Neuheisel offered similar thoughts but was a touch more expansive, complaining about the poor play by the offensive line, a haggard and weary group who have been scapegoats all season long.
Let's slow here for a moment and think about how this team is being led. A thought: I'm hoping for the best from Neuheisel and his staff, but I've seen nothing so far to make me feel that this year's team is being coached much better than it was in 2007, when most said the coaching was utterly atrocious.
The Bruins, particularly on offense, are no stronger, no faster, no smarter and no meaner, and they have not become more disciplined. Yes, last year UCLA graduated some very solid players, and the 2008 Bruins tend toward the young side. Yes, the offensive line may not be as talented as it could be. But isn't an important measure of a coaching staff the ability to develop talent, no matter what kind of talent it is?
Take the much pilloried Kevin Craft. Could it be that the new coaches have done their junior college transfer a disservice by jumbling his mind with negative thoughts?
A moment from this game: First quarter, crowd still settling, Craft blows up a drive by morphing from the good passer he appeared to be in the first few plays to a guy who overthrows his receiver on a third down by the width of a Hummer.
On the sidelines, as has become his habit, Neuheisel appears ready to blow a gasket.
He flails his arms. He talks loudly and his cheeks redden. Craft walks toward his coach looking like a little kid who has just been caught stealing candy from the corner store. They appear to squabble for a minute or so, and then appear to settle on something approaching "let's agree to disagree."
It went on like this the rest of the game. Craft would come in, look decent for a while, fold, then walk over to the sideline and get peppered by his head coach. It's gotten to the point where I'm beginning to wonder: Is Craft -- a solid kid who transferred to Westwood thinking he'd ride the pine, only to find himself starting after injuries -- beginning to tune his head coach out?
If that's the case, are his teammates beginning to do the same thing? Nine games in, having shown little spark and little to nothing in the way of improvement, they sure are playing like it.
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kurt.streeter@latimes.com
