Redshirt sophomore quarterback Ben Olson put on a scintillating
aerial show at the Rose Bowl last Saturday, guiding the Bruins to a
31-10 victory against Utah as a first-time starter. For his
efforts, Olson was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week. He
threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in
the best debut performance for a quarterback at UCLA since Tommy
Maddox in 1990. Linebacker Keith Rivers of USC and kicker Nick Folk
of Arizona were also named Pac-10 Players of the Week for defense
and special teams, respectively. For UCLA, freshman cornerback
Alterraun Verner and punter Aaron Perez were also nominated for
Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. �It was
good,� coach Karl Dorrell said of
Olson�s performance. �It
won�t be like this every week, believe me. There
will be a challenge for him every week, particularly in our
conference. There are a lot of real good defenses that put pressure
on the quarterback.� Utah often brought eight and
nine defenders into the box in an effort to stop the run, counting
on Olson to show some rust as the sophomore hadn�t
started a football game since leading Thousand Oaks High School
back in 2001. �Utah�s number-one
goal was probably to take away the run because I was a first-time
starter,� Olson said.
�That�s the approach I would have
taken. It didn�t work too well for them, but I
probably would have gone in with the same
mentality,� he said. Olson quickly took advantage
of the Utes� game plan, completing his first seven
passes to seven different receivers. Finding plenty of room to
throw with more players in the secondary committed close to the
line of scrimmage, Olson was often able to throw over the top of
the coverage, connecting on touchdowns of 16, 19 and 9 yards.
FAN VOTING: Olson was also nominated for the
Cingular All-America Player of the Week, the only major college
football award chosen entirely by fans. Votes are tabulated through
text messages, with winners unveiled each week on ESPN.