Oregon State Scores 17 Points Off Picks as Bruins Lose to OSU, 36-24

Moore threw three first half interceptions which all led to scores.

Carson Steele’s running was a bright spot for the Bruin offense against Oregon State (Photo Credit: Soobum Im/USA Today Sports via uclabruins.com)

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When your freshman quarterback throws three interceptions in the first half which lets your opponents score 17 points, it’s is difficult to win a football game. That’s what happened tonight in Corvallis as the UCLA Bruins lost to the Oregon State Beavers, 36-24.

UCLA head coach is fond of saying that “Habits reflect the mission.” Well, his young quarterback Dante Moore has developed a very bad habit of throwing the ball to the other team, especially on the first drive of the game. When that becomes a habit, the mission can quickly change from a win to a loss.

To be sure, it wasn’t a Pick Six like he threw against Utah, and this time, he at least picked up a first down before doing it, but when Moore threw an interception on the fifth play from scrimmage, it still led to three points for the Beavers.

Sure, the defense kept them out of the end zone, but it still hurt.

The Bruins’ second drive of the game resulted in a punt and the Beavers added another field goal to go up 6-0.

UCLA’s third drive of the game ended after just five plays on, you guessed it, another Dante Moore interception. With the ball on the Bruin 21-yard line, it was just too tough for the defense to keep OSU out of the end zone and it was now 13-0.

Moore settled down a little in the second quarter. The Bruins were finally able to put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Logan Loya.

Oluwafemi Oladejo recovered a fumble by Oregon State’s Deshaun Fenwick on the following drive to give the Bruins the ball on the OSU 47.

Kelly decided that the next UCLA drive was a good time to insert Collin Schlee. The first three plays of the drive ended up going to Carson Steele before Schlee threw his only pass of the game, a one-yard pass to Loya to bring up 4th and 3 from the OSU 29. Kelly opted to go back to Moore to convert the first down and Moore found Kyle Ford for five yards and the first down to keep the drive moving. Following runs by Keegan Jones and Schlee, Moore was back in on third and three from the 17. He was sacked to bring up fourth down on the 18 and Kelly sent out RJ Lopez to kick a field goal to cut OSU’s lead in half to 13-10.

DJ Uiagalelei drove his team down the field but just when the Beavers got to the UCLA 8-yard line. The Bruin defense held strong, forcing a field goal attempt which gave the Beavers a 16-10 lead.

With less than a minute to go in the half and the Bruins driving, Moore threw his third interception of the half, right into the hands of Roy Cooper, Jr. who scampered off for 67 yards and another Oregon State touchdown. UCLA trailed at the half, 23-10.

The second half was a bit better for the Bruins.

After the teams exchanged punts to begin, the UCLA defense had their first letdown of the evening when Uiagalelei hit Silas Bolden for a 43-yard touchdown. The Beavers went for two but were not succesful as they stretched their lead to 29-10.

Schlee came out for the next drive as Keegan Jones and Schlee alternated to move UCLA downfield quickly. TJ Harden’s number was called on first and goal from the OSU 9 and he scored to cut the Beaver lead to 12 points, 29-17.

The Beavers’ next drive started with a 41-yard pass to Jack Velling and, four plays later, Uiagalelei found Velling again, this time for a 32-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 36-17.

UCLA’s next drive showed why Carson Steele is now being referred to as the “Man of” Steele, as he carried on 10 of the drive’s 16 plays including a 7-yard run for a touchdown to make it 36-24, OSU.

The Bruin defense kept the Beavers from scoring again forcing punts, but the offense couldn’t get back to end zone to score enough points to overcome the 17 points Oregon State scored off turnovers by the Bruins in the first half.

UCLA managed to finish the game with 284 yards rushing, led by Steele with 110 yards on 22 carries and Schlee, who had 80 yards on six carries. Unfortunately, the passing game continues to be a work in progress at best as Moore continues to throw the ball to other team at the worst possible times.

Next Saturday, UCLA will travel to Palo Alto to face Stanford who survived double overtime against Coach Prime and the Buffaloes last night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm on ESPN.


Go Bruins.

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