Dorrell shows some real mettle

CORVALLIS, ORE. -- For a while there it looked like maybe Ben Olson’s mission work wasn’t done, and maybe he should think about hitting the road again.

As badly as it was going, UCLA down, 14-0, in the first quarter, it could have been twice as lopsided, and I was starting to look forward to “Big Brother 10.”

I figured No. 9 is probably scheduled for this summer, and beginning next September they’ll be bringing together a new cast for No. 10 to lock them up in a house for the next nine or 10 weeks.

Then it was going to be just a matter of getting Karl Dorrell to audition, the nice guy a wonderful contrast to Evil Dick and already used to the HoH endurance competition.

But then something funky happened up here in this Halloween-like playhouse, everything orange, black and bleak, and I know you’re not going to believe this, but Dorrell took control of a football game.

He couldn’t have done it five years ago. He would have stood there looking befuddled and overwhelmed. He couldn’t do it two weeks ago, Utah throwing him for a loop from which he never recovered.

“But things have changed,” he said, and although it might be difficult to spot amid all the penalties, turnovers and poor passes, Dorrell still had a grip on a game that might have otherwise slipped away.

The first two times one of his running backs touched the ball -- which were UCLA’s first offensive plays of the game -- he fumbled, a young writer for the Daily Bruin sitting in the press box, speaking up and blaming it on Dorrell.

Both fumbles were recovered by the opposition, Dorrell’s fault, the second returned for a touchdown because Dorrell refused to come off the sideline and tackle the kid. The guy can’t do anything right.

The first 11 plays called by the offensive coordinator from Nebraska were a reminder that those people from Nebraska don’t mind going nowhere, because those first plays resulted in no gain. But then Dorrell hired him.

The defense was getting shredded, the weather turning nasty, and holy Utah, the inexperienced boob who took over this team five years ago was now walking the plank -- and about to be savaged by the Daily Bruin.

It was crossroads time, all right, matched against Mike Riley, the popular choice five years ago to replace Bob Toledo. Riley was also Mike Garrett’s pick before he stumbled across Pete Carroll, Riley not getting permission from the San Diego Chargers to take the job -- although Garrett now tells a different story.

Funny thing, five years later after not getting the Bruins’ post, Riley and Dorrell began this game with identical records -- 32-22 -- both looking at a game that might very well shape how the rest of the season goes and maybe future employment.

And this was Riley versus Dorrell for much of the contest, two former NFL coaches trying to manage teams with obvious weaknesses, Riley playing not to lose while Dorrell went about the business of positioning his team for one big play to win it all.

Riley had a quarterback he obviously doesn’t trust and a defense filled with seniors. He thought his best could stop UCLA’s offensive unit -- hardly the Bruins’ best.

Dorrell also has a quarterback hard to trust at this time, but series by series he allowed Olson to push forward, but always in control, the biggest play of the game coming on a pass that traveled maybe seven yards -- then ending in a 69-yard touchdown.

“You could sense the confidence of the whole team; it was one of those games where you needed great technical and motivational halftime adjustments,” said UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who had the choice of Riley or Dorrell. “Clearly our defense responded, and then finally we hit the home run.”

OK, so you’ve got to worry about a former baseball player charged with the task of hiring a football coach and not understanding how the scoring works in the game, but right now up here in this Halloween outpost they would argue he got it right.

IT WAS 14-12 Oregon State, less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, and Olson looking like no savior.

Down by two in the third quarter with a third and one, the ball on the Beavers’ seven-yard line, UCLA was penalized for a false start. And then again. Third and 11, and if Olson is on the job he throws the ball away if under pressure, or the guy from Nebraska calls for a running play so UCLA can go ahead with a field goal.

Not enough degree of difficulty, I guess, so Olson threw short, the ball was intercepted, and there was no holding the Daily Bruin back now.

At every turn this was a game the Bruins should not have won what with all that went wrong, but the final score is all that counts, and Dorrell went with field position, better athletes on special teams and a defense finally living up to preseason expectations to set the stage for a grand finale.

A short screen pass to Brandon Breazell nudged UCLA ahead by five, and then the better team really turned it on -- ultimately outscoring Oregon State, 40-0, after the first quarter.

Just like Dorrell drew it up.

DON MARTIN, the 570 program director who put Mancow on morning drive -- which goes to show you the man knows a little about radio in L.A., made the decision last week that Dan Patrick’s national sports show would be better than the Roggin & Simers local mishmash.

Hard to argue -- what with the chance to still get paid for the next three months and at the same time sleep in. One look at Roggin and you can tell he could use the sleep.

The decision to call it quits at contract’s end in December had actually already been made -- the old man on Page 2 informing Martin recently he could no longer take the early hours and the abuse from Miss Radio Personality, who obviously takes after her mother.

So Roggin & Simers Squared is no more, lasting about as long as Dennis Miller on “Monday Night Football” and never coming close to the success enjoyed by Vic the Brick.

Come to think of it, even Mancow lasted longer.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. For previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.