PULLMAN, Wash. ””mdash; With a little more than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince found himself standing on the sidelines instead of out on the field.
Throughout the season, this has become an all too familiar scene for the UCLA football team.
There have been times where injury has forced him out of the game, such as last week’s concussion against Washington.
Other times it has been because of poor play, like the game against Arizona.
This time was different. Prince was pulled from the game to allow two other quarterbacks to get some mop-up duty in UCLA’s resounding 43-7 defeat of Washington State (1-9, 0-7 Pac-10) on Saturday before 25,661 at Martin Stadium.
The win marked the Bruins’ second consecutive win in November, evened their record at 5-5, and put the team one win away from bowl eligibility, a position which seemed unlikely just two weeks ago.
“We’ve put ourselves in position these last two weeks to have a winning season, and now we’ve got to press the pedal all the way to the floor to get it done,” coach Rick Neuheisel said.
Coming off a minor concussion last week against Washington, Prince showed no visible signs he was still dealing with the effects, completing 27 of 40 passes for 314 yards and one touchdown. It was Prince’s third game in which he passed for 300-plus yards, tying the UCLA freshman record.
Prince and the UCLA offense, which amassed 556 yards of total offense, looked efficient from their first offensive play. Given the ball at Washington State’s 27-yard line as a result of an Akeem Ayers interception, Prince rolled to his left and found a wide-open Taylor Embree for a touchdown and an early 7-0 lead.
After two more interceptions by the UCLA defense ““ one by Rahim Moore and another by Ayers ““ and fullback Chane Moline’s first of three touchdowns gave the Bruins a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, a sense of over-eagerness seemed to set in for the UCLA offense.
Thinking that any play downfield would result in big gains, Prince forced some throws into tight coverage, once narrowly avoiding an interception.
Neuheisel compared it to entering a cafeteria and wanting to take a little bit of everything.
“I thought that he had a moment in the game where he started to try to bite off more than he could chew, and you just can’t do that,” Neuheisel said.
Prince agreed with his coach, saying after the game that he thought things would come easy after the incredibly fast start the Bruins got off to on offense. When he realized that Washington State was dropping as many as eight players deep, that’s when he began to find Moline (seven receptions, 60 yards), tight end Ryan Moya (two receptions, 36 yards) and tight end Logan Paulsen (two receptions, 27 yards) on underneath routes, accounting for much of the Bruins’ success on offense.
“I feel like we started clicking more in the second half than anything,” said Prince, who also ran for a 68-yard touchdown in the second quarter. “We were still scoring in the first, but I didn’t think that we were moving as well. I feel like the second half is when we started clicking, and that’s when I was not trying to force things and just checking the ball down and doing the little things.”
Prince spread the ball around, completing at least one pass to eight different receivers on the day, much to the delight of offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
“I love that,” Chow said. “It makes me feel real good when that happens.”
One of the main beneficiaries of Prince spreading the wealth was Moline, who finished with a game-high seven receptions and had rushing touchdowns of two, seven and 16 yards. A one-time running back, Moline said that while he has embraced his role as the team’s fullback, once he got near the end zone he had one thing on his mind.
“When the coaches call my number to be a tailback in a goal-line situation, I’m salivating,” Moline said. “I just want to get in the end zone. I know that I have to prove that I can get in there every time.”
Equally impressive was the performance of the UCLA defense, which forced three Washington State turnovers and limited the Cougars to just 181 total yards of offense.
“It just seemed like everybody fit where they were supposed to fit, and they made plays when they were supposed to make plays,” defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said.
The Bruins had their shot at a shutout ruined with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Washington State quarterback Kevin Lopina to teammate wide receiver Jeffrey Solomon near the end of the third quarter, cutting the UCLA lead to 29-7. On the play, Moore tried to go for his 10th interception of the season and was beat over top.
“I was thinking about double-digits,” Moore said.
With two games remaining on the season, the Bruins sit tied for seventh in the Pac-10 and one win from becoming bowl eligible. The Bruins face Arizona State on Saturday at the Rose Bowl with a bowl berth on the line, and for a team that has two wins in November, the only thought is about keeping the season alive.
As Moline put it, “hopefully we can get a December for us.”