Wednesday, September 20, 2006

UCLA invades Montlake

The Bruin's roll into Seattle this weekend for what should be another track meet of a football game in Husky Stadium. UCLA is a team that we have a lot in common with, and a lot of trouble with no matter what the talent level is for each program. The Bruin's are traditionally soft due to their location in the hills of LA, and the proximity to the beach which always tends to help them tail off as the season goes on. Strong starts, and weak finishes are a Bruin football trademark.

UCLA as Dick Baird said on Dawgman usually has the second best collection of talent West of the Rockies, but I think Cal, and Oregon may be ahead of them this year, but they seem to get the least out of that talent until they play UW who they seem to own on a yearly basis.

This years Bruin team seems to be rebuilt on offense as the other "Olsen" has had a good start at QB. Defensively the Bruin's fired most of their coaches in an effort to become tougher, but we still haven't seen enough to believe that the change is here already. Last year's Bruin team was like a mirage in the Sunset as they strode to a 10 victory season despite not being a great football team, this team doesn't have the same aspirations as this is termed a rebuilding year at Westwood.

UCLA is coming off a bye week which usually would favor them, but I think it isn't that big of a deal to have a bye this early, and Washington will arrive being the team who will be most in psync from the first snap on Saturday. Victories over Rice, and this years edition of Utah are not exactly a true guage of how judge a team, even though the Bruin's played better than expected.

UW will win if the score more points...don't laugh, but that seems to be the way this high scoring series tends to go. Throw out the records, and throw out the fact that UCLA currently leads the conference in defense, both teams will probably combine to score almost 70 points this weekend.
UCLA has a five game winning streak in the series including last years heartbreaker, and I think this is the year Washington breaks the jinx and comes out with a solid victory at home to open the conference season. Winning last week against Fresno should give this team the confidence that they can hang with almost anyone on their home field. Believe me, this current team is hungry to erase the last two seasons, so the Bruin's better prepared to play against a team that may want it more than they do.

So anyway guys, sit back, and enjoy a high scoring affair on Saturday via TBS. Washington will move on to a 3-1 record, and people, especially recruits will begin to take notice that UW is headed for better days on the gridiron.

I think the noise in Husky stadium will be a decisive factor....so arrive early and make noise while I spend my last weekend on the Big Island before I have to get back to reality!

2 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

What brightens me about this game, and I'll freely admit my ignorance about the Bruin roster, is the lack of hype for an RB. We've dealt with two pretty good ones over the past two weeks better than I thought we would and I'm hoping that it frees us up to pressure Olsen a bit more. All the games count, but these are the most precious and I hope we've held a few things back.

It will be nice to have Howell back and Chris' interview with him enhances my agreement with you that Ty's on the right track. I think it was Molly Y. that wrote a very nice piece on Teo' Nesheim as well. We don't have the numbers yet but a very nice base to build on.

I kind of feel all the games this year will be barometers of sorts. I'm always hopeful but hesitant, never really knowing what to expect.

I appreciate the blogging while on your honeymoon. Please thank Kate for me.

John Berkowitz said...

I think they do have a pretty good RB, but not in the category of a Maurice Drew...one thing you can count on is for UCLA to have good talent at most positions.

Kate doesn't exactly give me a lot of time each day to blog, or do research for that matter, but she has been a pretty good sport about it, and is always up for game day!