WinOne Week #3

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UCLA -7
This might be a spot where Texas can get healthy because if they can beat up a horrible UCLA OL and get to Hundley, they can keep this close. Texas has got to find a way to run the ball and give time to QB Swoopes. After reviewing the game, they are not allowing him to throw the ball downfield. Partly because he does not seem to throw it well, and secondly because it does not seem that their OL can protect him for deeper routes. This game really scares me though because on paper UCLA should probably win this in a route and this line does not seem near high enough (I have it at 11). Texas fumbled the ball 4 more times (losing 3) and fumbled 2 times in the UNT game previously. They are trying to teach toughness however they need to teach ball security as well. But UCLA has warts. They've not run the ball well so far and Hundley still gets hit on passing plays way too much for any QB. But I believe they come to Dallas in this spot an get the win. No look ahead here like they did last saturday overlooking Memphis. They'll keep their sites targeted on Texas since in the words of AD Patterson, "Mora was never a real candidate for our coaching job".

Arizona St -14
Devils get back to facing a more traditional offense and they have far too many weapons on offense for CU to keep this one close. Devils getting big contributions from the run game against subpar opponents and since CU was gouged by CSU for over 260 yards i expect to see the Devils work their run game to set up big plays in the passing game. CU just does not have the talent to keep this one close and no reason for ASU to not be focused in this one, Devils big!!

Arizona -14
Last time these teams played was in New Mexico bowl where Zona mounted a furious 4th quarter rally behind Matt Scott and stole a 49-48 victory outscoring Pack 21-3 in the fourth quarter with the last 2 TD coming in the last minute of the game. Nevada led 21-0 at one point in the game but these are completely different teams now. Zona has gotten bigger and better and the players are 3 years into the RichRod offense. They've got talent all over the field and seem to have replaced last years rushing champ Ka Deem Carey. Zona comes in rushing for almost 300 yards/game and should test the Nevada defense. Nevada did beat up on a hapless Washington St team but they only accounted for a little over 300 yards at home which is low against a porous Wazzu defense. I think this becomes a track meet and Zona just has too many weapons for Pack to keep it close. At home, Zona should roll in this one. Nevada go their big win over a PAC12 team last week and don't think they'll travel to Tucson to get another. Too much Anu Solomon, and that healthy stable or RBs
 

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The Bruins are the most overrated team in America right now. With 90% of the public on them this could really be a bloodbath. But at least you got the early line on this game.
 

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The Bruins are the most overrated team in America right now. With 90% of the public on them this could really be a bloodbath. But at least you got the early line on this game.
I did however I don't feel comfortable. It's a night game so time shouldnt be a problem. But with the UCLA OL play being bad, UT and their front 7 could be disruptive. If I were coordinating the UT defense, I'd be blitzing them all night. Hundley tends to hold the ball too long at times and by blitzing you might force a turnover (scoop & score). Have you looked at the game yet?
 

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UCLA needed a last minute defensive stand to keep from losing to Memphis at home. Is Texas really that much worse than Memphis?
 

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UCLA needed a last minute defensive stand to keep from losing to Memphis at home. Is Texas really that much worse than Memphis?
You know, I posted last week that I thought UCLA would sleep walk through the Memphis game. I had Memphis 1H. I think from a scheduling perspective, UCLA was looking ahead to the Texas game and the trip to Arlington. I might be completely wrong on that.
 

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This is a tricky week. The 3rd week usually is. There are some very sharp lines out there. But I see the public heavily on some teams that on paper they shouldn't be backing so heavy. But most are based on what they saw in their last games.
 

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Going out on a limb and saying Texas wins straight up
And that's exactly why this game makes me wonder. As I stated above, if I were the Texas DC, I'd be blitzing that porous UCLA OL coming out of the tunnel and right after the national anthem. Put some hits on Hundley because he does not like to be touched. For a big kid, he really likes to have a clean pocket. But I could see that Texas front 7 causing some problems. Turnovers can lead to easy scores and that's what this Longhorn team needs right now. They need help because they cannot move the ball.

If I am UCLA, I don't do anything risky and I make Texas prove they can go 80yards every possession. I also think you'll see UCLA use more of their Zone read package. Their OC Noel Mazzone is very savvy and he's great at in game adjustments. I guarantee you he'll come out with a good plan to attack the horns defense. Probably will attack them on the edge and at LB by using their TE.

Just a hunch.
 

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Thought it interesting that ESPN ran this story about UT Wooing Mora, then denying that he was a serious candidate.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...-why-spurned-texas-longhorns-stay-los-angeles

[h=1]Mora chooses stability over suitors[/h]
Originally Published: September 10, 2014
By Chris Low | ESPN.com





[h=5]Drive Through: UCLA vs. Texas[/h]Had things played out a little differently, Jim Mora could have been on the sideline at Texas for the game against UCLA. We look at what could have been, and if either of these teams will be able to get their seasons headed in the right direction.Tags: NCF, Texas Longhorns, UCLA Bruins


[h=6]NEXT VIDEO
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[/h]


Football coaches bounce around like pingpong balls. It's the world they live in. Sometimes, it's their choice. A lot of times, it's not.
Jim Mora was over the bouncing, or as he calls it, the perpetual climb that's as much a part of the coaching profession as calling plays and motivating players.
If not, Mora could just as easily be strolling the Texas sideline instead of leading his No. 12-ranked Bruins when they take on the Longhorns on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
Had it been 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, he would have jumped at the opportunity to coach the Longhorns.
But not now. Not at this juncture of his life. And not with his family all so close by on the West Coast.
[h=4]INSIDE THE OFFICE[/h]
ncf_jimmoraoffice_ms_203x114.jpg
This season, ESPN.com will give you a tour of a college football coach's inner sanctum each week.
Today: Inside Jim Mora's Office »

Previously:
Inside Mark Dantonio's office »Inside Steve Spurrier's office »



"That's No. 1 in his life, his family," said Mora's dad, Jim E. Mora, who spent 40 years in coaching at 10 different stops. "His job's important to him, and he's good at it. But it's not No. 1 in his life. That spot belongs to his family."
The Longhorns came after Mora with a Texas-sized pitch back in January. They met for four hours at a private home in Manhattan Beach, California. It was an eye-opening experience, even for somebody as seasoned as Mora, who had already been an NFL head coach at two different stops.
He was up front with the Texas brass about how important it was for his parents to be at games. They live in Palm Desert and make the two-hour drive to Pasadena for every home game. His father is even around for some practices.
During those conversations, Texas offered to send a private jet to pick up Mora's parents, and anybody else he wanted, and bring them to all of the Longhorns' games.
"I'm like, 'Is there a bottom to your bucket?'" Mora said he remembers thinking at the time.
But the more he thought about it, the more he kept coming back to one central theme: He finally felt at home with his entire family, and it certainly helped that UCLA's administration stepped up to the plate and made a significant financial commitment to both Mora and his staff.
Keep in mind that Texas wasn't the only school wooing him. Washington, Mora's alma mater, also had made a run a few weeks earlier.
UCLA knew it had to act, and did with a new contract that runs through 2019 and pays Mora an average of $3.3 million per year. He also received more than $1 million to sweeten the deals of his assistant coaches, and construction on a new $50 million football practice complex is scheduled to begin by October 2015. Mora has an escape clause in his contract that would allow him to leave without penalty if the university doesn't meet that deadline on the new facilities.
I know it sounds really corny. But you try to teach them how to be good men and you start telling them all these things and demanding things from them, and then all of a sudden, you just turn and run from them? I don't know. I don't like that. I don't like how I would have felt about myself.
- Jim Mora, on considering other jobs.
"All of that had a lot to do with me staying, but it wasn't everything," said Mora, who won 21 of his first 29 games at UCLA, guided the Bruins to nine wins or more in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1997-98, and perhaps most importantly, has beaten crosstown rival USC each of his first two seasons.
"The big thing was that I don't want to jump around. I'm tired of doing that. More than anything, I feel like I'm done trying to climb and having it be more about me. Maybe it's because I'm older now [53 in November]. I want to be somewhere. I want to have an effect on other people, and I made a commitment to these kids."
By kids, he means all of them -- his biological children and his players at UCLA.
Mora and his wife, Shannon, live in Manhattan Beach and have four children. Their two oldest, Cole and Lillia, are in college. Cole plays soccer at Claremont McKenna College, which is about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, and Lillia is a freshman at USC. Their two youngest, Ryder and Trey, are still finishing up high school and middle school, respectively, and they're involved in everything from lacrosse to soccer to football.
"It's nice to have everybody in the same spot, to be able to go to soccer games and lacrosse games and have dinner with my parents," Mora said. "You can't put a value on that."
In that same vein, he'd spent two years preaching to his players at UCLA about building something together at a place known more for basketball than football.
"I made a commitment to these kids. They made a commitment to me," Mora said. "I'm not going to run out on them. You're always trying to teach them these lessons. I know it sounds really corny. But you try to teach them how to be good men and you start telling them all these things and demanding things from them, and then all of a sudden, you just turn and run from them?
"I don't know. I don't like that. I don't like how I would have felt about myself."
[+] Enlarge Gabriel Olsen/Getty ImagesJim E. Mora, Shannon Mora and Jim L. Mora attend a charity function in May in Los Angeles.


The ironic thing is that Mora got himself into hot water in 2006 when he was coaching the Atlanta Falcons by telling a Seattle radio station that he'd be at the head of the line with his "résumé in hand" if the University of Washington job ever came open. He's always insisted that he was joking, and to be fair, one of his old teammates and roommates at Washington was one of the radio hosts conducting the interview. Mora has said that the entire incident went a long way toward costing him his job when the Falcons fired him following the season.
Whatever the truth was back then, it's clear that the Mora we see today is grounded and possesses a clarity about life and football.
"The older you get, the more clearly you see things sometimes," Mora said.
He didn't have to look far, either, for some sage advice. There were times during his father's long and successful career that he opted not to take a job because he didn't think it was right for his family at the time.
While the elder Mora didn't browbeat his son when some of these jobs were dangling back in the winter, he made his feelings known.
"I'd hoped that he would stay and told him that," Jim E. Mora said. "I don't like it when these coaches move around all the time. He was out of coaching when he got this opportunity at UCLA and had hired a good staff. I know it happens in this business when guys pick up and move right after they get somewhere, but I didn't think it was a good business decision for Jim.
"It's always nice to be wanted no matter what profession you're in. But Jim made the decision for all of the right reasons. It was important to him to stay there and finish it at UCLA."
And to keep it in the family.
 

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I lost betting UCLA the first two weeks. I'm done w/ them. Texas is realing, but UCLA has their own problems. GL w/ that one.
 

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Best of luck to you on Arizona St , I hope they take a 21-0 lead and never look back , if Colorado State beat them by 14 Zona should win by 24
 

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GS, Speaking of semi-retarded QBs, adding the following plays

1H Rutg +2
Big 10 opener for Rutgers in this one and it will be a packed house. I'm a huge Ralph Friedgen fan and he's now running the offense and tutoring QB Nova and it already shows as his Ints are way down through 2 games. I think they continue to run the ball and set up play action to keep Nova in comfortable situations. He's also got him moving in the pocket a bit more. We know PSU is solid but I wonder what the outcome of that game against UCF would have been if the UCF backup QB had played the entire game cause he was very, very good. Just makes me wonder how good they might be.

1H Okla -12.5
I want to see Tenn on the road. I know what they did last year and I want to see if they improve. They beat Ut St with a still recovering and tentative Chuck Keaton but this is a big, big step up in talent. Last time they did this was against Oregon and we know what happened. OU big in this one, probably the reason Tenn didn't bring their band.


Nev/Zona Over 63.5
Really wasn't impressed with what Nevada did against Wazzu the previous week. That's a bad Wazzu defense and they only managed about 325 yards. The previous week Rutgers had put up over 500 yards against the same defense. And on the other side of the ball, Wazzu moved the ball all over the field and I think this more balanced Zona team, in Tucson, moves the ball up and down the field. Nevada will score some points but I see this game at a 48-24 type of game with Zona coming out on top. They are just a bit more balanced and I don't like Nevada on the road against good opponents. They'll come out strong but other than QB Fajardo, there are not a ton of weapons.
 

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I've got a great triple header today. Driving over to FtWorth for the TCU/Minny game, then leaving there and going to Jerry World for the UCLA game. Night cap with with office guys who are hosting a boxing fight party to see the Mayweather v Maidana fight. Our box at Jerry world and with my tablet I am hoping to be able to keep up with the other games.
 

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