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Wide receiver Junior Taylor will lead the receiving corps against Stanford on Saturday. Taylor an

If there were ever a time for the Bruins to right their offensive woes, it would be this weekend.

The Stanford Cardinal comes into the Rose Bowl on Saturday having allowed an average of 476.2 yards per game and 39 points per game. After a loss to San Jose State and a crushing defeat by Navy, Stanford is en route to a 0-4 record. It only has the appearance of a good pass defense mostly because it is so easy to run on it.

But the Bruins will not enter the game looking beyond the Cardinal. They cannot afford to. After beating lowly Rice by a mere 10 points, and then getting beaten by Washington (3-1), the Bruins (2-1) are in the position where this Saturday’s game is almost a must-win.

“This is a game where we have to get going,” wide receiver Junior Taylor said. “We’ve got a tough stretch ahead of us, especially in October. There are no more excuses. We have to execute.”

In the wake of the loss to the Huskies, the Bruins harped on one ultimate problem: offensive execution. Inside the red zone against Washington, UCLA had three field goals, one interception and just one touchdown. Finishing drives has been a problem for the Bruins this year although it was a strength of the team last year.

“If we could finish, we’d be averaging like 40 points a game right now,” Taylor said.

The offense will need to finish to take some of the pressure off the defense. UCLA’s defenders, after letting most teams run all over them last year, have been stout this season, allowing just 71.3 yards on the ground per game and only 168.7 through the air.

They have caused eight turnovers in three games, but, even against Rice, it was barely enough to squeeze out a victory.

Against Washington, the Bruin defense collapsed late, allowing a fourth-quarter touchdown that put the Huskies in the lead for the first time in the game. Still, they allowed just 22 of the 29 points Washington scored, but that is not good enough for the Bruins.

“People say we did good against Washington, but we lost,” linebacker Christian Taylor said. “We were ahead and we let them score in the fourth quarter and that’s unacceptable.

“We want to completely dominate people all game. We can’t give up those three or four plays that let teams put points on the board. (Neither Washington nor Rice did) as well as the points they had against us, but those few big plays put points on the scoreboard.”

If one had to pick a game for the Bruins to have a possibility of a shutout and perform the domination Taylor desires, this would be the one. The Cardinal offense is nearly as anemic as its defense.

The Cardinal averages just 15.8 points per game, and quarterback Trent Edwards has lost two of his top receiving targets, Evan Moore and Mark Bradford. The one bright spot for Stanford is freshman running back Toby Gerhart, who has averaged 4.6 yards per carry this year and has 216 yards in the first four games.

Even if the Bruins dominate defensively, the offense will need to get out of its rut if it is to avoid the embarrassment of playing Stanford close, or even losing.

“If we were playing any team, this would be a great game for us to get on track,” running back Chris Markey said. “We have a very explosive offense, with big-time playmakers. We just haven’t shown what we can do.”

The Cardinal runs a lot of soft zone coverage out of its 3-4 base defense, so the Bruins will likely be able to get the running game going. Given the way quarterback Ben Olson has looked throughout the last two games, that might be for the best.

After jumping out to an impressive start in the first game against Utah with three touchdown passes and no interceptions, Olson has thrown three interceptions in the last two games and has generally looked uncomfortable in the pocket. Still, Olson is prepared to do whatever the offensive coaches call.

“We’re just going to try to take what they give us,” Olson said. “They’re a hungry team – they’re 0-4. We’ve got to just go out there Saturday and just unleash the beast, I guess you could say. Whatever we’ve got to do to win, I’m fine with that.”

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