If there were ever a time for the Bruins to right their
offensive woes, it would be this weekend.
The Stanford Cardinal comes into the Rose Bowl on Saturday
having allowed an average of 476.2 yards per game and 39 points per
game. After a loss to San Jose State and a crushing defeat by Navy,
Stanford is en route to a 0-4 record. It only has the appearance of
a good pass defense mostly because it is so easy to run on it.
But the Bruins will not enter the game looking beyond the
Cardinal. They cannot afford to. After beating lowly Rice by a mere
10 points, and then getting beaten by Washington (3-1), the Bruins
(2-1) are in the position where this Saturday’s game is
almost a must-win.
“This is a game where we have to get going,” wide
receiver Junior Taylor said. “We’ve got a tough stretch
ahead of us, especially in October. There are no more excuses. We
have to execute.”
In the wake of the loss to the Huskies, the Bruins harped on one
ultimate problem: offensive execution. Inside the red zone against
Washington, UCLA had three field goals, one interception and just
one touchdown. Finishing drives has been a problem for the Bruins
this year although it was a strength of the team last year.
“If we could finish, we’d be averaging like 40
points a game right now,” Taylor said.
The offense will need to finish to take some of the pressure off
the defense. UCLA’s defenders, after letting most teams run
all over them last year, have been stout this season, allowing just
71.3 yards on the ground per game and only 168.7 through the
air.
They have caused eight turnovers in three games, but, even
against Rice, it was barely enough to squeeze out a victory.
Against Washington, the Bruin defense collapsed late, allowing a
fourth-quarter touchdown that put the Huskies in the lead for the
first time in the game. Still, they allowed just 22 of the 29
points Washington scored, but that is not good enough for the
Bruins.
“People say we did good against Washington, but we
lost,” linebacker Christian Taylor said. “We were ahead
and we let them score in the fourth quarter and that’s
unacceptable.
“We want to completely dominate people all game. We
can’t give up those three or four plays that let teams put
points on the board. (Neither Washington nor Rice did) as well as
the points they had against us, but those few big plays put points
on the scoreboard.”
If one had to pick a game for the Bruins to have a possibility
of a shutout and perform the domination Taylor desires, this would
be the one. The Cardinal offense is nearly as anemic as its
defense.
The Cardinal averages just 15.8 points per game, and quarterback
Trent Edwards has lost two of his top receiving targets, Evan Moore
and Mark Bradford. The one bright spot for Stanford is freshman
running back Toby Gerhart, who has averaged 4.6 yards per carry
this year and has 216 yards in the first four games.
Even if the Bruins dominate defensively, the offense will need
to get out of its rut if it is to avoid the embarrassment of
playing Stanford close, or even losing.
“If we were playing any team, this would be a great game
for us to get on track,” running back Chris Markey said.
“We have a very explosive offense, with big-time playmakers.
We just haven’t shown what we can do.”
The Cardinal runs a lot of soft zone coverage out of its 3-4
base defense, so the Bruins will likely be able to get the running
game going. Given the way quarterback Ben Olson has looked
throughout the last two games, that might be for the best.
After jumping out to an impressive start in the first game
against Utah with three touchdown passes and no interceptions,
Olson has thrown three interceptions in the last two games and has
generally looked uncomfortable in the pocket. Still, Olson is
prepared to do whatever the offensive coaches call.
“We’re just going to try to take what they give
us,” Olson said. “They’re a hungry team ““
they’re 0-4. We’ve got to just go out there Saturday
and just unleash the beast, I guess you could say. Whatever
we’ve got to do to win, I’m fine with that.”