Youth-Movement Question Remains

With a 4-2 record and five games left on its schedule, UCLA’s season is at a pivotal stage heading into this week’s game at Arizona State.

Although the Bruins are still in the Pacific 10 Conference race with a 2-1 record, Coach Karl Dorrell has to keep an eye on the future of the program and make a decision on how much playing time he’ll give younger players over the rest of the season.

Dorrell already has played a school-record 12 freshmen and 15 redshirt freshmen. Freshmen such as defensive end Brigham Harwell, cornerback Rodney Van and wide receivers Brandon Breazell and Marcus Everett have received increased playing time in recent weeks, and freshman defensive tackle Kenneth Lombard started two games before suffering a shoulder injury.

“We’ll keep moving forward and doing the things necessary to make us a better team,” Dorrell said after Saturday’s 17-point loss at California.

“This was definitely a learning experience for our program, giving the state of where we’re at with the youth of our team. But there’s a lot to look forward to, though.... It’s bad that we’re young, so young particularly on the defensive side. But it’s good [that] a year from now, when we’re getting a chance to rebuild and put this program where it should be.”

The Bruins learned Saturday that there’s still a sizable gap between them and the top teams in the league. Not as large as last season but big enough for a rebuilding program to understand that it still has plenty of work.

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Quarterback Drew Olson has been playing his most consistent football over the last two weeks and he has been doing it with his favorite target, Craig Bragg, out because of a shoulder injury.

With opponents determined to take away UCLA’s ground game, Olson has put up good numbers in completing 37 of 61 passes with eight touchdowns and no interceptions against Arizona and California.

“I just have to keep playing like I’m playing because I think that I’ve made huge strides over the last two games,” said Olson, who passed for a career-high 299 yards against the Bears. “We have to get better in the passing game and, hopefully, that will open up our run game. For the first couple of weeks, it was the other way around.”

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Linebacker Justin London played his first full game since he suffered a high ankle sprain in training camp and finished with four tackles against Cal. London on the Bruins’ poor tackling that has plagued them all season: “We tackle Maurice Drew every day in practice. There’s not a back out there that’s tougher to tackle than him. [Cal’s J.J. Arrington] wasn’t nothing we haven’t seen. There’s no excuse.” Arrington rushed for 205 yards.... The Bruins entered Saturday’s game very efficient on third downs, making 50% of their attempts. Against Cal, they were three for 13.... Linebacker Spencer Havner, the nation’s top tackler, had a season-low five tackles Saturday, nine below his average.