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By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Not having started a game since his senior year in high school nearly five years ago, quarterback Ben Olson will face his biggest test yet when he leads UCLA in its season opener Saturday against Utah.
The spotlight will be on the 6-foot-5, 227-pound redhead, who transferred from Brigham Young in January 2005, after spending two years on a Mormon church mission in Calgary, Alberta.
"I'm not nervous, really. Just excited," Olson said. "I didn't spend a whole lot of time in Utah, so I just treat it like another opening game against an opponent that we respect."
Olson was the nation's No. 1 recruit coming out of Thousand Oaks High in 2001, when he signed with BYU. He redshirted his freshman year, then decided to serve his Mormon mission.
After returning from Canada, Olson chose UCLA, a program he had followed while attending high school.
"He has all the hype around him," Bruins wide receiver Junior Taylor said. "People want to see if he can do it."
Olson will be on the hot seat as the replacement for Drew Olson (no relation), who threw a school-record 34 touchdown passes last season. The Bruins also have to find successors for tight end Marcedes Lewis, a first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and running back Maurice Drew, a second-round selection of the Jaguars.
"We lost some great players," Taylor said. "We can't replace those names, but we do have other great players that can make some plays."
The Utes have been successful against Pac-10 opponents, winning their last four games against Arizona, Oregon, California and Southern California.
Neither team is ranked, although Utah received 52 votes in AP's preseason poll, putting the Utes 27th overall.
"That's how we're going to come out and play -- with a little chip on our shoulder that we can play with these guys," said defensive back Eric Weddle, the Mountain West Conference defensive player of the year last season.
"We always want to prove ourselves to bigger conferences and teams that may look down on us," he said.
Weddle, in particular, will be targeting Olson. The senior who splits his time between the safety and corner positions has 11 career interceptions, nine sacks and 20 tackles for loss.
"We're just going to try to put pressure on him, give him different coverages, give him different looks," Weddle said. "Hopefully, put him in a position to make some mistakes and hopefully, we'll capitalize on them."
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham isn't sure what to expect from Olson.
"We don't have any tape over the last five years other than a handful of snaps last year," he said. "So it's really impossible to assess."
The Bruins can say nearly the same about Utes senior quarterback Brett Ratliff, 2-0 as a starter. He led Utah to season-ending wins over BYU and Georgia Tech (in the Emerald Bowl) after replacing the injured Brian Johnson, who is redshirting this season.
Like Olson, Ratliff beat out training camp rival Oklahoma transfer Tommy Grady to earn the starting job. Ratliff completed 64.4 percent of his passes for 621 yards and eight touchdowns with one interception in the victories over BYU and Georgia Tech.
"I've been looking forward to this moment my whole life -- to go out and play football like this in the Rose Bowl," Ratliff said. "It's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to go out and show everybody how we've improved."
When Ratliff isn't throwing, the Utes will be running the ball with a spread offense that led the Mountain West in total offense last season, averaging 473 yards per game.
UCLA had a tough time stopping the run last season, leading coach Karl Dorrell to hire DeWayne Walker of the Washington Redskins as defensive coordinator.
"There's a great intensity now, very disciplined and structured very well," Taylor said. "I'm excited to see those guys get out there and play."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-09-01-06 1349MDT
