Offensive line play has been a struggle for the Bruins thus far this season, and as with most things for this team, it has been a struggle for consistent execution.
Last week’s game was a perfect example of this struggle with consistency.
Against Washington, the Bruins were plagued by numerous false start penalties throughout the first half, something of a carryover from the shoddy fundamental play of the line against Utah.
But along with that, the linemen were able to open up enough holes in the Huskies’ defense for the Bruins to rush for 333 yards.
The key for the offensive line seems to be to simply, or not so simply, put all aspects of the game together: pass blocking, run blocking and penalty management.
Suffice it to say, the Bruins have been doing some good, hard work to make up for their mistakes.
“False starts, we shouldn’t have to work on that,” senior guard Noah Sutherland said. “They’re stupid (penalties). Every time we jump offsides now, we have to do 25 push-ups. That may not sound like a lot, but when you do three, that’s 75 push-ups. That’s a lot for a big guy.”
And this coming week will probably mark the Bruins’ biggest challenge yet along the offensive front. UCLA heads to Oregon State this weekend, and the Beavers are going to be the toughest challenge yet for the maligned line.
Oregon State has an excellent, deep pass-rushing unit ““ their third-string defensive end leads the team in sacks. Against the run, the team is more than stout; it allowed just 35 yards to Arizona State on the ground last week ““ on 36 carries.
“They’re fast, they’re strong, they’re quick,” senior tackle Brian Abraham said. “It’s going to be a great challenge. Definitely (they are the toughest defense we’ve faced). We have to play our best game.”
Abraham, the right tackle, had a break from guarding Ben Olson’s blind side last week when Pat Cowan stepped in as the starter.
This week, with the lefty back in command, Abraham is back in the pressure-packed position of making sure Olson isn’t hit from behind.
“It’s pass blocking still, I can’t see behind me,” Abraham said. “No matter which way he’s facing, I still have to keep him safe. If you look at it, it is a little more important, but for me it’s just pass blocking.
“I try not to think about it that way. If I worry about all that, I probably won’t do my job very well.”
The offensive line will also be working in a new starter as Aleksey Lanis, who started at tackle last year, will get the nod at left tackle over Micah Kia, who has been to blame for many of UCLA’s false start penalties.
The loud, raucous environment in Corvallis, Ore., could be a tough transition, though, and could put even more pressure on a line that hasn’t yet found the key to consistency.
TELEVISION: Game time this Saturday is 3:30 p.m., and the game will be shown on Fox Sports Net.
Barry Tompkins, Petros Papadakis and Jim Watson will be calling the game.
NEW ATMOSPHERE: This will be the first time UCLA plays in Corvallis under coach Karl Dorrell, which is partly thanks to the switch to a round-robin Pac-10 schedule last year. Dorrell’s teams beat Oregon State in 2005 and 2006 at the Rose Bowl.
Because of the Pac-10 schedule UCLA did not play Oregon State in Dorrell’s first two years as coach at UCLA.