2007 UCLA Bruins Football Preview

2007 UCLA Bruins season preview from Maddux Sports. Below you can find our official UCLA Bruins football preview as well as the 2007 UCLA Bruins Football Schedule. Dont miss Maddux's free college football picks taken from the weekly college football odds from the #1 sports handicapping team.

Coach: Karl Dorrell (5th year at UCLA)
Team Name: Bruins
2006 Overall Record: 7-6
Returning Starters: 20

The UCLA Bruins (7- 6 overall, 5- 4 PAC-10) finished 4th in the PAC-10 and then went to the Emerald Bowl where Florida State hammered them 27- 44. That game came about three weeks after the Bruins upset the USC Trojans 13- 9 to close out their regular season. What UCLA team will we see this year?

In four years at UCLA, coach Karl Dorrell has posted a 29- 21 record and a 1- 4 bowl mark. The Bruins' offense scored only 23.0 PPG in 2006. That resulted in the hiring of a new offensive coordinator—Jay Norvell. Norvell worked at Nebraska last season. He's the fourth offensive coordinator in five years. Look for UCLA to utilize the shotgun, use more complex schemes with various options and push for a more up-tempo game. Ten starters return to the offense. QB Ben Olsen (63.7% COMP, 822 YDs, 5 TDs, 5 INTs) started the season but was out with a knee injury. Patrick Cowan (52.5% COMP, 1,782 YDs, 11 TDs, 9 INTs) came in and proved to be adequate but not as mobile, strong or statistically sound. Olsen is back and after a good spring camp will start again. TB Chris Markey's (35 REC, 261 YDs, 7.5 AVG, 0 TDs; 227 CAR, 1,107 YDs, 4.9 AVG, 2 TDs) primary job is carrying the ball, but he can also catch it. Senior SE Marcus Everett (31 REC, 450 YDs, 14.5 YDs, 5 TDs) heads a deep receiving unit. The line looks solid and aggressive.

On defense, a group that allowed only 19.9 PPG, the Bruins offer perhaps the best secondary in the conference. The linebackers are small but fast and able to make plays. The frontline returns four solid seniors.

Last season the Bruins got off to a solid 5- 1 start and then lost four in a row. They then won their final four regular season games. This season, they should be able to handle Notre Dame and Washington State; they lost to both in 2006. Swing games are versus Oregon State and California. They've gone to five straight bowls. This should make six.

UCLA Bruins Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Home/Away
Sep 1	Stanford	Away
Sep 8	BYU	Home
Sep 15	Utah	Away
Sep 22	Washington	Home
Sep 29	Oregon St	Away
Oct 6	Notre Dame	Home
Oct 20	California	Home
Oct 27	Washington St	Away
Nov 3	Arizona	Away
Nov 10	Arizona St	Home
Nov 24	Oregon	Home
Dec 1	USC	Away

 

For more info on the 2007 UCLA Bruins football program, view the Bruins football site or you can read about other Pac-10 teams below.