SB Nation - Dominique Johnson

Spaulding Roundup: Josh Smith Coming To UCLA & Other Football Notes

Nestor — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:12:38 -0000

Of course we are talking about football (not that Josh Smith). And it looks like big news for Coach Neuheisel and UCLA football program as the Bruins per Dohn are about to nab one of the better playmakers in college football. Former Colorado WR is heading to UCLA:

UCLA is getting a deep-threat receiver and a proven kick returner in former Moorpark High star Josh Smith, who will complete a transfer from Colorado to UCLA by the end of the summer, according to sources.

Smith left Colorado in the spring, in part because he wanted to pursue a degree in music, and Colorado does not offer one. Under NCAA transfer rules, Smith will sit out the 2009 season and be eligible for the 2010 season.

According to sources, Smith will enroll at UCLA in September and redshirt. He will have two years of eligibility remaining when he returns to the field. The only hang- up would be an unforeseen issue with his transcripts, sources said.

Roundup From BN Walk: UCLA Football/Futbol News & Notes

Nestor — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:21:57 -0000

Let's start our walk on a Humpday with some football news and notes. If you have not done yet make sure you are checking out "Upgrade or Downgrade?" segment (inspired by Jake over at Building the Dam), captainqtp have been putting up in the fanposts. So far captainqtp has gone over the postions of SS, CB and DT with more to come. If you have specific feedback in those threads, fire away now because it will be helpful to everyone in the community getting ready for the football season.

Speaking of feedback, I don't spend any time playing video games any more but I can totally appreciate the excitement/obsession around the release of EA Sports NCAA Football 2010. The folks at EA Sports take all of this pretty seriously as they had released their "first look" back in February. Here is the trailer if you haven't seen it:

NCAA Football 2010 [OFFICAL] Trailer (via JustWatch312)

More info over here which includes FAQs, "passing tops," "community playdate" and information on how to use the roster.

As I mentioned above, I have not spent a lot of time on video game in recent years but from what I have read, I have heard of negative feedback re. the UCLA roster as it shows Craft as the starter, includes players who have transferred out of the program (such as Dean, Carter and Johnson), doesn't include recruits such as Sua' Filo, and doesn't include Kevin Prince (again please let me know if my info. is wrong and post in the comments). If you guys have more thoughts of course this would be the place to share it. FWIW, the video still gets me fired up for the season. More notes after the jump

Staying football, looking way ahead there has been some excitement around the UCLA-Rutgers series. From Mark Hasty at NCAA Football Fanhouse giving both schools credit for scheduling this game:

These two schools deserve more credit than they're getting. They deserve praise because this game isn't an automatic victory for either school. Let's face it, non-conference scheduling has become a joke. Teams which aspire to the BCS games routinely refuse to play anybody with a pulse unless tradition forces them to. Instead, the month of September is filled with the likes of David at Goliath, Fire Hydrant at Large Dog, and Movable Object at Irresistible Force. [...]

Look, fan, you're in this for one reason and one reason only: entertainment. If you're not playing or coaching, that's all college football is good for, as far as you're concerned. Maybe you're entertained by a game that's 56-0 at halftime. If you are, please do me one favor: Go dip yourself in honey, then roll around on a hill of fire ants until you change your mind.

The rest of us want to see a game that actually catches and holds our attention. Kudos to Rutgers and UCLA for agreeing to provide games whose outcomes aren't foregone conclusions. (No need to bring up Appalachian State. I've heard of that game.)

Well UCLA has never been shy of scheduling difficult/unpredictable games. Trip to Rutgers should be a lot of fun and exciting for thousands of alums who live around the 1-95 corridor up and down the Eastern seaboard. Speaking of Rutgers, if you don't think they are serious about football, here is a recent update from the NY Times re. their effort to improve their facilities:

Rutgers will build a deluxe football recruiting lounge with a $5 million donation from private benefactors, an amenity that had been trimmed from the university’s stadium expansion plans after it scaled back the project because of concerns over financing.

The plans, approved by the Board of Governors at its meeting Tuesday, call for construction of a 7,600-square-foot lounge that will seat 300 at the south end zone of the renovated Rutgers Stadium. One of the donors is Greg Brown, the president and a co-chief executive of Motorola and a 1982 Rutgers graduate. The other donor wished to remain anonymous, university officials said.

Always interesting how success spurs fundraising and excitment around a program. Gives something to think about if Neuheisel is able turn around our program in next 2-3 years.

Lastly, let's end the walk on futbol notes. Per, What's Bruin Blog, UCLA alumni Patrick Ianni and Chad Barrett are both up for Major League Soccer's Goal of the Week. Ianni scored the game-winning goal for Seattle on a spectacular bicycle kick. Take a look:

Patrick Ianni gives SSFC a 2-1 lead over Houston (via sseatlefan)

Don't have a video for Barrett, who scored his first of two goals for Toronto after sneaking into the box to receive an over-the-head pass from a teammate. Don't feel too bad for him not having a video though. He was named Major League Soccer's Player of the Week. Congrats to both Patrick and Chad.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Roster Management & Other Football News/Notes

Nestor — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:00:35 -0000

I am still slowly working my way back from a long vacation. Looks like during last few days a number of football related notes (besides Fauria's transfer and E.J.'s desire to be a Trojie) trickled out of Westwood. So let's try to rest and try to put them all together in one place.

In addition to E.J.s departure, UCLA also said goodbye to Shannon Tevaga(HT to thisismitchell). Tevaga had to leave the program due to academic issues:

On a day former UCLA safety E.J. Woods said he finalized plans to transfer to Santa Monica College, the attrition continued with offensive lineman Sonny Tevaga leaving the program for what sources said were academic issues.

Tevaga, who started three games last season, is enrolled in UCLA's summer school, but he will not return to the Bruins even if his academic troubles are resolved, sources added.

Instead, Tevaga will explore a transfer to another school. He is the sixth UCLA player to leave the program since spring ball concluded.

Well the problem with Tevaga was that there has always been questions regarding his total commitment to play football at UCLA. This is something he has had issues with dating back to last November and he was still struggling to get into the right midset this past spring. So it's not a total surprise that it never worked out for him him. Hopefully wherever he ends up he finds a right fit that will fit his abilities both in the classroom and on the football field.

As Dohn noted Tevaga became the 6th player to leave the progam since spring ball (following Dean, Carter, Forcier, Johnson and Woods). This kind of attrition however is not really something negative for the program. Remember at the end of the spring UCLA was about 5 or 6 players over the allotted 85 scholarship limit. Because of their departures room opened up for a kid like Joseph Fauria and it looks like coaches will also try to hold a spot open for Josh Smith from Colorado.

Note that we still have some ways to go before our personnel issues are all sorted out. From the incoming class three players - Taniela Maka, Nike Abele and Eddie Williams - still have some work to do to become academically eligible for UCLA (remember unlike U$C* those issues don't get magically "resolved" at UCLA). So after all is said and done UCLA could be around the 81/82 mark in terms of total scholarship players, which would give the coaches lot more room to maneuver with regards to the class of 2010.

Moving on to other football related notes, congrats to Christian Yount for being named to the Playboy All America team. He became the first ever long-snapper to get selected for that team:

Meanwhile, Christian's teammate ATV has put up his second blogpost from this summer:

This past week has been a bit slower than the week before. My Romanian class has gotten a bit harder. We are now getting into conjugations of verbs, definite articles, and masculine/feminine forms of nouns, all of which can be very tricky! I scored another 10 on a quiz so I am starting to get the hang of it. The hours are long, but we are making a lot of progress in the class. However, speaking the language is a totally different challenge. It's hard for me to get that "r" sound just right, but the teacher is working with me.

Football workouts have been stepped up this week. The intensity in the weight room has been pushed way up and the conditioning drills are also at a high level. The defensive backs and every other position have been competing to be the best at each of the drills. A special "shout out" goes to fellow defensive back Courtney Viney, who works out with me at six o'clock each morning. He has been trying to make me better by challenging me in every obstacle, but I do the same to him. We had a couple of people plateau already this summer and that gets me fired up to get there as well.

Learning Romanian sounds just a tad bit more difficult than cruising through Senora Ross's class. No?

Lastly, ATV is not the only UCLA football player who is having fun writing this summer. Tobi Umodu has his own writeup of Bruin football players' summer workouts in his weekly "Keeping it Bruin":

Last season the offense took a lot of criticism for most of the problems the Bruins had, but this summer the offense has worked as hard as they can to change that. Recently named starting quarterback Kevin Prince has taken a strong leadership role among the offensive players and seems to be handling his new responsibilities with a lot of poise and capability.

There is nothing easy about getting up early morning to workout and run until your legs just will not carry you anymore, and then have to head off to class right after, but the members of the UCLA football team do not feel that way. They know how much work it will take to change the Bruin football program around and they are not afraid to do it.

You can read rest of Tobi's writeup here.

I always love reading this kind of reports on off season workouts. My issue with them though is its something we read every off season from every team. So you have to take them with a grain of salt. Still though I think for the first time in years, there is certain amount of optimism around our program given the way our coaches have been managing the program. As we had said over and over again, if they can build on the recruiting successes of past two years and put together a bowl season (6 or 7 regular season wins), that will make all all the hard work these kids are putting through this off-season worth it. It will allow the program to continue to move towards the right direction for the first time since December 5, 1998 (Melsby was down).

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Another Recruit Commits & Transfer Notes

Nestor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:42:25 -0000

Some quick football related news and notes from the football front. Looks like Rick Neuheisel has picked up his second commitment in this recruiting season:

Fresno (Calif.) Edison defensive back Tevin McDonald verbally committed to UCLA on Thursday, just days after receiving a scholarship offer from the Bruins as a result of a very good performance at UCLA's One-Day Camp.

Go here to read up the scouting report on Tevin. Here is the thing. McDonald has Trojan bloodlines. His Dad Tim McDonald was an All American at U$C*.

The McDonald family from Fresno is going to have an interesting time during the UCLA-USC football game in 2010 now that cornerback Tevin McDonald from Fresno Edison has committed to the Bruins. His older brother, T.J., will be a freshman defensive back at USC this fall. And his father is former Trojan Tim McDonald.

"It is crazy that I am the only Bruin in the family and I was the last boy, but that's how it has to be and I'm ready to take that challenge in," Tevin McDonald tolds Rivals.com.

He was a great defensive back for the Niners that played a huge part in the 1995 Super Bowl championship season. Perhaps it's appropriate. The two Trojans I have ever rooted for - Lott and McDonald - they both will have sons going to UCLA (although Tevin's older brother TJ signed with U$C* this February.

Edison is turning out to be a pretty good pipeline for UCLA. Currently we have Courtney Viney on the team who is an Edison alum. Also the school sent players like Ricky Manning and Brandon Breazell to the program. Not bad. So once again welcome to Westwood Tevin.

Meanwhile, while we are excited about Tevin join the Bruin family, other players who have made decisions to transfer out this off season are finding places to land. Raymond Carter is headed over to Colorado State and Dominque Johnson is headed over to Cal Poly SLO. Per Dominque he transferred primarily for family reasons:

Former UCLA receiver Dominique Johnson, who is from Moreno Valley, said family issues were the driving force behind his transfer to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His family will re-locate to the SLO area.
If there wasn't such issues?
"I think there was a strong possibility I would have stayed,'' Johnson said.

Best of luck to both of them. Lastly, speaking of transfer note the Brandon Warner saga continues to remain bizarre. He is apparently now heading to New Mexico State and said the following to Dohn:

"I am going to head to New Mexico State,'' Warner said. "Right now, me and UCLA were having problems. I am on my way to call (Bruins coach Rick) Neuheisel today."
As a side note, Warner said he is fully qualified, meaning he would be eligible to play at UCLA.

(Editor's note: Sources told me that Warner was told if he received his A.A. degree and was NCAA qualified, UCLA's admissions said they would admit him to school.)

I am sorry but there just way too many gaps in Brandon's story. I just don't think we can really go by with his statements suddenly turning on UCLA after all these weeks of saying how committed he was to joining the program. Given what we have seen from Neuheisel to date, it would be laugable for anyone to claim that he wasn't attentive to any concerns he might have presented before. One thing we have seen from Neuhisel that is pretty clear from last two years: he pays attention to all details when it comes to recruiting. I find it amusing that it took him months to get this transcript situation all figured out for UCLA, yet it took him just days to get all signed up with New Mexico State.

Something is really missing from this story and I am not going to go with the version we are hearing from Warner. Whatever. Time to move. Wish him luck in New Mexico. For us, we have a football program that needs to be focused on rebuilding brick by brick, and less drama there is around it, the better.

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: Working To Get A "W"

Nestor — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:00:06 -0000

We have talked about how BYU and UCLA are very familiar with each other’s schemes given the two matchups from last season (here and here). DeWayne Walker hit the same themes yesterday and emphasized the need for putting in some new wrinkles in the defensive game plan (and adjusting to different looks he may being seeing from the BYU side). From Chris Foster in the LA Times:

"We're getting down to the bare minimum on schemes," he said. "It will be an interesting game in terms of the chess match. I'm sure they are going to look at the things we did well against them, just like we've looked at what they did well to see if we can eliminate it."

The main problem the Bruins have faced against Brigham Young is quarterback Max Hall, who completed 51 of 87 passes for 622 yards and four touchdowns in the two games last season. Hall nearly rallied the Cougars from a 20-0 deficit in the regular-season game, getting them within a field goal before losing, 27-17.

The Bruins did a better job on Hall in the second game, holding him to 231 yards passing by using more blitzes and man-to-man coverage.

"I'm sure they are going to have some wrinkles for us and we may have a few for them," Walker said. "The bottom line is going to be who can adjust the quickest once we find out each other's wrinkles."

The Bruins did have success in both games against the run. BYU had 44 yards rushing in the first game and 34 yards in the Las Vegas Bowl.

"I just don't think you can sit back and defend these guys," Walker said.

Walker probably caught the Washington game from this past weekend when the Husky defense mostly sat back and let Max Hall methodically shred them for the whole afternoon. If the Bruins want to stay competitive in Provo they will need to bring pressure from somewhere not allowing Hall to get in any kind of rhythm.

Meanwhile, over on the offensive side coaches are continuing with their tinkering of the OL:

The tinkering continued with UCLA's offensive line as left guard Darius Savage practiced with the first team and Scott Glicksberg, who started against Tennessee, was with the second unit.

Overall, it was not a stellar practice for the offensive line.

"They weren't terrific (Monday), but I just believe in them," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "They just have to understand that they are not at a place with the luxury of taking a day off. They have to continue to fight, scratch, claw to get better."

Hopefully the OL can build on its performance from Saturday. While their pass protection was adequate, obviously they have no where to go but up in terms of getting the running game going. I think the issues facing the OL are probably correctable. So hopefully the continued tinkering by the coaches will show some dividends against the Cougars this weekend.

At least the one thing players are feeling good about their offense is the calm and poise of our young quarterback:

UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft won more than just a football game last week against Tennessee. He won over his teammates.

“We know we have a guy out there who's going to compete until the last horn,” receiver Dominique Johnson said. “It does a lot for our confidence. We're not worried about it. Confidence is not a factor for us anymore. We know it's there and we all believe Kevin is the leader of this team.”

Kevin is coming along thanks to the coaching of Norm Chow, who coached at BYU for 27 seasons:

Chow, UCLA's offensive coordinator, will return to BYU this weekend when he guides UCLA's offense against the 18th-ranked Cougars. Chow worked on BYU's staff from 1973 to 1999 and during that time helped direct some of college football's most prolific offenses.

But following Monday's practice, Chow was curt when asked about returning to BYU for the second time. He did so once as an assistant at USC.

"There is nothing to it," Chow said. "It's been such a long time that there is a lot of water under that bridge. It's another game, it really is. I don't want nothing more than that."

Chow left BYU for North Carolina State before going on to USC and the Tennessee Titans before coming to Westwood this season. He is one of two UCLA coaches who will be making a return to Provo. UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker coached at BYU in 1994, working alongside Chow.

"Norm is a poker player," Walker said. "He is not going to give in to his true feelings, but I am sure it's going to be rewarding for him to go back into that stadium. I think it's going to be a warm moment for him, but he is like me and wants to go in there and get a 'W.'

"Norm has a lot of respect for that program and I know going back it's going to be special for him. He knows he is a ball coach and he is coaching for UCLA now."

As mentioned above, Walker like Chow also spent time in Provo as an assistant coach. Couple that with his experiences from last season, he knows that program’s past and present as well as anyone at Spaulding. So it’s no surprise when CRN mentioned yesterday that he is going to have Walker address the team about playing BYU on Thursday. These coaches are doing everything they can to get that “W.”

GO BRUINS.