Olson Continues Learning Process

Sophomore Ben Olson has been UCLA’s starting quarterback for only two games, but he has already experienced some of the good and bad that comes with the job.

In the Bruins’ opening victory over Utah, Olson looked unstoppable. He started off completing passes to nine different receivers and finished 25 of 33 for 318 yards and three touchdowns.

But in Saturday’s win over Rice, Olson did not have nearly the same success. He completed 13 of 19 for 124 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw his first interception and fumbled twice.

“People have to understand that it’s a process,” Olson said. “You are not going to go out there and throw for 300 yards every game. I learned from the mistakes that I made and I’m not going to dwell on them. I’m just moving forward.”

Coach Karl Dorrell said Olson’s miscues are part of the process for a quarterback who had not started a game since his senior season at Thousand Oaks High in 2001.

“I think it is one of those growing experiences that he’s going through,” Dorrell said. “When you have the pocket and you have guys going free ... a lot of the defenders are trying to strip the hand. That’s what defenses are taught to do.”

Against Rice, which blitzed secondary players on nearly every play, UCLA was often caught without enough blockers to protect Olson. He was sacked four times and missed several opportunities for big plays because of the Owls’ rush.

After the game, Dorrell took part of the blame because he didn’t have Olson do much work against game-type blitzes in training camp. That was not the case this week in practice with the Bruins emphasizing ball protection daily.

“That was really the first game where he had to break out of the pocket and run and do things like that,” said Dorrell, whose team does not have a game until Sept. 23 at Washington.

For Olson, he ended the Rice game on a strong note with two impressive drives, highlighted by an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Breazell in a 26-16 victory.

“I know that I have to do a better job of taking care of the football,” Olson said. “But I’m glad that we got that touchdown. As a quarterback, you want to show your teammates that you’re not going to stay down because of mistakes. I wanted to show that I’m still confident.”

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Junior offensive guard Shannon Tevaga on UCLA’s line play over the first two games: “Once we put it together, we’ll be ready to go. Against Rice, when we looked over the game tape, we didn’t have one [lineman unblocked]. Somebody has to be open when teams bring pressure like that.”

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Offensive tackles Noah Sutherland (ankle) and Aleksey Lanis (knee) and defensive tackle Chase Moline (back) were limited in practice Thursday because of injuries.

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UCLA has the nation’s 17th-best defense, giving up 235.5 yards a game. Colorado State has the No. 1 defense at 116 a game. The Bruins lead the country in third-down defense, giving up two first downs in 24 attempts. The Bruins are also fourth in the nation in time of possession, averaging 35 minutes 38 seconds a game.

lonnie.white@latimes.com