Questions Remain After Inconsistent Game

UCLA’s 26-16 victory over Rice on Saturday was the Bruins’ eighth win in a row at the Rose Bowl and improved Coach Karl Dorrell’s record to 24-15 overall and 15-4 at home.

But UCLA, which is off this week, still has plenty of questions to answer as a result of an inconsistent effort against the overmatched Owls, which followed an impressive opening victory over Utah.

“We’ve shown that if we set our minds to it, where we know what we’re trying to do and we want to do it, we’ll be successful,” said running back Chris Markey, who rushed for a career-high 208 yards in 23 carries against Rice. “But we still haven’t put our whole game together.”

Sophomore quarterback Ben Olson has seen a little of everything in UCLA’s two games. In Week 1, Utah featured a lot of blitzes and zone coverages that the Bruins were prepared to exploit, and Olson did with 318 yards and three touchdown passes.

But after being protected like a king against the Utes, Olson was knocked down repeatedly by Rice, which confused UCLA’s blocking schemes with all-out blitzes whenever the Bruins got near the Owls’ end zone.

“We were running the ball pretty well, but once we got down to the red zone, we had a couple of protection breakdowns,” UCLA offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda said. “All you needed against a defense like that is one breakdown and you get stuck in third-and-long situations.”

Markey and Kahlil Bell -- who rushed for 102 yards in 19 carries -- helped UCLA pound Rice on the ground, but the Owls sacked Olson four times and forced him to fumble twice.

For the second week in a row, UCLA’s defense played well. Rice had only 184 yards of total offense, and the Owls’ quarterbacks were sacked four times. But the Bruins also showed some cracks against Rice, which played without injured starting quarterback Chase Clement but managed two second-half touchdowns and hurt UCLA with several big plays.

“We felt that we were dominating out there, but this is football -- everyone is going to make their plays sooner or later,” said defensive end Justin Hickman, who had three sacks against Rice. “But for the most part, we had a good game. We are mainly happy that we got out of the game with a ‘W.’ ”

UCLA’s defense has given up 471 yards in the first two games, which is the lowest two-game start since 1981. But Dorrell said he understood that UCLA had plenty of room to grow before starting Pacific 10 Conference play at Washington in less than two weeks.

“We are disappointed that we didn’t play to our capabilities, for sure,” Dorrell said about UCLA’s win over Rice.

“We knew they had an injured quarterback, so we didn’t play as well as we wanted for a 60-minute game. There’s disappointment when you have high expectations.”

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In preparing for Rice, UCLA’s offensive line got little help from studying tape of the Owls’ first game against Houston, because of the Cougars’ spread offense.

It was difficult to tell what type of defensive schemes Rice’s first-year coaching staff would feature against UCLA’s more conventional offense, and the Bruins’ pass protection paid a price for that Saturday.

“The coaches were really upset with us,” senior center Robert Chai said. “They were disappointed. They knew we weren’t taking advantage of our opportunities. We had our chances.”

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UCLA’s special teams will get credit for Justin Medlock’s four field goals, but the Bruins struggled overall in that area against Rice. The Bruins lost a fumbled punt, botched a field-goal attempt and gave up a 32-yard kickoff return.

“You can’t take winning for granted, even when it’s a 10-point win,” Dorrell said. “We’re 2-0, and regardless of what the national picture is, we have a lot of work to keep improving upon to become 3-0.”

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UCLA will not practice today and will work out only three times this week because the Bruins’ coaching staff is leaving Friday for recruiting.... Linebackers Eric McNeal and John Hale did not start Saturday, but they played for the first time after sitting out UCLA’s opener. McNeal, a senior, returned after being ineligible because of an incomplete grade, and Hale, a sophomore, was back after serving a suspension for fighting.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com