Bruins still hibernating, lose to Arkansas 31-7

The 2007 season did not start off very auspiciously for UCLA. Week one started off by facing #23 ranked Arkansas in Fayetteville. The defense looked solid on the first series, forcing Ark to go 3 and out. Chris Markey then fumbled the punt, which Ark recovered and returned 38 yards for a TD. This pretty much set the tone for the entire game as Arkansas’ combo of their preseason 1st team all-american HB and 6′6″ wide-out put a hurtin’ on the defense. The defense was actually pretty good against the run, keeping the Arkansas HB under 100 rushing yards. UCLA’s small but quick secondary had a tough time bringing down the Hog’s larger than average WR. The offense just couldn’t get anything going. Willis Johnson had a pretty decent night, going 9 for 19 with 145 yds and a TD. The UCLA receiving corps dropped a number of catchable passes, often at key times. This could be attributed to Johnson’s nerves and his inability to take a little off his passes. Most of the dropped passes were accurarate, but were too hot to handle. The O-line needs to put in some work, since Johnson was sacked 4 times. In light of the sacks, Coach Boreale has decided to go back to his ND roots and switch to the Notre Dame playbook, which features a pro set and several shotgun choices. Defense will remain at 4-3 for now. The defense switches up the looks a lot, but a switch to the Nickle set might be in the not too distant future. The Bruins have a bye in WK 2 to lick their wounds, and have the home opener set for WK 3 against unranked, but 1-0 BYU.