I haven’t seen a write-up on this game so I felt I would
give it a shot. I think this game is a little off the
radar in week 1.
UCLA – Huge underachiever last season. 4-8. Chou gone, Neuheisel has one of the hottest coaching seats
west of the Mississippi.
Why?
·
3rd most starters lost to injury
(o-line devastated). 58
starts lost for season.·
Bruins had the 4th toughest schedule
in country. Out of conf. LY @ K State, Texas, Houston·
Turnovers:
-11 in takeaways (tied for 7th highest in D-11).
So there you go. You lose starters to injury, your
schedule is tough, and you lose the rock, you are going to lose and lose
often. That was 2010. In 2011, UCLA has had no huge injuries in practice. They return 9 starters on offense, 8 on
defense. Strengths of the
team appear to be running game, o-line, d-line. QB play is a question, but I don’t think it will be needed
vs. Houston anyway.
HOUSTON - Also
underachieved last season (5-7) but they are given a pass going into 2011
solely because of QB Keenum getting injured in UCLA game and being OFY. As usual, the Houston defense
sucked and gave up over 200 rushing yards in 6 of its final 10 games (gave up
266 yards or 5.2/carry vs. UCLA).
Here are my issues with Houston this year
·
Keenum is good but it’s not like this guy is an
NFL passing talent just waiting to shred defenses. I’m assuming if he were, he wouldn’t be playing his 6th
year in college. I have been
told this is a “system” offense.
This world-beater had 5 td and 5 int. before being lost for the year
leading up to his injury in the 3rd game. ·
Houston only returns 2 starters with on the O-line,
and 2 projected starters for this year look doubtful or this weekend’s game
(Cloud, Oragwu) because of injury.
Will they be able to run the ball as well as people think and protect QB
with a new O-line? RB Bryce Beall had a great year last
year but will he get the same holes this year? ·
Their defense can’t get off the field. D-line gave up 209 yards per game rushing last year! Overall, they gave up 32 points/game and 433 yards, which is
about the norm for them the last 3 years. 6 starters are returning overall and the strength
appears to be in the linebackers as 4 of top 5 tacklers are back.
Last year in this matchup, UCLA was up 21-3 before the
Keenum injury. Final score
was 31-13 but UCLA was up 31-3 going into the 4th.