Poor execution leads to woes on offense

UCLA’s offensive woes can be summed up in three game-changing plays this season.

* In the third game, the Bruins trailed Washington, 22-19, in the fourth quarter when Ben Olson tried a first-down pass to Junior Taylor in the flat that was intercepted by Dan Howell, who returned it 33 yards for a touchdown. The Bruins lost, 29-19, after leading, 16-0, in the first half.

* Two weeks ago, UCLA led Notre Dame, 14-13, at the start of the fourth quarter and had the Irish on the run. But on third and three from the Notre Dame 39, Patrick Cowan was sacked for a seven-yard loss. The Bruins had to punt and ended up losing, 20-17.

* Last week, UCLA trailed Washington State, 20-15, late in the third quarter when Coach Karl Dorrell decided to gamble. On fourth down from midfield, Cowan’s pass intended for fullback Michael Pitre was knocked down. The Cougars scored on their next two possessions to win going away, 37-15.

Three plays that did not work because of failed execution, poor play calling or a combination of both.

“It can be fixed easy,” said Taylor, a senior receiver. “Make a block, make the run, make the catch. Keep the chains moving. It’s really on us. We need to make the plays so we don’t have all of these three-and-outs.”

UCLA’s inability to get first downs has been a problem since the Bruins opened the season 2-0. In victories over Utah and Rice, UCLA did not have any three-play drives that ended with punts, but they had five each in losses to Washington State, Notre Dame and Washington.

With four regular-season games remaining, UCLA still does not have a go-to receiver and Chris Markey’s hold as the No. 1 running back appears to have changed based on his limited role against the Cougars last week.

“We’re going to continue to go through our growing pains in a number of different ways,” said Dorrell about UCLA’s offense, which ranks eighth in total yards in the Pacific 10 Conference, ahead of only Arizona and Stanford. “The biggest point for us is to get our players in position to make plays.”

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Olson, sidelined since Oct. 7 because of a knee injury, wore shoulder pads and his normal No. 7 red jersey in practice Tuesday but did not go through any team drills.

“The hard thing is that you don’t want to push it too much, where you end up setting yourself back and hurting yourself in the long run,” said Olson, who had hoped to play this week against California but is now looking at a possible return on Nov. 11 against Oregon State. “But you also don’t want it to get too tight and too stiff.”

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Freshman receiver Terrence Austin, who sat out the last two games because of a hamstring injury, practiced. Running back Kahlil Bell, sidelined because of an ankle injury, did not practice, but linebackers Christian Taylor and Aaron Whittington, who have been slowed because of ankle injuries, did some work. Receiver Brandon Breazell, who suffered a rib injury Saturday, performed individual drills.

lonnie.white@latimes.com