Bruins seek QB, coach

LAS VEGAS – A lot has changed in a little time since UCLA last faced BYU.

The Bruins were ranked No. 13 when they beat BYU 27-17 on Sept. 8. Now, they’re a .500 team looking for a coach or unsure who will start at quarterback today against the 19th-ranked Cougars in the Las Vegas Bowl.

A season that started with promise is ending in chaos. The Bruins (6-6) are hoping to salvage a winning record and maybe give interim coach DeWayne Walker an edge in UCLA’s search for a successor to coach Karl Dorrell, who was fired at the end of the regular season.

“I don’t want them really playing for me,” Walker said Friday. “We want to win for the Bruin family. To me that’s more important.”

Walker hopes to get the job that Dorrell lost after the Bruins lost four of their last five, but has been trying not to look at the last three weeks as an audition. His players have been lobbying UCLA administrators to hire Walker, who was Dorrell’s defensive coordinator.

“We can put our word in their ear, but there’s only so much we can say,” said receiver Brandon Breazell, who will be playing his final game for the Bruins. “All we’ve can do is come out here and win this game. Hopefully, that’s enough.”

UCLA is 7-1 against BYU, but even the most recent victory over the Cougars seems to have come long ago.

Walker said he wasn’t sure who would start at quarterback today. Ben Olson, the former BYU player who transferred after a church mission, was still questionable after aggravating his left knee last week. If Olson wasn’t healthy enough to play, sophomore Osaar Rasshan would get the start.

The Cougars (10-2) are trying for their first bowl wins in consecutive seasons since winning the Holiday Bowl in 1983 and 1984, BYU’s national championship season.