Posts Tagged ‘ucla’

Every staff has their own way of making sure that their team goes into their bowl game prepared. Because of the 15 on the field practices that you're allotted, a lot of that planning has to do with when, and sometimes where, your bowl game takes place.

Jim Mora explained how him and his staff have set up their routine after their practice on Saturday.

As he explains, him and the rest of the UCLA staff planned a few days last week of just "skills and drills" which mainly consisted of drilll work and 7 on 7. Mora added that they'll also have a couple "generic practices" which will consist of "UCLA vs. UCLA" before they start to focus on Baylor. Beyond that, they'll start to get into to some tougher practices (similar to in season practices), and game plan type stuff the four days before leaving for the bowl game so that they have everything installed when they get San Diego.

That way, upon arriving in San Diego, they can just focus on tightening things up while they're enjoying the rest of the bowl festivities. As Mora explains, it's very similar to the way that teams prepare for a Super Bowl.

After Saturday's 35-17 loss to Stanford, UCLA head coach Jim Mora opened his post-game press conference giving customary credit to Stanford for their win.

Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers nabbed the first question and immediately engaged Mora in a dialogue of whether Mora truly wanted to win the game. Mora, of course, dismissed the allegation wholeheartedly. 

Here's his quote: "Because we're competitors, T.J. Those guys in there don't spend all the time they spend preparing for a game in the offseason, during the week, the sacrifices they make to go out and not try their best to win ... So that's what they did, and they came up a little short. To insinuate that our players didn't give their best effort"

Simers, however, continued arguing in favor of the angle he took in his post-game column. 

"I've never in my life stepped on the field and given less than my best, nor will I ever," Mora continued. 

I give Mora a lot of credit for showing restraint here. I've been in my share of post-game press conferences and have never seen a press conference get derailed quite like that, especially right off the top. 

At the four-minute mark, another media member asked if Mora held anything back for next week. Mora answered, "We're trying to create a culture about winning. You try to win every single time you step on the field and if you don't do that you cheat everybody. You cheat yourself, you cheat your players, you cheat your alumni, you cheat the students the students that suport you, you cheat your fans. We're trying to be great."

At the 5 minute mark Simers again comes back for more and Mora responds a bit this time. Watch the death stare at about the 5:40 mark. Priceless. Mora wins this one. 

Watch for yourself below.

Last night the UCLA campus gathered for a "Beat SC" bonfire where the Jim Mora and some of the Bruin's leaders addressed the fans about this weekends game against USC in the Rose Bowl.

Towards the end of the clip, defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin takes the stage to lead the team in a rap to get the place hyped.

It looks like this isn't coach Martin's first time doing something like this...

After practice this morning, Jim Mora explained that there are two positions that stick out to him as the hardest to master from a technique perspective. Those two positions are corner, and offensive tackle.

As Mora sees it, you're protecting your side of the ball's most valuable asset, and in many cases, doing it out on your own island. For the corners, it's the goal line that they protect, and for the tackles it's the quarterback.

Both great points.

Hear more from Mora on the subject below. 

This would definitely make for some solid late night debate at the AFCA convention with some cold beverages in hand. What are your thoughts?

Plenty of coaches across the nation did outstanding jobs in preparing their teams to play, but the group below shined above the rest to win our Coaches of the Week for Week 10 of the college football season. 

Head Coach of the Week - Mark Hudspeth, Louisiana - Lafayette: Hudspeth's team became the first squad outside the Big 12 and SEC to defeat ULM with a 40-24 win on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing streak to their intrastate rivals. The 24 points was a season-low for the Warhawks, while the Ragin' Cajuns became the first Sun Belt team to drop 40 points on ULM in regulation since 2009. Quarterback Terrance Broadway was an efficient 23-of-32 for 373 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, while Hudsepth's team controlled the line of scrimmage by out-rushing ULM 234-74. The win moved ULL one victory away from a second straight bowl berth and just one game back of first place in the Sun Belt. 

Offensive Staff of the Week - LSU: Credit must be given to Oregon for putting up school records (and USC opponent records) with 62 points and 730 yards, but this week we recognize the work of Greg Studrawa and LSU's offensive coaches. The Tigers offense outperformed even the loftiest expectations against college football's top total, scoring, passing and pass efficiency defense. Quarterback Zach Mettenberger played his best game as a collegian, connecting on 24-of-35 passes for 298 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Running back Jeremy Hill became just the fifth opponent in Nick Saban's tenure at Alabama to run for 100 yards against the Crimson Tide (29 carries, 107 yards, one touchdown). The Tigers moved the ball consistently on Alabama by refusing to leave the field. They were successful on 10-of-20 third downs and ran 85 plays, which adds up to 39:15 time of possession, allowing the Tigers to penetrate for two touchdowns and three field goal attempts. 

The last team to put up 435 or more yards of offense against Alabama? That would be LSU -- in 2007.

— Andrew Gribble (@Andrew_Gribble) November 4, 2012

Defensive Staff of the Week - UCLA: One week after slicing and dicing the USC defense to the tune of 588 yards and 39 points, the Arizona offense compiled just 257 yards and 10 points in a 66-10 shellacking by UCLA. The Bruins held the Pac-12's leading passer Matt Scott to a season-low 124 yards on 15-of-25 attempts. Defensive coordinator Lou Spanos' unit limited Arizona to 3-of-14 on third down, a season-worst 18 first downs, recovered three fumbles and forced seven punts. It did not surrender a touchdown until midway through the third quarter with the Bruins nursing a 42-point lead. The UCLA coaching staff decided to wear war paint on the sidelines and if Saturday's results are any indication, Bruins football just got itself a new tradition. 

Special Teams Unit of the Week - San Diego State: Special teams keyed a historic win for San DIego State on Saturday night, 21-19 over Boise State. In defeating Boise State 21-19 on Saturday night, the Aztecs earned the program's first win over an AP top 20 team away from home. Colin Lockett opened the game with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. That play stood as San Diego State's only offense until Dwayne Garrett blocked a punt in Broncos territory and returned it to the 8-yard line. Two plays later, San Diego State had its second touchdown of the day and a lead it would not relinquish. 

Call of the Week - Butch Jones and Mike Bajakian, Cincinnati: A few weeks ago in this space we promised that any time a coach goes for two and the win late in a game would receive automatic Call of the Week honors, so respect must be given to Gary Patterson and TCU for doing just that in their 39-38 win in double overtime at West Virginia. But this award goes to head coach Butch Jones and Mike Bajakian for doing what no staff has done - calling a jump pass in the middle of the field. Jump passes entered national consciousness with Tim Tebow at Florida in 2006, and we've even seen some running backs execute the play in recent years but the play had exclusively been used as a goal line tactic until Saturday. Trailing Syracuse 10-7 and facing a 4th and 2, Cincinnati opened the second quarter with a simple hand off to tailback George Winn. As Winn approached the line of scrimmage he sprung in the air and found Travis Kelce all alone behind the defense for a 37-yard touchdown. Cincinnati would go on to defeat Syracuse, 35-24.

UCLA (6-2, 3-2) has got some new threads for their homecoming game this weekend against Arizona (5-3, 2-3).

The uniforms were first unveiled via UCLA's Instagram account.

From everything that we're hearing, the new uni's are well liked by the Bruin fan base, and look like a nice change up from their usual powder blue look. The exact color of the uniform is referred to as "L.A. Night" by adidas.

Saturday's kickoff is scheduled for 10:30pm ET on the Pac 12 Network.

The Bruins are off this weekend, but head down to Arizona State to play next Saturday, and Jim Mora wants his guys getting some extra film time in tonight by watching tonight's broadcast of the Oregon and Arizona State game.

At the end of practice today, Mora encouraged his guys to watch the conference foes go at it and to try to get a edge on things like the snap count or get a feel for their offensive and defensive tempo and the overall environment down at ASU. 

Mora also told the players to listen carefully to the analysts when talking with the coaches because coaches have a tendency to "spill the beans" when it comes to philosophy and personnel packages that they may like or dislike.

During his time as an analyst, Mora explained that coaches would often give him nuggets of information on air that would help with the broadcast and that coaches would "send messages through the analysts to people that are watching the game."

Hmmm. Interesting perspective from someone who has been on both sides of the fence.

Just a reminder to listen extra carefully tonight, you may pick up on a few things if you're paying close enough attention.