You may be familiar with my arguments that UCLA and Georgia would be well-served to play a home-and-home series against each other.

You also likely heard much of the same argument from Kyle over at Dawg Sports, who also sees the benefit of the SEC and Pac-10 matching up in strong inter-conference games:

By contrast, barely a quarter-century has elapsed since the Bulldogs opened their 1983 season against U.C.L.A. in a game featuring Bruin quarterback Rick Neuheisel. It would be nicely symmetrical to welcome Coach Neuheisel back to the Classic City to face Coach Richt, a contemporary of his whose playing career at Miami (Florida) partly overlapped with the U.C.L.A. skipper's tenure under center in Westwood. I also would be willing to bet that the fact that Coach Richt was a 'Cane as a collegian would give the Bruin faithful a little extra interest in scheduling such a contest.

In reference to the 'Cane jab: Melsby's knee was down, dammit. His knee was down.

I've mentioned that there is a window for such a scheduling opportunity in both 2012 and 2013, but UCLA also had open dates in 2010 and 2011 for an out-of-conference opponent. However, it appears those spots have now been taken by the very formidable team of....Houston:

The first game will be played at the Rose Bowl, with the 2011 game being played at Robertson Stadium and the final game, in 2012, at UCLA.

This really kills any opportunity for UCLA to schedule another out-of-conference game in 2012, which pretty much kills the idea of UCLA and Georgia scheduling any sort of home-and-away in the next ten to twelve years. Following playing a home-and-home with Arizona State in 2008 and 2009, Georgia has already scheduled a home-and-home with Oregon in 2014 and 2015.

So we're probably looking at 2016 at the earliest before anything like this could happen. There's still a chance for UCLA if they want to make this happen, but this would make the UCLA out-of-conference schedule in 2012 and 2013 as follows:

2012:
Nebraska (Home)
Houston (Home)
Georgia (Away)

2013:
Nebraska (Away)
TBD Non-Conference Opponent
Georgia (Home)

So, it's still possible - given that Houston isn't top-tier BCS quality, but it seems much more unlikely now that this scheduling arrangement has been put in to place. I can still dream, though.

Labels: UCLA Football, UGA Football

You may have heard this already:

Beginning in 2009, the Atlantic Coast Conference will no longer partner with the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, league commissioner John Swofford said Wednesday at the conclusion of the league's annual spring meetings.

But where will Georgia Tech play all of their bowl games?

Labels: North Avenue Trade School

Per Ramona Shelburne at the Daily News, UCLA just released their post-spring depth chart.

The depth chart only includes those players that participated in spring workouts - ie, no freshman. And trust me, we're going to want to use some of our freshman this year, especially given our current depth chart. A couple of the...uh....highlights from our first team:

RG 66 Scott Glicksberg (6-4, 269, Sr.**)
Yes, you read that correctly. A 269lb. right guard.

RT 72 Sean Sheller (6-5, 282, So.**)
Career starts: 0
Career games played: 0
Tore his MCL last year.

LE 55 Korey Bosworth (6-1, 235, Jr.**) (3)
That's right - at the moment, Bosworth is slotted to be moved to left end from his linebacking position. He's a good linebacker, but I'm not sure how he would function at left end.

Our secondary is absolutely depleted compared to last year. We have Verner on the right side, and that's basically it for people who have relied on in the past. Left corner is Michael Norris, our starting strong safety is Bret Lockett, and our starting free is Aaron Ware.

It is possible all of these players are spectacular, but again - as I've mentioned - while I'm sure these guys have all got a great desire to complete, there's a pretty large talent gap between last year and this year on both sides of the ball.

In short, lots of question marks.

Labels: UCLA Football

How do I know?

I refer you to this article from 2006, penned by Gregg Doyel:

Still stinging from 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush's collegiate dealings with agents and marketing reps, Southern California can expect more NCAA scrutiny if star basketball recruit O.J. Mayo becomes a Trojan in 2007.

Mayo, who is expected to sign with USC in the spring if not during the early signing period next month, is being mentored by a Los Angeles-area promoter whom the NCAA labeled as an agent's representative in 2000. That was the year Mayo's new mentor, Rodney Guillory, helped get two college basketball players -- including one from USC -- suspended for several games.

That's right. USC's compliance office knew all about Guillory in 2006 - they would have even been more acutely aware of his dealings, given than they had already been burned by Guillory in 2000. Oh, there's more:

Before Mayo signs, USC would be wise to look hard -- very hard -- at the Guillory connection. Looking the other way may have helped put USC knee-deep in the Ornstein-Bush mess; sources say Ornstein found his way onto the sideline for USC football games as a guest of Dana and David Pump, Adidas kingpins who once used Ornstein as an auctioneer for their annual fundraiser.

Connect the dots. One way or another, Ornstein met Bush and ultimately became his marketing rep. Bush signed with Adidas. The NCAA is looking into what illegal benefits, if any, Bush received from Ornstein while still at USC.

Now Mayo -- the Trojans' top basketball recruit since Paul Westphal -- is being advised by Guillory. And Guillory not only was once labeled by the NCAA as an agent's representative, but helped get a former USC player (Trepagnier) suspended.

Irony doesn't begin to describe this situation.

What happened? Well, USC didn't look very hard. Or - at the very least - they didn't try very hard to look. Arguing that somehow USC wasn't aware of these activities (or at the very least, should have been aware) takes a level of cognitive dissonance that's almost psychologically imbalanced.

I am not normally the type to cast aspersions around programs and so-called compliance issues, but I think it's time to broach something that has been bubbling around for a little while:

Someone at USC's compliance office needs to be fired. And they need to be fired now.

How on earth can an athletic program have two major 'rumors' (and yes, they are only rumors, but still) about two of the most high-profile athletes in their programs, and claim to know nothing about any of the activities that have occurred?

You would think - given all of the issues that USC had around Reggie Bush and Lloyd Lake - that they would have taken a much closer look at OJ Mayo prior to enrolling him in their basketball program. Frankly, I don't care if USC didn't know about Mayo's alleged transgressions. But how can someone have the gall to say to me - given everything that had occurred after the Reggie Bush fiasco - that the program wouldn't be going through every student-athlete with a fine-toothed comb?

Something stinks. And it's not just Bush and Mayo, and the people that they hang out with. Pat Forde had a fantastic - and I think, somewhat illuminating - quote on the issue:

In the wake of this, it's hilarious to listen to Floyd's interview on "Pardon The Interruption" before Mayo started his brief career at USC. In a previous episode, Michael Wilbon had arched an eyebrow about taking someone with Mayo's red flags into the program. Floyd's response made Mayo sound like a tragically misunderstood Eagle Scout.

Maybe Tim Floyd really just is that stupid. But I doubt it. Everyone knew Mayo had issues coming in - the willful 'forgetfulness' that the USC administration showed given all these issues was somewhat laughable. I have no problem with a program giving a kid a second/third/fourth chance or what not, but at least be honest about it. OJ Mayo had issues.

It's even more galling that all this occurred after the Reggie Bush fiasco. One would assume that USC would have nothing to do with kids with even a hint of compliance issues after that whole saga (regardless of the ultimate outcome) - and this lies squarely at the feet of the athletic administration at USC and the compliance department. Well, whatever compliance department exists around those parts, because as of now, I'm not sure what exactly it is they're doing with their time these days - because it sure as hell isn't any sort of reliable 'vetting'. I'm sure glad these guys aren't in charge of handing out national security clearances, because we'd all be dead in about a week.

What's the easy explanation? Well, I think it's fairly apparent at this point: USC just wanted to pretend these issues did not exist. Willful ignorance is not an excuse, my friends. As I've mentioned, where there's smoke, there's usually fire. To see smoke once - OK, I can see that. But to potentially dive head-first in to the next instance and ignore these issues again - after you've already been burned - it's not just not knowing. I don't think anyone is that stupid - especially compliance officials. Bottom line: they either need to be fired for incompetence or a refusal to do their jobs - and you can guess which option I think is far more likely.

This is not just a problem at USC, however - although they're one of the most recent - and best - examples. Alabama, Auburn, Michigan (basketball) - it's all too common. One would hope we have been making progress on these issues over the past ten to twelve years, but it certainly doesn't seem as so.

Of course, as they say - denial is the first step on the road to recovery. It's a long way to go yet.

So it turns out OJ Mayo may not be quite the angel that everyone over at USC promoted him as this year...

Former USC star O.J. Mayo received around $30,000 in cash and gifts while he was in high school and his one year in college, ESPN reported, citing a former associate of the player.

Golly, I'm shocked.

Rodney Guillory, a Los Angeles event promoter, gave Mayo the cash and gifts using money given him by a sports agency named Billy Duffy Associates, ESPN reported, citing Johnson.

BDA gave Guillory around $200,000 before Mayo came to USC, ESPN reported, although Guillory used most of the money for himself, Johnson said, ESPN reported. In exchange for the gifts, Mayo agreed to allow the agency to represent him when he turned pro, ESPN reported, citing Johnson.

Mayo played his freshman season at USC and has entered the NBA draft, hiring Calvin Andrews of BDA as his agent.

Very interesting to see how USC and Floyd respond to this. Again, this isn't entirely USC's fault, but the appearance of impropriety from both the basketball program and the football program certainly doesn't leave the best first impression. And you know the old saying - where there's smoke, there's fire. I would hardly consider it a coincidence that these questions are coming from both the football and basketball programs, especially given the fact that the basketball program doesn't generate nearly as much animosity as the football program.

UPDATE: Here's the video from Outside the Lines that broke this story. There's more to come with this, I'm sure.
UPDATE #2: I'm sure we all remember this, don't we? The long and the short of it was that Mayo was spotted with court side Lakers tickets, and later - Carmelo Anthony had supposedly come forward to claim that he gave the tickets to Mayo, so no problem.

Guess who Carmelo Anthony is represented by? Bill Duffy Associates - the same agency in which Mayo has now signed and which is fingered in the OTL report as funnelling money and gifts to Mayo. Yep, that seems totally legit.

Labels: Pac-10, U$C

Because UCLA's medical bill is going to be....uh...steep.

We already know about the injuries to both Cowan and Olson. Olson decided to bite the bullet and have a screw inserted in his foot:

Craig Sheppard had reconstructive surgery on the AC joint of his left shoulder late last week. He will be sidelined four to six months.

It's too bad for Sheppard; he's had an injury-riddled career at UCLA, but from a depth perspective, this isn't terrible news. We actually have some pretty decent depth at the running back position, so it's not something I'm overly concerned about.

As for Olson, well....I'm still mystified as to how someone can break their foot while taking a step, but there you are:

Ben Olson underwent successful surgery on his right foot this afternoon. A screw was placed in his right fifth metatarsal. Expected recovery time is six to eight weeks.

As I've mentioned, we'll see if he's healthy enough in time for fall workouts, but I'm not expecting Olson to come out and wow anyone this fall. He's not a very good quarterback given our offensive line situation - Olson's release is mechanically slow. It's not that it's a bad release; it's just time-consuming, and if there's one luxury our quarterbacks are not going to have this season, it is time in the pocket.

There's always a possibility that Olson's tentative nature has been a result of confusion with the West Coast Offense - it certainly did him no favors - and that becoming more comfortable in a new offensive scheme will get rid of his perceived slow reaction time. I sure hope that happens, but again, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for this to occur.

My best guess is still that Kevin Craft takes over as starting quarterback sometime this year. You don't bring in a JuCo transfer without the intention to play him. Whether Craft takes over because Olson's not ready to go at the start of the season or who struggles out of the gate, I don't know. But I would wager that is what occurs.

By the way, if Ben Olson turns out just fine and suddenly becomes Carson Palmer re-incarnate, I'd be more than happy with this outcome as well. I just don't think it's in the cards.

Via WSB:

A former Georgia Tech quarterback, just hired to help football players adjust to campus life, was arrested for driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, open container and hit and run on Tuesday. Joe Hamilton was arrested after a hit and run accident near the campus just after midnight after police pulled him over on Techwood Drive.

Just hired to help football players adjust to campus life, and he was nicked for driving around beer and weed?

Dude, he probably was just running errands.

Labels: North Avenue Trade School

Apparently, Dennis Dodd has not.

Dodd came out with his first pre-season ranking earlier today, and while I'm certainly thrilled that Georgia is not at #1 (I'm kinda of the mindset that starting at #2 or #3 is better - high enough that one loss isn't going to kill us - not #1 so we don't have a giant target splayed across our midsection), Dodd's choice of #1 team is....uh...well...curious, to say the least:

Ohio State is No. 1.

Hmm. OK. Odd. You did watch the past two national title games, correct? You know, the ones where it was fairly obvious that Ohio State didn't even belong in the championship game, correct? Surely, Dodd's reasoning must be that Ohio State has plugged some holes and stands a chance in the national title game, correct?

Well.....uh....no.

Ohio State? Jim Tressel has coached his Bucks to three of the last six BCS title games, winning one, so let's not go into full mock mode here. However, the Big Ten has become so soft that even if Ohio State loses to USC on Sept. 13, it should be able to recover to play for the national championship.

That's right. Ohio State is #1 because the Big Ten sucks, and uh...Ohio State should win the bad Big 10, so they probably will go to the national title game...so, uh...let's just rank them #1 and see where that goes.

I'm not quite sure in what universe this makes sense. I have no problem with ranking Ohio State #1, but to essentially announce that your reasoning for this is because the Big 10 is so God-awful that Ohio State will win it easily, then you make absolutely no sense.

I mean, argue that the Big 10 is going to be better. Argue that Ohio State will defeat USC. Make some sort of sense, for God's sake.

Well, there was a hedge:

This being Ohio State, though, there's always a chance -- make that a probability -- for a third consecutive national championship for the SEC. The Bucks are 0-9 against the SEC in bowl games and Georgia is sitting there at No. 2 ready to rip out its chunk of scarlet-and-gray flesh.

So....you think they're going to lose as well? Then why rank them #1?

Some more gems from the article:

Florida: "The only questions are the defense and how to keep Tim Tebow upright and healthy." Oh, that's it? So that's like pretty much everything, right? Hey, UCLA's only questions are their offense and how to keep whatever QB doesn't happen to be injured upright and healthy. Can we rank them #7?

"Tailback Emmanuel Moody had some problems picking up the spread in the spring." This is because Urban Meyer does not know what to do with running backs. He looks at them every spring, turns to his offensive coaches, and asks, "Why do we have a fifth wide receiver standing in the backfield?"

Labels: UGA Football

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Montana Meth Project, but for those of you who aren't - I'll say this: I think it's probably one of the most well-executed anti-drug campaigns in recent memory.

Which is what makes what I'm going to show you next both kinda' creepy and - at the same time - oddly hilarious. Apparently the gaggle over at the great barstoolio thought it would be hilarious to super-impose meth, drug awareness, and college football.

You can see the full results here, but I present two sides of the same coin for your perusal below:



Still, it feels slightly dirty to laugh at these. But man, I sure as hell did.

Labels: U$C, UCLA Football

That's the million dollar question everyone's asking, at least as it pertains to UCLA football.

Here's what Neuheisel had to say after practice a couple of weeks back:

“Offensively, we knew that it was going to be a process, but we’re getting closer,'' he said. "Hopefully, we’ll get to play really well by the time we get to Sept. 1.’’

A glowing account it is not. This is essentially the politically correct way of saying "Well, our offense sucks. But they're trying really hard!"


Oh, and did I mention that Neuheisel's statement came before both of our quarterbacks fell apart like tiny china dolls? No? Oh. Ha. Yeah. So, we lost two quarterbacks.

OK, we lost one quarterback for the season. The quarterback who is coming to 'save our season'? He's played in a grand total of 10 games, and been declared inactive due to injury in about 500 others. OK, 500 is a bit of an exaggeration. But he's been hurt. A lot. He broke his foot taking a step. 98-year old grandmothers do this. 25-year old starting quarterbacks? Yeah, not so much. But that's who we're ostensibly relying on next year.

It's going to be a long slog this year, folks. That's alright, though. USC won 6 games the first year Pete Carroll was at the helm. Hell, Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe last year.

Sidebar: I really hope we don't lose to Fresno State, although there's every possibility that we could.

Olson is also perhaps the worst possible choice of quarterback for this offense because Olson requires about 5 minutes in order to complete his release and fire off a pass. This is unfortunate, because he is going to have about .25 seconds, given our offensive line.

Our offensive line is terrible. Awful. It's so bad....well....you remember that State Farm commercial with Matt Hasselbeck and the little cute pop-warner offensive line that gets run over? Yeah, we'd be that little pop-warner offensive line. And it's not because the guys don't try. But they're just not very big. And they're all inexperienced.

So you want my opinion? We're not going to be very good next year. But again, it's all a process. And frankly, I just like being able to tailgate on Saturdays. So I'll be there, and I'll be looking for effort. But I gotta' admit, I'm not going to be looking for a ton of results.

What I will be looking for? You've heard it from me once, you'll hear it one-hundred times: consistency.

Trouble is, we just may be consistently bad on offense next year.

Labels: UCLA Football

Paragon had an interesting discussion on the emerging Neuheisel era over at Conquest Chronicles a day or so back that I wanted to delve a little deeper in to. Here's the crux of the argument:

Talk about throwing the kid to the wolves, and they still have no O line to protect him. Sure at some point ucla will be relevant again, they can't afford not to, but this obsession with USC and how we do it leaves me scratching my head. Do your own thing at your own pace and stop worrying about someone else.

An admirable thought, to be sure - namely, that UCLA needs to only accomplish what they believe they can accomplish, regardless of how they perform against their biggest rival?

The only problem? It's a completely ridiculous assertion. College football doesn't work this way. frak even touched on this in the comments:

In fact, the only game that really matters for the bruins next season is against Pete Carroll. Pete Carroll is the driving force behind everything that the bruins do. They don't care about bowl games, or championships. The only thing that matters is beating USC.

A ucla coach can not hope to keep his job if he is consistently embarrassed by his cross town rival. Neuheisel knows this. Hes read all the press, and hes looked at all the blogs, and he knows just how much USC is a monkey on the bruin's back.

He's right, of course. Will UCLA football be relevant again? Yes, but right now, the focus has to remain on defeating USC. UCLA could finish 2-10 next year, and so long as one of those wins was against USC, a segment of UCLA's fan base would be happy. Is that kinda' ridiculous? Yes - defining your success based on beating your rival alone is kinda' funny - but that's the reality of the situation. And if often makes you a far better team in the long run.

How so? I'll provide Exhibit A of how focusing solely on defeating your cross-town rival makes the biggest of differences:




Ohio State was not a relevant national player until Jim Tressel showed up. Cooper was hated at Ohio State for focusing on Michigan as 'just another game'. Tressel got it. Unless Ohio State beat Michigan on a regular basis, his tenure was not going to be a success. In fact, it was the only way his tenure was going to be a success. To pretend that Ohio State football existed in a vacuum, and there was no need to pay attention to Michigan was ignoring reality.

What does success against your rival bring? One thing, and one thing alone: Recruiting success. And UCLA needs to begin recruiting at a consistent Top-10 level if they're going to be successful in years to come. The only way they can accomplish this task is if they regularly beat Pete Carroll. And the more you beat Pete Carroll at the recruiting game, the more obvious it will become that Pete Carroll is not that much of a genius of a coach.

The deification of Pete Carroll is a bit absurd. He was a .500 football coach in the pros. It does not take rocket science to figure out what he has been so successful at the collegiate level. It is not a 'life's work of philosophy' - it's being the 4th choice in a coaching search, some dumb luck, a gangbusters recruiting philosophy, and football acumen. I will repeat: Pete Carroll is not a genius. College football is not terribly difficult to figure out: recruit well, don't try to invent complex schemes that take four years to learn, and let the athletes out-muscle the weaker, slower, and smaller team.

Pete Carroll is a genius? Their general offensive philosophy is not complex: there's no 'spread the field' formations, there's nothing exotic about any of it. It's line up, hit the other team, and run. This is not Urban Meyer or even Mike Leach we're talking about here. There's nothing about USC's philosophy that 'changes the game'. All they do is open up 10 yard holes for their running backs to plow through, and give their quarterback the literal equivalent of a year-and-a-half to complete a pass. Given that much time, my one-armed uncle could successfully complete passes. A genius? Maybe on a recruiting basis, sure - but the offensive and defensive schemes are not rocket science. USC does not disguise blitz packages, they do not line up in exotic offensive or defensive formations. They just beat you off the ball. That's it. It's not genius. It's called executing with better players.

And yet, we all talk about Pete Carroll in hushed tones as though he discovered a way to desalinate water, solve global warming, and feed seals. Carroll is good at two things: recruiting, and motivation. You know who else is great at those two things? Mark Richt. You take away either one of their recruiting advantages, and guess what? They're both not going to be very good coaches.

I agree, focusing on only beating USC gets UCLA nowhere. However, short-term, it generates enough recruiting interest in the school that the natural advantage that USC has experienced over UCLA vis-a-vis recruiting hopefully starts to even out. We can all assume, based on reports - that Neuheisel should be a good motivator. If he can close that recruiting gap, the rest of the pieces will fall in place.

And closing that recruiting gap starts with one thing, and one thing alone: beating USC. Do that, and the rest will follow.

Just ask Jim Tressel.

UPDATE: Just wanted to follow up on a couple points, and make some things clear. Apparently some of the guys at WeAreSC got ahold of my notes and decided that I was a total moron for not bowing down at the altar of Pete Carroll. This...uh...kinda' proves my point about the hero-worship that goes on around Carroll. Seriously.

Secondly, this completely misses my point. Pete Carroll is a great coach - he's just not a scheming genius. He wins primarily because he has better players. It's a credit to him that he can GET those better players, but that does not make him a genius.

If you need a primer on USC's blitz packages, go here.

Carroll and his staff can afford to blitz as often as they do not because it's a disguised blitz package, but because they have better athletes to cover the holes than everyone else. Blitzing a safety and linebacker from the strong or weak-side and then dropping a defensive end into coverage is not 'genius'. It's called having Lawrence Jackson on the end, knowing that he can move in space. You can't replicate that on another team without the same caliber of personnel. However, it's the simplicity of these setups that also make them so successful. Carroll comes from the altar of Monte Kiffin, who happens to be the defensive coordinator of my favorite pro team. I love Monte Kiffin. But there's nothing particularly complex or 'genius' about what Kiffin does. He recruits players for his scheme (fast ends and tackles, linebackers that can cover), and lets the simplicity of the Cover 2 take over.

It's not genius. And much like Carroll, Kiffin's very good at picking his players in the scheme. For God's sake, Kiffin made Dexter Jackson a Super Bowl MVP. Chew on that one for a second.

Labels: U$C, UCLA Football