Monday media day II: "It’s time to put up"

"The season is finally here" is the way UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell started his first weekly news conference of the season in front of a half-dozen television cameras and about two dozen writers and reporters.

He noted that the Bruins will play in the new Stanford Stadium for the first time, as well as seeing a new Stanford coach in Jim Harbaugh and a new Stanford offensive and defensive system. He also knows that this is one of the most-anticipated teams in recent UCLA history.

"A lot of expectations both outside the program and inside the program,: he said, "and it’s an exciting place to be since UCLA hasn’t been in this position in some time.

"I think the [biggest] challenge for us is the bigger expectations on our program. Our players in this program, they expect to play well; we all expect to do great things this year and this is the debut of showing what our capabilities are. That’s what we think about.

"You keep talking about the experience from having returning starters, but that only takes you so far. Now it’s about being productive; about scoring points and stopping ‘em and all those things. It’s not on paper anymore. The season’s starting, it’s time to put up. "

Dorrell noted that the focus will also be on him this season: "It’s the recognition factor that our program has gained from last year to this year and it’s a point in the program that it’s all my kids, they’re all guys that I’ve recruited, and it should be a difference in what you’ve seen in the past and that’s what the expectations [are] inside."

He didn’t think injuries were "too significant" except for the loss of freshman running back Raymond Carter to a knee injury. On offense, running back Chane Moline’s fractured left wrist and fullback Michael Pitre’s knee will keep them out of the game against Stanford. Receiver Osaar Rashaan has had concussion problems over the last week and a decision on whether he will travel will be made later in the week.

Dorrell addressed the issue of being more productive on offense, especially inside the opponent’s 20: "We spent a lot of time in this training camp in red zone offense; we spent probably 30-40% more time in our practice scheduling practice of more red zone offense.

"We scored points in the red zone last year . . . it just wasn’t the time of points you wanted in the red zone: you wanted touchdowns instead of field goals. And that’s what we’ve put a lot of emphasis in."

Dorrell pointed to the return of receiver Joe Cowan and more experience on the part of tight ends Logan Paulsen and William Snead as big pluses for operating in the red zone.

On Stanford, coming off an injury-riddled 1-11 season, Dorrell noted "They have always been tough to play in Palo Alto. I know UCLA has always had some tough games to play up there and this is one of the games we have to be very productive and very consistent to play to our capabilities."