Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Bruins are 7-0 and in the Top 10.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In contrast to undefeated UCLA's string of gaudy numbers, one of the most impressive is a small stat -- four.
That's how many times the Bruins have turned the ball over on their way to a 7-0 record, the No. 8 ranking in The Associated Press poll and the No. 6 spot in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Chris Markey fumbled the ball away on a punt return a couple of weeks ago, and Drew Olson has thrown three interceptions, two of them in one game.
That's it so far for the sure-handed Bruins.
"It's key. That's huge for this offense," Olson said. "We focused on it a tremendous amount in spring and in camp.
Objective
"A big point every week is for us to take care of the ball. I think that's why we've given the ball up only three times on offense."
The Bruins have forced 14 turnovers, 12 by their defense and two by their special teams, and rank third nationally and first in the Pac-10 with a turnover margin of plus 1.43.
Asked about the Bruins giving the ball away around once every two games, coach Karl Dorrell smiled and said, "Isn't that great?"
"It's a point of emphasis, I know that," he said Monday. "I don't want to talk about it all that much, because it might jinx me. I don't want all of a sudden that we have this huge game of turnovers.
"It is something we really emphasized in training camp. We emphasized our defense getting the ball back for our offense, and [the offense] protecting the ball. It's not a magic formula. It's just a point of emphasis, like the red zone."
That focus obviously has paid off, too.
Red zone stats
The Bruins are 32-for-34 in the red zone, with 27 touchdowns, five field goals and one end-of-the game kneel down.
"We've been playing very, very well in the red zone offensively," Dorrell said. "We want the opportunity to put points on the board, and those are opportunities we've been taking advantage of."
Then there are the more obvious numbers the Bruins have posted on their way to their best start since they won their first 10 in 1998. They're averaging 44.4 points a game; Olson has thrown for 1,874 yards and 21 touchdowns, including 11 scoring passes in the past two games; and Maurice Drew has accounted for 1,299 all-purpose yards rushing, receiving and on returns, an average of 185.6 yards a game, and has 16 touchdowns.
UCLA (4-0 Pac-10) is coming off a 51-28 win over Oregon State, and will face resurgent Stanford on the road Saturday.
Asked about the Bruins being sixth in the BCS rankings, Dorrell said: "We're not focused on that at all. Stanford is a big, big issue for us right now. The teams are going to get tougher and tougher along the way."