HOPE-SMOKIN’ YIPPIES

cal13fb (328)bOutside of the UCLA Family, no one gives the Bruins a chance in Oregon, and that’s the only thing that gives them a chance

UCLA is now a 23-point underdog against the Ducks on Saturday.  On paper, the Bruins have no chance.  No one can stop the Ducks’ nuclear Offense, and with all the Bruin injuries, UCLA’s Offense will not be able to keep up.  It’s a bleak outlook for the #12 Bruins.  To make matters worse, the Ducks just got disrespected by the BCS, who made the #2-ranked Ducks Number THREE in the first BCS Rankings, behind Alabama AND Florida State.  So now the Ducks have SOMETHING TO PROVE.  Oh boy… AS IF Oregon needed any extra motivation to blow out the recently-struggling Bruins.

UCLA comes out from the Stanford defeat battered, physically, and emotionally, having their bubble burst by a two-touchdown loss to a team that just got beat by Utah.  The Bruins have not been consistent or smooth on Offense.  For the last few weeks, they can’t even snap the ball properly, let alone sustain the kind of drive needed to keep the Ducks off the field.

I suggest that QB Brett Hundley eschew the Shotgun, and just take the snap directly from the Center, and drop back.  At least he can keep his eyes on the Defense while he takes a few steps back.  He can’t do that if he has to look down to find a low snap that’s aimed at his ankles.  If Center Jake Brendel continues to screw up the Offense with horrible snaps, the Bruins should make the change before their second Offensive series.  Hopefully, Coach Mora was prepared for this, and has had them practicing this alternative.

The Bruins have virtually no chance to win unless they play a perfect game, or at least their best game of the year, and they can’t do that if Hundley has to repeatedly alter his rhythm due to bad snaps.  And most people believe it won’t matter anyway, since Oregon is just too vastly superior in almost every way.  But that’s exactly why there is a glimmer of hope.  Since everyone thinks Oregon could win by just phoning it in, maybe the Ducks won’t be as focused and determined as usual.  Every year, they have one mortal game.  A couple of years ago, CAL gave them a scare.  If the Bruin Defense — who gets leading tackler Eric Kendricks back from injury for the game — can create a few Turnovers, maybe the Bruins can keep it close.  I never root for injuries, but with Anthony Barr in the game, maybe he will sack Oregon’s QB so hard — legally, of course — that he will go down like Barkley did from a Barr sack, and the inevitable drop-off could make the difference.

The point is that there is NO SURE THING in Football, so don’t pencil in the “L” before the game is played.

However, there IS a sure thing in Cheerleading:  And that sure thing is that UCLA’s Spirit Squad never disappoints.  Here are 30 more UCLA Cheerleader photos from the Cal game, with 60 more coming very soon (in two more sets of 30).