PASADENA “”mdash; The image of a simple embrace and tap on the
bottom at the end of the game by UCLA’s Drew Olson to former
teammate and Oregon’s Matt Moore said it all.
In the locker room, a shrug of the shoulders and a confident mug
was an attitude befitting of Olson.
It’s been a long time for Olson. First, it was the battle
for the starting quarterback position in fall camp. He answered.
All week, an abundance of questions surrounded Olson about whether
it would have been different if Moore had stayed. He answered.
Against Oregon State on Saturday, Olson threw for a
school-record six touchdowns as he led No. 8 UCLA to a 51-28
shellacking of the Beavers. Olson no longer needs to answer
questions.
“This is the most I’ve ever been at ease,”
said Olson, who moved past Tom Ramsey into second on UCLA’s
all-time list with 54 career touchdown passes.
“I just feel confident and my game is getting to the point
where it needs it to be and where I expect it to be. It’s
something that feels good, and I feel really on a mission to get
this team where it needs to be.”
The Bruins (7-0, 4-0 Pac-10) now sit among six other undefeated
Division I-A teams. With the win over Oregon State, the
eighth-ranked Bruins not only have their best start since 1998,
when they went 10-0, but it’s also the first time in UCLA
coach Karl Dorrell’s tenure that the Bruins have reached the
seven-win mark.
UCLA is currently ranked fifth nationally in scoring offense
with 44.4 points per game. To uncover why the Bruins have seen a
successful season, look no further than Olson’s arm.
The senior, who threw for 262 yards on 16-of-24 passing against
Oregon State, has engineered the Bruins’ offense to
perfection this season.
His numbers are just alarming. In the past two games, he’s
racked up 11 touchdowns. One week ago, the Piedmont native tied
Cade McNown’s record of five touchdowns against Washington
State.
This week he had six, setting a UCLA record for most touchdowns
thrown in consecutive games.
Olson, in fact, topped last season’s touchdown total (20)
with a 46-yard strike down the middle to sophomore receiver Brandon
Breazell in the fourth quarter.
“He’s seasoned; put it like that,” said tight
end Marcedes Lewis, who’s helped the Bruins score more than
40 points for the sixth time this season. “Drew is ready. He
prepares himself the correct way every week, and at the quarterback
position he’s the leader, and that’s why it’s
easy for everyone to rally around him.
“All I know is that the guy is coming focused every game,
and as long as he’s doing what he’s doing, I
don’t see us losing any time soon.”
More importantly, Olson, who is ranked fifth in the nation in
passing efficiency at a 67.12 percent completion clip, only has
three interceptions on the year.
Olson has proven himself from the start of training camp to this
point, and the coaches have faith in him.
“This is Drew’s stage, and there’s nothing
that’s going to detract from the great things he’s done
for this football team for the last seven games,” Dorrell
said. “He’s earned it, and I believe in him.”
Behind Moore, the Beavers (4-3, 2-2) started the game in a
similar fashion all Bruin opponents have of late ““ quickly.
On the opening drive, Moore walked his team 80 yards downfield to
the end zone and found senior wide receiver Mike Hass for a 15-yard
touchdown pass.
Olson countered in just four plays by finding a streaking
Maurice Drew, who beat middle linebacker Andy Darkins down the
middle deep for the 43-yard touchdown.
Tack on a 27-yard field goal by kicker Justin Medlock in the
first quarter and the Bruins were leading 10-7, the first lead UCLA
had seen in the first quarter since playing Oklahoma over one month
ago.
A large reason for the Bruins’ success early on was
Maurice Drew, who caught two of Olson’s TD passes and
finished with 252 all-purpose yards of his own.
Combine that with UCLA’s superb defense, and the Bruins
more than held their weight against the Beavers. At one point, the
Bruins held Oregon State to four straight three-and-out offensive
possessions.
Though it gave up 181 yards on the ground and 199 yards
receiving to Hass, the defense didn’t allow a third down
conversion until the final minute of the third quarter. Oregon
State finished the game 2 for 13 on third downs.
“Our defense was awesome out there tonight,” Drew
said. “Without them, there is no way we score as many points
as we do.”
Despite the defense’s feats, however, the night was
Olson’s.
Using the middle of the field and utilizing the one-on-one
coverage, Olson completed passes to six different receivers. One of
those was a 48-yard touchdown reception to Ryan Moya, his first of
his career, in the middle of the second period to put UCLA up
24-7.
In the second quarter alone, Olson connected three times in the
end zone. UCLA saw its biggest lead in its opening drive of the
third quarter when Olson found Lewis on a fade route to the far
left side for a 3-yard touchdown, giving the Bruins their largest
advantage, 38-14.
Five of Olson’s six touchdowns were on drives that were
over 65 yards that averaged six plays or fewer in under three
minutes.
“I think the system is taking care of him, but in my
opinion, he’s doing a great job of taking care of the
system,” UCLA offensive coordinator Tom Cable said.
“You can’t take anything away from him at
all.”
“He’s been talented and is talented and waiting to
explode,” senior linebacker Justin London said.
“I’ve known that, he’s known that ever since we
got here, since we lived together freshman year. It’s nice to
see it happening and we’ve always told everyone that the
Class of ’02 is going to take over and get us there. And
he’s leading this team.”
Though Olson downplayed the fact that competing against Moore,
who was his former roommate, sweetened the win, other Bruin players
spoke on his behalf.
“I like the idea of today (being Drew Olson’s best
game),” senior safety Jarrad Page said. “For me, I like
the idea that (Moore) was at one point playing quarterback here
instead of (Olson), and look where (Olson) is now.
“I’m happy for him, for the game he had today. I
thought this was his best performance. Every pass was there, right
where it needed to be.”
And as far is anyone is concerned, Olson is leading UCLA to
right where it wants to be.