PASADENA, Calif. – Drew Olson threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, UCLA held Adrian Peterson to 58 yards rushing, and the Bruins beat No. 21 Oklahoma 41-24 on Saturday.
The struggling Sooners, who played in the last two BCS national championship games, are 1-2 for the first time since 1997. Oklahoma’s offense continued to look lost, fumbling six times – four by quarterback Rhett Bomar. UCLA recovered three of the fumbles and turned them into 17 points.
UCLA (3-0) pulled away from a 20-17 lead with two Olson touchdown passes and Maurice Drew’s scoring run in the fourth quarter on the way to beating the Sooners for the first time.
Oklahoma won the first three meetings by lopsided scores, including a 59-24 victory in Norman in 2003, Karl Dorrell’s first year as the Bruins’ coach.
Olson completed 28-of-38, taking advantage of a Sooners’ defense stacked to stop the run. They did, holding Drew in check until he broke off a 38-yard run late in the game, then scored from 9 yards out. He still finished with just 69 yards on 15 carries.
Olson, a senior and three-year starter, threw scoring passes of 19 yards to Andrew Baumgartner in the first quarter, and 19 yards to Marcedes Lewis and 7 yards to Chris Markey in the fourth.
Justin Medlock added field goals of 44 and 51 yards for the Bruins, and linebacker Spencer Havner scored on a 13-yard return of a Bomar fumble early in the third quarter.
The Bruins also focused on stopping the run, daring redshirt freshman Bomar to throw the ball. He did much better than a week earlier, when he struggled in the first half and didn’t throw a pass after halftime in a 31-15 victory over Tulsa.
Bomar completed 20-of-29 for 241 yards against the Bruins, and ran for a 16-yard TD late in the game.
Peterson, who began the game on the sidelines after being disciplined during the week for missing classes, carried 23 times and scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter, trimming UCLA’s lead to 20-17.
The 2004 Heisman runner-up, Peterson entered the game for Oklahoma’s fourth offensive play and immediately made a good block near the goal line on Travis Wilson’s 56-yard touchdown on a reverse that worked to perfection.
Peterson was suspended for two practices at the start of the week, and Kejuan Jones started against the Bruins.
The last time the Sooners started with two losses in three games, John Blake was their coach. That team went on to finish 4-8.
AP-ES-09-17-05 1940EDT
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