UCLA Preview
by John Berkowitz on Nov 6, 2009 10:22 AM PST
8 comments
The Washington football team (3-5 overall, 2-3 in the Pac-10) returns to action this Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena when the Huskies take on UCLA (3-5 overall, 0-5 in the Pac-10) in a 12:30 p.m. game boroadcast on FSN. The Dawgs, who have faced the nation’s second-toughest schedule to this point, come into the game after a weekend off while the Bruins’ comeback fell short in a 26-19 loss at Oregon State last weekend. UCLA went 3-0 in non-conference play to open the season, but have lost five straight, all against Pac-10 opposition, since then.
Washington was in desperate need of a bye week after the Oregon game and that rest after facing the nation's toughest schedule over the last eight weeks may be just what the doctor ordered to get this team ready for the last quarter of the season.
Postion Matchups
Quarterback....Washington....Jake Locker was declared ready to go on Thursday night and was seen zipping around practice with no visible lingering effects of his quad bruise. With Jake healthy Washington has a serious advanatage at the throttle. Kevin Prince will start for the Bruins and he is coming off a good fourth quarter against Oregon State.
Running Back....Washington....The Bruins and the Huskies are near the bottom of the Pac 10 in overall rushing totals this season. UW is led by Chris Polk who is averaging over 80 yards per game. Polk is a physical runner who breaks tackles and gets a lot of yards on his own. UCLA's Jonathan Franklin is a good looking back who doesn't get as many carries on average as Polk does.
Wide Receivers....Washington...The trio of Devin Aguilar, Jermaine Kearse, and Jermaine Johnson have performed well all season. UCLA has sports the dangerous 6'5 Nelosn Rosario and 6'3 Tylor Embree. That height just may be the reason UW started experimenting with Anthony Boyles at CB during the bye week. From a productivity standpoint this season the Washington receivers have better numbers. The UCLA receivers while talented have not benefitted fromt he stability at QB the UW receivers have.
Tight End...UCLA...Ryan Moya and Logan Paulsen are a couple of TE's who have the tane tto play on Sunday's. UW's Kavario Middleton also has that type of talent but you give the nod in this one to the experience and blocking ability of the Bruin duo.
Offensive Line...Washington...What we have here are two bottom division Pac 10 lines. The Washington offense has been more productive this season when it comes to protecting the QB and opening up holes for the rushing game so they get a slight nod going in.
Defensive Line...UCLA....Brian Price would get my vote as the top defensive lineman in the conference this season. He is a difference maker inside that is impossible to block which free's up his team mates to wreak a little havoc. Korey Bosworth and Datone do a nice job out on the ends.
Linebacker...UCLA....I really like UCLA's Reggie Carter , Akeem Meyers, and Kyle Bosworth. Washington counters with Mason, Butler, and Dennison. Dennison will be starting in place of EJ Savannah who is taking the week off with a thumb injury.
Secondary....UCLA...I would put UCLA's Rahim Moore, Alterraun Verner and Aaron Hester up against anyone in the conference. Moore leads the conference in interceptions this season. Hester is a little banged up and expected to play.
Special Teams...UCLA....UW has had a lot of problems with special teams over the past month. UCLA even though less than perfect has had less problems so I give them the nod going in. This is really a part of the game that will be up for grabs.
Success rushing the football and winning go hand-in-hand for the Huskies. Since 1990, UW has rushed for 200 yards in a game 72 times. The Huskies’ record stands at 59-12-1 (.826) in those contests. Since the1995 season, Washington is 34-9-1 (.784) when rushing for 200 yards.
UCLA will be the Huskies’ first opponent this season with a sub-.500 record.
Rick Neuheisel was the Husky head coach from 1999 through 2002. Also on the Bruins staff are three former UW assistant coaches: Tim Hundley, Wayne Moses and Reggie Moore (who was a GA at Washington). Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara (neck stinger) will not travel with the Huskies, marking his second consecutive missed game and prompting the question whether the team has seen the last of his services this season. Also, linebackers E.J. Savannah (broken left wrist) and Jordan Wallace (left knee), who tweaked his knee during a tackle in practice Wednesday, will stay in Seattle. WR Jordan Polk (knee surgery) has been cleared to play. Five safeties – Nate Williams, Nathan Fellner, Jason Wells, Victor Aiweya and Greg Walker – will likely see action Saturday, the first-year UW coach said. Williams and Fellner are expected to start. The Huskies could have as many as three new starters on defense this week. Cort Dennison will start in place of Savannah, and freshman Andru Pulu looks ready to start at defensive end while Daniel T’eo-Nesheim moves inside. Senior Jason Wells could get his first start of the season at safety, although Sarkisian said he had yet to decide whether Wells or true freshman Nate Fellner would start. An X-ray on UCLA cornerback Aaron Hester's right leg was negative for a fracture, but he has calcium deposits and loose cartilage. Hester, who suffered a broken fibula in the same leg in the season opener, was not in uniform for practice and is questionable for Saturday. Receiver Morrell Presley will be out at least one week because of a sprained left shoulder. . . . Randall Carroll, who has a groin injury, is doubtful for Saturday's game. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter while rallying the Bruins back from a 16-point deficit this past Saturday against Oregon State. Prince finished with a season-high 323 yards and 22 completions against the Beavers and nearly drove UCLA down the field for another game-tying drive in the closing seconds. Washington has not beaten UCLA in Pasadena since 1995.
UW is 29-37-2 in the overall series with UCLA.
This Saturday, the Huskies will face a former UW head coach for the 14th time in history, and for the second time since 1975 (the other in that span was a loss last year vs. UCLA, coached by Rick Neuheisel). In ‘75, the Dawgs played the second of two games vs. Texas, coached by Darrell Royal, who was the Husky head man for one season (1956). The Huskies lost to Texas in both 1974 and 1975. In 1946 and 1947, the Huskies face a St. Mary’s team coached by James Phelan, who was the UW head man from 1930 to 1941. UW lost the first of those two, 24-20, but won the ‘47 meeting, 26-6. Lastly,the Huskies faced Cal teams coached by Leonard Allison (UW coach in 1920) nine times between 1935 and 1944, going 5-3-1. The UW is therefore 6-7-1 in games against teams led by former Washington head coaches.
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if jake locker is healthy and ready to go like he says
i see the huskies winning this game b/c of motivation. ucla has been known to call it a season when they can’t even get to a bowl game. the huskies have better coaching and will have there team motivated and motivation lead to wins. huskies 28 ucla 17.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 6, 2009 12:26 PM PST reply actions
Key Matchup: Husky O Line vs. Bruin D Line
Which unit dominates more will likely have the upper hand in this one. If the Husky O line can muster some protection for Locker and open something up for Polk- we win this game.
However if the Bruin D line can create habic for Locker and can plug up the L.O.S. for Polk- advantage Bruins.
This Ucla team is arguably one of the worst Bruin teams that has come out of Westwood in quite some time. I cannot believe Ucla is having so much QB problems with a QB-friendly coach in Rick Neuheisel and QB guru Norm Chow. That has got to be the single biggest mystery in the Pac 10 right now.
In a nutshell what this game means: Win this game and we are in good position for gettting bowl eligible. Lose this game and no bowl game, finish off what is left of the season and begin building for next season. Nothing more to report.
All I saw was purple
Our O line is key
Hopefully they can give Jake 3 seconds to make a decision on where to throw the ball and make a crease for Polk to run through
Todays Polls
Man how the times have changed. I remember growing up when it was all about the big boys. Once in a great while you’d hear a great little story about a small market program garnishing much respect by being in the AP top 25 poll. Usually those little darlings were ranked anywhere from 25th to 15th.
Nowadays these little cutties are nessled in with the big boys from day 1. It’s not unlikely these days to see a Boise State program sitting in the No.5 spot in the entire country. What are these voters seeing that I am not seeing? Have they checked their schedule lately? It’s not filled up with the Michgians, Florida States, Uclas, nor Nebraskas. Rather they play schools named New Mexico, Utah State, Louisiana Tech, and North Texas. Are you kidding?
How the hell does a program get a No.5 ranking in a major college poll when they don’t play anybody? TCU would be squashed in Big 12 play and Boise State would be a middle of the pack football team in the Pac 10. By this time of the season- BSU would be so pulverized by Pac 10 play that they’d have the same issues we are dealing with- no depth.
From this onlooker, TCU, Boise State, and Utah are no better then No.15 in the country and that is a compliment! Again if BSU played in the Pac 10 their depth would be fully exposed to the college football playing world. When you play the folks that you play in the WAC you have the luxury of staying rather healthy. Play in the Pac 10? Not so healthy. Boise State is not all that! What you are seeing is a strategic marketing scam. Evidence: Check the success rate of ex BSU head football coaches after they leave Boise- the ratings will indicate that they suck!
All I saw was purple
Might as well get used to it...
…although if Boise loses one of those games they’re going to drop out of the picture. It will be interesting to see if they can compete against the big boys in a BCS bowl. Utah shocked me last year beating bama but I don’t think that will happen very often. The biggest thing IMO is getting the big boys ready to play their A game and not taking those teams for granted.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
The Team That............
makes the fewest mistakes will win this game today. The wind has been taken out of our fans’ sails with two Pac-10 losses in a row. Oregon is an awesome team, our mistakes, both on the sidelines and on the field allowed ASU to win that game.
Now we need this win! For the Team, for the School, for all of Us.
On the margin, all we need to do against UCLA is play up to our first-half season standards, make fewer mistakes, and we will win this game.
Woof!
Capitalize...
…in the red zone, don’t turn the ball over and get teams off the field when they’re in 3rd and long. We didn’t do any of those things against oregon. Oh and play well on special teams. Of course these things would probably have had us winning a few more games this season. GO DAWGS!!
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
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