Old team, new Olson

You would think there would be some drama building.

The Mormon quarterback plays his first game against BYU, the team he decided to play for out of high school.

You would think Ben Olson would have some extra fire to play the team he decided to leave after returning to school from his two-year Mormon mission.

To Olson, however, it’s just another game.

“I really don’t think there is (extra motivation),” Olson said. “I have motivation whoever the opponent is. I look at this as any other game.”

Olson went to BYU for a year before heading out on his Mormon mission. After returning home after the two-year mission, the Thousand Oaks native chose to return to California and his home-state Bruins.

“When I was on my mission, I wasn’t focused on football at all,” Olson said. “I said, “˜When I get home, I’ll see where I’m at.'”

Ultimately, Olson decided on UCLA.

Now, three years later, Olson stands ready to play his former team this Saturday in the Rose Bowl, and it is quite a different team from the one he left.

Gone is the 3-3-5 defense, in is the 3-4. Last year, Olson had difficulty with Rice’s 3-3-5 defense, so this switch is probably fortuitous. However, even the Cougars’ current defensive look is something UCLA is unfamiliar with, playing in the Pac-10.

“They’re an odd front team, but they’re a four-linebacker team now rather than the 3-3-5,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “It’s a little bit different. You don’t see many like that in the Pac-10.”

In terms of defensive formation, there is little similarity between UCLA’s 4-3 and BYU’s 3-4, but Dorrell says that with the Cougars’ propensity for gang-tackling and swarming to the ball, there are a lot of similarities in style.

“They’re an aggressive team, and they did a nice job in the bowl game (last year) against Oregon,” Dorrell said.

BYU’s offense also has Dorrell on guard. Against Stanford, the UCLA defense was nowhere near as strong as expected, and the Cougars’ offense is not as inept as Stanford’s.

“We’re going to have to defend these guys very well,” Dorrell said. “We’re going to have to play better than last week, given the talent level of this offense.”

The Cougars beat Arizona last week, and the BYU defense held the Wildcats to seven points ““ all of which were scored in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided. Although the Cougars only managed to score 20 points, they had the game in hand for most of the second half and led the game 13-0 at the half.

The Bruins will have to game-plan for BYU running back Harvey Unga, who ran for 67 yards and also had 127 yards receiving. The dual-threat running back should prove a challenge for a Bruin defense that had its lapses last Saturday.

“Their backs are very good ball carriers and receivers,” Dorrell said. “They understand their offense really well.”

BYU quarterback Max Hall had an efficient game in his first start. The sophomore Hall threw for two touchdowns and 288 yards against the Wildcats. He was given a fair amount of work in his first game, throwing 39 passes and completing 26. The Cougars have a number of receiving threats, including Michael Reed, Austin Collie and Dennis Pitta, who all had four receptions in the game against Arizona. The Bruins’ secondary, which had a few lapses against Stanford that led to big gains, will likely need to be improved in the fundamentals of tackling against the BYU playmakers.

“Their receivers are solid, good route runners,” Dorrell said. “They are tough guys who can make plays. And if you think they can’t run, they’ll run by you, too.”

After the glorified scrimmage that was their first game against Stanford, the Bruins are ready to face off against a team that is not a threat of going without a victory this season.

“They’re a great team,” Olson said. “We’ve got to go out there and be on our game.”

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