Dorrell's Bruins, ranked 11th after a 2-0 start, are 5-5 (4-3 Pacific-10), unranked and trying to end a three-game losing streak tomorrow at the Rose Bowl against No. 10 Oregon, which will be without injured star quarterback Dennis Dixon.

After that, the Bruins end their regular season against No. 12 Southern California.

If UCLA fails to win either game, the Bruins will finish 5-7.

And Dorrell, who has produced only one big season (10-2 in 2005) in his five-year tenure, could be in jeopardy of being dumped.

The future of Dorrell, one of just six black head coaches among 119 Division I-A teams, has become a public debate in L.A., on the airwaves, in the papers, on the Internet.

He has many detractors, who typically paint him as a guy who was in over his head when he was hired and hasn't grown into the leader UCLA hoped he'd become when he began his first head coaching job in 2003.

He has produced records of 6-7, 6-6, 10-2, 7-6 and now 5-5.

Is his job on the line? Will his future be determined by what happens in the next two games?

UCLA athletics director Dan Guerrero, who has praised Dorrell for instilling more discipline and reducing the off-the-field embarrassments of previous regimes, has said only that he will evaluate the program and Dorrell's future at the end of the season.

Dorrell typically deflects the question.

"I felt that from the beginning," he said in answer to the question of whether he feels he will be coaching tomorrow to save his job. "I'm always on the line. I've always felt that way in terms of how I have to get better as a coach. That's a feeling I've had for 20 years."

Should two more wins ensure his return?

"No comment," Dorrell said.

Are his players distracted by the talk?

"They're not naive," Dorrell said. "They hear all the stuff that's out there. But to their credit, they've been pretty focused on doing what's important, which is playing a game and practicing and doing what we can do on the football field. And that's all we coaches can do as well."

UCLA has been hit hard by injuries to front-line players and is starting a quarterback — sophomore Osaar Rasshan — not even on the depth chart at QB when the season opened. His only game action before playing quarterback for the first time Nov. 3 against Arizona was as a backup wide receiver.

The Bruins were hoping for a breakout year by quarterback Ben Olson, the junior whose 2006 season was cut short by a knee injury.

Olson had a big opener, throwing five touchdown passes against Stanford. But he and the rest of the Bruins fell flat on their faces in the third game of the season, a still-puzzling 44-6 loss at Utah.

UCLA flopped again in Game 6, losing 20-6 to previously winless Notre Dame. Olson suffered another knee injury early in the game, backup QB Patrick Cowan was unavailable because of a knee injury and the No. 3 QB, walk-on freshman McLeod Bethel-Thompson, threw four interceptions and lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

Olson might be available against Oregon, but Dorrell said Rasshan will start.

Also, running back Chris Markey, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2006 but a disappointment this year (458 yards), might be the healthiest he's been in weeks.