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UCLA Football: We Need To Talk About The O-Line…

By Mike Regalado

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Sep 19, 2015; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora during the fourth quarter of the game against the Brigham Young Cougars at the Rose Bowl. Ucla won 24-23.Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 19, 2015; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora during the fourth quarter of the game against the Brigham Young Cougars at the Rose Bowl. Ucla won 24-23.Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

A Philosophical Gamble

Many of these changes to a power-based offense were addressed by Go Joe Bruin writer Michael Hanna in his piece, The Philosophical Gamble That Could Define The Jim Mora Era Of UCLA Football (which I highly recommend you read).

Hanna simply states that with the players UCLA has on the offensive line, it will be a huge risk to move to a power-based offense, simply because the Bruins do not have the man-power, size or discipline to do it.

If UCLA is going to try to move to an offense with a line that pushes people around, they may not be as successful as hoped. As an example of this, let us quickly look at the height and weight of the projected starting offensive lines for UCLA and Stanford (a team that is well embedded in the power system).

Stanford

UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

Casey Tucker 6’6″ 296 lbs.

Brandon Fanalka 6’3″ 318 lbs.

Jesse Burkett 6’4″ 304 lbs.

Johnny Caspers 6’4″ 296 lbs.

David Bright 6’5″ 301 lbs.

Avg height and weight: 6’4.4″, 303 lbs.

UCLA

Conor Mcdermott 6’9″ 310 lbs.

Kenny Lacy 6’4″ 285 lbs.

Scott Suessenberry 6’4″ 280 lbs.

Poasi Moala 6’4″ 290 lbs.

Kolton Miller 6’9″ 295 lbs.

Avg height and weight: 6’6″, 292 lbs.

Now mind you, this is a Stanford team that also lost three players from last season and, on average, the team is still bigger than UCLA, at least when it comes to weight. The other thing to note is that the Cardinal has also been running this system for years, so they have that going for them.

Though the Bruins may have height, if they are going to give up nearly ten pounds per player against a team like Stanford, they could be in for a rude awakening.

Next: Projecting the Depth Chart - Quarterbacks

Though it seems UCLA has a good philosophy when it comes to the future of their offense and their offensive line, it could be something that back fires. It could also be something that takes this team to new heights. At this point, we just do not know.