Some Controversy, for a Change

Is this a good sign?

UCLA quarterback Matt Moore breaks out of the huddle, lines up to take the center snap and then realizes he is standing behind his right guard.

Moore quickly fixed his little mix-up, but that’s just about the only mid-flight correction any of the Bruins were able to come up with in their ego-deflating 21-14 loss to Stanford before 44,950 Saturday at Stanford Stadium, where two huge pieces of news hit the fans.

One, the Bruins lost their first conference game (with games to come against Washington State, Oregon and USC).

Two, it’s time to welcome back a familiar topic, the Quarterback Controversy.

Moore started and wasn’t really effective, although you have to cut him some slack because he spent most of his day with Stanford people so close that he could count the fillings in their teeth.

Drew Olson replaced him in the fourth quarter.

The results: Moore was on the field for one touchdown, Olson was on the field for one touchdown.

If that doesn’t sound like much for an entire offense, it isn’t, because Stanford had given up an average of 37.7 points in its last four games.

Of course, if UCLA doesn’t find a way to get more than 48 yards rushing, which is what the Bruins got against Stanford, or figure out how to avoid having your quarterback sacked eight times, which is what Stanford did to the Bruins, then it’s not going to matter who the quarterback may be.

Let’s discuss it anyway. As for who the starting quarterback will be next week, UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell has the answer.

“It’s to be determined at a future time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Olson says there is no controversy in his mind.

“If I could just name myself the starter, I would,” he said. “But it’s not up to me. I’m just the player. There’s nothing I can do. But if any player could put himself as starter, he would, anybody in this room.”

You can’t draw much of a conclusion from the statistics. Olson completed five of 12 passes for 94 yards and Moore 19 of 31 for 145 yards with one interception.

There may be no clear-cut front-runner in the quarterback derby, which has been a lingering story at UCLA for weeks. And now that the Bruins are getting ready for their stretch run, it’s back again.

As for Moore, he said there are no worries. He is experienced in this business, as well as getting pulled for Olson in a game.

“We’ve gone through this before. It’s [Dorrell’s] decision. I have nothing against it.”

What Moore does have something against is the fact that he got sacked eight times. That’s not fun. He said there were plays when he had time and other plays when he didn’t, largely because of mistakes.

“We were missing things,” Moore said.

Left tackle Steven Vieira believes the Bruins might have underestimated Stanford and were not as prepared as they thought they were.

“It really surprised me,” he said. “It seemed like we were a little lackadaisical today. We couldn’t get our focus.”

So now UCLA can move on and train its focus on even more important matters, such as who the quarterback might be.

Olson, the backup who ended the game as the starter, isn’t going to think about it.

“If they want me to start, I’ll start.”

And Moore, the starter who ended the game as the backup, has no sense of this being a here-we-go-again type of situation.

“Not at all. I don’t feel there’s any problems.”

He might be the only one.