Pac-10 Week 5 Notes and Observations: UCLA Bruins

By Dave Consolazio, October 8, 2009 4:07 am

UCLA Bruins 3-1 Overall (0-1 Conference)

This Week’s Score: Stanford 24 – UCLA 16

Next Week’s Opponent: Oregon

After a humbling loss in Stanford, UCLA will return to the Rose Bowl and try and regroup against an Oregon team that has been red-hot of late, but is also decimated with injuries.

While the loss to Stanford does tell us that UCLA isn’t quite there yet in terms of being a major contender in the conference, it doesn’t really tell us how far away they are. Stanford is clearly playing at a high level right now on both sides of the ball, so there is no shame in losing to a team like this on the road.

That said, it did open up some new questions on defense. Andrew Luck and Toby Gerhart both had outstanding days, and while that has a lot to do with their talent level and the way they’ve been playing lately, it just didn’t look like the shutdown UCLA defense that we are used to seeing. The Bruins will have to be better defensively if they are going to stand any chance in conference play this year.

On the offensive side of the ball, hats off to Kevin Craft. He clearly doesn’t have the skill set that Kevin Prince does, but he did a good job managing the game Saturday, completing 64.7% of his passes with no interceptions while spreading the ball around to nine different receivers. Prince will take back over this week, and should follow Craft’s example and get as many players on offense involved as possible to keep Oregon guessing.

Jonathan Franklin didn’t look bad in racking up 58 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, but down 14-3 early in the second quarter, the offense had to start throwing the ball.

The Oregon Ducks come into town ripe to be upset. Their two top cornerbacks are injured, QB Jeremiah Masoli is doubtful, and they haven’t played on the road in over a month. If the defense steps up and Kevin Prince hasn’t missed a step, a Bruins victory isn’t out of the question.

The Tennessee upset was a very nice win for the program, but this one would be even bigger if they could pull it off.

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