UCLA hopes to keep rolling on the road

Just past 7:30 this morning. Welcome back and Halloween was all treats and no tricks for the Bruins on Saturday as they shut out Nevada at home in a 27 to nothing stunning victory. Okay so this week UCLA is now ranked eighth in the playoff college rankings and remain at 8-0. They're on the road this weekend to hopefully make it 9-0 against Minnesota. Here to talk about this former Former Bruin player, Anthony Barr, It's great to see you back. Yeah. Are you riding high right now? Oh, I could not be more elated. I mean, this has just been a fantastic experience so far, watching these Bruins play hard, play smart, play physical, play together. We're saying it's like, you know, one game at a time, but it's their best start in 21 years. I know. I was looking at some players on that roster, on that team. 21 years ago, like, Mercedes Lewis and Maurice Jones Drew, like, absolute legends. And so for the Bruins now to be 8-0, best start in 20 years, it's so special. And it warms all of our hearts, and all the Bruin faithful are behind them. With every game, you start to think, like, they can really do this, and they can keep this going. So do you think they can keep this going? What's it going to take for them to keep going? A hundred percent. I'm fully bought into the Bob Chesney UCLA Bruins right now. Having experienced practice the last couple days, going in and seeing how he communicates with that team, he starts every meeting off. With the fight song, all the players stand up, the whole entire staff. He's blaring the music and they're chanting. We are the boom, you know, for two minutes and then they get into meetings and the energy is high. The practice energy is high. And that alone sets the foundation for the successful change, the culture for the better. Right. Bill Simmons actually said on his podcast that UCLA is blowing up Bob Chiles' contract and giving him a huge extension. Smart move, right? To lock him in there. Blank check. I mean, just Bob Chesney with a pen. Name your price. Get it done. We need this guy in Westwood for the long term. What he's done in just such a short time has been just amazing and I hope that he gets locked in for the long term. Because you know there's some other programs that are already saying, uh, this guy's... There's been some phone calls. There's been some phone calls. You know how they do it. Especially probably down in the SEC. You know how they get down. Yeah. So it's very important for us to keep him in L.A. All right. So you've attended many of these games. Yeah. Next is Minnesota. Yes. This could be a tough one. It's on the road. Correct. How do you see this? Well, Minnesota came off a tough game last week, right? They lost in overtime to Indiana. And those emotional games can take a lot out of you. So I think there's an advantage there for the Bruins. I think they can go in. If they continue to play their style of football, right, play good defense, don't turn the ball over, run the ball. All recipes for success. In Minnesota, a place I'm familiar with, the weather won't be too big of a factor. So I think they continue to do the right things, play together, play hard. And I'm expecting a win. Just keep doing what they're doing and stay the course, right? All right, so third string. First-string quarterback Ty Diefenbaugh has been starting since they lost Nikko, right? For the whole season last month against Oregon, how high is his... ceiling, can he keep this up? Well, I think he's gotten better every week. With success comes confidence, right? And I think that's the biggest thing at the quarterback position. You've got to get comfortable with it. Right, exactly. Getting comfortable with the program, kind of the system that they're running. And what I like the most right now for what the UCLA Bruins have going is that they were ranked eighth, right? They were kind of slided in a way. They feel maybe that they got overlooked. And I think that's kind of been the message all season. It's like we're kind of the underdogs. Let's hone in. Let's continue to. Let's talk about Sammy O, named one of the 12 semifinalists for the Lombardi Award on Wednesday. It's Thursday. Linebacker, linebacker, linebacker. It's just I've had the chance to meet him and kind of talk with him and see how he goes about his business, and he's the real deal. I mean, he's built like a real linebacker. He's going to have a very successful NFL career, in my opinion. But he's just the most humble kid, and I think that's what I appreciate the most. He doesn't say too much, but he has a confidence about him, the way he carries himself, the way he communicates with his teammates. And then the way he plays on Saturdays is just a treat to watch, a joy to watch. You see number 10 flying around that field making plays. Tackles for losses, sacks, forced fumbles, there's nothing this guy can't do. He's kind of the heartbeat of that defense. So you can have the size. What does it take to... Take it over the top. It's all between the ears. It's all between the ears. Like any player, I think you have to be confident. You have to believe in your ability. And then when that meets preparation, that meets hard work, you kind of see what Sammy's doing on Saturdays. And the coaching, too, has been phenomenal. The D coordinator, the linebacker coach have all put him in position to be successful, him and all the other guys as well. But he's definitely the leader of that defense and just a great kid, and I'm looking forward to watching him for the rest of the season. Fan turnout has been something people have kind of criticized here. Do you see the fans getting energized by these continued victories? I would hope so. I mean, what more would you like to see for those guys, right? They're undefeated. It's like, what more do you want? It's time to fill that Rose Bowl up. I think students especially, I know it's a tough trek for some of those guys to get up to Pasadena from Westwood, but in my opinion, there's no excuse. It's time to support your team. But also from a player standpoint, and you know this, I mean, you feed off the energy in the audience and the fandom. And so it's important when you're on the field. How do you feel to see that? Sure, yeah. You want to feel supported. You want to feel like people have your back, and we do, but they want to see it in the stands, right? And I think the game that we will see it, when the USC Trojans come to Westwood or to Pasadena in a few weeks, we will see a packed stadium, a packed Rose Bowl, and then maybe that will generate that excitement about it. Yeah. Yeah, and then on to the playoffs, hopefully, and then... Absolutely. We're going to the playoffs. We're winning it all. I'm on record. We're winning everything. That's right. There you go. All the way. Bruins number one. Something we also saw was your podcast. Yeah. You guys did it up for Halloween. You guys had to do this. Yeah. Yeah. I was Chewbacca. It was pretty uncomfortable. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Pretty uncomfortable, I will say. It was a little warm in there. Oh, Power Ranger. Is that Power Ranger? That's Power Ranger right there. I was a big Power Ranger guy, Star Wars guy. Did you make the Chewbacca noise? I did. I'm not going to do it now. Oh, come on. I'm not. I'm going to... Okay, you got me. You got me. I've been working on it. I've been working. I make a good Chewbacca. Yeah. That's range, right? That's versatile. What was it? You're like, I'm a big guy. I could do that. I'd be perfect. But you took the... I couldn't breathe in that thing. The mouth was where my eyes were, so it was like... Like, I look kind of crazy. You certainly can't podcast in that thing, right? No, absolutely not. I went to the costume store, and it was, like, only so many that had, like, double Xs. And it was, like, that or, like, I don't know, some Ratatouille, maybe, character. Well, that's my favorite Disney movie, I will say. I thought Chewbacca, I could, you know, I could. Play into that a little more. That's great. That's what we ended on. Ratatouille. So how's the podcast going? And what can people expect if they're going to tune into your podcast? Yeah, so the podcast has been out of shape on YouTube, on most streaming platforms. It's just a platform for me and my ex-teammate to kind of talk about football, pop culture, the landscape of kind of the social climate. It's just something that we thought would be fun to do. There's really nothing more to it. But every Wednesday we air at 11. We drop at 11 on YouTube. And yeah, What had me bent out of shape this week, I will say, was my dog, okay? So I have a Cane Corso. He's 110 pounds. His name is Hendrix. Two years old. Sweetest dog in the world, right? You think of those dogs as kind of aggressive. Gentle, giant thing. He couldn't be less of an aggressive dog. But my issue is, in the middle of the night, when I go maybe to get some water, use the restroom, I come back to my bed, and he's in my spot. And it happened this morning. You know why they do that? Because they love you so much. Well, I appreciate that. A, because the space is warm, but then B, because it smells like you. No. No, I totally get it. But my thing is like, if you want me to have energy to take you to the park and take you on a walk, I need my eight hours, you know, Hendrix has no, he doesn't need a bigger bed. Maybe I do. Yeah. I mean, I can't, what's bigger than the California King. I've seen the shack. Zach had that big circle bed. You could put it together. I don't know, but yeah, my dog will move. You just say move. Hendrix is, he's a load. He's 110 pounds. I mean, especially when he's sleeping. Oh yeah. Wow. He's beautiful. He's awesome. I love him. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry to put you out there. And he'd love it. Love it, love it. What's got you out of shape this week? What'd you say? Let's just air all of our grievances right now. Yeah, right now's the time to do it. For sure. I don't know. What's got you out of shape? Come on, no! You gotta answer the question! You guys just live perfect lives. Nothing wrong. Answer the question! And, yeah. I don't know! It's okay. It could be tough. You won't air your grievances every commercial break when you can't do it here? Why don't you tell me first? That builds. I'll do it. That bills. Oh my gosh. Astronomical, ridiculous for no good reason. Overcharging. What's that? What animals? I have a dog. I have a little multi-poo. She's seven pounds. Oh, those would be the most expensive ones, though. Yes, they are. Why is that? I don't know. I don't know much about a multi-poo, but yeah, I can see that being complicated, for sure. Yeah, that's right. But you're going to pay it. You're going to take care of it at the end of the day. Of course you will, and they know this. That's why. They do. They take advantage of it. Thank you. UCLA's next home game is a big one happening Friday night, November 13th. At the Rose Bowl, Bruins hosting Illinois, kickoff is at 6. Tickets are still available starting at $19. Students get in for free, show up, show out. For tickets, go to the website right there on your screen and go Bruins! Alright, you can listen to Anthony Weakley on his Been Out of Shape podcast, available on Spotify, YouTube. Apple and the rest and he says it drops every Wednesday. That's right. I mean, I have I'm not been out of shape You know when your life's all rainbows and unicorns I need to hone some of that. Give me some of that. Come on now. Good for you, brother.