Dorrell fired at UCLA, sports bettors pissed

SEATTLE, Washington - Today UCLA fired head football coach Karl Dorrell after five seasons in which the team compiled a 35-27 record.

On the face of it, this is nondescript record, but Dorrell actually achieved something amazing: in his five years UCLA was an incredible 0-15 against the pointspread in games in which they were a favorite on the road.

Early this season, UCLA was a double-digit favorite at Utah and lost 44-6. In late October they were favored at Washington State, and (in what was my "pick of the week") they lost 27-7. Even I lost my nerve the next week, figuring the streak might end as they were favored at Arizona, but they lost that one too, 34-27.

I should have known better on the Arizona thing - in 2005, when UCLA had a good team and went 10-2, they managed to lose in Tuscon 52-14 to a bad Arizona team.

But, make them an underdog on the road and all is well - they were a slight dog at Oregon State this year and won 40-14.

Hopefully, some other school that has pointspreads set on its games hires Dorrell soon.