PASADENA “”mdash; Saturday’s game marked the one-year
anniversary of quarterback Matt Moore’s first complete game.
Now he’s got two games under his belt.
In his first return as a starter against Arizona State, true
sophomore Moore completed 14 of 28 passes for a career high
190-yards, leading the Bruins to a 20-13 win over the Sun
Devils.
“It was a roller-coaster ride out there,” Moore
said. “I knew there would be ups and downs, and fortunately
we came out on top.”
After suffering a severe bone bruise in the opening game of the
season, Moore saw only minimal playing time until Saturday, while
backup sophomore Drew Olson led the team to a 5-2 start.
Now back in charge, Moore’s first game back was a bit
shaky, but growing pains were expected.
“He is rusty,” UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell said.
“That was part of the process, whenever you miss a lot of
time and you assume the role of being starter again. We knew that
he wasn’t going to be flawless out there.”
Moore opened the game with a deep 52-yard pass to receiver Craig
Bragg. But the drive stalled when Moore was sacked for a loss of
nine yards, and UCLA had to settle for a field goal. Overall, Moore
was sacked four times for a total loss of 28.
Another pivotal error came late in the third quarter when Moore
was hit by ASU defensive end Brian Montesanto as he threw and the
ball fell into the hands of Sun Devil lineman Jimmy Verdon at the
UCLA 25-yard line.
The interception highlighted the Bruins’ troubles on third
down conversions: UCLA made just 3-of-15.
“We were getting a lot of a pressure on third downs, and
we were trying to figure out a way to get past that,” Moore
said.
Moore’s opportunities were also restrained in the second
half, completing only four passes for four yards.
“He made some nice throws in the early part of the
game,” Dorrell said. “But he got a little bit
frustrated and made some mistakes with the football in the middle
part of the game.”
Although Moore struggled at times ““ overthrowing several
passes under stifling defense from the Sun Devils ““ the
threat of his passing game opened up holes in the ASU defense,
allowing for an impressive running game by freshman Maurice
Drew.
Overall, Moore felt his game was “OK,” acknowledging
his mistakes.
“There were some slow times, but we came through,”
Moore said. “There were some passes I should have hit that I
didn’t, and I was a little shaky, but we came out all
right.”
Dorrell best summed up the feelings many have expressed in the
absence of the starter: “It was good seeing him back in
there.”