SB Nation User Blog: haywood nighttrain

Looking forward to a loss

haywood nighttrain — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:33:56 -0000

The question of whether it's appropriate or even acceptable to root against the Bruins, knowing that losses will result in coaching change, has risen here on several occasions.

There are plenty who will tell you yes, the short-term pain of losses are worth it in the long term.

And there are plenty of others who feel that, no matter what, you can't root against the Bruins. We bleed blue and gold, after all, and hope that DG and KD supporters will finally come around to realize KD is not a good coach, and will at some point figure out the difference between quality win from a win that we stumble into.

I have trouble contemplating wanting to see a Bruin lose anything, from a football or basketball game right down to the Jeopardy college tournament.

Something about this conflict reminds me of a football season many years ago, probably sometime in the late 80s. The Bruins were done with their season, but U$C had one game remaining that, if they won, would propel UCLA into the Rose Bowl. IIRC, $C was playing UW - if the Huskies were to win they'd go to the Rose Bowl; if they lost, UCLA would go.

Thus, for the week leading up to the game, Bruin fans were put in the strange position of rooting for a trOJan victory. And I was one of them, right up until the kickoff. As soon as the ball was in play, every fiber of my being starting sending vibrations into the ether for $C to lose. I cheered their mistakes, savored the opposing team's success. In the end $C lost, and the Bruins were kept out of the Rose Bowl.

I was still satisfied with the outcome. If we truly deserved to go to the Rose Bowl we should have earned it ourselves, rather than having to back in to it. The simple fact was the Bruins that year did not earn it.

I'm not sure exactly how this analogy goes, but I'm having similar feelings regarding our current situation. Some part of me is hoping for a loss so that KD will be removed, but when gametime comes I can't help but root for the Bruins.

At the same time, I want things to turn out, for lack of a better term, right. We (that's a collective "we") have made decisions (a poor selection of head football coach chief among them) that have led to our current state, and should the Bruins lose I think I can feel satisfied knowing that we didn't earn or deserve the victory. And if a lesson comes along with it (coaching change is needed), then it will not be for nothing.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out how to approach the remaining games, how much emotional investment to make, if I should trash my singing voice because, hey, it's 3rd down and the defense needs us to make noise.

Thanks for time on the couch.

GO BRUINS!

Hollow Victory, Hollow Season

haywood nighttrain — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:55:40 -0000

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS.-N

In every sense. As I read the paper Sunday, and even as I have read through a good deal of what's been posted on this and other threads, all I can think is "Was I watching the same game?"

I'm considered a big optimist by people who are close to me, but geez.

The defense is getting kudos for playing well. Huh? The paper gave them credit for stopping OSU on their first possession, but seem to forget that they found the end zone, only to have the play called back due to a clipping that must have been away from the point of attack 'cause it wasn't on any of the replays. And on the next possession Trey Brown got quite the gift interception when the ball was thrown behind the receiver - well, actually, that was an offensive tackle. The score at the end of the first quarter could have been, should have been, between 20-0 and 28-0. The Bruins were mighty fortunate.

From that point the defense played hard, sure, but that should be the minimum expected from any group - they still were not completely sucessful in stopping what, for all intents, was a one-dimensional OSU offense.

Our offense played poorly pretty much all day long. They were not prepared to play from the get-go. The play calling was gawd-awful - Norvell admitted that the first two plays were simple as simple can be, implying that the fumbles were a result of poor execution. Now in general I don't fault any player unless it's clear he's not executing what the coaches have prepared him to do. But just the fact that the first two plays were, indeed, simple runs up the gut shows the continued attitude of the coaches trying not to lose. They say they want the team to play a full 60 minutes at a high level, but send a completely different message by starting with "simple plays" rather than having your team prepared to do anything in the playbook from the first series onward. It's no wonder the team lacks focus and finds itself sluggish or playing out of hole to start games. I don't blame Bell one bit for either of those fumbles.

Someone here also gave the offense kudos for sticking with the running game. That's just crap. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the sign of a dolt, to paraphrase the saying. I'd have rather seen them mix things up to open up the run. Whatever the numbers say, our offense was horrible for several drives (until midway through the second quarter, our biggest gain was on Bell's eight-yard fumble!), until finally mediocre enough to score on two mid-distance field goals to end the half. The offense then started the second half with a couple more punts, despite outstanding field position, until being able to put together a touchdown drive of five yards. I think it's fair to say our offense would have been reported as completely inept if OSU were not so very weak and could have sustained a drive.

To his credit, Bell persisted and had some very nice runs - indeed, his effort was the only positive thing the offense had going in the first half. And btw, with Markey injuring his toe, why didn't we see Ramirez or Moline? The staff should be trying to find ways to get their athletes on the field. I guess KD forgot they were on the bench.

I've been a big fan of Brandon Breazell's before I ever saw him play a down - he was a skinny freshman at a one-day fan-friendly feel-good mini kid workout day at Spaulding field and his demeanor and attitude were absolutely phenomenal. His play all through this season has me thinking we should be trying to get the ball his way more often. I'm not well versed in Football 101, maybe he's being used as a decoy? - but he only had two catches (both TDs), did they throw the ball his way more than that?

Special teams play was fine - no big mistakes or lapses. But on a day when neither team could move the ball, they had a huge advantage in that OSU had neither a true punter nor their best punt returner. The fumbles on the kickoffs were gifts.

Olson showed some mettle by the 4th quarter, and the second TD to Breazell was a great play at both ends. Breazell's first score was a well-executed, momentum-changing play. Other than that, the guys showed persistence and effort, but were wholly unsuccessful despite having tremendous field position.

I'm failing to find any silver lining based on any phase of that horrible game Saturday, a game in which neither team deserved to win.

Worse yet, based on a few player comments I read, it seems some players have the misguided sense that the way they played Saturday against OSU represents the kind of effort they need to display as the season progresses.

I gave KD the benefit of the doubt for 3-plus seasons, hoping to see him improve and grow into the position, all the way until the South Bend collapse last year when it became clear that the program's problems ALL stemmed from his leadership and that he had hit his plateau well short of being an adequate football coach at the college level. Not everything he does is wrong or poor, but everything that is wrong or poor, at least to my eyes, is due to the collective character and attitude of the team; and that is dictated by the head coach.

We're 4-1. I had a similar hollow feeling after the win over Stanford, despite what was reported as a great second half - I saw it as a respectable half, maybe something to work from, but nothing more. Even that seemed to go away after seeing them eke out a win over BYU. The next week was a bye week (right?), and the win over UW wasn't so impressive either - their defense was overwhelmed, and they really only had one excellent athlete trying to will them to a win (and after what happened in Seattle this week, it could very well be that they were looking past us).

How can a 4-1 season be so ungratifying? Despite that record, who could be happy with this season?

Someone has posted that BN wants UCLA to be winning games, playing for national championships, etc., that's not me. Maybe 40 is old, and maybe I worship Coach Wooden too much, maybe I settle for too little; but there is no satisfaction in watching a group rarely perform at their best, show no consistency, not show poise or display self-control (why do players on our defense mug for the crowd like they've never made a play before?).

I want to see a team that executes with confidence and enthusiasm, and consistently plays to their capabilities. I'd rather not have to wait until basketball season to see such a team. Wins, and conference and national championships, may follow, but are secondary to me.

I'm sure there are a lot of teams that would love to be 4-1 at this point, but something has sucked all the fun out of being a Bruin fan, even here in the middle of a winning season.

How can this not be Dorrell's farewell season?

From a Dorrell supporter

haywood nighttrain — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:15:04 -0000

Bumped. We all appreciate these kinds of posts where Bruins (who I will not confuse with certain Dorrell cultists) are manning up and making this an unified Bruin Nation. We need everyone's voice at this point to make our chorus for change in Westwood louder and stronger. GO BRUINS. -N

[My first post here - I apologize in advance for the length and thank you all for the bandwidth.]

A few years ago I went to an event where Dan Guerrero was present (being honored for being named by SI as one of the most influential minorities in sports, iirc) and without going into details found myself sitting next to him after dinner at a table with a bunch of ladies, i.e., I basically had a one-hour one-on-one conversation with him. This was shortly after he had fired/hired coaches for our two biggest programs (football and basketball) and we spoke mainly about basketball, Coach Howland, and of course Coach Wooden.

With respect to hiring Coach Dorrell, Mr. Guerrero was very pleased with the selection - he needed a class individual to get control of the program, didn't have the salary to offer to a truly 1st-tier coach, and felt fortunate to hire not only a former Bruin from a successful era but also a person of color that would highlight the (then anyway) very diverse nature of our university. And I don't think anyone can deny Coach Dorrell brought the program under his control and has presented a positive face for the program. Mr. Geurrero was under no delusions that Coach Dorrell wasn't in over his head from the get-go, but felt he could do a solid job recruiting and was very hopeful that he would grow into a first class (in the tactical sense) head football coach.

With the realities that were present at the time, hiring Coach Dorrell was a solid decision. Deferring to our AD's insight, I understood that patience in Coach Dorrell was necessary. I had no tolerance for Linda Lavin's tenure as head basketball coach (I thought he was likely one of the best coaches in America - had he been an assistant) but I could give Dorrell time.

As we stand five years later, it is clear that Coach Dorrell has not grown into an effective head coach as most in the program had hoped. In my eyes, I allowed for him to learn on the job, every year hoping that he would grow into the job. And every year something would happen during football season that would make me look forward to basketball season. To say that Coach Dorrell did not make progress would be inaccurate; but it simply has not been nearly enough, not by a longshot.

I ran out of faith last year in South Bend. Ultimately, the philosophy of "bend/don't break" and "playing not to lose" (vs playing to win) are Coach Dorrell's undoing. The contrast was so damn plain as day at the end of the half last Dec 2nd, when UCLA had the ball near mid-field with about a minute and a half left, and Coach Dorrell was trying to run out the clock to go into the locker room DOWN rather that going for a score. WTF? The coach on the other sideline was calling timeouts, trying to get the ball back with any time left on the clock, even knowing that he would not have good field position. As y'all will recall, a pass to a tight end - and his ability to break a tackle to pick up first down yardage - allowed Dorrell to run out the first-half clock. Some measure of success, eh?

This type of attitude permeates our football team. Dorrell's incarnation of the "West Coast Offense" seems to be to try not to make mistakes. So many short passes without a chance for real success unless players can somehow break numerous tackles - how many times must we witness completed passes on third downs that still result in punts? I think I can speak for all Bruins in saying that I'd rather see my team lose while giving it their all, rather than luck into wins while playing it safe.

Our last game was particluarly pathetic. The defense seemed quick as would be needed but always chasing air, running the wrong way. Confusion seemed to be the norm on offense. Their QB had plenty of time to throw, ours never enough. For some reason the coaches decided to try to establish the running game once we were down by three touchdowns. And once the game was truly out of reach they left in key players, which for many reasons (risk of injury, gaining experience for others - why did Dorrell travel with so many players anyway?, sending a message to the starters,) was just poor.

When our team has had success it appears to have been in spite of the coaches. The highlights of the Dorrell era for me will be the comeback win against Cal two seasons ago and the 13-9 win last December. Plus any inspired performances that may come this season, although at this point that's tough to foresee.

I believed what was being written in the papers before the season began, hoped our high ranking might be justified, and was looking forward to a great year. But the Stanford win did not look nearly as good as the scoreboard indicated, and the BYU win was strategically very ugly. We were soooo set up for a big fall.

I will still be at the Rose Bowl for every game, and will be hoarse every Sunday this fall (yes, I yell at the TV, too). And I hope our kids can overcome this staff and win every upcoming game (although as a realist I can't see that happening).

I thought the win over 'SC was going to buy Coach Dorrell two more seasons in Westwood, and I really hoped that he would somehow change his approach. But this tiger's stripes have not changed and apparently cannot, and I now have no doubt that this will be Coach Dorrell's final season as Bruin head football coach.

I appreciate the opportunity to vent.

GO BRUINS!