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Junior Taylor will take over for Craigg Bragg as the Bruins' top threat at wide receiver. Bragg d

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Senior Craig Bragg has caught a pass in every game the Bruins have played the last four years except one, his first at UCLA.

But in Saturday’s game against San Diego State, his streak of 39 consecutive games with a catch will finally come to an end.

After dislocating his shoulder in the final minutes in the win at Washington two weeks ago, Bragg, second in all-time receptions at UCLA, is likely to be sidelined at least two more weeks. That leaves the Bruins without the leader of both their receiving corps and the offense.

Just because Bragg is not on the field does not mean UCLA will make too many changes to its offense. Filling the void in the passing game will be veteran receivers Junior Taylor and Tab Perry along with several freshmen candidates and tight end Marcedes Lewis.

For Taylor, Saturday will be the first time he will be called upon as the leading receiver for the Bruins after starting across from Bragg all season. This is a chance he hopes to capitalize on.

“This is my opportunity to be the main guy while Bragg is down,” Taylor said.

UCLA will also look toward Perry for help in the game, marking his return to the startling lineup after sitting out last season due to academic ineligibility.

But while Perry has already seen plenty of time on the field, he hasn’t had the big-play contribution many hoped to see from him. So far this season, Perry has had only two catches for 10 yards. The limited production is in part due to the acclimation process to coach Karl Dorrell’s West Coast Offense and in part because of Bragg’s consistency.

“Tab is ready for the challenge, and he’s excited for this opportunity, even though it’s a situation where we’re losing our best receiver right now,” Dorrell said. “He’s excited to not only fill the shoes but do a great job in keeping the level of play at that position.”

“We haven’t thrown the ball a lot and haven’t been able to get a lot catches to a lot of different people,” quarterback Drew Olson said of Perry’s limited responsibilities. “But also, our main reason is because Craig and Marcedes were the two guys we were trying to focus on the past three games. But that will change as we go on and start throwing more routes.”

Lewis, currently second on the team behind Bragg in receiving, with eight catches for 108 yards, will be another body for Olson to look toward against the Aztecs. UCLA also hopes to see some production from it’s crop of young freshman receivers, Brandon Breazell and Marcus Everett.

“(The receivers) decided that we have to step it up another notch,” Taylor said. “We have to go out there and produce just like Craig was out there. So if Craig is averaging 100 yards per game we need to go out there and produce 100 yards.”

But three games into the season, Bragg is only averaging four catches for 72.3 yards a game. For the Bruins, the minimized passing game highlights their new trend of choosing to run the ball instead.

Going into Saturday’s game, UCLA has rushed for 888 yards for nine touchdowns while only throwing for 585 yards for three touchdowns.

With running backs Maurice Drew and Manuel White both having monstrously successful seasons, the void left by Bragg doesn’t appears by any means to spell the demise of the Bruins’ offense.

“We really haven’t thrown the ball much except in the first game,” Olson said. “But (the running game) is going to help, especially this week. I think if we’re going to get our running game together it’s going to help our game tremendously.”

But while the Bruins have been successful running the ball thus far, for them to retain their offensive momentum, the passing game will also have to be more prominent, even without Bragg.

“I think that first we’ve been fortunate the running is going,” offensive coordinator Tom Cable said. “At this level, typically you have to be balanced to be good, and luckily we haven’t needed to be yet. When we get the chance to throw the football, we’re ecstatic because we think we’re pretty good there.”