UCLA got some real respect this week in Ted Miller's ESPN Pac-10 blog and the ESPN weekly power ranking.  First from Ted Miller, who has us ranked as the #3 team in the Pac-10:

3. UCLA: So the Bruins handled a Tennessee team out for revenge in workmanlike fashion, and Tennessee pushed a homestanding No. 1 Florida squad that was hungry to embarrass the Vols so hard that most folks are calling it a moral victory. Why isn't anyone saying, "Perhaps we should re-evaluate UCLA?" Or, "Why is a 3-0 UCLA squad that has physically dominated two BCS conference foes still not ranked?" (And who voted for 2-1 Nebraska, which has wins over Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State?)

And over on the ESPN weekly Power Ranking we come in at #26 nationally, with several of the voters having us quite a bit higher with Ted Miller putting us at #21 and Ivan Maisel putting us at #18.  I think #18 might be a little high at the moment, but its nice to see us getting some national attention.  Also, if Saturday was any indication, that already big win over Tennessee might start looking better and better in the coming weeks.  Go Bruins!

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I know that it was discussed in another thread that Prince has a tendency to not always have his mouthpiece in, here is confirmation that that was the case when he got hit on the safety on Saturday.  From ESPN:

Neuheisel said Prince apparently wasn't wearing his mouthpiece, which appeared to be lodged in his facemask, where many players keep the plastic guard between plays. Prince, who was recovering from surgery Monday, might have removed the mouthpiece to yell out the snap count deep in the Neyland Stadium end zone surrounded by screaming Tennessee fans.

Hopefully this will serve as a very painful lesson to the kid that there is a reason why they have that protective gear and he'll be sure to always have it in in the future.

Just wanted to pop by and thank you all for an amazing weekend.  I was lucky enough to make it out to Knoxville this weekend with my brother for the game and it was an experience that I will never forget.  Aside from the results of the game (which I was obviously very pleased with) I have never met a a group of more passionate yet welcoming and friendly fans.  We were blown away by the number of Vols' fans that were stopping us (both before and after the game) to wish us luck, ask questions about our team, welcoming us to Knoxville, and offering to share some beers with us.  Plus, the experience of seeing a game at Neyland was truly like none other.  So thank you very much for the hospitality, I truly wish there was a way that both of our teams could have come away with a win from that one.  I will certainly be rooting for you guys going forward into the future (as long as you're not playing my Bruins of course!)  Best of luck with the rest of the season and beyond!

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Yesterday I was fortunately able to sneak away from the office for about an hour to swing over and catch some of our first practice.  Just had a couple of quick impressions that I thought I would share:

1 - Crissman was taking a few snaps with the 1st team and almost all of the snaps with the 2nd team and looked pretty solid.  It was also nice to see that he has put on some weight.  Last year at this time he looked incredibly scrawny to me, now he actually looks like a college football player.  Prince was taking the rest of the snaps with the 1st/2nd team and his arm looked good, though he made a couple of bad throws (one of which ATV was able to pick off).  Craft and Brehaut were only watching from the sidelines while I was there.

2 - Hasiak and Su'a Filo are as big as advertised and looked perfectly comfortable out there on day one.  Hasiak in particular was blocking Brian Price on his own for one set and handled him (and while admittedly they weren't in pads and hence not going full boar, the fact that one of our true freshman was even able to handle one of the best DT in the country on day one is encouraging.)  There were a number of plays were Hasiak and Su'a Filo were manning the left side with Kai Maiava in the middle and all three looked strong, were getting some push and worked well together as a unit.  I would not be at all surprised if that was 3/5 of our starting line against SDSU.

3 - Morrell Pressly is going to be near impossible to cover.  The match-up problems that he is going to create have already been discussed around here this summer, but its worth noting again.  When he was lining up as a TE he was flat out running by the LBs and when split out the DBs don't have the size to cover him.  He made a couple of great catches where Prince or Crissman just threw the ball up and between his height and his leaping ability the defenders never had a chance at the ball.

4 - Thigpen is really fast.  He was practising as a gunner on punt coverage and was fying down the field.  I didn't get to see Carroll sprinting on any plays, but would love to see a foot race between these two guys.  If they get much playing time this year they should be really exciting to watch.

5 - Lastly, a bunch of us in the stands were having a good laugh at seeing little Papadakis, the ultimate $C homer's younger brother, out there in Bruin blue.  He was getting some work on the punt coverage team.  Should make for some interesting family dinners for the Papadakis clan this fall.

[Apparently Demetrius Papadakis had a rough start carrying the ball. - BN Ed. Photo Credit: E. Corpuz]

I am hoping to get back out to the field this afternoon and have my camera with me this time, will certainly post any pics that I take.  I am so stoked that football has finally arrived!  Go Bruins!

Ryan Moya and Logan Paulson have both been named to the watch list for the 2009 John Mackey award (Best TE).  Only 30 players are named to the list nationally, and it is awesome that both were honored.  Three other Pac-10 TEs were named, Ed Dickson from Orgeon, Gronkowski from Arizona, and Anthony McCoy from USC.  We are the only school with two players named to the list.  Now here is hoping that Prince is able to get the ball to them!  The full list can be found here.