Turnover Margin Suddenly a Strength

After finishing ninth in the Pacific 10 Conference with a minus-7 turnover margin last season, UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell made improving that area a priority this season.

Not only did the Bruins talk about taking care of the football and creating turnovers, they began implementing drills to work on it in practice.

The result: UCLA leads the conference with a plus-10 margin -- 14 takeaways and only four turnovers.

“I really don’t want to talk about it too much because [it] might jinx me. I don’t want for us to all of the sudden have a huge game of turnovers going against us,� Dorrell said.

“But it is something that we really emphasized in training camp. We emphasized for our defense to get the ball back for our offense and protecting the ball. There’s no magic formula.�

Quarterback Drew Olson’s ability to avoid interceptions has played a big role in the turnaround. Last season, Olson had 13 passes intercepted -- nine in UCLA’s six losses. This season, Olson has three interceptions and the Bruins are 7-0 and ranked eighth by Associated Press and sixth by the bowl championship series standings.

“That’s been huge for this offense,� said Olson, who leads the Pac-10 in pass efficiency with a 166.5 rating. “It’s been a big focal point every week against whoever we play and that’s to take care of the ball.�

Although the UCLA defense is tied with Arizona for last in the conference with five interceptions, the Bruins and Arizona State lead the Pac-10 with nine recovered fumbles.

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After losing to UC Davis and to Oregon in its Pac-10 opener, Stanford has won three consecutive games.

“They are playing a whole lot better,� Dorrell said of Stanford (4-2, 3-1). “They have some older players and they are playing well.�

UCLA, which will play three of its final four games on the road, has lost three in a row at Stanford Stadium and hasn’t won there since 1997.