SB Nation User Blog: jlegs

OT: BC signs new deal with Under Armour

jlegs — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:03:27 -0000

OT: BC signs new deal with Under Armour

What's interesting here is that their former supplier was Reebok, which is owned by Adidas. Taking a look at their football unis next year, it looks pretty classy and simple (same thing with Auburn, another UA-supplied team). Something to think about if UCLA does move away from Adidas.

NCAA continues to strike down David, not Goliath

jlegs — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:36:04 -0000

NCAA continues to strike down David, not Goliath

Came across this while on Deadspin...makes you wonder what the heck is going on with the NCAA and $C. Sigh.

...and this is Lane Kiffin's idea of a poster photo shoot at Tennessee. LOL.

jlegs — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:58:15 -0000

...and this is Lane Kiffin's idea of a poster photo shoot at Tennessee. LOL.

Anyone can have a lean decade. The Bruins have tradition, They have a smarter, wiser Rick...

jlegs — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:36:20 -0000

Anyone can have a lean decade. The Bruins have tradition, They have a smarter, wiser Rick Neuheisel, the first UCLA coach to make Pete Carroll work harder in Los Angeles recruiting in the USC coach's nine years. The Bruins have a solid, veteran coaching staff and nowhere to go but up. And, seriously, we're going to have 40 teams and not have the Rose Bowl's home team?

Ivan Maisel, selecting UCLA as the 30th pick in WWL's "College Football Mock Draft".

NCAA Football 10 UCLA Season Simulation: Tennessee

jlegs — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:07:36 -0000

Bumped. So much for fun than reading boilerplate game previews in preseason rags. GO BRUINS. -N

This is the second in a series of posts that will follow how I play through our upcoming season schedule in NCAA Football 10's Dynasty Mode, where one can recruit and play through numerous seasons and years in an effort to build a "dynasty", or at least a recognized program, at your selected school. I'll provide a recap of the game, what to expect from the video game version of our opponent (which may or may not serve as useful scouting tool), and a breakdown of a key play or two with pictures and video. The AI difficulty is set at a higher level than the game's default, which is more representative of real-life play.

Coming off a last-second win against SDSU via a Kai Forbath field goal, the Bruins now head into Neyland Stadium, one of the Top 25 Toughest Places to Play in this year's edition of the game. Mistakes late in the game and inconsistencies proved to be stumbling blocks in the season opener and these flaws could prove to be major problems on the road in SEC country.

The Bruins come into the game with straight B- ratings overall, and on offense and defense. Tennessee's overall rating is a B+, with it's offense at a B+ and its defense, led by Eric Berry, at an A-. Check out what happened after the jump.

I knew this game would be tough, in part because it was an away game with a lot of crowd noise, which in turn affects how you're able to manage the offense before the snap (and I do a lot of audibles/hot routes when I see something I do or don't like). This problem happened to be magnified with a redshirt freshman QB at the helm; underclassmen players don't have the composure rating that their upperclassmen counterparts do. With that being said, I knew that the only way to win was to force UT to turn the ball over or go 4-and-out more than I did, keep the ball in the hands of our RB and milk the clock, and keep our turnovers to a minimum. Let's just say the game was a roller coaster of momentum going into halftime.

Tennessee elected to half the ball to start the half (which I prefer when the opposing team makes their choice) and their first drive started to chug along...up until the point where they crossed midfield. On an important short third down, the defense came up big, stopping Montario Hardesty at the line and forcing the Vols to punt. Austin returned the ball to near midfield and with a short field, I was able to work the running game and short routes. Unfortunately, Prince was injured during the drive and was out for the game (with a pinched nerve...okay? haha). The drive was capped off with a TD run by Jonathan Franklin (again, the RB I selected to start the previous week) on an option run out of the shotgun. Running the option out of the shotgun is one of my favorite plays to use, especially in the red zone, mainly because defenses run man defenses in the red zone and in part because Kevin Craft has some mobility that works with the play. We'll go through a breakdown of the option play here:

via cdn.content.easports.com

We're lined up in shotgun formation with Rosario in the slot, Moya lined up on the right side of the line, and Franklin to the right as well. The play calls for the option to be run to the strong side (to the right); both Rosario and Austin will have to seal off their men (which will be corner and the SS, as we'll see later), while the line will have to push and seal off the right side as well. Notice how the defense stacks the line of scrimmage; they're showing blitz and, for the most part, they intend to stop a run up the middle. Normally, if this was a draw play or a zone-read that involved going up the middle, I'd audible out to quick slants. However, this play is going away from where the Vols are stacking, so I elected to just go with the play.

via cdn.content.easports.com

This is shortly after the snap and just as they showed, the Vols blitz. They blitz their front seven, leaving the secondary to cover the position players in man coverage. For the most part, the line is able to hold and the pressure that does get through is on the left side, away from the play (you can see that their RE and ROLB get pretty much free releases). Embree and the corner on him on the far side of the play are not important on the play. Rosario, in the slot, will seal off the SS towards the middle of the field; Austin will do the same the corner that's on him.

via cdn.content.easports.com

That basically leaves Craft and Franklin to take on the FS. With option plays like this going up against man coverage, you get whoever is on the initial ball carrier to take the bait: in this case, the FS will attempt to make a play on Craft once he cuts up the field. Once he sells out, a simple pitch to Franklin will do and he has nothing but open field. On a side note, when the defense drops into zone coverage, it's wise to just keep the ball as the QB and slide. Just like that, our Bruins are up 7-0.

On the ensuing Vols drive, they again went three-and-out, and again I was able to drive down a short field for a TD pass from Craft to Rosario: 14-0, Bruins. It was at this point, a little into the second quarter, that everything unraveled. Tennessee was able to establish their running game with Hardesty; stacking the line with seven, sometimes eight men was not enough to stop him from chugging along. We were able to pressure Crompton, with four total sacks on the day, including this one by Korey Bosworth. However, they capped off the drive with a questionable TD (the game definitely glitched, but I was unable to challenge the play...sigh). Our ensuing drive was a quick three-and-out, and Tennessee was yet again able to get their running game to move the ball into the end zone: 14-14. With two minutes left in the game, I figured I'd run the two-minute drill to set up a TD or a FG, at the very least...but even seasoned gamers like me become a bit too overzealous and a broken play and an errant Craft throw later (HE IS NOT AN 84...ugh, come on, EA), the Vols were up 21-14 through the pick-six. 21 unanswered points definitely gets one to think about playing really conservatively, but I still had time left and was able to work some quick outs...until once again, Craft threw a pick. In an ironic twist of events, the Vols tried to get a quick score in and ATV was able to pick Crompton off in a matter of seconds. I was finally able to get us into field goal range, with Forbath nailing a 45+ yarder to get the game at 21-17 going into halftime.

By allowing the Vols to score three unanswered touchdowns, the crowd noise got louder compared to when we were up 14-0 and it definitely felt like they had the momentum...and that's why I like getting the ball to start the second half. We were able to establish the running game with the opening drive, ending with another Franklin TD run to finally recapture the lead, 24-17. The following Vols drive was the turning point of the game for both sides. Once again, the Vols were able to drive down into the red zone on the back of Hardesty. On second down, Hardesty broke a run to get the first and then a bit more, but Reggie Carter was able to get a helmet on the ball (it's a bit too fast; unforunately, I can't slow-mo it with their in-game video editor) as he tackled Hardesty, jarring the ball loose and allowing ATV to recover the fumble. That costly turnover was one of four total from the Vols and would have been a moot point with our three turnovers, but the fumble led to another TD drive that effectively broke their back and silenced the crowd. Franklin capped off a great night with his third TD run, finishing the game with 152 yards on 23 attempts (I prefer his speed over the strength of our other RBs, making him a threat in the open field on both running and passing downs). With the score 27-21, subsequent Vols drives needed to end in a score but they ended in three-and-outs and in a turnover, including this pick by Rahim Moore that essentially ended the game then and there.

We were able to walk out of Neyland Stadium with a 34-21 win despite our starting QB going down early, a meltdown that happened two quarters too early compared to last year, and three turnovers. In the end, the defense was able to step up (seen with Tennessee's four turnovers: three picks, one fumble), even in a hostile environment. I'm kinda glad things fell apart in the second quarter as opposed to the fourth, like with SDSU, but I'd much rather not having things fall apart at all. With the win, the Bruins are now 2-0; next time, I'll cover how we stack up back in Pasadena against the Kansas State Wildcats.

NOTE: The games I've played against UT on the "Play Now" mode (to get a quick game in) were all close wins or losses, and this game was pretty much headed down that same road until that Hardesty fumble. I know EA talks about how momentum as a gameplay mechanic ever since the 2007 version of the game, but you really don't get a grasp on it in-game unless you check the status of your players pre-snap (whether they're "hot" or "cold"). That fumble, though, pretty much showed me how much momentum does affect a team in the game. Had they scored a TD, the game would have been 28-24 Vols and would have been nip and tuck like previous games, in my opinion.

NCAA Football 10 UCLA Season Simulation: SDSU

jlegs — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:58:36 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

This will be the first in a series of posts that will follow how I play through our upcoming season schedule in NCAA Football 10's Dynasty Mode, where one can recruit and play through numerous seasons and years in an effort to build a "dynasty", or at least a recognized program, at your selected school. I'll provide a recap of the game, what to expect from the video game version of our opponent (which may or may not serve as useful scouting tool), and a breakdown of a key play or two with pictures and video. The AI difficulty is set at a higher level than the game's default, which is more representative of real-life play.

On paper and in the game, San Diego State would seem like a guaranteed win on the schedule, which was a thought held in the back of my mind as I approached this game. SDSU's ratings were worse with C's and our B-'s gave us the supposed ratings advantage headed into the game. Find out what happened after the flip.

The first half was surpising, in terms of both teams putting up the offensive numbers and exchanging TDs. SDSU's star running back was able to consistently gain yardage, despite the different blitz schemes I put up. The same could be said for their passing game, whether running a Cover 2 with man coverage underneath or blanketing everything in a Cover 3. On our side of the ball, it was actually pretty easy to run up against what seemed to be their base defensive set of a 3-3-5 (three downed linemen, three linebackers, 5 DBs). SDSU took a 7-0 lead on their first drive, which I answered with a long, but efficient drive of my own, capped off by this touchdown pass from Prince to Embree.

Here's a breakdown of that TD pass:

via cdn.content.easports.com

We are in a basic I-Formation, while SDSU seems to be lined up in a 3-4 or 3-3-5. Embree (on the left) will run a post while Austin and Moya (lined up on the right) will run ins on different levels (Moya runs up five yards and then makes the cut, while Austin runs up for ten). Jonathan Franklin, who I moved to the top of the depth chart at RB, will be the checkdown, running a simple route to the right flat.

via cdn.content.easports.com

Most of the time, it's easy to recognize if the defense drops into man or zone coverage, and it helps if you're familiar with the sport or just played the game a lot (in my case, both!). Anyways, SDSU has dropped into zone, with Cover 3 protection up top: the two corners drop back into zone as well as the FS, while the SS and two LBs drop into the lower level of zone coverage. SDSU has called a zone blitz in this particular case, as it frees up the remaining LB coming in from our right. I usually start my reads from left to right but in this case, the blitzing LB makes the decision process speed up. One choice is to dump it off to Franklin in the flat and that would be a moderate gain. Moya has a step on the LB he's matched up while Austin is caught in the thick of things. However, the post route that Embree is running is ideal for Cover 2 or Cover 3, especially with Austin and Moya running routes that take up the attention of those in the first level of coverage. Also note how the FS plays the middle of the end zone, leaving Embree room when he continues his route and only a single man on him. All that's left to do is pass the ball to him as he makes the break on the post route...

via cdn.content.easports.com

...and the play ends in a TD. Again, here's video of the play. (Note that visiting fans are actually located where they are in real games.)

The pace continued with a minute and a half left in the second quarter after tying the game up at 14-14. SDSU started their drive after the kickoff but their QB threw a pick-six, giving us the advantage into halftime. I jumped out to a 35-21 lead by the end of the third when turnovers struck in the fourth. A deflected ball at the line of scrimmage was intercepted by an SDSU lineman for a TD, and then with two minutes left, an underthrown pass from Prince to Austin ended up being returned for a TD, 35-35. Fortunately, I'm used to crunch time drives but I still had to deal with Prince's abilities as a QB, which are okay for now but will continue to develop as I play through the season. To sum it up, we were able to drive down to the SDSU 20 yard line, eating up the clock untl :03 showed, and Forbath drove in the game-winning FG, 38-35. Prince was 17-for-23 with 227 passing yards, 3 TDs, and 2 INTs. An exciting way to start off the season, but the lackluster play of the defense and the somewhat boneheaded mistakes late in the game will have to be cleaned up when I take our Bruins into Neyland Stadium, one of the Top 25 Toughest Places to Play in the game.

NOTE: Randall Carroll suffered a broken collarbone on his second play in the game in the first quarter...leading him to be out for the whole season. Stuff like that makes me wish the game allowed medical redshirts, but hey, you can't have everything. Oddly enough, he's like the fifth or sixth fastest person in terms of ratings...EA, you made a mistake, methinks.

A Quick NCAA Football 2010 Overview: UCLA

jlegs — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:50:04 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

For gamers and college football enthusiasts, early/mid-July means the release of EA Sports' annual NCAA Football title; it signals the start of many video game releases in the upcoming months but more importantly, it (at least for me) serves as a marker on the calendar that fall camp and the season kickoff is fast approaching.

This year's edition offers essentially more of the same, albeit with a few new additions here and there: tackle breaking mechanics, playable tipped balls, and (perhaps my favorite) the inclusion of marching bands in the pre-game cinematics (and yes, the band does spell out the UCLA script for our home games...I'll get pics up in the future), which ties into the overall emphasis on the gameday atmosphere:

NCAA Football 10 - UCLA Marching Band (via ncaaStrategies) [HT jaffa]

But enough with the video game chitchat...let's get to the one team we all care about: the UCLA Bruins.

A quick overview of the team ratings: EA bestowed upon us across the board B-'s, and I can't argue with that except that perhaps the defense could be bumped up to a B (note: these ratings are for the PS3 and are from the updated rosters that EA released on launch day; I've heard that our original ratings were straight Cs). EA includes Impact Players in their games, a game mechanic that emphasizes the go-to players on each team. One is obviously Alterraun Verner, with a 95 overall rating and the All-American designation; unsurprisingly, he is also the highest rated player on the team. Another is Brian Price; again, unsurprising. Perhaps what bugged me the most was the fact that Kevin Craft was number one on the depth chart, with his overall rating of an 84 only one above Kevin Prince's 83. If anything, those ratings should be reversed. For those who play the game, use Prince, as his speed, agility, and acceleration ratings (all important in terms of mobility) are on par with Craft's (and in game, they are pretty good), plus he has the upside of being the younger player.

In actual gameplay, I'll use a game against a ranked opponent that I played one of the harder difficulties last night: #15 California. In any edition of NCAA, the difference in overall team skill becomes apparent when you use an unranked mediocre team (us) against a ranked opponent (in this case, Cal). It essentially plays down to how it should in real life; a win against a ranked team is entirely plausible but you'll need some breaks through turnovers, punts, and smart/time-consuming play on offense. To put it in perspective: Cal's offensive yardage was above 350 and ours was above 150...sounds entirely plausible, correct? The bulk of their offense came from Jahvid Best, who essentially is a one-man wrecking crew in the game in terms of his speed and his ability to break tackles (the first play that Cal ran was a screen pass to him and he broke it open for a TD =/ ). Kevin Riley also looked solid, completing a good percentage of passes...but here's the backbreaker: he threw 3 INTs, one of which was a pick-six by Verner.

But let's shy away from Cal...to sum up UCLA and what many sports writers have concluded: we will be middle of the pack and average. Using the Cal game as an example, the offensive line blocked decently enough, but running holes would be quickly closed. I was able to tally a little over a 100+ rushing yards, 80 of them coming from a broken option play that luckily ended in a TD. Our QB play behing Prince was fairly constant, but nothing big. He was 6-for-8 with 70+ yards, a TD and a pick...and then he suffered some bruised ribs in the second quarter and Craft came in. Perhaps true to life, the play with Craft was affected: he ended the day 5-for-11 with 50+ yards and two picks. Honestly, these offensive numbers seem right in the ballpark of normal. As for our defense, secondary play was solid, again picking Riley off three times; the front seven also hurried the QB and got three sacks. I'd have to say that in the virtual game, the defense carried the team, including on one important three-and-out in the red zone, leading Cal to settle for the FG. In the end, Cal tied it up with a minute left, 24-24, because I decided to run Cover 3 to prevent the big play and it was working...but they still got the TD. With the kickoff returned to our 35, a minute left on the clock, and Craft at the helm....yup, as cheesy as it may seem, Craft makes a completion to Austin running a deep out and steps out of bounds at the 50, then he makes another completion to Rosario with another out route to the opposing 35 (I had been running the offense out of a shotgun spread formation at this time). Then I just ran the ball to center the kicking placement and called timeout with 2 seconds left. Interesting feature: the opposing team actually calls all remaining timeouts to "freeze" the player, which was cool in a way. Anyways, the 40 yard FG goes through and oddly enough, Craft orchestrates a winning drive at the end.

That seemed like a long-winded rant...but the season is fast approaching and NCAA 10 just adds to the anticipation, I guess. I'll put some pics and videos up in a future post soon.

One final note: perhaps my favorite discovery in the game was in our playbook. There is a formation set out of the shotgun called "Wild Bruin". Yup, our wildcat formation that EA so cleverly titled. There's bascially four plays, all putting the isolated receiver in motion (I don't remember if there were twins or trips on the right side of the formation). One has the snap going to the RB in the backfield and handing it off to the WR in motion; another has the direct snap to the RB for a run. There's also play action, with the ball handed off to the WR in motion and then pulling up for the pass. Very interesting, and a neat addition that makes our playbook that much more believeable.

Official Pauley Pavilion Expansion/Renovation Details

jlegs — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:15:53 -0000

Official Pauley Pavilion Expansion/Renovation Details

Details on the official site, along with some computer-generated photos of what should be the "new" Pauley. If everything goes according to plan, Ben Ball christens the renovated arena in the Fall of 2012.

Here's a simulation using NCAA Basketball 09 from IGN (video game website). The video (the fourth...

jlegs — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:28:06 -0000

Here's a simulation using NCAA Basketball 09 from IGN (video game website). The video (the fourth option on the right) shows gameplay from the closing moments of the first half; FYI, the sim has us winning the game: http://sports.ign.com/articles/963/963838p1.html

Second Round Thoughts

jlegs — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:43:38 -0000

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

This year has obviously been different, with the media casting (and the president) casting us as the underdog in last night's game (interesting fact: 70% or so of participants in ESPN's bracket challenge selected us to win...so take whatever you want from that). I've thought about this different feel for this season/tournament, aside from the losses, the mesh of our team, etc. and a striking point came up in previous posts concerning our first weekend games.

The quality of our opponents from the last three years was not, to say the least, of major conference quality. Not to take anything from what Belmont, Weber State, and MVSU did during their respective seasons and conference tourneys, but I thought it was somewhat of a disadvantage for us as a 1 or 2 seed to take on what should be a win in the first round. Given that a team does the game planning, scouting, and preparation for the game, they should be fine, and I think Howland's teams do that (see our Thursday night record in Pac-10 play). It's the second round game these last three years that have been a bump in the tournament road, whether it be Alabama, Indiana, or Texas A&M.

Giving it more thought, our team gameplans for two opponents during the conference season; that day in between is just a walkthrough, a quick practice, a meeting, etc. There is simply no way that a team can prepare for an opponent in one day, that should be obvious. In the case of the NCAAs, we essentailly have to scout for three teams during the course of the week. Our current example would be VCU, Villanova, and American. In years past, it seemed to me that the first round game for our guys was simply a warm-up, and it essentially is. So to finally get to the main points of my thoughts: I think that the preparation is there for the second round game, but whether it was the lack of time with that one dead day or a rough transition from playing a okay opponent to a quality one, that second round game ends up being the wake-up call for our teams, reminding them that this is the NCAAs: a loss means the end of the road.

So what about this year? I think the lower seed (which I disagreed with back on Sunday) might have worked to our favor. Playing VCU, a quality opponent from a mid-major conference, in the first round might have served as that wake-up tournament call. I say might because, as we saw in the conference tournament, the team got the win over Wazzu, only to lost to $C. However, I believe that the team is well aware that they can't afford to slip up; the close wins of the the last three years in the second round became this year's first round close win. The results of the last three years ended in deep tournament runs, so there's a chance, a chance, that the team gets in that groove a game early this year. I'm fairly confident that Howland's preparation during this past week for our second round opponent, dependant on a first round win, would have leaned more towards Villanova. I think last night's game got us up-to-speed and reminded us that every team will be playing to win (just as VCU's coach said), a reminder that comes a game early for our team and I think that works in our favor.

That being said, we are playing Villanova in Philadelphia. Call in karma, call it a twist of fate; we've had the benefit of playing our first and second weekend games close to home. We've had the benefit of a pro-UCLA crowd because our all our games have been in California (with the exception of nearby Phoenix): San Diego, Sacramento, Anaheim, Oakland, San Jose. We are no longer in the friendly confines of California. Let's see how this team responds in what is basically a true road game in the tournament.