SB Nation User Blog: CAJason80

Video: Heavy snow hits England | UK news | guardian.co.uk

CAJason80 — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:58:38 -0000

Video: Heavy snow hits England | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Somewhat unrelated; I have a number of business partners and friends in London. I'm sure many of you may have heard of the snow throughout England overnight.

Go to about the 1:00 mark of this video....even in London, you can't escape UCLA. And apparently the old adage about SoCal drivers having no idea how to drive in winter weather holds true, I guess.

Dorrell Football: 4 Times More Likely to Suffer a Blowout Loss

CAJason80 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:29:57 -0000

Bumped. Just the facts. GO BRUINS. -N

I cross posted this at my blog as well, but wanted to share this with you.

After Saturday's debacle, I did a little digging around on the level of sucktitude that UCLA football has been dragged through over the past five years. We all know about the painful losses, the terrible record against ranked opponenets and on the road, but I wanted to take a look at how much more often UCLA has been blown out in the Dorrell era compared to seasons past. I went back to what individuals generally regard as the beginning of the modern era for UCLA football, which begins with the Red Sanders era.

I defined a blowout loss as any loss in which UCLA lost by more than 30 points.

The results are not pretty.

Anything look out of whack there? It's simple math: since Dorrell has taken over, UCLA is essentially four times more likely to suffer a blowout loss than previously.

Prior to Dorrell's arrival, UCLA suffered a 30+ point loss once every four years when extrapolated across a 12-game season (13 total blowout losses in 585 total games, or 2.22% of the time).

Since Dorrell has arrived, UCLA has suffered four 30+ blowout losses, which averages out to once every year (4 total blowout losses in 53 total games, or 7.55% of the time).

Pac-10 Coaches - 2007 South Park

CAJason80 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:07:02 -0000

I noticed there appeared to be a void in the many updated coaches as South Park entries for 2007 - the SEC one was hilarious (the shot of Nick Saban really is priceless). But alas, there was no Pac-10 version for 2007! So, that said, I decided to remedy that. I couldn't really pass up the opportunity to poke some more fun at Pete Carroll, and hell, Dennis Erickson is a waiting mine-field of comedic joy. He's almost as vulnerable as Saban - not quite, though.

At any rate, here are your 2007 Pac-10 conference coaches. Cross-posted from my own blog, but figured I'd share with you guys over here. Karl of course retains his handy playbook - no doubt to easily refer to the run, run, pass combinations he and Norvell will through at defenses this year. And of course, Pete Carroll is just so happy to be watched on high by a chorus of angels. He'll get through thanking them, just as soon as he gets back from skateboarding and body-surfing in Hermosa Beach. He has to work on his tan, after all.

And Jim Harbuagh really likes his whip. He plans on using it on his offensive line after they fold under defensive pressure. And then everyone will run wind sprints. Five times. In the sun.

Mike Stoops just wants another beer.

What Next?

CAJason80 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:04:36 -0000

The not-so-obvious question after last Saturday's amazing win against USC is simple: Uh, so, now what?

The conventional wisom is that the USC win saved Karl Dorrell's job. That much seems obvious enough. With respect to thoughts otherwise here, I don't think even with a loss to Florida State that Dorrell loses his job. Now, there's no way UCLA should lose that game. FSU's offense is terrible, run by an even worse Offensive Coordinator than Jim Svoboda.

That said, changes need to be made on the UCLA coaching staff, and I don't doubt that they will. So what are the options?

First, Dan Guerrero had to go out of his way and issue a denial to the rumor that Steve Mariucci was contacted by UCLA prior to the USC game. That's good news for two reasons: first, it shows that Guerrero is actually interested in building a winning football program. Good. Secondly, that the Morgan Center was interested in talking to Mariucci (if that is indeed the case) shows that there is money there to invest in a head coach.

OK, good news.

So, let's naturally assume that Dorrell's job is safe this year. Let's review.

Jim Svoboda: Offensive Coordinator, 1st year. I think after this year, it has become fairly obvious that Svoboda is a good quaterbacks coach and a not-so-good offenseive coordinator. The job that Svoboda has done this year with Cowan is admirable. Cowan is not that most athetically gifted quaterback. He floats balls. He doesn't have anything that one could remotely call a 'deep ball'. He can run, though, and Svoboda designed enough schemes to exploit those strengths.

Let's look at the numbers:

2005 Pass Offense: 23rd
2006 Pass Offense: 61st

2005 Rushing Offense: 45th
2006 Rushing Offense: 74th

2005 Total Offense: 23rd
2006 Total Offense: 76th

The greatest weakness of this year's offense was the running game. And of course, offense starts and ends with the running game. Chris Markey is no Mo Drew. That said, Markey didn't seem to have a lot of help in the play-calling department this year. Chris Markey is not a good straight ahead runner - yet, for some reason, that's all we seemed to do with him. Sweeps and misdirections were almost afterthoughts for Svoboda. That needs to change - and whether that means Dorrell handles more play-calling duties or find someone else, the focus needs to be on the running game.

Dino Babers: Running Backs, 1st year: I also think some of the blame for the lack of a running game this year falls with Babers. Babers, prior to his experience as a running backs coach at UCLA, coached the...wide receivers. The only running backs coaching exeprience Babers had prior to his assumption of the duties at UCLA last year was at Arizona (1997), UNLV (1988-1989), and Eastern Illinois (1987).

Babers did serve as offensive coordinator at Arizona from 1998-2000, where the offense did put up some pretty impressive numbers. That said, the running backs clearly took a step backward at UCLA this year. Whether that falls to Svoboda or Babers is a bit open for debate, but clearly, Markey did not look very strong this year. In addition, Kahlil Bell looked like he severely regressed this year. I remember watching him last year and thinking he could be pretty good. He utlimately ended up the 3rd string tailback. Not good.

Jim Colletto: Offensive Line, 1st year. I also have my reservations about Colletto. Despite his pedigree as being able to develop a running-focused offenseive line, this year's offensive line looked anything but like a running-based offensive line. Pass protection was usually adequate (although one could argue a lot of this had to do with the scrambling ability of Cowan that developed later in the season). Run blocking was OK at best, abysmal at worst. I've also not been a fan of Coletto's recent jobs. He took an aboslutely amazing talent in Robert Gallery in Oakland and made him looked confused, lost, and slow.

DeWayne Walker: Defensive Coordinator, 1st year. Uh, yeah. Where to start. Uhm, this guy is good. Really, really good. Let's start woith the hard data:

2005 Total Run Defense: 116th
2006 Total Run Defense: 12th

2005 Total Pass Defense: 77th
2006 Total Pass Defense: 83rd

2005 Total Defense: 113th
2006 Total Defense: 33rd

First, the obvious questions are, what does this say about the team? Most of us recognized that the secondary at UCLA is still a weakness. Verner, as a true freshman, was the best cornerback on the team. There's obviously a bit of a talent gap there. The good news is that Walker's experience rests mainly with the secondary. He should be able to make improvements there, particularly as it relates to recruiting.

In addition, with almost exactly the same defensive line as last year, Walker was able to turn the tables completely around in the rushing game. This should always be your goal as a defensive coordinator: stop the run. And we went from second-worst in the D1 nation to 12th. That's un-freakin'-believable. It's also not surprising that pass defense would deteriorate a bit if your run defense is that good.

Of course, the obvious is question is: OK, that's all well and good, but what do you do?

Here's what I would do:

Svoboda: If I had a choice, I would demote Svoboda back to quarterbacks coach and bring in someone else to control the offense. That's probably not a viable option, though. Svoboda would need to go instead of being demoted. So, I'd part ways with Svoboda and bring in....wait for it....Dirk Koetter. Koetter is a terrible head coach but a good offensive mind. He's also looking for a job, in case you haven't heard.

Babers: I'd give Babers another year to see how the running backs respond. I'd pay particular attention to the development of Bell and Markey next year. If they don't progress, it would be time to move on.

Colletto: I'd get rid of Colletto. He hasn't been good since the turn of the century, and his blocking schemes are confusing, especially for college kids. Not sure who I'd bring in to replace him, but I'm sure there are some capable offensive line coaches with more extensive college experience than Colletto.

Walker: First, I'd hug him. Then I'd give him a nice raise and hope he sticks around for a couple of more years. He will not be here long if he does not get a head-coaching job at UCLA, and there's really not much we can do about that.

Luke Winn is a 9 year-old moron

CAJason80 — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:39:12 -0000

So I was over at SI's page today, begrudginly reviewing their Power Rankings for college basketball, and came upon this gem from Luke Winn:

Forgive me if I'm already thinking about next year in L.A. college hoops. Not that the scene right now is lacking; it's just a little imbalanced, what with the Bruins in the top five and USC in the middle of the Pac-10. The 2007-08, season, however, is going to serve as a showcase for arguably the nation's two best freshmen. Oregon-bred big man Kevin Love, whom coach Ben Howland called "the best outlet passer I've seen at any level since Bill Walton," will be starting in Westwood -- and No. 1 overall prospect O.J. Mayo, a combo guard who's the latest in the LeBron-Oden line of super-hyped prospects, will be playing for the Trojans. Mayo advisor Rodney Guillory told the L.A. Times, "He wanted to ink himself as the individual that changed USC basketball forever, like Patrick Ewing at Georgetown or Sean Elliott at Arizona."

Uh, what the hell? You rank UCLA #3 and you spend HALF THE FREAKIN' ARTICLE TALKING UP USC BASKETBALL?! What the hell is wrong with you? If you're going to spend some time talking down UCLA basketball, at least do it with something related to this year, like our shaky 3-pt defense, or our struggles at the free-throw line.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, at least come in with something that applies at least a little bit. Talking about how next year's going to be great for USC while ostensibly supposed to be doing some critiquing/analysis of UCLA basketball is not only asinine, it's damn insulting.

And comparing USC to UCLA in terms of basketball just makes my skin want to crawl. USC hasn't done jack in basketball yet and already Winnie's on their jock. Imagine if they happen to win something like 10 games next year.

Ugh.

The Daily Bruin finally employs someone with eyeballs....

CAJason80 — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:49:31 -0000

I checked up on the campus rag this AM to see if they had anything positive to say about the weekend...I was expecting something along the lines of:

"Yes, we lost, but the weather sure was great! And if the game had been 59 minutes long, we would have won! Yay UCLA!"

Instead, I actually encountered what I could only describe as reality:

The UCLA defense played one of the most inspired games I've ever seen a defense play. It made a Notre Dame offense loaded with weapons look like a flustered high school team.

And Pat Cowan - making his second career start in one of the most pressured situations conceivable - played like a warrior, making big play after big play when the Bruins needed them most.

And for 57 minutes and 40 seconds, Karl Dorrell and the UCLA coaching staff called a great game, putting their players in a position to win a game that nobody gave them a chance to win.

But what happened in the last two minutes and 20 seconds was gut-wrenching, painful and, above all, irritating.

After 57 minutes and 40 seconds of being smart, the UCLA coaching staff decided to sacrifice smart for 'safe.' The coaches decided that rather than try to win the game, they would try not to lose it.

Wow. Reality has finally set in, I guess. I'd disagree a little bit with Cowan making big play after big play. Cowan had a couple of shots to make some plays on the outside in single coverage, and didn't convert. He played well, but I wouldn't exactly say he made play after play.

Pac-10 Coaches

CAJason80 — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:48:01 -0000

Bumped - Nestor

HT to Burnt Orange Nation for the idea.

Arizona State Debacle

CAJason80 — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:15:40 -0000

From the 'keeping your friends close and your enemies closer' department, there's been quite a lot of noise coming out of Tempe this weekend. On Friday, Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter named senior Sam Keller the starting quarterback. Then, uh, some things changed. Following a bit of soul searching on Saturday, Koetter changed his mind and named sophmore Rudy Carpenter the starter.

From ESPN:

"It's simple. I made a mistake on the quarterback situation and I'm changing my mind," Koetter said after Sunday's workout. "We're going to start Rudy Carpenter. I've excused Sam Keller from practice to consider his options."

Koetter said he couldn't sleep on Friday after naming Keller the starter. He said he then sought out advice from his athletic director, coaching staff, senior players and "unity group" on Saturday.

Obviously, this throws a whole load of monkey wrenches into Arizona State's offseason planning. I don't think Koetter could have handled this situation any more poorly. It'll be interesting to see how ASU performs this year, especially given the fact that many pundits were naming ASU as the darkhorse in the Pac-10.

That said, this provides an excellent opportunity for UCLA to capitalize should ASU stumble out of the gate. Our showdown with ASU isn't until two weeks before the USC game, but should ASU struggle this year, that stretch in November wouldn't be nearly as daunting as it looks right now.