Devastated. Shocked. Dismayed. I ran the complete gamut of emotions Saturday night as UCLA incredibly lost to a terrible 0-5 Notre Dame team at home in the Rose Bowl. Instead of staying angry and riled up though the one overriding feeling that stayed with me, and I think most Bruin fans would share the same sentiment, was this: resignation. Plain and simple, UCLA football will never have sustained success under Karl Dorrell.

Yes, I know he was forced to play MacLeod Bethel-Thompson at quarterback. Injuries are part of the game of course, but being forcedto play a walk-on under center (albeit a pretty talented one) is of Dorrell's own doing. Only four quarterbacks have been signed as scholarship athletes at UCLA in Dorrell's five years: Ben Olson, Pat Cowan, Osaar Rashaan, and Chris Forcier. Olson and Cowan were injured and Rashaan had been moved to wide receiver. Forcier is in desperate need of a redshirt year, and has taken precious few snaps in practices outside of leading the scout team. So it was left to "Mac," an inexperienced kid from San Francisco to lead the team.

Karl Dorrell inexplicably decided to shift away from his longtime conservative nature and throw all game despite losing his only healthy experienced quarterback to injury.

Most would have expected the Bruins to go with a conservative gameplan considering their strong defense and running game. Notre Dame has shown a complete lack of ability to move the ball consistently, and failed to do so again against the UCLA defense. Instead of playing the field position game and giving Thompson manageable situations, Dorrell decided (for the first time all season) to air the ball out and throw time and time again. While this probably would have worked with Olson in there, Thompson was woefully underprepared (through no fault of his own) and predictably did not succeed. Dorrell threw the kid under the bus. There was no shot for Mac to pull out the game throwing as much as he did. Add to the fact that Dorrell called for passes on two 3rd-and-1 and a 4th-and-1 situation, and Thompson was compeltely setup to fail.

I feel for the Bruin players because they deserve better. They play hard, and represent the university well and with pride. I hope for their sakes they can finish the season out with their pride intact, but the coaching staff consistently sets up them up to fail. It's too painful to be a Bruin football fan these days. I'm getting the same feeling of dread that I had during the Lavin years in basketball. A feeling of resignation has come over me, and I just can't hold out hope for this team, so I have to say good-bye for now to my alma mater. Call me back when a new person is in charge and brings osme hope back to Westwood.