UCLA Has Seen Better Days

[FishDuck Article]

In a way, it is sad to see how far UCLA football has fallen in the 2000s. The old Pac-8 and Pac-10 used to be comprised of USC, UCLA, sometimes Washington (I begrudgingly confess), and everyone else. UCLA is the poster child of the old school, classic stadium, traditionally solid program that utterly failed to adapt to the new order ...

 

UCLA Has Seen Better Days | FishDuck

FISHDUCK.COM

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Darren Perkins of FishDuck.com gives his weekly thoughts on Oregon Ducks football and the upcoming slate of college football games.

 

[30Duck]

Mark Harmon, star of "NCIS", until LeRoy Jethro Gibbs retired, is who I think of when it comes to UCLA football.

 

[Haywarduck]

UCLA is the like the Packard automobile, once great, often looked at to revive, and was a pretty car, but just not relevant.

[VegasDuck]

I thought they actually looked pretty good 1st half vs LSU. Turned the ball over twice and still managed 17-17 tie at halftime. OR maybe LSU is just another overrated SEC team?

[Jon Joseph]

On 9/24/2024 at 9:44 AM, 30Duck said:

Mark Harmon, star of "NCIS", until LeRoy Jethro Gibbs retired, is who I think of when it comes to UCLA football.

 

 

His Dad Tom, played at Michigan from 1938 to 1940. Tom was an All-American 'Halfback' who led the nation in scoring in 1940.

 

When I think of UCLA I think of the much-missed head coaches Tommy Prothro (also the Beavers HC before UCLA) and Terry Donahue. 

 

 

[Jon Joseph]

 

Thanks, Darren. Good take on upcoming games. 

 

I disagree that Oregon State defeating Purdue was a good thing. As a fan of a team in the B1G, I do not want to see B1G teams losing to G5 programs; especially, a team on the Ducks schedule. No one knows how the Playoff (PO) Committee will parse the Playoff's seven at-large selections. But overall conference performance will likely matter.

 

No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State is a B1G game. Illinois is 4-0 and one of only two teams nationally with two wins over schools ranked in the Top 25 when the games were played, Kansas at home and Nebraska in Lincoln. If Illinois played in the SEC it would be a Top 10 team and an SEC 3-0 Penn State with a road win versus West Virginia would also be ranked higher. A+M at No. 24 is laughable.

 

Another interesting B1G game sees 3-1 Maryland at 4-0 Indiana, 9 AM Pacific on BTN. Indiana is another team that could be ranked instead of a 3-1 A+M that defeated Bowling Green by six points last Saturday.  Win this game and the next game at Northwestern and the Hoosiers will be 6-0 when Nebraska trips to Bloomington. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti to date is the B1G's COY.

 

OBD is 32-40 vs. UCLA and 23-38-2 vs. USC. However, Oregon has won the last 4 games vs. UCLA and the last 3 games vs. USC. Without the Pac-12's Cali scheduling agreement, OBD will play the two LA schools more often in the B1G than in the Pac-12.

 

Thanks again, Darren. Hard to believe it is already Week 5.

 

[Jon Joseph]

 

Gabe, Blow Your Horn!

 

 

UCLA’s key weakness should help Oregon Ducks’ offense and Dillon Gabriel continue to find success

WWW.YARDBARKER.COM

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The Oregon Ducks come out of their first bye week with a matchup against a Big Ten team that they're quite familiar with from their long run together in

 

[30Duck]

On 9/24/2024 at 9:05 AM, Jon Joseph said:

Another interesting B1G game sees 3-1 Maryland at 4-0 Indiana, 9 AM Pacific on BTN.

Hey, we can see this one!!!!

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 6:44 AM, 30Duck said:

Mark Harmon, star of "NCIS", until LeRoy Jethro Gibbs retired, is who I think of when it comes to UCLA football.

 

Yep, Mr. "Summer School" and those Coors beer commercials in the 80s. 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 7:13 AM, Haywarduck said:

UCLA is the like the Packard automobile, once great, often looked at to revive, and was a pretty car, but just not relevant.

I think of Cruella De Ville when I look at this car. 

[Charles Fischer]

That is a good article posted above by Jon, but other points to consider of the Bruins...

 

--Their corner, Davies, from Oregon had three pass interference penalties in the last two games.  Send Stewart long for Bird Bombs!

 

--The Bruin offensive line has given up a ton of sacks, and this might be a good game for turnovers by Our Beloved Ducks.

 

 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 8:40 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

His Dad Tom, played at Michigan from 1938 to 1940. Tom was an All-American 'Halfback' who led the nation in scoring in 1940.

 

When I think of UCLA I think of the much-missed head coaches Tommy Prothro (also the Beavers HC before UCLA) and Terry Donahue. 

 

 

Ya mean, you don't think of Rick Neuheisal and his 7-4-1 team that won the Rose Bowl in a blow out? lol. Pretty amazing actually. I remember have some pac-10 after that game. Attendance at Autzen that year for the Bruins.... 24k. 

1983 UCLA Bruins football team - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 9:05 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

Thanks, Darren. Good take on upcoming games. 

 

I disagree that Oregon State defeating Purdue was a good thing. As a fan of a team in the B1G, I do not want to see B1G teams losing to G5 programs; especially, a team on the Ducks schedule. No one knows how the Playoff (PO) Committee will parse the Playoff's seven at-large selections. But overall conference performance will likely matter.

 

No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State is a B1G game. Illinois is 4-0 and one of only two teams nationally with two wins over schools ranked in the Top 25 when the games were played, Kansas at home and Nebraska in Lincoln. If Illinois played in the SEC it would be a Top 10 team and an SEC 3-0 Penn State with a road win versus West Virginia would also be ranked higher. A+M at No. 24 is laughable.

 

Another interesting B1G game sees 3-1 Maryland at 4-0 Indiana, 9 AM Pacific on BTN. Indiana is another team that could be ranked instead of a 3-1 A+M that defeated Bowling Green by six points last Saturday.  Win this game and the next game at Northwestern and the Hoosiers will be 6-0 when Nebraska trips to Bloomington. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti to date is the B1G's COY.

 

OBD is 32-40 vs. UCLA and 23-38-2 vs. USC. However, Oregon has won the last 4 games vs. UCLA and the last 3 games vs. USC. Without the Pac-12's Cali scheduling agreement, OBD will play the two LA schools more often in the B1G than in the Pac-12.

 

Thanks again, Darren. Hard to believe it is already Week 5.

 

I hear ya on the Beaver thing, but I just can't get into "what's best for the conference" in this new order of college football. Maybe at some point, but I'm just not there yet. I'm kinda, "go Ducks, to heck with everyone else!" right now. 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 7:50 AM, VegasDuck said:

I thought they actually looked pretty good 1st half vs LSU. Turned the ball over twice and still managed 17-17 tie at halftime. OR maybe LSU is just another overrated SEC team?

I think Lsu probably is overrated and that Ucla played their absolute best in the first half , so I'm predicting a bit of a letdown by the Bruins. Of course.... I've been wrong before, let's keep that on the down low ; )

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 9:37 AM, 30Duck said:

Hey, we can see this one!!!!

I love 9am football! 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/24/2024 at 11:12 AM, Charles Fischer said:

That is a good article posted above by Jon, but other points to consider of the Bruins...

 

--Their corner, Davies, from Oregon had three pass interference penalties in the last two games.  Send Stewart long for Bird Bombs!

 

--The Bruin offensive line has given up a ton of sacks, and this might be a good game for turnovers by Our Beloved Ducks.

 

 

Got the offensive rolling in Corvallis, now time to crank it up on D.... given how the Ducks have been playing, the schedule has worked out pretty nicely as they seem to be progressing. 

[Steven A]

Thanks Darren, informative as always.

 

At the end of a maybe a 2-win season, ucla will have had their worst season in history.  Funny how Chip has his fingerprints on that plus Oregon's best season (to date).

 

As for the beavs, one can only hope Purdue doesn't win another game so as to dilute the W.

 

Seeing sc fall is always refreshing.

 

I think Cam Ward is getting Mari another few seasons.  It will be interesting to see if can keep getting savior QBs.

 

Wazzu / Boise State is a group of 5 elimination game.

[criticalduck]

UCLA: where coaches go to get fired.

[OregonDucks]

On 9/25/2024 at 11:41 AM, criticalduck said:

UCLA: where coaches go to get fired.

Now its:

 

UCLA: Hey, he’s inexpensive, why not give him a shot?

[kirklandduck]

UCLA: C'mon, it'll be funny!

[OregonDucks]

On 9/25/2024 at 2:11 PM, kirklandduck said:

UCLA: C'mon, it'll be funny!

 

At least the coach knows that the school is in Los Angeles!

[spartan2785]

They would never in a million years do this due to a shortfall of money in the athletic department, but UCLA needs to build a new stadium closer to campus where they aren't embarrassing themselves with a 1/4 filled Rose Bowl.   

 

The Rose Bowl is of course iconic, but it's terrible place to watch football, it's old, the facilities aren't up to standard, it's way too far away from campus so you don't get the student support.  If they could, a 50,000 seat stadium closer to the campus or even on-campus would really improve things for that program I think.

 

Again, I think there is about 3% chance of this happening in the next 20 years, but it is badly needed I think for them.

[30Duck]

1995-98 were good times for UCLA. Their quarterback was Cade McNown, from West Linn High School. The Bruins went 3-1 against the Ducks during that span, and McNown to WR, Danny Farmer is a constant nightmare!

 

 

[Darren Perkins]

On 9/25/2024 at 12:37 PM, spartan2785 said:

They would never in a million years do this due to a shortfall of money in the athletic department, but UCLA needs to build a new stadium closer to campus where they aren't embarrassing themselves with a 1/4 filled Rose Bowl.   

 

The Rose Bowl is of course iconic, but it's terrible place to watch football, it's old, the facilities aren't up to standard, it's way too far away from campus so you don't get the student support.  If they could, a 50,000 seat stadium closer to the campus or even on-campus would really improve things for that program I think.

 

Again, I think there is about 3% chance of this happening in the next 20 years, but it is badly needed I think for them.

The problem is they can't build anything close to campus, the upscale area that Westwood is located won't allow it, i live in that area for 12 years and I saw it, I would never happen.

 

I've said before that they should play at SoFi Stadium. Closer and easier access from Westwood. Nice modern stadium, would improve attendance and game day atmosphere. 

[spartan2785]

On 9/25/2024 at 1:28 PM, Darren Perkins said:

The problem is they can't build anything close to campus, the upscale area that Westwood is located won't allow it, i live in that area for 12 years and I saw it, I would never happen.

 

I've said before that they should play at SoFi Stadium. Closer and easier access from Westwood. Nice modern stadium, would improve attendance and game day atmosphere. 

Yeah, that's what I thought, I was being really generous with that 3%, and you are right SoFi would be much better.  Better stadium experience for fans, closer for fans/students/heck even media.  The only problem I would see is that since both Chargers and Rams play there it might be hard to make that place feel like it's their home stadium, then again despite being the only team that plays in the Rose Bowl that doesn't even feel like UCLA's home stadium.

[30Duck]

AGONY!!!!!

 

 

With the score tied and the Ducks driving into UCLA territory with under three
minutes to go, Droughns coughed up the ball. His frustration was
evident as he smashed his helmet-less head into a metal bench on
the Oregon sideline.

On the very next play, Cade McNown hit Danny Farmer with an
incredible 60-yard TD strike to put the Bruins ahead 38-31.

[Ktmguy2018]

Watched a podcast with Matt Prehm and his UCLA counterpart.  

 

It was sad from the UCLA standpoint.  The UCLA podcaster said (laughingly) that they blame Oregon for the Chip Kelly hire because we made him look good!!! 

 

He went on to say that Foster was someone the players wanted even though he had no head coaching experience and that what the players want and what they need are two different things.  The players that wanted Foster can transfer out and then you've hired someone who may be in over their head.

 

Some boosters thought Foster would appeal to the "older UCLA fans" because of his connection with the school.  Kinda reminds me of all the folks who were calling for Wilcox over Lanning.

 

He believes that UCLA is in a complete rebuild mode.  They are still dangerous though.