KNEE INJURY PUTS OLSON ON BENCH STARTING QB OUT INDEFINITELY, WILL HAVE MRI.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer

PASADENA -- Ben Olson waited five years after high school to become a college starter. After four games leading UCLA, he's back on the shelf indefinitely.

The Bruins quarterback, who starred at Thousand Oaks High, injured his left knee while being hit in the first quarter on Saturday against Arizona.

The short-term consequences were few. Patrick Cowan filled in admirably for Olson, throwing for 201 yards and two touchdowns as the Bruins beat the visiting Wildcats 27-7.

Any additional time Olson misses though, could be devastating to UCLA's season.

After taking two years off for a Mormon mission and spending a year each on the bench at Brigham Young and UCLA, each game of college experience was like passing a one-week course as the 23-year-old tried to play catchup with the players who had been earning credits on a regular basis since high school.

He was beginning to find his comfort zone and build relationships with his teammates.

He was gaining the confidence of his coaches, who were starting to open up the offense more for him.

``I was just getting the feel of it all, learning, progressing and all those types of things,'' Olson said. ``Then to have something like this happen is really unfortunate.''

Midway through the first quarter, Olson fired an incompletion on a third-and-3 play.

Arizona defensive lineman Jason Parker dove at Olson and landed on his leg after he had released the ball. The hit appeared a tad late, though no flag was thrown, and UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said he believed it was a legal play.

Olson stayed on the ground for several minutes. When he was helped off the field, he couldn't put any weight on his left leg. He had the knee wrapped on the sidelines and went into the locker room for the remainder of the half. He returned to the sidelines in the second half in street clothes and walking with crutches.

Olson is expected to have an MRI exam Monday. After initial reports from team doctors, Olson said he didn't think it was a season-ending injury to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Offensive coordinator Jim Svoboda said his understanding was that the injury was to the medial collateral ligament. Depending on the degree, that type of injury can keep an athlete out anywhere from one to two weeks to three to four months.

``It's going to be a setback for the kid,'' Svoboda said. ``He was coming along. It's disappointing, but those things happen. ... Just like that, it's a whole different deal for him.''

Olson was one of the top quarterback recruits in the country when he committed to BYU out of Thousand Oaks. After going on his mission, he decided to transfer closer to home and play for the Bruins.

He battled senior Drew Olson for the starting job last season before a small fracture to his throwing hand knocked him out of the race just before the season began.

Since Olson hadn't played any significant minutes for nearly five years, the Bruins brought him along slowly this season, keeping most of his passes short and simple. The strong-armed quarterback was efficient in his limited roll, completing 63.3 percent of his passes for 796 yards and fivetouchdowns with five interceptions through four games. He completed three of four passes for 26 yards against Arizona before the injury.

The plan had been to start letting his arm loose more in coming weeks.

``I just hope that I don't need to have surgery,'' Olson said. ``I wish it didn't happen, but it did. I've got to move forward. It's hard to take right now. I'm very frustrated, but it is what it is.''

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 6 boxes

Photo:

(1) UCLA quarterback Ben Olson, center, watches the game on crutches in the second half after injuring his knee in the first quarter.

Tom Mendoza/Associated Press

(2) UCLA quarterback Patrick Cowan

Box:

(1) BY THE NUMBERS

(2) THEY SAID IT

(3) HERO

(4) GOAT

(5) STAT OF THE GAME

(6) UCLA (4-1, 2-1) LOG