Head coach Rick Neuheisel of the UCLA Bruins has some pointed words about the Pac-12 scheduling structure. He told Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times that the Pac-12 "was sold a bag of goods" that the Big Ten would play nine conference games this year, and that it makes no sense to play nine conference games.
He's right you know. There are many reasons for UCLA not to play nine conference games, and many of them involve Rick Neuheisel.
| 09/20/08 | Arizona | L 10-31 | ||
| 10/04/08 | Washington St. | W 28-3 | ||
| 10/11/08 | @ 10 Oregon | L 24-31 | ||
| 10/18/08 | Stanford | W 23-20 | ||
| 10/25/08 | @ California | L 20-41 | ||
| 11/08/08 | 18 Oregon St. | L 6-34 | ||
| 11/15/08 | @ Washington | W 27-7 | ||
| 11/28/08 | @ Arizona St. | L 9-34 | ||
| 12/06/08 | 3 USC | L 7-28 |
| 10/03/09 | @ Stanford | L 16-24 | ||
| 10/10/09 | 11 Oregon | L 10-24 | ||
| 10/17/09 | California | L 26-45 | ||
| 10/24/09 | @ Arizona | L 13-27 | ||
| 10/31/09 | @ Oregon St. | L 19-26 | ||
| 11/07/09 | Washington | W 24-23 | ||
| 11/14/09 | @ WSU | W 43-7 | ||
| 11/21/09 | Arizona St. | W 23-13 | ||
| 11/28/09 | @ 22 USC | L 7-28 |
| 09/11/10 | 4 Stanford | L 0-35 |
| 10/02/10 | Washington St. | W 42-28 | ||
| 10/09/10 | @ California | L 7-35 | ||
| 10/21/10 | @ 3 Oregon | L 13-60 | ||
| 10/30/10 | Arizona | L 21-29 | ||
| 11/06/10 | Oregon St. | W 17-14 | ||
| 11/18/10 | @ Washington | L 7-24 | ||
| 11/26/10 | @ Arizona St. | L 34-55 | ||
| 12/04/10 | USC | L 14-28 |
(HT cfbstats for those results)
In his tenure at his alma mater, he's currently 8-19 in the Pac-10, for those of you who are counting. Makes perfect sense he'd want to play less games. It's not very good to keep on losing.
Neuheisel would probably be happier if he embraced a completely independent route--out of conference, his record is a far more tolerable 7-3, including victories over Houston and Kansas State, a series sweep of the Tennessee Volunteers, and of course last year's whopper in Austin against the Texas Longhorns. Perhaps he is interested in taking the Bruins down the Notre Dame/BYU route, and THEN the BCS berths will pile on for the Men of Westwood.
For more discussion of UCLA sports, check out Bruins Nation.