Olson hasn't lived up to hype, and he's fine with that

Ben Olson completed 13 of 28 passes for 126 yards and no touchdowns against his former team. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

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PASADENA, Calif. -- Ben Olson is fine with being good. He'll take great, he'd be thrilled with excellent, but really he just wants to play football and he'll take any adjective that you attach with it after the fact.

That's what happens when a highly recruited high school quarterback starts a grand total of seven games since graduating six years ago.

Standing in front of his locker after beating BYU, the team he committed to out of high school in 2001, Olson is still grinning after leading UCLA to a 27-17 win and a 2-0 start to the season. This is good and, remember, Olson is fine with that. Problem is, good has never been good enough for everyone else when it comes to Olson. After all, we're talking about a player that was nicknamed "Southpaw Jesus" when he arrived on campus three years ago.

Before the game Olson said there would be nothing special about playing BYU, where he spent a season redshirting before serving a two-year Mormon mission. Unfortunately he was right, at least when it came to his performance.

After throwing a career-high five touchdowns last week against Stanford and showing flashes of being the record-setting quarterback he was at nearby Thousand Oaks (Calif.) High, Olson looked far from extraordinary.

Flustered early and often by BYU's aggressive defense, Olson completed just 13 of 28 passes for 126 yards, was sacked twice and threw an interception.

"They got a great defense so I've got to give them credit" said Olson, who returns to Utah next week to play the Utes. "That was a good win, I'll tell you that flat out. They had an 11-game winning streak. It's not like we beat a I-AA team."

After the game Olson went up to UCLA coach Karl Dorrell and said, "Coach that was a hard-fought win. I could have played better." It was a sentiment that Olson would echo throughout his conversations with reporters after the game and one that everyone in the locker room would agree with.

"Even though he's an older gentleman, he's still learning this game," said Dorrell of his 24-year old quarterback. "Being away from the game for a couple years and coming back -- the transition isn't easy for most people but his attitude has been great and this team believes in him."

While the team may believe in him, that may not be the case for the UCLA faithful, which remained surprisingly silent when BYU fans jeered Olson as he ran on and off the field during the game. While BYU fans still resent Olson for leaving them, most UCLA fans are non-committal if not completely apathetic towards their starting quarterback. Most would probably pledge their allegiance to his backup, Patrick Cowan, who became an instant fan favorite after leading the Bruins to a 13-9 win over USC nine months ago.

As Olson gets grilled by reporters about overthrown, underthrown and badly thrown passes, he doesn't get defensive or lose his smile. If anything, his grin grows slightly wider as he crosses his freckled arms and looks at the group in front of him.

"I've learned that nothing is guaranteed in football and you're one hit away from being out for the year so you have to enjoy yourself," said Olson, who started the first five games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury. "The people that really know what's going on and what's happening are in the huddle and on the sidelines."

Looking past all the hype and hoopla about Olson's potential, there might come a moment where his critics will have to accept him for what he is -- a good, but not great, quarterback.

"There's a lot of attention put on him," said Dorrell. "Is he deserving of all the attention? That's really up to the fans and spectators. I know he's a leader. He's the one guy that our offense expects to lead them and he's earned that right."