If Mediocrity had a football team, its mascot would most likely wear a giant foam Mike Stoops head
Ahhh, mediocre college football. Three words that go together like turkey, gravy, and stuffing.
While the majority of space here at FanHouse and on every other college football publication will be focused on the Top 25, season after season a huge slice of the college football fan pie (mmmm...fan pie) find themselves supporting a team who would most aptly be described as thoroughly mediocre, at best. I'd venture to guess that for every legit contender, there are probably three teams with a couple of flaws so glaring that only those blinded by the partisanship of homerdom can pretend their team's downsides won't inevitably sabotage any hopes of playing in a bowl of even moderate respectability.
And therein lies one of the most cruel realities of the college football landscape: winning 6 or 7 games is no small feat, and yet every year coaches and players around the country will be abused for achieving that very milestone. Of course, when you play in a conference like the Pac 10 -- who rewards its third place finisher with a December 31 game in El Paso's Sun Bowl -- can you really be that surprised when fans and pundits are critical of barely topping out above .500?
Who from the Pac 10 will slide to the middle of the pack in 2008? Here's a quick rundown of the leading candidates for Pacific time zone mediocrity this season.
Far be it for FanHouse to callously and indiscriminately mock injuries, as nobody deserves a torn ACL or high ankle sprain. Pain is pain, and pain sucks.
And yet, every now and then, an injury comes along, and we as thinking observers of this sport and this planet just cannot help but laugh until our ribs shatter.
This season's comedy of abject failure comes from UCLA QB Ben Olson. You may remember about a month ago, when he was cleared to practice again after breaking his foot... while taking a snap. Olson had this to say about his return:
"It's a huge relief," Olson said. "Any time you get hurt, you never know how long it will take. You question if you will ever be back. It's nice to feel that it's progressing and we're moving forward."
Talk about a program needing some good news right now. Talented UCLA senior running back Kahlil Bell, who tore his ACL eight games into the 2007 season, was starting to become a big worry for his status heading into 2008. But late word from Inside UCLA's Brian Dohn has Bell looking ready to roll on the eve of fall camp. Now he's not all the way back, participating in seven-on-seven drills and the like, but he's getting there.
Technically, Bell has not been medically cleared to practice, but he told me recently he expects that to happen in early August, when he is examined by the UCLA doctors.
Bell was a big bright spot on the UCLA offense last year, rushing for 795 yards with a team-high 5.6 yards per carry in '07. He's got excellent size at a physical 6-0, 206, and is the best big-play threat on the UCLA offense.
But the real worry is what Bell will see when he actually gets the football in game situations this season. UCLA's offensive line is in tatters, with just one starter back in 2008. The recent loss of projected starting right tackle Sean Sheller only complicated things. Add in QB Ben Olson still slowly coming back from a broken foot, and you can imagine Bell will see nothing but defenses stacking the line of scrimmage to try and take him out of the offensive equation. Norm Chow might be the "Yoda" of NCAA offensive coordinators, but he might start asking what he's gotten himself into with this UCLA job.
When you are an injury-prone quarterback coming up on your last season, you look for anything positive at this point. And when you are UCLA's new coaching staff, a group that suffered through losing both top quarterbacks on consecutive plays during the final spring practice, hope can be a fleeting thought that comes and goes. But finally, some good news out of Bruin-land, as UCLA's Ben Olson has officially started down the comeback trail.
Olson broke his foot in the spring, literally one play after incumbent starter Patrick Cowan blew out his ACL and was lost for the 2008 season. After surgery to insert a screw in Olson's foot and a couple of months of rehab, Olson appears to be making some progress, as he was cleared for practice late last week. Olson started some incremental treadmill training, running for two-minute segments while walking for one minute in-between.
"It's a huge relief," Olson said. "Any time you get hurt, you never know how long it will take. You question if you will ever be back. It's nice to feel that it's progressing and we're moving forward."
While Olson is relieved, the coaching staff led by Norm Chow has to be breathing a lot easier. The pickings behind Olson are slim, with San Diego State transfer Kevin Craft currently slated as the backup and redshirt frosh Chris Forcier still without a collegiate pass attempt. And, while a couple of minutes jogging on the treadmill are a little different than, say, trying to get out of the way of an oncoming pass-rush with only a couple of experienced linemen to protect you, well, still, baby steps are better than no steps at all.
The UCLA offense is a little thin these days, what with starting quarterback Patrick Cowan and backup Ben Olson already nursing various injuries. Cowan is actually lost for the entire 2008 season after tearing his ACL, and Olson suffered a broken right foot late in spring ball and should miss most of the off-season training sessions. But now the offensive line has joined in, as projected starting right tackle Sean Sheller could be on the shelf for some time.
According to the LA Times, Sheller was injured over the weekend while riding an ATV. He suffered an open wound on his left ankle as well as an undisclosed injury to his left knee. An MRI is pending on the knee to determine how much damage was actually done in the accident.
An interesting angle is that the LA Times also reports in the same story that UCLA gained a JC tackle in Donovan Edwards. Edwards is a late signee who could be eligible to play immediately this fall, pending summer school results.
The troubling thing for UCLA is what this does to an already-thin offensive line. It's bad enough when you are without a couple of QB's and it's only June. But the Bruins were already down to two returning starters up front with the "Micah" duo of Micah Reed at center and Micah Kia at left tackle. Overall eight of the top 10 listed on the offensive line depth chart didn't even play a single snap last year, so potentially losing Sheller isn't exactly good news.
Last year, the University of California at Los Angeles went through four starting quarterbacks in a season which failed to meet expectations. New head coach Rick Neuheisel and offensive coordinator Norm Chow had hoped to turn the tide and avoid any quarterback controversy, naming Pat Cowan the starter in Spring Practice.
Things have gotten so bad that UCLA's coaches are now asking recruit Kevin Prince to leave school early in order to provide depth at the position. But Prince is still recovering from reconstructive knee surgery himself, so don't expect this high schooler to be a lucky charm to avoid injuries at the position!
Were it not for all the other wackiness in College Football this season, the collapses of California and Oregon Football would be among this year's major story lines. As both teams were poised to take over the number-one ranking in the country, their quarterbacks suffered injuries which sent their seasons on a downward spiral.
Oregon infamously refused to disclose the status of Dennis Dixon's knee during the bye week between games against Arizona State and Arizona, only to have their national championship hopes dislocated against the Wildcats.
But hiding a quarterback injury wasn't exclusive to the Ducks. California quarterback Nate Longshore played the nearly the whole season with a chipped bone in his ankle--hobbling him ever since the Bears beat the Ducks. Bears coach Jeff Tedford admitted yesterday, "There's a little chip in the back part of it there. I didn't get that it was a broken ankle. But Nate had talked to me about a little chip that was in the back there."
Although it seemed unlikely as their season unraveled earlier this month, the UCLA Bruins are still in the running for the Rose Bowl Game after defeating the beleaguered Oregon Ducks in Pasadena 16-0.
For the first half of the game, it looked like neither injury-riddled team wanted to win the ballgame. Converted wide receiver Osaar Rashaan completed none of his 7 passes in the start, resulting in Karl Dorrell bringing "emergency substitute" Ben Olson off the bench at haltime--providing a spark to make the UCLA offense look merely mediocre. Meanwhile, the Bruin defense showed just how important Dennis Dixon was to the Oregon Ducks.
If UCLA beats USC, Oregon beats Oregon State and Arizona defeats Arizona State next Saturday, the Bruins will have the tiebreaker in the four-way race, sending the 7-5 Bruins to the Rose Bowl Game, Oregon to the Holiday Bowl, USC to the Sun Bowl and Arizona State to San Francisco's Emerald Bowl.
Then again, the Oregon loss puts USC in the drivers' seat for the Rose Bowl game--win and they're in. Even if the Trojans lose to UCLA, they could back in to the Rose Bowl is Oregon and Arizona State also lose.
If anyone is having a rougher week than USC head coach Pete Carroll, it is UCLA coach Karl Dorrell. While Carroll was taking accountability for the Trojans' loss to Stanford with alumni on Monday, the Bruin head coach went into hiding.
According to the Los Angeles Times, " Requests to interview Dorrell on Monday night were turned away with the explanation that he could not be located."
When Olson went down against winless Notre Dame, Dorrell was faced with three bad choices--play walkon McLeod Bethel-Thomspon, switch Osaar Rasshan back to the quarterback position he played for his first two years in Westwood or take the red shirt off of highly-touted frosh Chris Forcier.
If Cowan cannot recover in time for the Bruins' October 20 matchup with California, Dorrell will have to make the same decision again--and have some explaining to do if he diverts from the course chosen against the Irish.
Starting QB Ben Olson has been suffering from headaches all week since getting battered by the Utah Utes and the effects were apparently too much for Southpaw Jesus. As a result, Head coach Karl Dorrell has to give a new meaning to "second choice" in Westwood as he must rely on his backup quarterback for the second season in a row.
As for Cowan, he seems to have recovered from a preseason hamstring injury which sidelined him during fall camp.
Talk about a program needing some good news right now. Talented UCLA senior running back 
When you are an injury-prone quarterback coming up on your last season, you look for anything positive at this point. And when you are UCLA's new coaching staff, a group that suffered through losing both top quarterbacks on consecutive plays during the final spring practice, hope can be a fleeting thought that comes and goes. But finally, some good news out of Bruin-land, as UCLA's 
The UCLA offense is a little thin these days, what with starting quarterback 
Last year, the University of California at Los Angeles went through four starting quarterbacks in a season which failed to meet expectations. New head coach 
Were it not for all the other wackiness in College Football this season, the collapses of California and Oregon Football would be among this year's major story lines. As both teams were poised to take over the number-one ranking in the country, their quarterbacks suffered injuries which sent their seasons on a downward spiral.
Although it seemed unlikely as their 
If anyone is having a rougher week than USC head coach 
The last time 
