An in-depth look at the UCLA Bruins

A quick look at UCLA for the sake of comparison to the same sort of look at Tennessee. Caveat emptor: stats are from last year. Depth chart is from the Game Notes, which of course is subject to UCLA's misfortune of losing QBs like Spinal Tap loses drummers.

Schedules

2007				2008
9/1	at	W 45-17		9/1	No. 18	L
9/8		W 27-17			Bye
9/15	at	L 44-6		9/13	at No. 16	L
9/22		W 44-31		9/20		?
9/29	at	W 40-14		9/27		?
10/6		L 20-6		10/4		W
10/13	Bye			10/11	at No. 21	L
10/20	No. 12	W 30-21		10/18		W
10/27	at	W 27-24		10/25	at	L
11/3	at	L 34-27		11/1	Bye
11/10	No. 9	L 24-20		11/8		?
11/17	Bye			11/15	at	L
11/24	No. 9	W 16-0		11/22	Bye
12/1	No. 8	L 24-7		11/28	at No. 15	L
12/22	No. 17	W 17-16		12/6	No. 3	L

Last year, UCLA went 8-5 with two bad losses and two good wins. This year, with a new offensive coaching staff and giving them the benefit of the doubt in what Bruins Nations earlier this summer termed toss-ups, my best guess is that the Bruins go 5-7 in the regular season.

Depth Chart (games/starts)

Key stats from last year

Observations

• Tennessee has two more upperclassmen on offense.
• UCLA's defense last year was very respectable in all of the right categories. It appears that eight (five, according to the Game Notes) of their 11 on defense were starters last year, too, so expect them to be good when we have the ball.
• The Bruins' 2007 offense, though, was atrocious. Seven starters are back (four, according to the Game Notes), but the QB isn't one of them. He' fresh off a stint at Mt. San Antonio College after having spent two seasons at San Diego State.