PASADENA “”mdash; A postgame handshake and embrace with UCLA
coach Karl Dorrell.
A joke and a shared smile with Drew Olson and other former Bruin
teammates.
And with them, the disappearance of a week’s worth of
speculation and over-dramatization of Matt Moore’s return to
face his former team on a field he once called home.
Long after UCLA’s 51-28 drubbing of Oregon State on
Saturday night, Moore emerged from the visitors’ locker room
beneath the stands at the Rose Bowl frustrated at his team’s
loss and tired of answering the same questions he had to all week,
but content that his much-anticipated return had come and, more
importantly, had gone.
“It was nice to be back here, but it really wasn’t a
big deal. (The issue) probably won’t stop, but it should. All
of this stuff, whatever, I don’t even pay attention to
it,” Moore said. “After the game it was all good things
to say, and it was nice seeing those guys again.”
That is, once the game was over.
For the preceding four hours, Bruin defenders had ensured
Moore’s return to the Rose Bowl would not be a pleasant
homecoming.
The Southern California native, donning a foreign orange and
black uniform, completed 14 of 25 passes for 279 yards and two
touchdowns in his first game against his former team.
But on Saturday night, those numbers paled in comparison to
Olson’s, whom Moore beat out to be UCLA’s starting
quarterback in 2003. The Bruin senior helped erase both lingering
distractions resulting from Moore’s return and Oregon
State’s modest two-game winning streak with a record-breaking
six-touchdown performance.
“Sky’s the limit every week. Every week,” said
UCLA tight end Marcedes Lewis, who caught two of Olson’s six
touchdown passes. “We rally around (Olson). All that
quarterback controversy crap, we forgot about that when it was
brought up.”
The crowd at the Rose Bowl, however, didn’t suffer from
that same memory loss.
Coming into Saturday’s game, Moore wasn’t expecting
a particularly warm reception, nor did he receive one. About an
hour before the game began, the UCLA student section began chanting
“We don’t want you” while Moore was warming
up.
“I heard all that stuff, but that’s college football
and you got to love it,” Moore said. “But it
didn’t surprise me.”
Once the game began, however, those chants quickly subsided.
That’s because it only took Moore 1:37 into the first
quarter to remind everyone of the strong arm that helped land him
the starter’s job over Olson in Westwood just two years
ago.
The junior lofted the ball to receiver Mike Hass down the middle
of the field for 48 yards, setting up a 15-yard touchdown to Hass
only two plays later to give the Beavers their only lead of the
game at 7-0. Moore was so excited, he made a mad sprint to the end
zone and was the first to congratulate Hass, even though he was the
farthest Beaver from him.
“After that first drive, (Moore) was juiced,” Oregon
State junior strong safety Sabby Piscitelli said.
But the rest of the game served to remind everyone of
Moore’s sometimes-spotty decision-making, as the junior often
forced balls into non-existent passing lanes and double
coverage.
Moore found Bruin linebacker Spencer Havner wide open for the
first of two interceptions, a number that could have been twice as
large if UCLA defenders Trey Brown and Brigham Harwell had not
fumbled two would-be interceptions.
And in the fourth quarter, Moore fumbled deep in his own
territory and threw an interception on consecutive possessions
before being taken out of the game for the final three minutes,
ending an initially promising game on a sour note.
“Man, I really wanted to win this one for (Moore)”
Piscitelli said. “I told him all week that we were going to
get this for him.”
Unable to send the message he wanted to on the field, Moore
still had one for his former roommate and teammate Olson when the
two embraced after the game.
“I told him to make sure he beats the Trojans,”
Moore said. “That and good luck. (The Bruins) are undefeated,
and good for (Olson). He’s my buddy and I want him to do
well.”