Before the 2014 football season started, the UCLA Bruins insisted that the transition from Lou Spanos to Jeff Ulbrich as the defensive coordinator was a seamless transition. Ulbrich came in with a solid plan of action, made his expectations clear and they were off and running.
But after three games, it's hard to say what kind of identity the defense has truly developed.
"I think we've always known what we wanted to be," Ulbrich said. "Have we showed that on a consistent basis? No, not yet. Not in the games and not in practice."
What exactly does Ulbrich's ideal defense look like? It looks pretty simple.
Ulbrich like to preach things like discipline and consistency. It's a blue-collar, hard-nosed style of football not unlike that of a coach who Ulbrich played for in San Francisco, Mike Singletary. The playbook isn't going to be some overly extensive piece of literature because they actually have the athletes to execute proper tackling and offensive reads.
But that playbook might have to grow a little bit.
"I refuse to be a gimmick defense, but at the same time I'll give them a little bit more variety and some tools," Ulbrich said. "It's just getting better at everything - technique, fundamentals - that's kind of what we're based on. We don't like to do a whole lot because I think we've got the guys that can just knuckle up and just fight you and be successful at that. So we're going to continue to be that."
The defense is spending a lot of time on the field. UCLA's defense is only on the field for about 30 minutes every game, and the theme of the last two games has been missed tackles. Linebackers Erik Kendricks (12.3 per game) and Myles Jack (8.7 per game) have been above-average, but the pass rush has been inconsistent and injuries to the secondary now leave the Bruins with holes to fill.
UCLA's Jack to be used as dual-threat vs. ASU
The defensive challenges presented by No. 15 Arizona State are an unknown quarterback and a versatile running back who also catches passes out of the backfield. While offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone has a familiarity with backup quarterback Mike Bercovici as his former offensive coordinator, the UCLA coaches say there isn't much of a difference in the offense with Bercovici under center.
It's running back D.J. Foster - the Pac-12's rushing leader with 510 yards and seven touchdowns - that the Bruins need to key in on the most as Bervovici likely will rely heavily on his star back.
"He's a receiving threat as a well as a running threat. He'll motion from the receiver position to the backfield and he'll motion from the backfield out so you just have to take him into account and know where he's at at all times," Kendricks said.
There's no magic formula to easing a transition from one coordinator to another and the same can be said for shutting down high-potent Pac-12 offenses. Ulbrich doesn't believe in reaching for benchmarks or looking for specific numbers. Keeping it simple, physical and striving for constant improvements is what he really wants to see.
"I'm not a big believer in that. Honestly, we've just got to commit to this every day right here," he said. "I know that sounds super vanilla and I know that sounds not very exciting. But I think if there's a secret formula to greatness, it's that right there - work hard every day towards consistency and that's what we're striving to do."
