Strong Start, Except for the Running Game

UCLA’s 21-point victory over Utah to start the season was impressive, but the Bruins’ running game needs improvement if they are to challenge for the Pacific 10 Conference championship.

Against the Utes, UCLA averaged 2.6 yards a carry, led by Kahlil Bell with a team-high 34 yards in 14 carries and Chris Markey with 32 yards in nine carries.

“It certainly wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” said Markey, whose longest gain was eight yards. “[Utah] had a game plan that did really well against us. They crossed up their alignment and messed up our reads. But we know that we need work. We’ll watch some film and get things together.”

After averaging 160.7 yards rushing last season with Maurice Drew as the No. 1 back, the Bruins did not expect a drop off with Markey and Bell sharing carries. But Utah was able to stuff the line of scrimmage whenever the Bruins ran the ball, limiting them to 107 yards on the ground.

“We would like to run the ball better,” offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda said. “It would make us better as an offense.”

The Bruins’ offensive line struggled to open holes on running plays, but it did a masterful job of protecting quarterback Ben Olson, who made his first college start. Olson was not sacked and rarely was pressured. Whenever Utah did get to him, Olson got rid of the ball like a crafty veteran.

“We were really prepared for them when it came to their pass rush,” redshirt freshman tackle Aleksey Lanis said of the Utes’ blitzing defense.

“With our running game, we picked up the wrong guys at times whenever they did some twisting. But we did better once we figured it out.”

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Before training camp began, UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell was asked about the Bruins’ offensive play-calling this season with Svoboda taking over for Tom Cable, who took a job with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL.

“I don’t see it being a problem, Jim has called plays before,” Dorrell said. Based on the results Saturday, Svoboda passed his first test.

“It was really smooth for us out there,” senior wide receiver Junior Taylor said. “We ran things that we know how to execute and the thing is, we really should have had 50 points. We left a lot of scoring plays out there on the field.”

Olson completed his first eight passes to eight different receivers. He finished 25 of 33 for 318 yards and three touchdowns, numbers that could have been better if not for three drops and one completion reversed after a review.

Olson’s passing yardage was the most for a UCLA quarterback making his first start since Tommy Maddox threw for 353 at Michigan on Sept. 22, 1990.

“We wanted to mix it up with play-action and stuff that we always do,” Svoboda said. “But you really have to wait and see what they are doing with their defense before you really know where you’re going to attack. We tried to do things that Ben was comfortable with. He felt good before the game that he would be able to execute anything that we were going to throw at him.”

Svoboda, in his third year at UCLA, is a veteran offensive coach. He began his career at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, as a running backs coach in 1983 and began calling plays when he was head coach and offensive coordinator at Nebraska Wesleyan University from 1987 to ’93.

Svoboda’s reputation grew during his 10 seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwest Missouri State, where his teams won NCAA Division II titles in 1998 and 1999.

“I’ve called plays for a long time and it didn’t feel any different to me,” Svoboda said. “Pressure is all relative with me. I’ve called plays in national championship games and all type of different playoff games. Football is football as far as I’m concerned.”

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Rice, which will play UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, blew a 16-point, third-quarter lead in losing to Houston, 31-30, to open the season.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com