Well, at least we know that UCLA hasn’t totally thrown in the towel on the rest of the season after last week’s Utah debacle.

With the attack dogs howling for Karl Dorrell’s head (including me), the team quieted the angry mob for this week with a 44-31 victory over Washington. Bruin fans can take away many positives from the game, but at the same time, many questions still remain as to whether this team has the goods to compete with the top dogs in the Pac-10. UCLA turned in its best all-around performance of the season, but still had plenty of shaky moments during the game. This against a Husky team who had been an early surprise with an upset of last year’s darling Boise St. and a competitive loss against top-10 team Ohio St., but was still predicted to finish ninth in the conference this season.

Henry already gave a brief rundown of the game’s highlights yesterday, so here’s a few more key observations from my cold seat at the Rose Bowl:

1. There should be no quarterback controversy. Patrick Cowan, if healthy, should be starting over Ben Olson

On paper, there should be no contest as to who is under center for UCLA. Olson was the #1 recruit, while Cowan was mostly an afterthought. Olson has the more impressive physique and far superior arm strength. And in the hotly contested starting quarterback battle in Spring camp, Olson “won” the job by looking less shaky, though by all reports, both guys were mostly ineffective. But if you watch these guys on the field in game situations, it seems obvious that Cowan is the better man for the job right now.

Numerous people that follow the program, myself included, rooted for Olson to win out because he had the tantalizing upside. However, at some point, productivity has to outweigh potential. In his first start back from a hamstring injury, Cowan certainly looked rusty and was erratic with his throws, but he did move the offense effectively (albeit against a lousy defense and backed by an effective running game). He made sharp reads and delivered the ball quickly to the appropriate spots, in stark contrast to Olson’s tendency to lock on to receivers and force throws. Cowan also distinguished himself by his ability to make plays with his legs. Numerous times, he escaped trouble in the pocket by scrambling for positive yardage, or improvised like his third quarter shovel pass to Brandon Breazell just as he was about to be sacked. Olson simply isn’t nimble enough to make those plays. Cowan doesn’t always look pretty when he’s out there, but he somehow finds a way to be productive. There’s no way the Bruins could have upset USC last year with Olson in the game.

Not to say that Cowan doesn’t make any mistakes. He threw a terrible interception in the fourth quarter when UCLA had the game well in hand that allowed Washington to get back into the game. But he is more efficient with the ball and generally makes better decisions, both of which are paramount in Dorrell’s West Coast offense. (Whether or not the West Coast offense can actually be effective in the college game is subject for another discussion altogether – surprise, I’m not a fan) Yes, it would be nice to have a more vertical element to the passing game, of which Olson is clearly superior to Cowan, but given how rarely the Bruins throw downfield, I’ll take the guy who can consistently move the chains 10-15 yards at a time over the guy who will only occasionally hit the home run but flounder most of the rest of the time.

This point may be moot if Cowan’s knee injury, suffered in the early fourth quarter while trying to make a tackle on the aforementioned interception, is serious. And if Olson, who was sidelined with “concussion-like symptoms”, can’t go, walk-on freshman McLeod Bethel-Thompson is the, gulp, answer. Dorrell had enough confidence in him to call 19 running plays and one halfback pass after Cowan went out.

2. Regardless of who starts at quarterback, the running game has to be effective for the passing game to be successful

After four weeks, the Bruins have had two good offensive games and two bad offensive games. In the two good performances, they averaged 335(!) yards of rushing; in the two bad performances, 97 yards of rushing. Before attributing it to the level of competition, note that the Bruins’ worst performance of the season was against Utah (83 yards) and they currently rank 102nd in the country in rush defense. No, this is about attitude and aggression by the offensive line.

On Saturday, Chris Markey (14-193) and Kahlil Bell (27-109) put up huge numbers thanks to huge holes opened up by the line, minus top lineman Shannon Tevaga. The change in mindset as compared to last week was fully evident after Cowan went down and everyone in the building knew that the Bruins were going to just call their three running plays over and over. But UCLA still ran it down Washington’s throat, breaking off Markey’s long touchdown run, and several big chunks of yardage in spite of the Huskies stacking the box with eight and nine defenders. That’s basically UCLA saying we have bigger balls than you, you can’t stop us. Why they don’t play like that every week is beyond me.

It’s clear the passing game is going to be mediocre at best, but forcing the defense to have to commit an extra defender to the run will open up some opportunities for the outside receivers to make some plays. Otherwise, it seems that neither Cowan nor Olson are good enough to consistently move the ball through the air against defenses that can sit back and wait for it.

It was also nice to see Dorrell actually make the adjustment and give Bell the majority of the touches. While Markey put on by far his best performance of the season, hitting the hole hard and showing a little bit of burst, Bell is still the more effective runner right now, able to break more tackles and punish defenders. Still, having two effective backs means they can rotate fresh legs and grind out yardage.

3. The special teams were a huge difference maker on Saturday and will continue to be a big difference maker this season

Obviously one of the biggest plays of the game was Reggie Slater’s kickoff return for a touchdown because it turned the momentum. However, the team has been getting great play from all of their special teams units all season. In years past, no one would have argued that Bruin special teams were a strength, despite having All-American kicker Justin Medlock last season or Maurice Jones-Drew’s insane punt return year in 2005. In particular, coverage units have been porous especially relative to UCLA’s return game. But not this year. Besides Slater on kick returns (and kick coverage), Terrence Austin has been solid on punt returns (a long punt return was called back for an illegal block). On the other side of the ball, the kick coverage has been excellent, as the Bruins are averaging over six more yards per kick return than their opponents. Furthermore, UCLA is getting surprisingly reliable kicking from freshman Kai Forbath (8/11 FGs) and punting from Aaron Perez (15th nationally with a 44.3 avg), despite the fact that many of his punts seem to be short but get a friendly roll.

It is inevitable that the Bruins will be locked in some close games later on this season, and gaining those hidden yards and being able to manufacture points could be the difference in winning an extra game or two.

4. UCLA’s “opportunistic” pass defense is a nice way of saying “we give up as many big plays as we make”

The Bruins had two interceptions including the big Dennis Keyes pick-six. But while the Bruin defense pretty much throttled heralded Washington freshman QB Jake Locker for the first three quarters, with the two touchdowns resulting from Bruin turnovers, it didn’t make the plays in the fourth quarter with the game still reasonably in doubt, giving up two long bombs in the fourth quarter to allow the Huskies to stay in the game.

The numbers don’t lie: UCLA is ranked 110th in the country in passing defense right now. I’m just going to come out and say it: the Bruins’ defense is overrated. It got a ton of national recognition for shutting down USC’s offense in one game last season (deservedly so), but there is a big difference between saying the defense is good and the defense is good for UCLA. The Bruins have had sieve-like defenses for most of the last ten seasons. So on a relative basis, having a defense that is semi-effective is a big change. It doesn’t mean that on a universal basis that it’s really good. You want to see a really good defense, check out the horses across town at the Coliseum or down in Baton Rouge at LSU.

In particular, the Bruins have been highly susceptible to teams that can spread out the field and force them out of their base defense. All four Bruin opponents this year have utilized with great success some variant of the shotgun spread offense, with three and four wideouts, and only using the run to set up the pass. The result has been the Bruins able to bottle up the run, but suffering from repeated breakdowns in pass coverage. This should be no surprise; teams that ran the spread option scheme last year against DeWayne Walker’s “vaunted” defense also had a lot of success, and the personnel is the same this year.

This isn’t necessarily an indictment on the players or on the highly regarded (and possibly overrated) Walker. Part of the problem is due to the lack of pressure from the defensive line, although it was slightly more effective this week, and perhaps Walker needs to blitz more often to force the issue. And it doesn’t help that the tackling has been suspect. But a large part of the issue is the fundamental lack of athleticism of the UCLA linebackers (did you see Locker blow by Christian Taylor?) and the subpar coverage abilities of the safeties and dime corners. Essentially, opposing offenses are finding favorable matchups in the middle of the field with the tight end or with their slot receivers, or exploiting the soft parts of the zone.

You can’t magically create athletes over night. So the sooner everyone acknowledges the inherent limitations of the defense, perhaps the more realistic expectations will be. The pass defense should be a lot better than 110th, but it’s just not a shutdown defense. All in all, they played pretty well on Saturday.

However, the prospect of facing the ridiculously athletic skill position players from USC, Cal, or Oregon, and a quarterback that can actually throw? Scary.

5. If the Bruins want to be as good as the players seem to think they should be, they might want to focus a little bit more on not making so many stupid mistakes

For the second week in a row, the Bruins killed themselves with several penalties on both sides of the ball, negating big plays and extending drives for Washington. Eight penalties in the first half, ten overall for 88 yards. That’s just inexcusable. Lack of discipline and focus. But not really all that surprising coming from a team that doesn’t show up to play every week. To give them credit for “responding from adversity” ignores the fact that they shouldn’t have put themselves in the adverse position to begin with. At least they’re not quitters.

6. Despite all the bitching from loudmouths like yours truly, UCLA is alone in first place in the Pac-10

Yeah, we know it’s only because they’ve played one more conference game than everyone else, and because they’ve played the two worst teams in the conference, but the pipe dream goal of the Rose Bowl is still in play at least for one more week. Going on the road to face a mediocre Oregon St. team should be a slightly bigger hurdle, but the meat of the schedule is yet to come.

We'll stay positive for now. But I’ve still got my eye on you Karl…

Some more photos from the nose bleeds

AP photos by Gus Ruelas. Yours truly with the view from the stands.