Monday Media Day II: "We still have to worry about us"

Bruin Coach Karl Dorrell didn’t say that the Bruins would come out Saturday and spank winless Notre Dame during his Monday news conference. In fact, if you listened carefully, he gave the impression that he didn’t care who UCLA would play Saturday.

"We still have to worry about us," he said. "I believe our team needs to continue to focus on how we can get better week in and week out, with the details and discipline, on improving what we need to improve. There’s still a lot for us to work on. We’re really going to be hard on the details and the discipline on how to operate and execute."

Dorrell was very pleased to see the Bruins respond so strongly to adversity in the first quarter against Oregon State. "This team is learning how to play in some difficult circumstances and learning how to overcome some difficult circumstances.

"[The defense] really played lights-out. In the second half, we did a tremendous job of controlling the run game.

"Our special teams really were a difference in the game. They were solid to great in almost every area. Our coverage teams did an absolutely great job, we recovered a couple turnovers from our kickoff coverage team that amounted to some touchdowns for us. We had two blocked punts, so we just did some great things as a team."

On the offense, Dorrell said, "They’re getting better. I want to be cautious [talking] about ‘turning corners,’ but we’re getting better. I was really encouraged with how Ben [Olson] played. Really the only mistake I saw him make was the interception on the one drive [in the fourth quarter] and he knows that. He knew that when he walked off the field. But how he responded after that was really a big, big deal. He really responded and didn’t let that bother him. He threw some great passes , converted on some third downs and one of the better passes I’ve seen in a long time was his 30-yard touchdown throw to [Brandon] Breazell, that was special. So that tells you a lot about how he’s grown and dealt with some adversity and put things behind him."

His underlying message was that the Bruins can still be special this season if they play to their ability. "There’s a lot of work for us to be done for this team. Penalties will be addressed any which way, shape and form we can. We have to really utilize our resources in practice; we’re going to have to discipline those resources as well just to make sure we’re getting our points across.

"It’s about execution, it’s about doing things that should be done in a certain way. This team has some qualities that are starting to reveal themselves right now and it’s encouraging to see that. And there’s a lot that can be brought from it. We’ve just got to continue to harp on those details and bring more and more out of it each week."

>> On Notre Dame: "They’re playing better now. That’s the one thing I saw from the game this past weekend. Their offense has really started to make some progress. I believe this last week was their best week offensively that they’ve had during the season. They did some things for the first time all season in this particular game."

Dorrell said that he expects both Jimmy Clausen and Evan Sharpley to play at quarterback for the Irish.

What about a hangover for the Bruins from last year’s last-second loss in South Bend? "That is on their minds for sure, last year’s game and how that ended up. That will be on our minds for years and years to come. I’m sure that everyone 20 years from now will remember that game, so I’m sure it’s fresh on their minds. We can’t let that get in the way of how we need to progress ourselves as a football team. And this is about us getting better and playing hard, and building on all the stuff that we’ve done these last couple of weeks."

>> On injuries, Dorrell said things were looking up. "Really the only significant one is Chris Markey. He has a turf toe injury that’s really pretty sore, even today. Likely he will not practice until late in the week and we’ll determine that day by day.

"Hopefully, we’ll get Shannon [Tevaga] back this week and get him into practice. He was feeling pretty good in the late part of last week and he’ll have an opportunity to come back.

"[Fullback Michael] Pitre is fine, he played a few snaps at the end of the game and he’s no worse for wear. He’ll be practicing again this week and we’ll continue to try to bring him along."

Karl Dorrell photo courtesy of UCLA