It seems like Oregon is trying to reload fresh off their title game appearance. Stanford has their swagger back. Somehow pundits equate USC's recruiting rankings with their preseason poll spot and it reignites the USC flame in SoCal. RichRod has UofA on the map. Sonny Dykes is selling his offense's stats to recruits, as is WSU. ASU continues to collect the academically challenged.
So where does UCLA stand?
Oregon needs to show it can keep it up. They lose their best players across the board. It will be interesting to see how far they go this year with a new cast and the coach without his security blankets.
Stanford is a team that has a system that matches up well with UCLA's if they have a decent QB. Our LBs are fast, but unless we get run support from the secondary, we are vulnerable to a team who can pound the ball, but still get a ball over our crashing DBs. But I think Stanford is a team slowly heading downward. This will be a telling year. Harbaugh's recruits will be fourth and fifth year guys now that didn't go to the draft early and Shaw will have only his own guys to succeed. I think he fails to get Stanford back to the 10 win plateau again in his career. If Stanford becomes a 7-8 win team, all of the academics is forgotten for the elite kid like Robinson (for future years).
They can leapfrog USC if they play much better than them this year. Kids have a short memory, but parents don't. I have a feeling that this revival is like getting back with your old girlfriend. You remember her smile and how much fun you had together. And then you remember all the reasons you dumped her five years ago. USC fans will see Sark and realize that the place is a dumpster fire again and future recruits will start to consider UCLA in front of USC.
RichRod is a threat to some of our recruiting efforts, but I think his system is one that our system is aligned to beat. We play a fast pro-style system, which has the speed to keep up with Arizona, but the strength to wear them down.
Cal and WSU better win and win now or all of the recruits around won't save their coaches in 2016. And by win, I mean get to .500. Other than that, even if the coaches keep their jobs another season, they will be foied with a single leap up to .500 in 2016.
And ASU will be a thorn in our side as long as academics remain a bright spot for us and a smear on them. But I will take that. If Jojo Wicker can't make it into UCLA, I feel bad for him and want him to have a place to go pretend to go to school while he learns his future profession, but UCLA is not just a football factory. And I do not believe for more than five minutes that Graham won't jump again when an SEC school comes calling. He can collect the non-admits of the PAC-12 and win some games, but in the SEC, they are all non-admits, so he has no competitive advantage.
So if UCLA goes 10-2 or better and Rosen and his offense start to click at the end of the year, I see UCLA as THE landing spot in the PAC-12 along with Oregon and a fading USC. If Oregon stumbles the following year and USC is out of the picture, UCLA will be the destination for kids first and whatever new coaches in the PAC-12 exist will be playing catch-up.
So where does UCLA stand?
Oregon needs to show it can keep it up. They lose their best players across the board. It will be interesting to see how far they go this year with a new cast and the coach without his security blankets.
Stanford is a team that has a system that matches up well with UCLA's if they have a decent QB. Our LBs are fast, but unless we get run support from the secondary, we are vulnerable to a team who can pound the ball, but still get a ball over our crashing DBs. But I think Stanford is a team slowly heading downward. This will be a telling year. Harbaugh's recruits will be fourth and fifth year guys now that didn't go to the draft early and Shaw will have only his own guys to succeed. I think he fails to get Stanford back to the 10 win plateau again in his career. If Stanford becomes a 7-8 win team, all of the academics is forgotten for the elite kid like Robinson (for future years).
They can leapfrog USC if they play much better than them this year. Kids have a short memory, but parents don't. I have a feeling that this revival is like getting back with your old girlfriend. You remember her smile and how much fun you had together. And then you remember all the reasons you dumped her five years ago. USC fans will see Sark and realize that the place is a dumpster fire again and future recruits will start to consider UCLA in front of USC.
RichRod is a threat to some of our recruiting efforts, but I think his system is one that our system is aligned to beat. We play a fast pro-style system, which has the speed to keep up with Arizona, but the strength to wear them down.
Cal and WSU better win and win now or all of the recruits around won't save their coaches in 2016. And by win, I mean get to .500. Other than that, even if the coaches keep their jobs another season, they will be foied with a single leap up to .500 in 2016.
And ASU will be a thorn in our side as long as academics remain a bright spot for us and a smear on them. But I will take that. If Jojo Wicker can't make it into UCLA, I feel bad for him and want him to have a place to go pretend to go to school while he learns his future profession, but UCLA is not just a football factory. And I do not believe for more than five minutes that Graham won't jump again when an SEC school comes calling. He can collect the non-admits of the PAC-12 and win some games, but in the SEC, they are all non-admits, so he has no competitive advantage.
So if UCLA goes 10-2 or better and Rosen and his offense start to click at the end of the year, I see UCLA as THE landing spot in the PAC-12 along with Oregon and a fading USC. If Oregon stumbles the following year and USC is out of the picture, UCLA will be the destination for kids first and whatever new coaches in the PAC-12 exist will be playing catch-up.
