Football
Associated Press 17y

Olson throws 5 TD passes to lead No. 14 UCLA past Stanford 45-17

STANFORD, Calif. -- As soon as UCLA opened up its offense in
the second half, Ben Olson spoiled Jim Harbaugh's debut at
Stanford.

Olson threw three of his five touchdown passes after halftime
and Kahlil Bell ran for a career-high 195 yards to lead the
14th-ranked Bruins to a 45-17 victory Saturday in Harbaugh's first
game as the Cardinal coach.

"We kind of had a little bit of sputtering at the beginning of
the game," Olson said. "But then we settled in and overcame some
of the issues that we had."

Olson's cool efficiency in his return to the starting lineup and
20 returning starters for the Bruins (1-0, 1-0 Pac-10) were too
much for the emotion-fueled Cardinal (0-1, 0-1), who tried to match
the high energy level of their new head coach.

Coaching across the street from where he went to high school,
Harbaugh's imprint on Stanford's offense was evident as the
Cardinal moved the ball much better than they did in a 1-11 season
a year ago that led to Walt Harris' firing.

"I don't think the score was very indicative of how we
played," Harbaugh said. "I believe we have a football team now."

But Harbaugh still has a long way to go to make Stanford a
winner as the defense still struggled with missed tackles and gave
up 624 total yards to new coordinator Jay Norvell's offense.

After being outscored 165-33 in losing all five games at its
remodeled stadium in 2006, Stanford was competitive for a little
more than a half this game. The Cardinal trailed 14-7 at halftime
and were within 21-10 late in the third quarter.

But Olson came through with the big plays throughout and the
Bruins lived up to their highest preseason ranking since 1998.

"We feel we have a lot of potential. A lot of potential to do
great things," coach Karl Dorrell said.

UCLA exploited Stanford with a flea-flicker and numerous wide
receiver screens in the second half, including a 77-yarder for a
touchdown to Joe Cowan that gave the Bruins a 28-10 lead.

Olson added a 15-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to Brandon
Breazell, who had six catches for 111 yards.

"We knew we needed to open up the offense a little bit more,"
Dorrell said. "I think we were just a touch conservative in the
first half. We just decided to get the ball to some of our
playmakers and see if they can make some plays."

Olson started the first five games last season before being
sidelined with a left knee injury against Arizona. He returned to
practice a month later but remained the backup to Patrick Cowan for
the final four games. Olson won the starting job in training camp
and showed he has no intentions of giving it up soon.

Olson finished 16-for-29 for 286 yards as UCLA won in its first
season opener against a conference opponent since 1997.

"He needed this," Breazell said. "After sitting out a whole
year then waiting a whole summer to face someone else, finally day
one comes and we get to release all our anger. It was nice to get
to play and relax."

Senior T.C. Ostrander, beginning the season as the starter for
the first time in his career, was 27-for-59 for 331 yards -- all
career highs -- and two touchdowns, including a 70-yarder to Richard
Sherman in the fourth quarter.

"I started a little shaky," Ostrander said. "It took a while
to get my rhythm but I was better than I have been. The game was
closer than the score. I felt we were very competitive for a great
majority of the game."

The Harbaugh era got off to an inauspicious start when Ostrander
was stripped on a sack by a blitzing Trey Brown on the third play
of the game, giving UCLA the ball at the Cardinal 12 after Bruce
Davis' recovery.

Stanford's defense held the Bruins and Kai Forbath missed a
28-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless. But the Cardinal
could not shut down the Bruins for long.

An 11-yard punt by Jay Ottovegio gave UCLA the ball on its own
40 midway through the first quarter. Four plays later, Breazell
made a leaping 19-yard touchdown grab over Tim Sims to give UCLA
the lead.

Sims was victimized again early in the second quarter, when
Gavin Ketchum beat him for a 6-yard score that was set up by Bell's
59-yard run.

While the Cardinal played with more enthusiasm than last year,
the offense didn't show much more effectiveness until Ostrander led
the team on an 80-yard drive in the final minutes of the opening
half. He went 4-for-6 for 45 yards on the drive, capping it with a
9-yard score to Jim Dray.

The touchdown at home was so rare -- Stanford had only three on
offense in five home games last year -- that the scoreboard operator
originally gave the points to UCLA.

^ Back to Top ^