Between Two Bruins: DB Sports editor Ryan Smith discusses if UCLA football will ever win again

Football fans, it’s time for conference play. We asked for your questions on our game against Colorado through our social media. Our Sports editor, Ryan Smith, answered all of your questions before flying out to Boulder, Colorado, for the game.

Tim Costner: When does the winning start?

UCLA will start winning football games when coach Chip Kelly has his pieces at every position. Unfortunately for Bruins fans, that time is down the road. Once Kelly has full control of his roster and the holdovers from the Jim Mora era are out of the picture, things will start to shift.

And that is not a knock on Mora’s recruits.

Mora recruited players that fit his system and Kelly has and will continue to recruit players that fit his. Mora’s recruits have given a lot to the program and have continued to be good leaders and role models for the young players who are taking their jobs. This is a transitional period and fans need to embrace it.

Michael Singer: Why won’t they get rid of the stupid “fake” run up the middle?

I think you are referring to the read-option pass.

If you are, I just want to remind you that the read-option pass is an integral part of Kelly’s offenses.

He had success with it at Oregon when he had Marcus Mariota, in Philadelphia with Sam Bradford and Nick Foles, and he even made Blaine Gabbert look like a serviceable quarterback in 2016 for a few weeks with San Francisco.

Freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson fits the mold of the type of quarterback Kelly likes to have in his system, which is why former UCLA quarterback Devon Modster never got a chance. It is also important to remember the purpose of the read-option pass.

Teams use it to open up passing lanes because it draws linebackers down and out of position. For a young quarterback like Thompson-Robinson who is still learning the playbook, it is important he gets all the help he can get.

Steve Wang: Why are there so many dumb fans who can’t be a little patient and be more supportive of the team?

Well, let’s face it. UCLA hasn’t been competitive for a long time. People want to see a winning product, especially after the program hired a household name in Kelly.

I also think there are some fans out there who did not like the fact that UCLA paid a massive buyout clause to get rid of Mora, just to go spend almost $24 million on Kelly. Winning fixes everything, and until the Bruins start winning, the naysayers will continue to gripe.

Daniel Albright: Will Chip Kelly’s win record inversely reflect the current record of his past organization?

If you are asking whether or not Chip Kelly will start 7-46 as UCLA’s head coach, I would have to say no, I don’t think he will go 7-46.

I think the Bruins have a two-year timeline to turn things around, and if they don’t, Kelly won’t have enough time to lose 46 games. At worst, Kelly will probably be around 15 to 20 wins by the time he reaches his 46th loss as the UCLA head coach, and that is if he completely fails to bring in talent over the next two to three years.

I know UCLA paid the guy a lot of money over the course of the next few years to fix the football program, but if he does not get the job done, he won’t be here.

Be patient and watch him build this team the way he wants. The on-field product will get better soon.