In Reply to: Sadly, we never recovered from the 98 Miami debacle posted by BruinLove42 on July 22, 2025 at 11:49:19
in my lifetime to play for a NC. It hurt because of that. The BPD fumble early in the fourth quarter was the major blow to me. That drive would have been a nail in a coffin, but ended up basically being a 14 point swing. I don't give that game that much credit for Ucla football dropping in level.
Forgetting about any feelings towards administration, AD, etc., Bob Toledo had things set up to be successful. He had recruiting, he had fan support, even had a season that started with wins over highly ranked Alabama and Michigan. i remember he blew games against Oregon in back to back years that were pivotal games. I felt he lost control of the team and guys quit on him. The 98 game was kinda like that Steve Bartman Cubs foul ball thing, but the Cubs eventually got their World Series.
The Jim Mora era was the most disappointing thing I remember for Ucla football. I told someone I thought he'd be a good fit at Ucla, then when he got here, I thought he really was doing some great things. He had a coaching staff that had guys gelling. Ucla was LB U for a while. I honestly felt that Jim Mora had a better chance of achieving more at Ucla than any coach prior that I'd seen. There was even a huge recruiting class coming in and then the wheels just seem to come off. Coaching staff continued to drop off and he didn't seem to put the effort in to replacing them with quality. Then he just looked checked out. He also had a major hand in changing the fan seating for the home games.
The 98 game definitely hurt because how good that team was. The late part of the Jim Mora era seems dramatically worse to me. Then the Chip Kelly era was just average. The overall vibe at the RB was just not good.