Bruins Try to Keep It Going

First-year Coach Todd Graham recently talked about Rice University’s next three football games -- two of them against No. 2 Texas and No. 9 Florida State -- and was asked whether the Owls’ game against UCLA tonight at the Rose Bowl rated as high.

“Heck yeah!” Graham said. “They were 10-2 last year and won a bowl game. They are big time!”

UCLA? Big time?

The Bruins (1-0) are not ranked, despite their 21-point victory over Utah last week. And it’s doubtful that a dominating home victory over Rice for the second consecutive year would boost their image.

“That’s OK,” UCLA quarterback Ben Olson said. “We have to play the game to our expectations. We really can’t worry about who we are playing.... You can have a letdown when you do that.”

The Owls lost their opener last week to Houston, which rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 31-30. It was Rice’s 17th loss in 18 games.

Longtime coach Ken Hatfield resigned after last year’s 1-10 season (which included a 63-21 loss to UCLA) and was replaced by Graham, who is trying to rebuild the Owls’ program with a roster of 87 players. UCLA has more than 100.

Graham’s background is defense, though, and with linebackers Brian Raines, Vernon James and Marcus Rucker making their first starts last week, the Owls’ defense gave up only 329 yards, the lowest total given up by Rice since Nov. 13, 2004.

Raines finished with a game-high 17 tackles, James had four and Rucker two.

“I think Rice is a better team this year than last year,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said. “They are playing hard, and their defense will present a problem for our offense.”

The fortunes of UCLA’s offense start with Olson, who did not show any sign of rust against Utah in playing extensively for the first time in nearly five years.

Olson completed his first nine passes, altogether completing 25 of 33 for 318 yards and three touchdowns. He was everything the Bruins hoped he would be when he transferred last year after a two-year Mormon mission and a redshirt season at Brigham Young.

“I’m very impressed with UCLA,” Graham said. “They beat Utah pretty soundly. They are very efficient on offense with a very seasoned offensive line.”

The Bruins expect a much different game from Rice than what they experienced from the Utes, who tried to stop the run and force Olson to throw.

“It’s going to be a new challenge for Ben every week,” Dorrell said. “Each team we play is going to defense him differently. The more they watch film, the more they’ll try and get him to do things that he doesn’t do well.”

UCLA’s starting offensive line -- center Robert Chai, guards Shannon Tevaga and Chris Joseph and tackles Aleksey Lanis and Noah Sutherland -- protected Olson well against Utah, which was hurt by play-action plays.

“Utah’s No. 1 goal going into the game was to take away the run,” Olson said. “I was a first-time starter and probably didn’t know what to expect. I would have done the same and said, ‘Let this guy beat us with his arm.’

“It didn’t work too well for them overall, but they did a good job of stopping the run.”

The Bruins averaged 2.6 yards a rush in gaining 107 yards against Utah. Kahil Bell had a team-high 34 yards in 14 carries, and Chris Markey gained 32 yards in nine carries.

Those were disappointing rushing numbers for UCLA, which hopes to feature an improved ground attack against Rice.

“Having another game against an unusual defense will help our development,” UCLA offensive line coach Jim Colletto said.

Rice will also present a challenge with its spread offense, led by senior running back Quinton Smith, who scored three times while accounting for 195 all-purpose yards in 20 touches against Houston.

“He can really fly,” Dorrell said about Smith, who led Rice in rushing last season with 902 yards.

At 5 feet 11 and 215 pounds, Smith has size and speed. He’s the type of back who gave UCLA problems last year, when the Bruins allowed 10 ballcarriers to rush for more than 100 yards and two to gain more than 200.

Sophomore quarterback Chase Clement, who passed for two touchdowns last week, is effective when he can get the ball to Rice’s skilled players. The Owls’ speed will present a big test for UCLA’s defense, which did a good job of stopping Utah’s spread attack last week.

“We have some good speed, but the most important thing -- more important than speed -- is flying to the ball,” UCLA linebackers coach Chuck Bullough said.

“If you have a missed tackle but you have guys flying to the ball, they are there to get the runner down. That’s what we’ve been teaching since Day 1, when we got to camp. That’s our defensive mentality.”

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lonnie.white@latimes.com