Olson May Be the Man on the Spot

There are two schools of thought on UCLA’s strong start this season.

Some believe the Bruins are 3-1 heading into today’s game against Arizona at the Rose Bowl because Coach Karl Dorrell has a better mix of players to run his West Coast offense and the right person to coach it in new coordinator Tom Cable.

Then there are those who consider the Bruins’ early record misleading because they beat three questionable opponents and were run off the field by their only quality foe, Oklahoma State.

A victory today over the Wildcats -- preseason choice to finish last in the Pacific 10 Conference -- would not necessarily validate the Bruins as legitimate contenders, but it would give them a 2-0 conference record.

“These are the games we’re here for,” safety Jarrad Page said. “Our goal at the start of the season was to win the Pac-10, and that hasn’t changed.”

But for the Bruins to remain undefeated in the conference, they’ll have to find a way to get quarterback Drew Olson off to a better start.

In his last two games, Olson has completed 10 of 26 first-half passes for 93 yards, with two interceptions and no touchdown passes. Over the final two quarters in those games, Olson is 16 for 20 for 187 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.

“We need to try and create a better comfort level at the beginning [for Olson],” Dorrell said. “We do a great job at halftime, adjusting and getting him to settle down.

“But we need to get him started the way he’s been finishing the second half. We’re working on that. It’s not an exact science, but we’re trying to put him in a situation where he feels comfortable to make great decisions.”

One reason for Olson’s poor first-half numbers is UCLA’s successful ground game. With Maurice Drew and Manuel White ranking among the top three rushers in the conference, the Bruins have the nation’s seventh-best rushing offense.

When UCLA has thrown the ball early, Olson has had problems. Sometimes, he hesitates to throw and other times, he looks at his intended receiver too long.

“We run the ball pretty effectively, and that’s good so we don’t rely on him to have to start off like gangbusters in the throwing game,” Dorrell said. “We don’t want him to feel pressure to make plays, and our offense has helped that part.”

The Bruins figure that sooner or later, they are going to have to win games with Olson because opponents will continue to stack the line of scrimmage to stop the run. That’s why UCLA worked so hard trying to get Olson in better rhythm with the game plan this week.

Olson says he knows he has to make better throws and decisions, especially early in games. That’s why he studies himself on film.

“I just look over my reads and where I went with the ball,” Olson said. “Sometimes it’s different from what I thought I saw at the time in the game. There are some things that I’m doing that I probably shouldn’t do. It’s about recognizing some things better.”

Before every game, UCLA has 12 scripted plays ready. Normally, the plays are put together to exploit a defensive weakness. This week, the Bruins’ 12 plays were organized more with Olson in mind.

“You put together a plan to work against how you think people are going to play you,” receiver coach Dino Babers said. “You run plays that you think are going to work. But when you get out in games, sometimes you discover that a team is not doing exactly what they’ve done on tape.”

Arizona Coach Mike Stoops said that he didn’t expect UCLA to change its ground-game approach.

“You want to slow them down because I don’t think that you are going to stop them,” said Stoops, who is 1-3 in his first season at Arizona. “You have to attack the line of scrimmage.... You can’t sit back and let them create seams.” A year ago, the Wildcats were winless in the Pac-10 before playing UCLA and had had the previous weekend off, same as this season. UCLA had to rally from a 21-10 halftime deficit to win, 24-21.

“We talked about that early in the week,” Dorrell said. “They had a great offensive plan going against our defense, which was feeling pretty good about themselves leading into that game. We were humbled.... We were fortunate to win.”

With consecutive road games at California and Arizona State up next, the Bruins know they can’t afford another slow start today.