UCLA Week 3 notebook: Offensive line to have Brendel back for Texas
AT&T Stadium is one of the most impressive sports venues in the country, if not in the world as well. Which is why it's important for No. 12 UCLA to realize that, take it in, and then move on by Saturday, when they face Texas.
Head coach Jim Mora and members of his coaching staff, many of whom have experienced the Dallas Cowboys' home stadium first hand as either a player or a coach, made plans in advance to allow the team extra time during Friday's walk-through in order for them to fully experience it. They want the team to be in awe of 80,000-seat stadium with the 2,100 inch screen hanging above midfield and get all of that out of the way before Saturday.
"It's a pretty awe-inspiring place," Mora said. "I think we're going to try to get all of the giddiness out of our system. We're going to look at the scoreboard and go, 'Ooh, ahh, that's cool!' and we're going to walk through the bar and walk around the concourses and kind of take it all in so that when we arrive there on Saturday it's like, OK, we've done that.
"Now our focus is just what's going to happen on the field."
There are a number of UCLA players from Texas and, while most are from Houston, several have family in the Dallas area. Linebacker Deon Hollins lost track of all the ticket requests he received earlier in the week.
"Let's just say 20 or 30 is not enough," Hollins said. "My whole family is coming out, friends and everybody. I'm excited."
The coaches want their team to know that even though they might be playing on a billion-dollar field, it's essentially the exact same thing as playing at Spaulding Field.
"No matter where you play or who you're playing, unless you're out here at practice it's the exact same field measurements," Mora said. "Everything is the same."
UCLA Bruins vs. Texas Longhorns: Three things to watch
Injury report
Center Jake Brendel is back anchoring the offensive line, but Simon Goines still has not been cleared. Having Brendel back for a second game means more consistency for the offensive line.
"I've really been an advocate of those front five guys, the longer they play next to each other the more they kind of get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses and the calls and all of that," offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. "So I've seen this week in practice and I've seen them do a lot better than they have."
In the secondary, safety Randal Goforth is "doubtful" and Tahaan Goodman is likely to fill his spot.
"Tahaan stepping in is a good thing for us," Mora said. "He's gotten some playing time, he played last year as a freshman, he played this year and he's done well, he's confident and understands our scheme. We'll be comfortable if he's the guy that's in there."
UCLA preparing for Texas team that has yet to find an identity
The view from Austin
Texas might not have the record or the ranking that it typically does, but cornerback Quandre Diggs thinks the Longhorn program absolutely carries the same cache as always despite its current state.
"We're The University of Texas; everybody is going to come out and give us their best shot," Diggs told the media this week. "Those guys will be ready to come out. We played those guys my freshman year, and we were able to beat them, so I'm sure they're going to have some type of little thing that they're ready to get us back."
