The Bruins' up and down season produced some late tension early this week when rumors began spreading that Jim Mora was the prize for UW after USC was able to lure away the great Steve Sarkisian which I'm sure followed NCAA regulations. Word was spreading that the Huskies were preparing a mammoth offer to bring the Washington alumnus home. Fortunately for fans of good clean Los Angeles football, Coach Jim reupped with the Bruins for 6 more years while securing raises for himself and his staff and a commitment from the athletics department to improve the lackluster football facilities on the UCLA campus.
While UCLA is a destination coaching school that generally should not have to fear losing top quality coaches, the athletics department has proved themselves to be less than capable when it comes to putting success first.
Looking at How We Got Here:
Mere months after kicking their former star coordinator-turned (mediocre) head coach, the Trojans decided to tread a very similar path that brought them Lane Kiffin, and hired Sarkisian. The Pete Carrol-era O-coordinator who comically was Lane Kiffin's successor in that role at USC. After canning Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX, the Trojans played respectably against middling competition, most notably scraping together a home win against Stanford under interim Coach Ed Oregon.
In an effort to clean the Memorial Coliseum of the malodorous Kiffin stank, Athletic Director Pat Haden opted not to remove the interim tag from Coach O. USC burned the two month leg up they had on other programs and could not produce a single candidate with a sterling resume or one that would bring excitement to the fan base, or more importantly, on the recruiting trail. Instead, Haden went with something a little more familiar. For a program with such a proud history and one nearing the end of their Reggie Bush-era sanctions, they should have been able to land a heavy hitter. Time will tell whether Sarkisian can reinvigorate the USC program, but using the same blueprint for the Kiffin hire is an ominous start.
As for the Bruins, After playing in the first two Pac-12 Championship games ever, UCLA missed out this year following their close loss to Arizona State. The schedule pulled no punches this year with back to back road games at Oregon and Stanford, and those are the kind of games the Bruins need to not only be competitive in, but to be able to win down the road with the talent and coaching that has become so evident in the program.
Going forward, things couldn't be looking brighter. Their steamrolling of USC was a statement victory that followed up last years big win. The Bruins are now undoubtedly the class of Los Angeles and that should jumpstart the campaign towards a national championship in 2014-2015.
That leaves us with 3 BIG QUESTIONS
1. Will Brett Hundley go Pro?
Brett Hundley had one of his best games as a Bruin on Saturday. He torched the Trojans on the ground and his powerful arm was making some impressive throws. He's turned himself into a fine QB prospect and he has the tools, the intelligence, and the work ethic to succeed at the next level. I don't think he goes pro though. His game was a little too inconsistent this year. He definitely could use another year at the college level honing his accuracy, his pocket presence, and his ability to read receivers. He wouldn't be a disaster if he decided to go pro, but he could use one more year of seasoning before entering the draft.
2. Where will UCLA go Bowling?
From all indications it looks like UCLA will get a game in El Paso on New Years Eve in the Sun Bowl. While the game is a step down from last year's Holiday Bowl draw, the chance to play an ACC team should be a good opportunity for UCLA to prove itself, and it's conferences' mettle. Baylor absolutely torched the Bruins in the bowl game last year, so hopefully Jim has the Bruins ready to go. A bowl game win is going to be very important in serving notice in 2014.
3. Will UCLA's 2014 out of conference schedule accommodate a national championship run?
The out of conference games include road games and a highly winnable contest at Virginia and a big matchup at Cowboys Stadium against Texas. Texas is a huge wild card. If they're anything like this years mess, UCLA could look to add to their 100-15 margin of victory in their last two road games against Texas. If Mack Brown gets the boot and a new coach can drum up some excitement in the first few weeks of the season, this could be a bigger test than it seems.
The Pac-12 has some great football teams that haven't received the most attention in recent years mostly because they don't play second and third division teams whose active roster makes up 20% of their schools entire enrollment. 2014 will mark the first year without the BCS and it's fetishization for spotless records against cream puff teams (cf. Ohio St.). The Pac-12 will assuredly make some noise in the new playoff system and UCLA should be among the two or three teams that will force the rest of the nation to recognize that football greatness starts on the West Coast.
