UCLA coach Jim Mora met with the media on Monday. Here were the notes from his conversation:
-Mora said the team is taking "a little bit of solace" in the fact that they lost to two top 10 teams basically on the last play of the game this year, but, "Bottom line is we came here to win."
-Mora said his team was "as down as I've ever seen this group" after the game, though he said they were "slowly" coming back yesterday. He said the team made a pact to put the game behind them on Sunday night.
-Mora said when he watched the film, he found it "frustrating," as there were some "enormous holes that were not hit" in the ground game. Said they left "so much out there" - probably "100" yards.
-Mora said in order to try to fix that, Kennedy Polamalu is going to tighten his grip a bit on coaching the running back group. Said the OC had been spread a little thin given all his new duties, but it sounds like he'll focus a little more on the RB group moving forward.
-Mora also said they're going to "dial back" the amount of receivers and running backs they play during a game in order to try to consistently pick up the yards he felt the team left out on the field Saturday. Said you'll see "less of three and more of one" when it comes to the big three at running back.
-Mora said the team "wants to involve" Theo Howard, but said they also like some other guys. He also said when they designed some plays for Theo at BYU, he didn't respond well during the game, so it sounds like they're going to be cautious when it comes to trying to get him really involved in the game plan.
-Mora said Eli Ankou (elbow) will be "touch and go" this week. Said there doesn't appear to be any structural damage, but he's in a brace, there is swelling and it's a "pain management issue" at this point. Mora believes Ankou's injury is the only one they're concerned about leaving the Stanford game.
-Mora said the team is taking "a little bit of solace" in the fact that they lost to two top 10 teams basically on the last play of the game this year, but, "Bottom line is we came here to win."
-Mora said his team was "as down as I've ever seen this group" after the game, though he said they were "slowly" coming back yesterday. He said the team made a pact to put the game behind them on Sunday night.
-Mora said when he watched the film, he found it "frustrating," as there were some "enormous holes that were not hit" in the ground game. Said they left "so much out there" - probably "100" yards.
-Mora said in order to try to fix that, Kennedy Polamalu is going to tighten his grip a bit on coaching the running back group. Said the OC had been spread a little thin given all his new duties, but it sounds like he'll focus a little more on the RB group moving forward.
-Mora also said they're going to "dial back" the amount of receivers and running backs they play during a game in order to try to consistently pick up the yards he felt the team left out on the field Saturday. Said you'll see "less of three and more of one" when it comes to the big three at running back.
-Mora said the team "wants to involve" Theo Howard, but said they also like some other guys. He also said when they designed some plays for Theo at BYU, he didn't respond well during the game, so it sounds like they're going to be cautious when it comes to trying to get him really involved in the game plan.
-Mora said Eli Ankou (elbow) will be "touch and go" this week. Said there doesn't appear to be any structural damage, but he's in a brace, there is swelling and it's a "pain management issue" at this point. Mora believes Ankou's injury is the only one they're concerned about leaving the Stanford game.
