UCLA's Olson shines in first start after long journey

                    

	Ben Olson's first touchdown pass capped off a near-perfect first drive for UCLA. AP

PASADENA, Calif. -- It had been nearly five years since Ben Olson started a game and things were going just a bit too easy. His first pass was a picture-perfect strike to Brandon Braezell for 12 yards. His second throw was a 16-yard toss to Marcus Everett for another first down. Four plays had gone by and a defender hadn't even come close enough to shake Olson's hand as he drove the Bruins to midfield. Chances are the 6-foot-5, 227-pound redheaded quarterback got hit more on the sideline last season than he did through the first few plays of his collegiate debut.

Olson, who transferred to UCLA two years ago from Brigham Young after spending two years on a Mormon mission, made sure that streak ended on the next play.

While the fifth play of UCLA's opening drive was designed to be a pass, Olson, with no receivers immediately open, quickly chose to bring the ball down. With a handful of Utah defenders running toward him, and the sideline a few feet to his left, the smart decision would have been to step out of bounds and save himself for the next play. But after spending the past four years on the sideline, figuratively and literally, that wasn't an option for Olson. He wasn't about to go back there this early. So he tucked the ball away, put his head down and plowed into the pack of Utes for a one-yard gain.

"It's been a while since I've been hit so it was good," said Olson, whose last start came in 2001 when he was the No. 1 recruit coming out of Thousand Oaks High. "It feels good to be sore; to have my body ache is a little bit of a nice feeling."

Although the play was hardly the highlight of UCLA's 31-10 win over Utah at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, it seemed to jumpstart not only Olson, but also the rest of his teammates, who helped up the 23-year old-quarterback after the play.

"When you see your quarterback lower his head and run into guys it gets you going because it shows he has heart and he's not scared to take a hit," said Everett. "That's what you need in a quarterback. We call him Uncle Ben because he's older than us but he's our leader out there. We know he's going to lead us in the right direction."

Three plays later Olson threw a 16-yard touchdown to tight end Ryan Mowa and raised his arms in the air and head butted a couple of offensive linemen as he ran toward the end zone. It was the highlight of a near perfect first quarter for Olson, who completed his first nine passes to eight different receivers for 122 yards. His first incompletion finally came late in the quarter when tight end Logan Paulson dropped a perfectly placed throw in the end zone, halting the Bruins' second drive.