BRUINS' OFFENSE STINKS UP THE JOINT OLSON'S LINE: NO TDS, 126 YARDS PASSING.

Byline: JILL PAINTER

Staff writer

PASADENA -- Ben Olson couldn't hear the taunts of BYU fans. If he had heard them scream about how much UCLA stunk, he probably would have agreed.

How could he not?

Olson failed to throw a touchdown pass a week after throwing five and had an interception to boot. UCLA receivers didn't help matters, dropping a number of passes. The running game was ineffective. Of course, all of those debacles stemmed from the offensive line's inability to provide protection. The line couldn't establish the run to open up the pass and vice versa.

The offense was totally out of sync and abysmal on third-down conversions, converting 2 of 12.

But Olson had one thing on Cougar fans Saturday at the Rose Bowl: the final score. UCLA hung on for a 27-17 victory over BYU -- where he spent the first six months of his collegiate career before going on a church mission and then transferring to the Bruins.

"They've got a good defense," Olson said. "We also made some mistakes. All I can say is it wasn't pretty, but it's a victory and you take a victory any way you can get it."

UCLA's modus operandi Saturday isn't a recommended gameplan for winning and certainly not in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Bruins led 20-0, before allowing a field goal five seconds before halftime. BYU reeled off 17 consecutive points to cut the Bruins' lead to 20-17. And while UCLA had just 32 yards of offense in the third quarter, BYU quarterback Max Hall threw two touchdown passes in that span.

"We did the things we needed to do at the end," UCLA offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. "We're not concerned about style points. I was glad to see us score at the end."

Olson completed 13 of 28 passes for 126yards and one interception. It was a drastically different outing from his banner day against Stanford.

When asked to describe a couple of passing plays that went wrong and a couple that went right, Olson replied: "There were so many, I don't even know right now. I don't feel I threw the ball well all night."

If the Bruins were to take anything positive out of their offense, and Norvell did, it was the final drive. UCLA went 45 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown run by Chris Markey with 1:12 left in the game.

The Bruins squandered an opportunity just before that. Bruce Davis sacked Hall midway through the fourth quarter and Thomas Blake recovered. On the ensuing drive, Olson was sacked by Brett Denney for a 9-yard loss on first-and-10 at the UCLA 45-yard line, then he threw two consecutive incompletions. That's when BYU fans started roaring Olson's name as though they were behind a hockey net.

UCLA had to punt clinging to a three-point lead. Luckily for the Bruins, BYU went three-and-out on the next series.

The Bruins' final drive was highlighted by a couple of key runs by Kahlil Bell and Markey. Gavin Ketchum had an 8-yard reception on third-down (UCLA's second third-down conversion of the game) at BYU's 24.

Olson admitted to some trash-talking with BYU players, although Deion Sanders would've scoffed at the idea that the friendly jabs they took could be considered trash talking.

"It's not very bad," Olson said. "It's like, 'Hey, how you doing? Want to come over for dinner?"'

Pac-10 teams will be looking forward to an invitation to feast on UCLA if the Bruins don't fix that stagnant offense.

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 6 boxes

Photo:

(1) UCLA quarterback Ben Olson, center, completed just 13 of 28 passes Saturday against BYU.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(2) Bruce Davis

Box:

(1) UCLA 27, BYU 17

(2) THEY SAID IT

(3) HERO

(4) GOAT

(5) KEY NUMBER

(6) UCLA SCHEDULE