UCLA Defense Passes Test Against Stanford

It’s a good thing UCLA’s defense showed up to play Saturday night, because the Bruins’ offense was missing in action for much of the game against winless Stanford at the Rose Bowl.

Led by end Bruce Davis, who had 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble, UCLA’s defense registered its first shutout of the season and the Bruins scored touchdowns off a blocked punt, a fumble return and two second-half runs by Chane Moline to defeat the Cardinal, 31-0, before a crowd of 72,095.

“We talked about finishing the game at halftime and that’s what we did,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said. “What can I say about our defense?”

UCLA (3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) sacked Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards seven times and received second-half interceptions from Christian Taylor, Trey Brown and Chris Horton. The Bruins held Stanford to 166 total yards on offense.

Davis, who played his best game of the season, was all over the field against Stanford. If Davis wasn’t sacking Edwards in the backfield, he was chasing him out of the pocket or tracking down a running back in the flat.

“Around here, playing for Coach [DeWayne] Walker is just so great,” Davis said. “When I made one play, he kept telling me to go back in there and make another. I just wanted to keep going back in there.”

For the second consecutive game, UCLA sophomore quarterback Ben Olson made a few good plays but also had a couple of glaring miscues. He completed 20 of 37 passes for 219 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Bruins’ offensive woes that plagued them in the second half of their loss at Washington last week continued early against Stanford. Although tailback Chris Markey had a couple of impressive runs and tight end Ryan Moya found open areas inside Stanford’s secondary, UCLA failed to score an offensive touchdown in the first half.

Whether it was Olson’s inconsistency or questionable play-calling or a combination of both, the Bruins did not play with confidence when they had the ball, especially when they drove deep inside Stanford’s territory.

“Everybody has to keep getting better and execute better,” Olson said. “They did some things that threw us off early, but we finally got things together.”

The first time UCLA had possession, Olson led the offense to near midfield and then threw three consecutive incompletions to end the drive. Fortunately for the Bruins, Stanford’s offense was not much better and was forced to punt after three plays.

With the ball at the Cardinal 27, UCLA got penetration from the left side of the line and backup wide receiver Gavin Ketchum blocked punter Jay Ottovegio’s kick. Linebacker Eric McNeal did the rest when he picked up the ball and ran untouched 12 yards to give the Bruins a 7-0 lead with 10:23 left in the first quarter.

Things looked really good for UCLA later in the quarter when Edwards fumbled after being stripped by Davis. Horton recovered the fumble at the Stanford 35.

But again, UCLA’s offense was its own worst enemy. Olson needed only three plays before giving the football back to Stanford when he threw an ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Brandon Harrison, who could have called for a fair catch on the play.

The next big break also went to Stanford, which recovered a fumble by UCLA freshman Terrence Austin, who dropped a punt at the Bruins’ 31. For Austin, who returned a punt 79 yards against Washington a week earlier, it was his second misplayed punt in the first quarter.

Stanford, however, was unable to take advantage of Austin’s miscue when after three plays, Aaron Zagory missed a 40-yard field goal wide right.

UCLA had the ball twice in the second quarter and both times, Olson led the Bruins on impressive-looking drives that ended in disappointment.

Olson completed three passes for first downs to Moya, Markey and Marcus Everett to lead UCLA’s first possession to inside the Stanford 20. But then Olson tried to force the issue and his pass intended for Everett in the end zone was deflected by Harrison and intercepted by Trevor Hooper for a touchback.

The next time UCLA had possession, Olson again made a couple of nice completions and Markey had a big gain to move the Bruins inside the Cardinal five-yard line. But four plays failed to get UCLA into the end zone with Markey getting stuffed at the Stanford one.

So despite outgaining Stanford, 220-69, the Bruins led by only 7-0 at halftime and were booed off the field as they ran to their locker room.

In the second half, UCLA’s defense continued to dominate with big plays. Taylor made the first one when he wrestled the ball away from Stanford wide receiver Kelton Lynn.

The Bruins scored their first offensive touchdown late in the third quarter, thanks to a 32-yard run by Kahlil Bell that set up Moline’s score from two yards to give UCLA a 14-0 lead.

In the fourth quarter, any thought Stanford had of an upset came to an end when UCLA’s defense turned up the pressure. Justin Medlock made a 41-yard field goal to extend the Bruins’ lead to 17-0 and Moline added his second touchdown of the game to make the score 24-0.

UCLA’s final score came when Justin Hickman and Reggie Carter combined to sack Edwards, whose fumble was recovered by Kenneth Lombard, who returned it five yards for a touchdown.

“We never got frustrated, we knew the offense would come around,” Horton said. “We had a excellent week of practice and we came out and played like that tonight.”

lonnie.white@latimes.com