[Online Exclusive:] Football defeats Rice 26-16

The Bruins talked all week of not overlooking the lowly Owls,
whom they drubbed in their last match a season ago at the Rose
Bowl. After Saturday’s contest, they will likely redouble
their efforts not to take anyone lightly for the remainder of the
season.

UCLA had trouble putting away perennial division 1-A doormat
Rice, pulling out a sloppy 26-16 victory at the Rose Bowl. The
hard-fought win keeps the Bruins undefeated on the season (2-0)
while handing the Owls their second consecutive loss to start their
2006 campaign (0-2).

The Owls have lost 18 of their last 19 games.

UCLA’s defense, which had looked much improved last
weekend against Utah’s spread offense, gave up several big
plays, allowing Rice to stay in the game into the fourth quarter.
After the Owls were held to negative 13 rushing yards in the first
half, Rice carved up UCLA’s run defense in the second half,
biting off several big plays which kept the crowd of 46,023 in
suspense.

“Defensively, we expected a lot more,” defensive
lineman Nikola Dragovic said. “We expected a shutout. This is
a loss for us.”

Though the team excelled on the ground with a marked improvement
from last week’s poor showing against Utah, the offense still
had trouble getting into the red zone and holding onto the ball.
The Bruins committed four turnovers, which included three fumbles,
one interception and a muffed field-goal snap in a shoddy display
of ball management.

“We put the ball on the ground again, something you
can’t do,” coach Karl Dorrell said. “It was a
tough win, and we know we have a lot to work on to get us ready for
this conference race.”

Heralded quarterback Ben Olson came back down to earth on
Saturday. A week after winning Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week
with 318 yards and three touchdown strikes against Utah, Olson
settled for a modest 124 yards and a pair of touchdown passes, one
to Junior Taylor and the other to Brandon Breazell. Olson was
constantly under pressure all game ““ he was sacked four times
and flushed out of the pocket repeatedly.

“I’m not at all happy with how I performed,”
Olson said. “I’ve got to do a better job of helping my
team out. … I’ve never been this unhappy about a victory
before.”

The only consistency for Dorrell’s squad came from the
team’s two-pronged running attack. Starter Chris Markey
scalded the Owls with a career-high 208 yards on the ground,
including a 43-yard scamper in the first quarter, while Kahlil Bell
chipped in 102 yards.

Dorrell had criticized his team’s running game during the
week after its poor performance against the Utes, stating that the
corps had a lot of expectations to live up to.

“I put a lot of pressure on our run game to run the
football better,” Dorrell said. “I was really pleased
with Kahlil and Chris Markey and what they were able to accomplish,
so it was a positive step from that standpoint and we have to put
it all together now, putting the passing game together with the run
game.”

UCLA’s points came mostly off of the foot of kicker Justin
Medlock, who kicked four field goals, including one from 51 yards
out. With that boot, Medlock broke the school record for most
career field goals from more than 50 yards. Medlock’s points
proved pivotal in keeping the Owls at a safe distance throughout
the evening.

Rice kept the game exciting in the third quarter, pulling within
six at 16-10 on a Joel Armstrong 15-yard touchdown toss to receiver
Jarett Dillard, who torched the Bruin secondary for seven catches
and 102 yards in the game.

On the ensuing drive, Olson lost the ball on a sack as the
blue-and-gold faithful could feel the momentum swaying towards the
Owls. However, that was as close as Rice would get: UCLA scored on
its next two drives to put the game out of reach.

The Owls managed to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a
Quinton Smith 48-yard run to close the gap to within 10 points, but
the Bruins recovered the ensuing onside kick, triggering a
collective sigh of relief. The play basically ensured that the team
would be traveling up to Washington in two weeks undefeated.

After this weekend’s scare, the team has learned a
valuable lesson: Every Division 1-A team can beat any other.

“I think we underestimated them a little bit just because
of what we did to them last year,” Olson said of the
team’s approach to Rice. “You can’t do that in
college football. “¦That’s what we need to learn to do
as a team, is to put teams like Rice ““ teams that we should
put away ““ away. We just have to learn from this and never
underestimate any opponent that we play.”