Bruins Rebirth

I have never been considered a big fan of Rick Neuheisel the coach. The guy who walked on at UCLA and then became their starting QB I liked, but the coach who has brought on NCAA scrutiny at his two previous stops, Colorado and Washington, and then got his dream job without warranting it (something that has become the trend in Los Angeles) is not someone I care for. So when Neuheisel, who only won 11 games in his first two years in Westwood, apologized to the crowd after the Bruins got hammered 35-0 at home to Stanford in week two, I rolled my eyes. Once again the Bruins were going to be an afterthought in both the Pac 10 race and in the national picture.

But then something clicked with the new offense brought in over the summer in an attempt to improve the team's poor rush attack. Despite having passing game wiz Norm Chow as offensive coordinator and being in position to recruit from the great stable of California high school quarterbacks, the Bruins decided to take a look at what Nevada does with their founding version of the "Pistol" attack. Nevada coach Chris Ault--who is already a college football hall of famer--developed the formation in 2004. Ault took the spread attack and added a power run game dimension. His offense in 2009 became the first in college football history to produce three 1,000y rushers in QB Colin Kaepernick and RBs Luke Lippincott and Vai Taua. Alabama is now using the offense at times with success while James Madison used the Pistol to upset Virginia Tech on the same day that Neuheisel was apologizing. For the Bruins it took a few weeks to master the attack and get their offensive line healthy enough to block quality defenses. Beginning with game three they bounced Houston from the top 25 with a 31-13 win and then last week shocked Texas with 34-12 beating, wearing down the Longhorns defense in the second half. The win was the first over a ranked opponent on the road since 2001. Soph RB Johnathan Franklin has been the breakout star of the Bruins ground game in rushing for 409y. He led the Bruins last year with just 560y total. Meanwhile QB Kevin Prince averages just 71y passing per game as UCLA resembles the old days of coaches Pepper Rodgers and Dick Vermeil, when their offense featured backs like Kermit Johnson, Wendell Tyler, Theotis Brown and Freeman McNeil.

Lost in the praise for the Pistol offense has been the play of a young and aggressive defense. Coach Chuck Bullough's stop unit held Houston to 360y, more than 200y less than their average, and then gave no quarter to the Longhorns. The Bruins allowed short passes, but hammered the receivers upon completion. And, of course, Texas could not run the ball but UCLA cannot get credit for that--the Longhorns can't run the ball against anyone. Not one of the top seven tacklers for UCLA are seniors, while the offense is also loaded with underclassmen. There should be no reason for anyone to apologize for the rest of the year and in 2011.