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Senior quarterback Drew Olson led a Bruin comeback Saturday, throwing for 209 yards and a pair of

PALO ALTO — For the fourth time this season, the Bruins have done the improbable. Their backs were more than just up against the wall – the wall was beginning to crumble, and UCLA looked to be tumbling down with it.

They could have folded at any moment. UCLA’s offense was horrendous and quarterback Drew Olson’s arm seemed to go awry. The Bruins could have called it quits, but they didn’t – despite trailing 24-3 with 8:26 remaining in the final period of play.

Facing a three-touchdown deficit, equal to its biggest of the season, UCLA’s resilience kicked in during the fourth quarter as the Bruins scored 21 points, tying a school record for the largest comeback victory, and eventually winning the game in overtime.

“This is the best comeback out of the four,” said Olson, who completed 14 of 19 passes in the fourth quarter for 183 yards and one touchdown.

“When you get so many I guess you have to (rate them) now. I mean, wow. We played horrible football for three quarters; really, three and half quarters we didn’t play. It’s unbelievable; there was no doubt.”

The Bruins utilized a no-huddle offense in the fourth quarter to amass 200 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, sending the game into overtime.

The Bruins’ fourth-quarter heroics began on their own 35-yard line. What started out as a suffocating Stanford defense soon became nothing more than gaping holes through which Olson was able to find open receivers. He twice found junior running back Maurice Drew open on screen passes for a pair of 11-yard catches in the middle of the field. After six complete passes by Olson, Drew capped off the drive with a 6-yard rushing touchdown with 7:04 remaining in the game.

“We know we’re better than that,” said senior tight end Marcedes Lewis, who had three receptions for a total of 39 yards. “You know you’re better than that, and you stall and stall. We were playing at their pace. (But) when we went to the two-minute hurry-up offense, it was all over.”

The Bruins got the ball back with 5:17 remaining and in just three passes – one to Drew (22 yards), one to sophomore receiver Marcus Everett (19), and the eventual 31-yard right-corner lob to junior receiver Joe Cowan – UCLA slashed the Cardinal’s lead to one touchdown, 24-17. The drive took just 34 seconds.

In what may have seemed like deja vu, Olson once again engineered a drive that put the Bruins in position to send the game into overtime.

UCLA staved off two potential momentum-halters in its final drive. One was on a third-and-five possession, but Olson found a streaking Lewis for 20 yards down the middle of the field. In a fourth-and-two situation on Stanford’s 6-yard line, Olson found Cowan in motion for the first down, and Drew finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

“We don’t ever doubt ourselves,” Drew said. “The (offensive) line did a great job. They came out of halftime and said enough is enough, and they did what they could to help get the receivers a chance to get open. Drew (Olson) was just saying, ‘Get me a little bit of time. Just a little bit more time.’”

And in the time the Bruins had, they squeezed out every point they could.