(Pac-12) The Bruins play at the Rose Bowl (seats 91.500)
- Rick Neuheisel is in his 4th year as head coach at UCLA (his alma mater). UCLA has really only had one great year in the last decade (they were 10-2 in 2005) and unfortunately last year’s 4-8 record suggests that they are not going in the right direction. However, the
Rick Neuheisel (photo courtesy Matt A. Brown/Icon SMI)
schedule was tough and there were a lot of injuries last year.
- Quarterback Kevin Prince suffered a season ending knee injury in the fifth game of the season. But his abysmal completion percentage (he completed less than 45% of his passes) and touchdown to interception ratios show that he may have been part of the problem. Prince was injured several times in 2009 as well. Richard Brehaut replaced Prince and statistically was better, but still needs work and it would be nice if any UCLA QB could throw more touchdowns than interceptions.
- Looking for a “savior” at quarterback and apparently Brett Hundley is the chosen one. The true freshman arrived on campus to comments from strangers and women’s volleyball players alike touting him as “the savior.” However, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery in July and Neuheisal explained that the set-back will keep him from competing for the starting QB position…for now.
- Last year the big story about UCLA was the pistol offense, especially when Texas had no answer for it (although it turned out Texas didn’t have very many answers last year). The pistol is great for the running game, but absolutely terrible for the passing game. They were inefficient, made mistakes and couldn’t move the ball through the air.
- The good news for the offense is that all of the quarterbacks, all of the running backs and all of the receivers return. The running game was led by Jonathan Franklin and he will be the starter this year along with Derrick Coleman who will be a “changeup” back.
- The problem on the offensive line is that there isn’t enough depth to counter
Kai Maiava
injury or other issues. But they hope to return two starters from 2009 who missed last year due to academic ineligibility (Jeff Baca—although he broke his ankle in the spring) and injury (Kai Maiava).
- The defensive unit as a whole is in decent shape due to the amount of returning starters and depth. However, they have a lot of improvement needed, especially their rushing defense.
- This year the coaching staff gets a new look with new offensive and defensive coordinators as well as others. The schedule isn’t impossible, but even if this team improves significantly it still may be difficult to beat Texas, Stanford, Utah and USC…and perhaps Arizona.
