Hard to guage this team this year. I think if they were fully healthy all year it may be different. They have a ton of talented players, and I like the young QB. That said, their best win is VS BYU which I watched them mostly attempt to lose at home, lost to Stanford big, lost at home to ASU big. Are they somewhere in between? Not sure. My gut says they will create some problems with their talent level, but I still see us being able to win this one. What do you guys think of them?
What to make of UCLA
- Thread starter MRICoug
- Start date
Young, inexperienced qb
Score early, force them to pass, then pin your ears back and get after him.
Score early, force them to pass, then pin your ears back and get after him.
Tough to say. Their overall numbers make them look solid, and like a tough matchup. But which UCLA will show up? The one that struggled to beat BYU and got pounded by Stanford? Or the one that handled Arizona and Cal?
I don't have a real good bead on them. They looked questionable early, but they've won 3 straight. Then again, that 3-game streak has been against teams that either aren't very good (OSU) or have been struggling (Cal).
I don't have a real good bead on them. They looked questionable early, but they've won 3 straight. Then again, that 3-game streak has been against teams that either aren't very good (OSU) or have been struggling (Cal).
Like everyone here I hope we roll... but I see a lot of *possible* reasons not to expect that:
- Road game
- No rivalry; no emotional energy with UCLA
- Large talent gap
- Less intensity now that we just secured a bowl berth (possibly)
- UCLA's #34 rushing offense (198 YPG) meets WSU's atrocious #108 run defense (206 YPG allowed). Paul Perkins is averaging 100+ YPG (6 YPC) despite battling injuries since Cal AND despite getting replaced with a backup when UCLA starts to roll. Look what Kevin Hogan did to us in a half hour - what can Paul Perkins do with an hour?
I don't see the low emotional energy / low intensity at all. There are a lot of SoCal players on the team and they are very hyped for this. The last time we were in Los Angeles we beat USC. So that's something to remember...it means a ton to the SoCal guys.
Road Game - We beat Rutgers on the road, we beat Oregon on the road, we beat Arizona on the road...So that won't be a factor either.
Talent Gap depends on UCLA's defensive line. Do they have the depth to constantly be trying to put pressure on Falk? ASU got worn out as the game progressed... I don't think UCLA has the depth either but they may be better.
Offensively Perkins can be a handful, but I think we'll have a decent performance. They are kind of built like Cal. bruiser back, QB who can sling it. We fared well against Cal and had our opportunity to win, and we can do it against UCLA.
Should be a great game, but I think we have a good shot to win.
I like our chances.
Mora is finding that UCLA is where five star players go to get soft. It pisses him off, he pouts then plays freshmen. When you play freshmen to teach your juniors and seniors a lesson, you lose. When you lose, boosters remind you of your bold statements when you were hired and winning ... at times... with freshmen.
Leach seems to have broken through that endless freshman cycle as indicated by our conference wins. we're hot and playing with a sense of purpose, regardless of circumstance... which is what good teams do. I think the players respond to this challenge. They really seem to enjoy winning. I like our chances this weekend.
Mora is finding that UCLA is where five star players go to get soft. It pisses him off, he pouts then plays freshmen. When you play freshmen to teach your juniors and seniors a lesson, you lose. When you lose, boosters remind you of your bold statements when you were hired and winning ... at times... with freshmen.
Leach seems to have broken through that endless freshman cycle as indicated by our conference wins. we're hot and playing with a sense of purpose, regardless of circumstance... which is what good teams do. I think the players respond to this challenge. They really seem to enjoy winning. I like our chances this weekend.
Rosen is not a runner. The defense is capable of stuffing a running back, as it proved against Furd. No threat of a running QB makes it a little easier.
My thoughts exactly. If we can shutdown McCaffery, we can shut down Perkins. But I admit, just about anybody is more mobile than Hogan (except Falk
). The difference, though, is that Rosen being a freshman is more likely to make a mistake than Hogan was. If we can shutdown Perkins, Rosen will be pressed to make plays, and his inexperience will lead to mistakes.Heck, I think back to the '03 Holiday bowl. Even a young stud like Young couldn't get it done (granted, against a stellar defense). But the point is that young QB's make mistakes. Put the weight on his shoulders, and he'll buckle.
I admire the optimism here. Never saying we're doomed, just saying we've got more than a few headwinds in this one. I hope Tron is right about the SoCal kids playing hard in market. I'm finding this transition from really bad to maybe really pretty good more than a bit difficult. After decades of losing and letdowns, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, or the blowouts to resume. One thing I've always been sure of is that we'll move the ball. If we can be error-free on ST and put up a respectable effort against the run, I do like our chances. Plus, this team tends to play great on the road for some reason...
Yeah I understand you've been conditioned over the years. It's not your fault.
The road thing is a little curious, but I think it might be what I call "piano recital" mentality.
Basically there are two things at work...
either
A. - They are so nervous that they don't want to let the people around them down
B - It's hard to get amped up with everyone doing the whole "You're all winners!" thing.
Now none of those SHOULD be a factor at all, but it is a young team and in the past a pretty undermanned team at that so maybe that explains it.
On the road...
"Everybody here hates us...well we hate you too." may kick in and they enjoy that more.
I don't really know but it might be something like that.
An awful lot of our rushing yards surrendered have been given up to QBs. 3 of them have run for 100 against us, and only 4 RBs have. I don't think Rosen is going to beat us with his feet, so we should be able to focus on Perkins. Besides...Perkins ain't McCaffrey, and we pretty much took care of him.
I'm not convinced Perkins will be the guy that beats us, after what I saw us do to McCaffrey. He's no Royce Freeman
Perkins is far more dangerous than Rosen, imo. He has that one jump move and accelerates, doesn't try to be cute. Rosen is still in the middle of a learning curve, and cougs ought to take advantage of that. There is no way to take advantage of Perkins except to beat the blocks and gang tackle him quick.
I seem to recall Mccaffrey slipping a lot--is that accurate? I worry about perkins than rosen at this point. And I do think that rosen will throw to perkins a fair amount and that may be even more dangerous....
I don't like our chances but I certainly can see a few scenarios where we pull off the upset. I think if our offense can consistently move the chains and our D can force Rosen into some freshman mistakes, we can walk out of Pasadena with a W. Huge game. Can't wait.
This is a very interesting game to analyze. While running QB's have given us problems, we haven't faced a pure passer since Goff, and he threw for 390 yards and 4TDs against us. The fact that Rosen has one of the best RB's in the league at his disposal concerns me, as we seemingly bite on every play-fake teams throw at us. We won't shut Perkins down, but with our offense, we don't need to.
There are a lot of WSU intangibles that I like in this game. First, as previously mentioned, UCLA doesn't have any "WOW" wins. The common opponent angle isn't very reliable, but it's a data point nonetheless. If you look at games within the conference, I think WSU has played as well or better than UCLA has. We lost to Cal, but they had Cal at home. They were blown out by Stanford, but that game was on the road. We beat ASU and controlled the last 3 quarters of that game. UCLA was blown out from the beginning.
UCLA is the home team, and that's the biggest x-factor of all, but there's something that I think favors WSU, and that's the fact that UCLA has played 3 consecutive games against soft opponents (Cal, Colorado, at Oregon State), while WSU has played at Arizona, Stanford, and ASU. The win at Oregon and the Stanford loss have provided WSU, right or wrong, with the mentality that they can beat anyone in the conference. The Cougs are very comfortable playing on the road, and I think the Rose Bowl is the friendliest road venue in the conference.
I'm picking WSU....
WSU 44
UCLA 34
There are a lot of WSU intangibles that I like in this game. First, as previously mentioned, UCLA doesn't have any "WOW" wins. The common opponent angle isn't very reliable, but it's a data point nonetheless. If you look at games within the conference, I think WSU has played as well or better than UCLA has. We lost to Cal, but they had Cal at home. They were blown out by Stanford, but that game was on the road. We beat ASU and controlled the last 3 quarters of that game. UCLA was blown out from the beginning.
UCLA is the home team, and that's the biggest x-factor of all, but there's something that I think favors WSU, and that's the fact that UCLA has played 3 consecutive games against soft opponents (Cal, Colorado, at Oregon State), while WSU has played at Arizona, Stanford, and ASU. The win at Oregon and the Stanford loss have provided WSU, right or wrong, with the mentality that they can beat anyone in the conference. The Cougs are very comfortable playing on the road, and I think the Rose Bowl is the friendliest road venue in the conference.
I'm picking WSU....
WSU 44
UCLA 34
My concern is how they shut down Cal to 24 points. Cal is our one analogous team in the Pac and UCLA handled them readily.
Sort of, yes. Cal plays more deep ball and I thought UCLA did a good job of getting pressure on Goff. I like our OL better than Cals though, and Falk has been pretty money on the short slants. I also think we are hitting our stride, and are a better team now than Cal.
Sorry but being in LA doesn't make them the "home team", it simply makes us the "away team", especially at 7:45pm in a town with a million other things to do than watch a so-so football team. Further, I've never been around more lackluster fans than when we visit the southern schools - From Berkeley to Tuscon, outside of the student section most of them are just zombies. I imagine if you asked around, the Rose Bowl wouldn't rank very high on teams' "worst stadium to play in" list.
I believe it was ASU's win over UCLA and their near-win v. Oregon that concerned me most heading into last Saturday's contest. Of course, when it appeared ASU was about to go up 21-0, this concern only grew. But a Cougar program that in past years would have buckled and been blown out rose to the occasion. UCLA has recruited very well in recent years, well enough to mostly overcome some key injuries this year. So, it'll be a very tough contest. As someone else said, if we get to Rosen, we have a great chance to win.
This is pretty key here. I was near the point of despair thinking about that UCLA-Cal game, thinking we are Doppelganger Cal. But I went back and looked at UCLA's losses to ASU and Stanford, and the theme there? Both teams ran wild on UCLA. It seemed to me that this still didn't bode well for us, as we are a passing offense and can't rely on our running game to move the chains when our back is against the wall.
But as we've known forever, in this offense, passing is running. Cal throws it deep; by comparison, we play it much shorter. If we can keep dinging them for 7- and 8-yard gains all day long, with a deep ball or two and some intermediate stuff, we could run wild like ASU & Stanford but without the official running game. Receiver blocking will obviously be very important, but if we can get the short stuff down and receivers come to play (and OL comes to block), I like our chances in a big way.
If we come out flat it will be a lot harder to gain the ground back against UCLA than it was with ASU.
I'd take WSU and 9 points (a current line) without question, but I think UCLA probably deserves a 4 point bump. This one will come down to the last drive unless one team or the other gives it away with excessive turnovers.
I'd take WSU and 9 points (a current line) without question, but I think UCLA probably deserves a 4 point bump. This one will come down to the last drive unless one team or the other gives it away with excessive turnovers.
You've touched on another concern of mine. We've come out flat, quite a few times. Then we play "catch-up" and blow by them in the second half (or sometimes the last series). UCLA is good enough that, if we come out flat in the first half or quarter, I question if we can catch up.
Hope we don't come out flat, and if we do, we CAN catch up… But just some concerns based on past performances.
Go two (and yes, even three) backs, create matchups in space for our RB's against their LB's- finally having backs who can outrun a DE, let alone an LB, has made this offense way better this year.
I could not see the Cougars running two or three back sets more than just a few times. Leach doesn't change his offense for each opponent. He makes the opponent stop his offense. ASU had good pass defense numbers going into the last game. We all know what happened.
By the way, UCLA is a very young team. They have three seniors on offense and no seniors on defense.
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