UCLA Has the Horses to Beat Cougar Posse : College football: Their offense is healthy, but loss of linebacker Edwards may hurt Bruins at Washington State.

Before ending his news conference this week with reporters who cover UCLA, Washington State Coach Mike Price had a question: Which Bruins are out because of injury?

That has been the key question for UCLA this season.

For three weeks, UCLA struggled to put an offensive team on the field. Starting quarterback Ryan Fien, having suffered two concussions, a cut chin twice and a slightly separated shoulder, has not played a full game. Tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar has been hampered by a deep back bruise. Tailback Skip Hicks has been recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Concussions have also caused disruptions in the offensive line.

But not this week.

For the first time, the Bruins (2-1) are expected to take the field today at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., to face the Cougars (1-1) with an intact offensive unit.

Now, it’s the UCLA defense that is hurting.

There’s only one injury in the Bruins’ starting defensive unit, but it’s a big one. Middle linebacker Donnie Edwards is out because of a fractured vertebrae, suffered last week against Oregon.

The Bruins adopted a new defensive scheme this season, building their unit around the speed of Edwards and fellow linebacker Abdul McCullough. UCLA went from a 3-4 to a 4-3 alignment, stationing McCullough along with Edwards at linebacker.

The result? The Bruins gave up a total of 17 points in the first two games, both victories.

Last week, when Edwards was injured in the first quarter, the Ducks had not yet scored. They went on to tally 38 points, the most UCLA has yielded in a Pacific 10 Conference game in three years. California beat the Bruins, 48-12, in 1992.

Replacing Edwards in the middle is 6-foot-2, 240-pound sophomore Brian Willmer, a physical, prototypical middle linebacker who cannot match Edwards in speed or agility. Few linebackers can.

Nobody has to explain the concept of speed-based defenses to Price. He had one of the best in the nation last season. Known as the Palouse Posse, the Cougar defense was second in the nation, yielding 12.1 points and 229 yards per game. Washington State’s defense boasted three All-Americans and seven all-conference players, including linebacker Mark Fields, the Pac-10 defensive player of the year, and Chad Eaton, winner of the Morris Trophy awarded to the conference’s top defensive lineman.

Unfortunately for Price, all of those players are gone.

But those remaining aren’t bad. Through their first two games, the Cougars have given up an average of 36 rushing yards per game, best in the nation.

Abdul-Jabbar, operating behind UCLA’s dominating offensive line, usually has that many yards in the first quarter. He is averaging 151.3 yards per game despite missing most of the second half of the BYU game because of the back injury. Abdul-Jabbar’s average is the best in the conference and 10th-best in the country.

“We’ve got some real talented young kids who are going to get a chance to be tested by, I think, the best offensive line we’ve played against in the last three or four years,” Price said. “It’s going to be an interesting challenge.”

Facing that challenge will be a defensive unit that has three returning starters, led by a defensive line with only one senior, 6-foot-6, 257-pound Dwayne Sanders, who already has three sacks in two games.

If this year’s posse proves less adept than last year’s, Price is going to have to get more out of his offense. The keys are quarterback Chad Davis, coming off a strong sophomore year, and running backs Frank Madu and Derek Sparks. Davis has thrown for 466 yards and two touchdowns. Madu is the leading rusher with 186 yards and a 5.6-yard average.

Bruin Notes

The Bruins have beaten the Cougars in eight of the last 11 meetings, but have lost two of the last three. UCLA was shut out by Washington State, 21-0, last season.

TODAY’S GAME

UCLA AT WASHINGTON STATE

* Time: 12:30 p.m.

* Site: Martin Stadium, Pullman, Wash.

* Records: UCLA 2-1 (0-1 Pac-10),

Washington State 1-1

* TV: Channel 7

* Radio: KLAC (570), XTRA (690)