the best five defensive coordinators in the country, he will need to improve his schemes against spread offense formations. I don’t think I was the only one holding my breath when Tuitama was airing it out deep at the Rose Bowl. Well, I think the silver lining here is that I think if Walker brings in few more good recruits this season and next, he will have that opportunity to improve on that aspect of coaching and emerge as one of the best in the game.

Moving over the special teams, it was an ugly performance for Gansz’s crew. Let’s start with the return coverage. Arizona piled up more than 200 yards in return yardage at the Rose Bowl. Seems like they are couple of issues FG needs to correct. First, let’s start with Perez. He had two booming kicks. However, he also had few line drives with not much hang time not allowing our guys much time to get up field. Second, our gunners were atrocious. We are hoping this is something coaches can correct in the short term because the horrific coverage led to short field, putting our defense in bad spots.

Also, speaking of special teams, I wonder if the coaches can look at other options for punt returning. Austin is a talented athlete but he needs to work on getting up the field, instead of dancing around too much to avoid tackles. There was another situation where he let the ball go even though he had room to catch and go. Again, just like coaches are making sure no positions are safe (as they showed by starting Baca over Kia and putting Craft on notice), I am assuming they will take a close look at punt returning position in the coming week.

Well despite the above reference concerns about our current personnel, I trust these coaches to make the right decision. I don’t think there is a better combination than Chow and Neuheisel to address quarterback issues. I think they will make the right decision when it comes to trying out Prince or Olson (whenever he is 100 percent healthy).

It’s not a fun situation that we are in right now. There is a long road ahead, as CRN mustered up the following remarks to stay with his relentlessly positive mantra following yesterday’s game:

"There is not, I don't think, a quick-fix solution to this," he said. "It's about everybody getting focused, and really getting involved with individual improvement, that will then show collectively. I am optimistic. I'm always optimistic. I do believe there will be brighter days ahead."

UCLA's anemic showing was so mesmerizingly inept, Neuheisel showed gratitude to those of the 65,434 in attendance who endured all 60 minutes, of all things, not booing.

"I appreciate our fans for staying," Neuheisel said. "It must have been hard to watch as we were trying to climb back into the game, and yet there was very little in the way of booing. It showed a lot of class."

Losing should never be acceptable and we deplore moral victories. However, as mentioned above the situation we are in right now didn’t happen overnight, and our coaches no matter how good they are, cannot resolve it over night. This is going to take a lot of time and patience on our part collectively as member of the larger Bruin athletic community.

We will need our coaches to recruit speed and athleticism at all the skill positions (on both offense and defense) so that we can emerge as an above average BCS conference team in next three seasons. Meantime, we have to ride this out and appreciate the progress we are making on a week to week basis.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Getting Ready For Mighty BYU

Nestor — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:19:40 -0000

Well it looks like some BYU fans are already looking beyond next weekend’s game against UCLA. They are obviously riding high after yesterday afternoon’s heart stopping win against UDub at Seattle. Notwithstanding the questionable call at the end of the game, they pulled off an impressive victory at a tough Pac-10 venue and we have to give them credit for it.

One of the biggest concerns for UCLA heading into next weekend’s game is to figure out a way to stop Max Hall. He was deadly against the Huskies. He completed 30 of 41 pass attempts for 338 yards, 3 TDs and 1 interception. His job was made easier by the running game of a beastly Unga who punished the Husky defensive line for 136 yards in 23 carries. Unga was setting up Hall with short yardage situations all day and he made the Husky defense pay. The BYU offensive converted on 3^rd downs 12 out of 14 times (full box score here). So needless to say there is going to be a lot of pressure on our secondary next Saturday and with that in mind Walker opened up the FS position for competition between Ware and Moore:

"That's good that he's doing that so we can both stay on our toes and continue to work hard, rather than get comfortable and feel good that you're starting," Moore said. "It's a good thing. May the best man win. I don't want anything given to me, and I'm sure (Ware) feels the same."

Both players made their first career starts in last week's win against Tennessee, but Ware did so at strong safety, filling in for Lockett.

Now, Ware is back at a more familiar position.

"You're never promised a position no matter who you are," Ware said. "That's fine."

Settling down the secondary is a key as the Bruins travel to No. 15 BYU on Saturday.

When UCLA beat the Cougars early last season, BYU ran for 44 yards and quarterback Max Hall threw for 391 yards. In the rematch at the Las Vegas Bowl, which the Cougars won, BYU mustered 34 rushing yards, and Hall threw for 231 yards.

Hopefully Lockett can provide a more steady effort at SS and Ware be more comfortable at FS. He didn’t do much to make himself stand out last weekend against Tennessee. In addition to Ware, we will need better efforts from Courtney Viney who found himself out of position a number of times against the Volunteers’ mediocre passing attack. Viney and his team-mates will not be able to get away with the same level of play against the Cougars’ more precise and efficient passing attack.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side in addition to putting together some clock chewing drives, CRN has been trying to get his team to play smart ball keeping field position in mind. As a result Aaron Perez has become a pivotal part of our overall game plan:

You punt. You win.

As coaching rhetoric goes, this hardly ranks with "win one for the Gipper." Still, UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel has gone about convincing his team that sending punter Aaron Perez onto the field is not crying uncle.

When Perez casts his punts against blue-gray October sky, victory is at hand . . . really.

"People hear 'punt' and the first thought is, 'Oh we didn't score.' Or, 'we didn't get a first down,' " said Perez, a senior. "But if you have a punter who can help you in the field-position game, you put the defense on the field where it can create some turnovers or back the other team up and make them punt. The field keeps getting shorter and shorter, and you win."

This is a necessary philosophy for the Bruins this season. With an offense going through on-the-job training and a defense that has a hefty resume from the last two seasons, the best option sometimes is to have Perez give things a swift kick. […]

"It's imperative that we make it a long field," Neuheisel said. "With Aaron Perez and his leg, we can do that. As we grow in terms of our explosiveness and our ability to run the ball, we've got to be mindful of field position. So punting is not a bad thing."

Hopefully that lesson now has been totally planted into everyone’s brain after those 4 interceptions in the first half against Tennessee.

Speaking of ball control, Mark Saxon from the OC Register has a write up on WR Taylor Embree, who has the potential to emerge as the next money receiver in a Bruin uniform. We heard during both spring and fall camp, how Taylor catches everything thrown his way. We saw what that meant during the second half against Tennessee. The offense is going to need Taylor and his team-mates to step up the same way next weekend in Provo and keep racking up first downs so that they can keep the BYU offense off the field.

We will have more on the BYU game. The Cougar fans can keep discussing their team’s rankings after its victory over UCLA, but here on BN we just need to focus on how we can remain competitive against the mighty BYU.

GO BRUINS.