DEFENDING THIS OFFENSIVE OUTING.Byline: STEVE DILBECK Hey, on the bright side, how about that UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX defense? That's correct, something positive can always be found even in the most abysmal of situations. Yep, the Bruins defense - frighteningly bad last season - has apparently been upgraded to pretty good. At least when matched against the absolutely woeful woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University. Nickname and mascot history Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams. . After collapsing in the second half against Washington last week, the mighty Bruins said they would come out all fired up Saturday -- and then went through the entire opening half without scoring an offensive touchdown.Just imagine if they hadn't been so determined. The Bruins were a blocked punt away from a 0-0 first half. Not exactly college football at its most electrifying e·lec·tri·fy tr.v. e·lec·tri·fied, e·lec·tri·fy·ing, e·lec·tri·fies 1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor). 2. a. . The UCLA defense held up its end, and it best get used to it. Stanford could neither run nor pass. Had trouble blocking, running, passing, catching and holding onto the ball. Certainly, the UCLA defense deserved credit for some of the Cardinal offensive struggles, but it has to be recognized this is a truly bad Stanford team. Stanford entered the Rose Bowl 0-4, having lost to the likes of San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. State and Navy. It had scored more than 10 points exactly once in four games. The Cardinal defense, meanwhile, exhibited more holes than a colander. It was allowing an average of 39 points a game. Teams ran on them like driving cattle to market. It was ranked 119th in the country against the run, or as the other 118 teams say, last. Wow, talk about your defensive transformations. The Bruins' game plan was apparently, move the ball a little and then self-destruct. They gained 220 yards in the first half and failed to score a single offensive point. UCLA turned the ball over three times in the opening half. Quarterback Ben Olson For the American soccer player, see . Benjamen James Olson (born February 23, 1983 in Thousand Oaks, California) is a redshirt junior quarterback for the 2006 UCLA Bruins football team. looked less than confident. Maybe he was still suffering from post-Huskies syndrome. Too often he appeared tentative or aimed the ball. He threw two interceptions, including one in the end zone.The running attack was OK, but considering the opponent, still disappointing. Of course, the Bruins passed the ball more than they ran it in the first half, which was curious in itself. Gavin Ketchum blocked a Stanford punt and it was returned 12 yards for a touchdown by Eric McNeal with 10:23 left in the first quarter. UCLA had a quick 7-0 lead and briefly it appeared the Bruins might actually dominate the game the way a 23-point favorite is supposed to.Alas, that wrapped up the first-half scoring. Late in the first half, the Bruins had a first-and-goal at the Stanford 6-yard line and couldn't push the ball in on four plays. One included a poor Olson pass to Williams Snead, a defensive lineman who's been tight end for all about 2 seconds now. When the Bruins left the Rose Bowl field at the half, the fans showered them with boos. Welcome home. Last week the Bruins went cold against Washington because the UCLA brain trust supposedly went conservative. This week, the Bruins just looked offensively challenged. If Stanford falls to Arizona next week, it has an excellent shot at finishing the season 0-12. The Cardinal is not good and not looking like it will be any time soon. Hey, but they are smart. Stanford coach Walt Harris
Walt Harris (born November 9, 1946 in South San Francisco, California) is an American football coach. , a pleasant but rather dull man, is understandably having trouble recruiting well. Even though it is only his second season, he has to be feeling serious heat. And Stanford went this direction instead of going with Norm Chow Norman Chow (Chinese: 周友賢; Pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuxián; born May 3, 1946) is the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. ? The Cardinal would have had some semblance of upsetting the Bruins if it had anything that actually resembled an actual offense. Instead, it acted like UCLA the defense was trying to force feed it spinach. Stanford wanted nothing to do with them. UCLA finally discovered the end zone with 2:50 left in the third quarter, when freshman Chane Moline capped a 74-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. Really, now, was that so hard? The Bruins are so deeply embedded as second banana in a town with powerhouse USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. , they can hardly afford offensive outings like this one.Last year the UCLA offense was terrific and the defense was cover- your-eyes material. Four games into this season, it's looking like a serious role reversal In psychodrama, role reversal is a technique where the protagonist is asked, by the psychodrama director, to exchange roles with another person (an auxiliary ego) on the psychodrama stage. The former assumes as many of the roles of the other as possible and vice versa. . stephen.dilbeck@dailynews.com. (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: UCLA's Dennis Keyes, top, and Aaron Wittingham get to Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards Trent Edwards (born October 30, 1983, in Los Gatos, California) is an American football quarterback who starts for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bills in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford. for a sack. Michael Owen
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion