UCLA Wrap-up (With Pictures!)

I'm late with this, but life intrudes. As mentioned previously I have a few thoughts I want to share about our day at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, but I was just too exhausted to get them all in when we got back home Saturday night.

My son and I got to the Rose Bowl around 1:30, so we had very little traffic to contend with, which was something of a first for me and the Rose Bowl. Our first stop was the "IrishFest" hosted by the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles. There was a terrific band, the American Wake, playing Irish music for the crowd. Lots of good food and beer (the chicken was terrific!). Notre Dame All-American and Super Bowl Champion Aaron Taylor was there promoting the LegendsofSouthBend.com website. I got to chat with him for a bit about the site and got a picture of him with my son that I posted to the blog via my cell phone. First time I had tried that, and it worked pretty well. There was a short performance by a bagpipe group and then the pep rally. Aaron Taylor emceed the rally with his good friend Derrick Mayes. The cheerleaders also stopped by for the rally and were very gracious with their time afterwards, posing for lots of pictures even though they had other appearances to make before the game. Embedded below (hopefully) is a slide show of some of the pictures I took throughout the day, including at the pep rally and at the game. (If you click on any of the pictures it will take you to the Picasa Web Album page where you can view all the pictures full size. I'd be very interested if you have any feedback about the slide show, since it is the first time I've tried it here).

Once the pep rally was over, the IrishFest was done and everyone headed for the stadium, which was very close by. On the walk over to the stadium I was very impressed by how cordial all the Bruin fans were. It seemed that half the tailgate parties were mixed affairs with Notre Dame and UCLA supporters reveling side-by-side. This was a marked contrast to the behavior of the UCLA students we encountered in the stadium.

Before heading inside, we found my daughter, who came to the game with a close friend and her family. They were tailgating on the South side of the stadium very near the big "Rose Bowl" sign on the side of the stadium. After a beer, a snickerdoodle, and a few pictures my son and I headed for our seats in the North end zone, about 10 feet from the UCLA student section. Can I say, as a taxpaying resident of California, that I am very disappointed in the quality of education that my tax dollars are providing to the youth of this state? Their ability to cheer seems to be limited to two-word chants, and one of the words must be an F-bomb. F_ _ _ Notre Dame! F_ _ _ USC! F_ _ _ Jimmy Clausen! Not very original, and it got old in a hurry. They did break out with the "0 and 5! 0 and 5!" which was really hysterical - NOT! The funny thing was that the UCLA student body seemed to care much more about the score of the USC-Stanford game being played across town than about the beat-down their own team was suffering in front of their eyes. There was one silver lining to the obnoxious behavior of the UCLA students -- the very special satisfaction I felt when they all shut their mouths in the third quarter! Sweetest silence I ever heard.

Sitting right behind us was a couple of UCLA fans who whined the whole game "sit dooowwwwnnnn! We can't seeeeeee!" People, this is Division I football! This is Notre Dame! You don't want to stand up? Go watch intra-murals, brother!

It was great to see and be a part of a massive turnout of Notre Dame fans for an 0-5 football team playing 2,000 miles from home as a three touchdown underdog. Both end zones, corner to corner, were filled predominantly with Irish fans. And they brought their A-game. Whenever the action moved down near either end zone, those fans were fired up to help the Irish, and I believe it helped the team stay energized for sixty minutes. I also really appreciated that the team ran all the way down to the North end of the stadium to celebrate with their fans at the end of the game, many of the players tossing wrist bands and other items into the crowd as souvenirs. Then they ran back to the South end to celebrate with the fans there before heading into the locker room. It was fun to look around the Rose Bowl at that point to see both end zones still filled with Notre Dame fans, while the UCLA band was on the field playing to empty seats, all the Bruin fans having long since departed.

What about the game? I still haven't watched the recording, and I viewed the game from down low in the end zone, so I can't say much about X's and O's. But I do have some thoughts about what I saw and felt.

On offense, despite poor overall production, my sense was that the team was poised and very much in control of the game plan. They seemed to understand that the game plan was to be conservative, avoid costly errors, and be competitive in the field position battle. They took what the defense was giving (which wasn't much) and then they got off a good punt and let the defense go to work. When the defense created an opportunity for a quick score, the offense did a fair job of capitalizing. Run blocking was average, which is a big step up from most previous games, and although they didn't create big holes they largely avoided the tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Pass blocking was very good when you consider UCLA's reputation for an aggressive pass rush. Clausen generally had ample time to throw, but unfortunately did not generally have a target open down the field. Clausen had an excellent completion percentage, but almost all of them were very short completions out in the flats for little or no gain. From the stands the lateral passing game was very frustrating to watch, especially given the time that Jimmy had to throw. I was also disappointed when Notre Dame got the ball at the UCLA 1-yard line after a turnover and tried three passing plays resulting in a field goal attempt. First and goal at the 1 is time fr some character building up front. We still cannot get one or two yards from the run game when we need them. I think a good start would be NOT giving the ball to Travis Thomas. Give it to Aldridge or Hughes. Three times. Put Chris Stewart in at tight end next to Sam Young and run behind him. Figure something out. But, at the end of the day the offense did not turn the ball over and the team won the field position battle.

I thought Coach Weis took a step forward on Saturday. In the past he has been a riverboat gambler, seemingly feeling that it was always up to the offense to win the game. Old habits are hard to break and earlier this season that attitude caused Coach Weis to make some very aggressive/risky play calls that turned the ball over to the opponent in very good field position, with predictably bad results. Saturday was the first time that I can recall where he seemed to be putting the game in the hands of the defense. He was (mostly) satisfied to take care of the football and punt the ball deep, rather than call risky plays in an effort to keep drives alive. I also thought Coach Weis was uncharacteristically committed to running the football, even when it wasn't yielding much in the way of yardage. But running the ball is largely about attitude and asserting yourself physically. Even though we weren't getting big yards, we were running with effect and wearing down the UCLA defense. We were also forcing the defense to respect the run, which slowed down the pass rush and gave Clausen more time to throw. Certainly the offense will need to be more explosive next week if we are to keep up with a surprising Boston College team, but we saw some very good things we can build on in the UCLA game.

But the star of the game Saturday was the new Irish defense. I feel like this game was the real coming out party for Defensive Coordinator Corwin Brown. The D was stout against the run, and played like sharks at a shipwreck against the pass. They knocked out the starting QB and then forced the back-up into numerous costly errors. The key word there is "forced." UCLA fans and Notre Dame haters would have you believe that McLeod Bethel-Thompson (what were his parents thinking?) came into the game and just started throwing random, inexplicable interceptions. But those interceptions were the result of serious pass-rush pressure, tipped balls, and physically man-handling MBT for the whole game. It was the result of the same type of pressure that caused starters Ben Olson and Kahlil Bell to fumble the ball away. Bottom line - the defense was aggressive, relentless, and hungry for the ball at all times. They absolutely won this game, with both veterans and youngsters playing key roles. They will be severely tested the next two weeks, but I sure like the direction they are heading.

Special teams - I knew things were going our way when Brandon Walked connected on a 48-yard field goal in the third quarter. Except for UCLA's second possession (which started at the UCLA 47 and led to a field goal), the special teams did a remarkably consistent job of pinning the Bruins back in their own end of the field. Here were the starting positions for all of UCLA's possessions (all in their own half of the field): 7, 47, 20, 27, 22, 15, 28, 36, 29, 1, 30, 34, 32, 43, 31. That's a great job by the special teams, and a great job by the offense of holding onto the all and letting the special teams do their job. Hopefully this game can be the start of a pattern.

My son is thirteen years old. Several weeks ago, when we began planning a trip to see the Irish play USC, my son asked me: "Dad, have I ever been to a Notre Dame game when they won?" Well, he has. He was young, of course, but he's been to games when Notre Dame beat USC. He saw the Irish beat Stanford a couple of years ago. But what sticks in his mind are the losses to USC in recent years, and the loss to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. After Saturday, I know he'll always remember this underdog Irish squad playing in the Rose Bowl and upsetting a heavily favored and arrogant UCLA Bruin team. And that, my friends, is priceless.

Cheap parting shot: The University of Washington Huskies are now 2-3, riding a three game losing streak. That's one more win that the Fighting Irish have accrued to date. The Huskies played the UCLA Bruins on the same field the Irish did and got beat 44-31. I'm just sayin' ...

Right Now, A Win is a Win

Well, it wasn't elegant, but the Fighting Irish dug down deep tonight and found a way to beat the UCLA Bruins, 20-6. I was at the game with my son in the North end zone (not far from Jimmy Clausen's mom), my daughter was sitting four rows behind the Notre Dame bench with her good friend, and we all saw an important victory for the Notre Dame football program. Despite offensive "production" that bordered on pathetic for much of the game, the team avoided the huge offensive mistakes that have plagued them all year and played an effective field position game which ultimately allowed the Irish defense to take control and win the game. I know we were playing against a redshirt freshman walk-on quarterback, but I don't care. I am not too proud to capitalize on those breaks when we get them. The story of this game was an opportunistic defense that played the run reasonably well, pressured he quarterback very well, and made the most of the mistakes they forced UCLA to make.

I plan to write a longer post tomorrow describing our full day at the Rose Bowl, from the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles' "Irishfest" and pep rally, to meeting Aaron Taylor of LegendsofSouthBend.com, to the foul-mouthed UCLA student section which ran out of vulgar chants as the Irish pulled away in the second half, to the amazing crowd of Notre Dame fans that filled the stadium, to the victorious Irish football team coming over to celebrate with the Notre Dame fans at the end of the game, to the UCLA Band performing in front of an empty stadium after the game, to the buzz that built in the stadium as the crowd began to get word via cell their cell phones that USC was going to lose to Stanford! I took a lot of pictures and that full post is going to take a while to compose, and it will have to wait until I get back from the playoff game between the Angels and the Red Sox. Look for it tomorrow night.

But I do want to post a few quick thoughts gleaned from my seats in Section 10, Row 7, before I crash for the evening.

I don't know if you read my pre-game UCLA post, but I'm feeling pretty good right now about how I analyzed this game. To re-cap, I predicted the Irish would win based on the following factors:

1. I said it was practically a home game for the Irish. There was a huge Notre Dame presence in that stadium. Irish fans filled the stands in both end zones, corner to corner. And they were loud! Several times when UCLA had the ball at one end of the field or the other, the Notre Dame crowd got loud enough (I believe) to rattle the UCLA offense and it's inexperienced quarterback. I refuse to accept more than my share of credit for winning the game, but I do believe the fans helped the team tonight.

2. I noted that UCLA seemed to be prone to turnovers, and that if Notre Dame could force the action a little bit there would be some opportunities for game-changing plays. Well, UCLA had five fumbles on the night, and Notre Dame recovered three of them, including one that Maurice Crum returned for a touchdown. Their back-up quarterback added four interceptions. It's safe to say that turnovers played a key role in the win. It should be noted that Notre Dame did not turn the ball over tonight. That's a huge deal.

3. I mentioned that UCLA has not been a team that "starts fast", allowing teams to keep games close until the fourth quarter. I felt that if UCLA allowed Notre Dame to keep it close into the fourth the Irish would find a way to win. That's exactly how it played out. Despite the fact that UCLA moved the ball well and dominated time of possession in the first half (17:13 to 12:47), they only managed two field goals and took a three-point lead into half-time. They allowed the Irish to hang around long enough to figure out how to exploit UCLA's quarterback situation, and the Irish made them pay.

4. I explained that 4-1 UCLA was a good team, but not great, as they were not dominating anyone. At 4-2, UCLA fans on the post-game radio shows are now wondering if UCLA is even "good" at this point.

5. Finally I mentioned that UCLA is a run-first team, somewhat banged up. I felt that if we could get them out of their run-first comfort zone and force the QB to make plays, it would work to our benefit. It didn't go the way I figured it would, but UCLA was forced to go away from the run when they got behind, and it worked in our favor because they were playing a back-up QB by then who made a lot of mistakes (while being pressured).

So, the OC Domer had a pretty good bead on this game. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.

I will have to watch the game later to see how the offense looked from a better angle, but I can't believe we weren't able to work the ball down the field. Clausen had all day to throw at times and could find nobody to throw to. We kept throwing the horizontal passes for no-gain or 1 yard, which was driving me nuts because UCLA was basically doubling our outside receivers much of the night and inviting us to run the ball. Although it didn't net much yardage, I was glad that Coach Weis showed more of a commitment to running the ball tonight. James Aldridge had 22 carries. He only averaged 2.4 yards per carry, but he was actually more effective than those numbers show. By getting positive yards with the run, instead of going backwards via the sack, we were able to punt the ball away and remain competitive in the field position battle. In the fourth quarter, we were actually pounding on the UCLA defense, controlling the ball, the tempo, and the clock. Again, even though the yards weren't big, it was an effective use of the run.

All in all, a perfect day. USC lost in humiliating fashion, and I got to be there to see the Irish get their first win of the year.

Overheard on the walk back to the car after the game -

UCLA fan taunting Notre Dame fan: "1 and 5! 1 and 5! 1 and 5!"

Notre Dame fan: "You know what's worse than being 1 and 5? Getting beat by Notre Dame!"

Beat The Bruins!

And we're back. Wednesday morning I had just left the house to hit the O.C. & L.A. freeways, when I received a text message from my boss. "Don't go to the office today - you might be going to Florida." So I turned around and went home to wait for the final word. At around 9:00 a.m. it came - "pack your bags." I was booked on a noon flight out of John Wayne and into Orlando via Dallas. By the time I got to my hotel in Cape Canaveral it was already11:30 p.m. After calling home and helping my son out with some math homework, I could call it a day. Except that when you fly from the west coast to the east, you aren't ready to sleep until about 2:00 a.m. When the wake-up call comes at 7:00 it feels like 4:00. Jet Lag is a Drag. So, a very full day of lawyer-stuff yesterday, finally sending off my final e-mail just after 9:30 p.m. Up early and flew home today. Not exactly how I thought my week was going to go! But, my flight got back to John Wayne in mid-afternoon, which means I'm home on a Friday much earlier than usual.

Why am I typing all this?

1. I haven't written a UCLA preview post this week. Now you know why.

2. Florida sucks. It's the first week of October and it's still 90 degrees and 80% humidity. At one point I was walking through a parking lot with the sun shining overhead, while somehow getting soaked by a rain shower. They say the South is football crazy, but the only sports talk radio I could find was all NASCAR and wrestling. Or ultimate fighting. One of the two. As always happens on my business trips, when I got off the plane in Orange County I couldn't believe how great the weather was. Wherever I go, whenever I go, the weather is always better in Orange County when I get home than it was wherever I went. And that includes Hawaii.

3. It's great to be home. When I went on my trip, I wasn't sure I'd make it back by the weekend, which was worrisome because I have tickets to the UCLA game and I really didn't want to miss it. Whew!

So what about the Irish chances against the 4-1 Bruins? Let's review. Before the season began I wrote that I expected Notre Dame to go 9-3, including a close loss to UCLA, and my ability to foresee the future hasn't gotten much better as the season has unfolded. Of course, with the Irish now sitting at 0-5, and the Bruins at 4-1, it would be totally logical to stand by my pre-season expectation that UCLA would avenge their narrow loss at Notre Dame. After all, they return almost everyone from a team that should have won last year's game, while most of this year's Notre Dame starters were in high school last season (or so it seems). Instead I say this: The Irish have the Bruins right where we want them! As I wrote in an e-mail earlier this week, the whole season until now has been an elaborate ruse to lull UCLA into complacency.

Here is why Notre Dame wins this game:

First, it is practically a home game for the Irish. For such a large school, UCLA is somewhat notorious for their inability to attract a crowd to their football games. Notre Dame has a huge fan base in Southern California that will turn out in force for their team. And Notre Dame is undefeated in games played in the Rose Bowl. I jest (a little), but the Rose Bowl holds a special place in Notre Dame history, and a win tomorrow in Pasadena would be historically important for this program. If you haven't read the terrific write-ups about that 1925 Rose Bowl game against Stanford, you really should. Start Here. And here. Seriously - I'll wait here until you're done.

Second, while not an ideal match-up for Notre Dame, there are some chinks in the UCLA armor that open the door to an Irish upset. The first is turnovers. UCLA quarterbacks have already thrown six interceptions this season, five by starter Ben Olson. As a team they have fumbled the ball nine times, losing five of them. That's an average of a fumble lost and 1.5 interceptions thrown per game. It tells me that there are game-changing opportunities available to our defense if it can force the action a little bit. If we can get a couple of turnovers to thwart UCLA drives and give the Irish a short field, that can be a big swing in points.

UCLA has not been a team that "starts fast." Notre Dame has had a lot of trouble this year by getting deep into a hole early in games and then not being able to climb back out. For the most part, the second halves of games have been irrelevant. Coach Weis has expressed a feeling that if the team could get on top early, the ensuing confidence and energy would build on itself and carry us to victory. We saw a glimpse of that energy last week when ND battled to within a touchdown of Purdue in the second half. But our opponents have not cooperated, outscoring Notre Dame by a margin of 101-21 in the first half. The Bruins, on the other hand, have largely been a second-half team. They have just outscored opponents in the first half overall (56-48), and have outscored opponents through three quarters by a margin of just 90-78. They were tied 10-10 with Washington at half-time and trailed Oregon State 14-6 at the half. UCLA's pattern has instead been to win the 4th quarter decisively, outscoring opponents in the final stanza 72-45. 72 points is more than twice as many points as the Bruins have scored in any other period (3rd qtr = 34 pts). They scored 28 fourth-quarter points last week to win a game they trailed after three quarters, 14-12. If UCLA allows Notre Dame to keep the game close well into the second half, I like our chances. If this young Irish team smells a win, and if our confidence and energy starts to grow, I believe Coach Weis and his staff will out-coach Karl Dorrell and his staff down the stretch.

UCLA is good, but no more than that. Although 4 and 1, they are hovering right around the #25 spot in most of the polls. That is right where Purdue was last week, and Notre Dame was one defensive stop from having a chance to win that game. The Bruins are to be credited with finding a way to win four games, but this is a team that was dismantled by Utah, 44-6 three weeks ago. As noted above, they trailed Oregon State after three quarters, and were tied against UW at the half. They are not dominating anyone. Although Notre Dame is winless through five games, we have been tested by five straight games against high-caliber competition, and it has slowly been making us better. That trial by fire had made the Irish ready to take on the inconsistent and emotionally fragile Bruins.

UCLA is a running team, and are hobbled. UCLA has rushed the ball 219 times this year, versus only 155 pass attempts. They have averaged 4.6 yards per rush and 7.26 yards per pass attempt. They have 997 rushing yards (including a minus 95 yards for QB Olson), and just over 1,126 passing yards. The Bruins run-first mentality makes sense since they have two very good running backs in Kahlil Bell and Chris Markey. But Markey is injured and may not play at all against the Irish. The Bruins still have Bell to rely on, but you have to believe the loss of Markey will place a little more of the offensive burden on QB Ben Olson who has a completion percentage of just 51.6% and 5 INTs. Olson is also recovering from a concussion he suffered in the loss to Utah. If injuries force UCLA to alter their run-first mentality even a little bit, that works in Notre Dame's favor.

Bottom line: As has been the case since the horror of the first game against Georgia Tech, the key question going into the game is whether the Notre Dame offensive line can block. We now know that the quarterbacks can throw the ball when given a chance, that the receivers can catch it, and that our running backs can gain yards if they get a crease to run in. We know what to expect from the defense. They are bend but don't break. They'll give up some yards on the ground, but will generally avoid the huge play. They've seen and played well against better offenses than UCLA's. But UCLA's defense presents quite the conundrum for the Irish offense. They have been very stout against the run, allowing just 2.8 yards per carry. Yet, they also have recorded 16 quarterback sacks. Pick your poison. Notre Dame has to be much better at run blocking, or pass blocking, or both, than they have been all year. If the O-line doesn't perform way above average in at least one of those phases, Notre Dame's offense won't go anywhere. Looking at the numbers, and knowing Coach Weis' inclination to throw the ball all over the yard, I expect Notre Dame's game plan to look a lot more like the Purdue game than the Michigan State game. Despite their pass-rushing prowess, UCLA is clearly more vulnerable to a passing attack than they are to the running game. The trick will be to give Clausen time to throw the ball. Expect to see more of Duval Kamara on the quick slants. And expect Golden Tate to score the winning touchdown in the North end zone right in front of me and my son!

Go Irish! Beat the Bruins!

See you at the Rose Bowl.