Bruins a-Brewin' | by Pat

Some talking points concerning the UCLA Bruins. Discuss amongst yourselves. Add anything else you have noticed. I have a plane to the west coast to catch...

Primer. Rakes of Mallow and Loyal Sons have some quality breakdowns on the 4-1 Bruins. If you want to crunch some numbers, here are their season stats.

Irish Triage. A few Irish players are banged up. Here's the latest from Coach Weis.

What’s the status of Dan Wenger and David Grimes?
“They’re both going to the game. Wenger looks like he can play more reps than Grimes. I’m not sure if Grimes will be ready to go. It will go right to Saturday. He’s looked better every day, but he hasn’t gotten meaningful reps in practice all week long. He’s come out late every day because he’s been in there getting treatment.”

What is the status of Justin Brown?
“Justin’s a go. He’s a go.”

Bruin Triage. The Irish team is pretty healthy compared to the Bruins. Getting the veteran Shannon Tevaga back will be a boon for the Bruin OL that has struggled a bit due to inexperience. Losing running back Chris Markey will hurt, but his teammate Kahlil Bell is having a great year so far.

Chris Markey - who was still wearing a protective boot Wednesday - didn't practice and he is looking ''less than 50-50'' according to Karl Dorrell. Since Markey isn't likely to play, Christian Ramirez and Chane Moline will share the backup tailback's load. The two have 13 carries between them this season.

(Fullback Michael) Pitre is definitely out for this game and perhaps longer. He experienced swelling in his knee after limited work in the Oregon State game.
Dorrell said the swelling has gone down rapidly with Markey but that he still can't do anything. Also, (wide receiver) Marcus Everett did some work on the side and could play. (Defensive lineman) Nikola Dragovic's groin injury didn't allow him to do much at practice Wednesday, so his status for SAturday is in doubt. (Offensive lineman) Shannon Tevaga worked with the second team again and should be ready for Notre Dame.

Seen and Heard. Matt Carufel on having Dan Wenger back into the OL mix.

"It's no secret we both want that spot," Carufel said. "He's a darn good player and I'm a good player. Only time will tell, but you can bet I'm not going to give that up if I have anything to do about it. Every day is a competition. There's nobody out there that's set in stone. If somebody's playing well, then you're going to see more of them in games. That's just how Coach Weis does things. He doesn't care who's at the No. 1 spot right now — whoever's playing the best is going to be out there on gameday."

UCLA defensive end Bruce Davies on Jimmy and the ND OL.

"Jimmy Clausen is one of the better true freshman quarterbacks I've seen the whole time I've been here," Davis said. "Unfortunately, his O-line is just falling apart. They can't block a soul. That's going to hurt your team. That's going to hurt your offense. That's going to get you to 0-5."

"He's a good kid, a good quarterback," Davis said. "But I haven't met a freshman that I wasn't able to get inside their head yet. You should expect the first play of the game - whether it's run, pass, whatever it is - you'll see me in his face. I'm just going to give him a friendly hello and let him know that it's going to be a long day for him. That part of it will be taken care of early. Our defense is going to get there."

UCLA on emerging star freshman wide receiver Golden Tate.

"He's brought an explosion to their offense," free safety Dennis Keyes said. "They have a deep threat now. That helps any offense, when you have that deep threat you can stretch the field and that opens up a lot of things.

"That's something we're going to have to prepare for this week — being able to guard all levels of the field. He came in and really changed that offense."

UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said Tate will be the fastest outside receiver the Bruins have had to defend this season.

"These are some really good young players, and we are concerned. We're going to have to treat them like they're seniors. We're not going to treat them like they're freshman," Walker said. "We're going to have to line up and play them like they've been there for a long time."