Character Counts, but Does Moore?

The strangest things about this UCLA football season are the Pacific 10 standings and the fact Matt Moore is still standing on the sideline.

Guess preseason picks really don’t mean a thing.

The Bruins, picked to finish sixth, are tied with Washington State for first in the Pac-10 at 3-0 after Saturday’s 23-20 overtime victory over California.

And Moore, picked to start ahead of Drew Olson in training camp, didn’t even get in the game although the bone bruise in his leg has been healed for weeks.

The Pac-10 standings in mid-October don’t mean UCLA is the class of the conference any more than the Bruins’ four-game winning streak means Olson is the Bruins’ best quarterback.

Winning can be deceiving.

UCLA is 5-2 because of such big-play defenders as Rodney Leisle, Dave Ball, Brandon Chillar and Spencer Havner.

UCLA is winning because of luck. (Thank you, left upright.)

UCLA is winning because of a schedule that already has included two of the three Pac-10 teams with losing records -- Arizona (1-6) and Cal (3-5). (The Bruins don’t hit the heart of their league schedule until a closing run against Washington State, Oregon and USC.)

And UCLA is winning because of that hard-to-define quality some teams have and some teams don’t.

“The good thing about the team that we have, they have good character,” Coach Karl Dorrell said.

“They find a way within themselves to pull out something, particularly when [Cal] came back and scored at the end of regulation and got the two-point conversion. That can take a lot out of a team, but our team found a way to make a big stop.

“By no means were we very clean, but I’ll tell you what, I’ll take it.”

It would be unreasonable to completely dismiss the Bruins’ record, particularly when the next two games are against a disappointing Arizona State team and a 2-3 Stanford team that is 0-3 in Pac-10 games.

The Bruins conceivably could become bowl-eligible with three weeks left in the season, something that looked improbable when they had to hold on for a 6-3 victory over a bad Illinois team in their second game.

But if winning and fear of controversy keep the conservative Bruin coaching staff from making the quarterback job a true competition, UCLA might never know how good it could be, or be ready for the tough final games.

It’s possible the Bruins simply play better under Olson, even though he doesn’t have the same zip on the ball and all the poise in the pocket Moore has.

So far, nobody knows.

Another unsettling thing is the trend under Dorrell of saying one thing -- publicly and to players -- but somehow not following through in games, whether it’s an “oversight” such as limited carries for Manuel White and Tyler Ebell earlier in the season, or the “game situations” that kept Moore on the sideline as Olson flirted with disaster but threw two scoring passes against Cal.

Moore has been a good soldier and a team player but admits he is frustrated.

The fact Dorrell said Moore wouldn’t lose his job because of injury isn’t very comforting now.

“I believed him, but I got injured and now I’m not playing,” Moore said. “... I feel if I’m not out there, it’s not my job.”

With five games left in the regular season, another year of his career is slipping away. So far, about all he has done in two seasons is look really good in a training camp scrimmage.

Maybe the Bruins really will finish first or second in the Pac-10. Maybe Olson is the more effective quarterback.

But until they play all the games -- and until Moore gets off the sideline for more than the meaningless series at the end of the Washington game or the eight passes (including an interception) he threw in the Arizona game -- there’s just no way to know for sure.

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Another set of X-rays taken Sunday of defensive tackle Leisle’s bruised left collarbone revealed no fracture. His status for Saturday’s game against Arizona State remains uncertain.