Little fight in Bruins

The giddiness UCLA fans at the Rose Bowl were feeling about USC’s demise against Stanford evaporated quickly Saturday night.

The stark realization that the Bruins’ own house was not in order was painfully clear during Notre Dame’s 20-6 victory.

Starting quarterback Ben Olson was reduced to spectator after suffering a sprained left knee, with his future availability in doubt. The offense was in the hands of walk-on McLeod Bethel-Thompson. And the pesky Fighting Irish, despite a duck-and-cover offense, kept rising to the challenge.

So when Notre Dame linebacker Maurice Crum mugged Thompson, stripped him of the ball and returned the fumble 34 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, it was the large number of Irish fans among the 78,543 in attendance who were having the last laugh on both Southern California football teams.

The victory that ended Notre Dame’s seven-game losing streak was a work of art, provided one enjoys the work of surrealists. The Irish gained only 140 total yards, yet benefited from seven Bruins turnovers.

Notre Dame players dusted off their postgame tradition of singing their fight song in the locker room after a victory.

“We sung it twice,” said Crum, who had two interceptions and recovered two fumbles. “It has been a long time.”

On the other side, Thompson sat in his chair being consoled by teammates and defensive end Bruce Davis stared into space, refusing to shed his uniform long after the game was over.

“I’ve never been in a stranger game, that doesn’t make it any easier,” Davis said. “Their offense was mediocre, at best. To go out there to hold that offense to less than 200 yards and lose?”

The question hung there.

The answer, in part, was on the other side of the locker room, where Olson was refusing to talk with the media while Thompson stood to face the questions.

The Bruins’ season took a significant downturn in the second quarter, when Olson was stripped of the ball by Tom Zbikowski with 1:29 left in the first quarter. Notre Dame’s Kerry Neal picked up the fumble and returned it 11 yards to the one-yard line to set up a 26-yard field goal by Brandon Walker that tied the score, 3-3.

But of greater concern for the Bruins (4-2) was Olson, who was twisted around on the play and had to leave the game with what was called a left knee injury. He will undergo an MRI exam in the next few days.

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell leaned heavily on the on-the-spot diagnosis. “It’s not a major injury. The structure of his knee is pretty good.”

The structure of UCLA’s offense wasn’t, at least Saturday. With backup Patrick Cowan out because of a knee injury, the Bruins turned to Bethel-Thompson. His first play resulted in a false-start penalty. His first college pass ended up as a four-yard loss. The Irish intercepted four of his passes and sacked him four times.

“Of course it was difficult [to go into the game like that], it’s football,” Thompson said. “I was ready to my best abilities, unfortunately I didn’t get it done. The offense, didn’t get it done as team.”

The victory was Notre Dame’s first this season. But what was stranger than the Irish coming into Southern California winless was the way they left with a win.

Notre Dame’s offense, led by freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen mustered three scoring drives -- four plays for minus-seven yards, 13 plays for 29 yards and three plays for two yards.

The first two ended in field goals. On the third, Clausen bulled his way over from one yard out to give the Irish a 13-6 lead with 1:53 left in the third quarter.

Notre Dame’s defense did the rest.

“That’s why you keep working, that’s why you never quit,” Crum said afterward, pointing to the Irish players celebrating with fans. “To have a moment like this.”

Even before Olson’s departure, the Bruins were sputtering on offense. Olson had completed four of 10 passes for 54 yards.

Once he left, the Bruins started giving the ball away as if the Irish had one-to-a-customer coupons. Twice in the fourth quarter, the Bruins lost touchdowns. Kahlil Bell, wide open, dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone and Joe Cowan’s darting run on what would have been a 68-yard touchdown reception was nullified by a holding penalty.

“The defense played lights out,” Dorrell said. “The offense made too many mistakes.”

His bottom-line assessment included the silver lining: the Bruins’ 3-0 record in the Pacific 10 Conference.

“We’re in pretty good shape in conference,” Dorrell said.

The Bruins’ return to conference play will be on a slippery slope. After the week off, they face third-ranked California, then go to Washington State, where they have won one of their last five games.

From there, its down to Tucson, where Arizona mangled an undefeated Bruin team, 52-14, two years ago. Then comes No. 18 Arizona State and No. 14 Oregon, followed by USC at the Coliseum

“We’re going to put this behind us and we’re going to win the Pac-10,” Bruins receiver Brandon Breazell said. “That’s all there is to it.”

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chris.foster@latimes.com

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KEYS TO THE GAME

Chris Foster’s keys to the game and how UCLA measured up:

1. Get defensive. The Bruins played great defensively, holding Notre Dame to 140 total yards. But the Bruins did not force any turnovers and the Fighting Irish forced seven, leading to 17 points.

2. Keep quarterback upright. The Bruins got to freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen three times, but the Irish, who came into the game having allowed more sacks than any other team in the nation, typically gave him plenty of time. That, and the Irish’s safe-and-sane strategy on offense, were enough.

3. Where’s Brandon? UCLA receiver Brandon Breazell had five receptions, but for only 69 yards. The Irish did a solid job corralling him in the open field.