BRUINS WARY OF PAC-10 PITFALL UNPREDICTABLE CONFERENCE PLAY MAKES UCLA RESPECT ARIZONA.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

TUCSON, Ariz. - UCLA is coming off its biggest victory of the season and cohesion could be coming on offense. Arizona is in turmoil, having lost five games in a row and there is more talk about the next football coach than the upcoming games.

The Bruins have the Pacific-10 Conference's top-rated defense. Arizona, which has the nation's worst offense, is leaning on a freshman quarterback, Kris Heavner, who is making his third career start.

If the Pac-10 is as competitive and unpredictable as everyone says, then this won't be UCLA just getting its offense healthy against one of the weakest teams on the Bruins' schedule.

Facing the Wildcats in the desert has the makings of a disastrous ``trap'' game, or so the Bruins are saying.

``This game is scary to me,'' UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. ``We worry about the challenge.''

Why so much concern over a team that has been outscored 102-0 in the first half of the past five games?

Because if there is a game for the Bruins to take lightly, this is it.

``People really expect us to win this game,'' UCLA quarterback Drew Olson said. ``We obviously have a lot of confidence coming out of this past game. I think the coaches, they've done a real good job. They're not going to let us get by and go through the motions.''

The biggest opponent could be the psychological hurdle of not taking a weekend vacation. The Wildcats (1-5, 0-2) are awful, have a damaged psyche that resulted in a rare college football act - the firing of coach John Mackovic in midseason.

Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz was named interim coach, but he didn't take over a sparkling situation.

The Wildcats, coming off a 4-8 season, including 1-7 in the Pac-10, rank last in the conference in almost every major category, including total offense (248.1 yards a game), scoring offense (14.8) and scoring defense (36). Arizona also is last in the nation in total offense and 110th of 117 Division I-A teams in total defense (465).

``People have said they're not up there statistically, but I'd rather not know that,'' Olson said. ``That's the last thing that we're going to think about. I don't want to know that at all. Our offense was last in the NCAA, and I didn't believe it. Let's just say I don't buy into statistics.''

But there is much to be said about a team experiencing success for the first time and then having a gimmie on the schedule the following week.

UCLA often talked about the start to its season, which included games at Colorado and No. 1 Oklahoma and playing host to Illinois. The Bruins then played host to Washington in their Pac-10 opener last week and crushed the then-No. 18 Huskies 46-16 thanks to 39 second-half points.

``The Pac-10 is crazy,'' UCLA senior linebacker and co-captain Brandon Chillar said, ``so you have to be ready.''

This game also represents the beginning of what should be a soft spot on UCLA's schedule.

After Arizona, the Bruins host Cal and Arizona State and travel to Stanford. Those four teams are a combined 8-13, 1-6 in the Pac-10.

``I was getting indigestion watching this Washington film,'' Hankwitz said. ``We're trying to get (Arizona players) to learn how to be poised and not let the adversity affect us like it affected us last game. We had a pass that was intercepted for a touchdown. It was a mistake any good quarterback can make, and the very next series we fumbled it.

``We are improving in some areas, but the one major area we need to improve in is our poise and learning how to handle adversity and the frustration that goes with these things.''

Brian Dohn, [phone]

brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com

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Facing an Arizona defense ranked among the worst in the nation should give Drew Olson (14) and the UCLA offense a chance to shine.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer