MOORE DETERMINED FORMER UCLA QUARTERBACK WANTS TO HELP HIS OREGON STATE TEAM WIN.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

BERKELEY - The night before a game, or whenever they're looking to kill time, it's easy to find a group of Oregon State players huddled together in somebody's hotel room or apartment playing cards. In the middle of the pack is a good place to find Matt Moore.

``Matt's got a good poker face,'' receiver Mike Hass said. ``You can't tell what's going on.''

Keeping a straight face - and a buttoned lip - won't be easy for Moore this week when the former UCLA quarterback, who left Westwood two years ago angry and disappointed, returns to the Rose Bowl to play his unbeaten former team.

As Moore stood outside the locker room Saturday, as giddy as the rest of the Beavers after their 23-20 upset of 18th-ranked California, he was asked how much he was looking forward to this week.

``The UCLA game?'' Moore asked with a hint of a smile. ``A little, but not as much as everybody thinks. Everyone's going to make it such a big deal. We're playing a top (10) team at their house. I just want to come out and win the ballgame.''

Those who share the huddle - and a card table - with him, know better.

``He's been waiting for this a long time,'' said Oregon State center Kyle DeVan, one of Moore's closest friends. ``He talks about it, too. Bad things happened with (UCLA coach Karl) Dorrell and those guys and he wants to show them he's a player.''

Said Hass: ``It's one he's circled on his calendar.''

As badly as Moore might want to win, his departure from UCLA after two years of back-and-forth competition with his classmate and former roommate, Drew Olson, might be viewed as a divorce that's worked out well for both parties.

The Bruins are ranked eighth in the nation and couldn't be happier this season with the play of Olson, who has led them to three straight fourth-quarter comebacks.

Nor could Moore be happier with where he's landed. His teammates have taken him in, he's happy to be away from Los Angeles and, for the first time since he left Hart High of Newhall, football is fun.

``When I left, I was (bitter). It was the school I wanted to go to,'' Moore said of UCLA. ``Now, there's no way I can feel bitter or mad at any situation. I'm just realizing what it's all about. I found a new place to play, I'm having a good time. That's life. It didn't work out there, it's working out here and that's just the way it is.''

Moore, as one might expect from somebody who played under three different coaches in his three seasons and spent last year away from football, has been inconsistent.

He is 23rd in the nation in total offense, averaging 294 passing yards per game, but in the past three games he has been intercepted eight times and thrown just one touchdown pass. But most important is his leadership.

Moore has brought Oregon State back from deficits of 14 points to Boise State, 17 against Washington State and 8 against Cal. He directed game-winning drives in the fourth quarter of all three victories, including game-tying and game-winning touchdown passes to Hass against Boise State and Washington State.

In the win over Cal, he shrugged off three interceptions to deliver a screen pass to Nate Wright, who converted a third-and-11 on the Beavers' game-winning drive.

``I don't know what the statistics are tonight - I don't care,'' DeVan said Saturday. ``He led us to that win. You can tell he's a winner.''

That's probably not the vision many had of Moore when he left UCLA. Not afraid to speak his mind with teammates, coaches and the media, Moore told reporters after a poor spring that he was the better quarterback as the Bruins headed to training camp in Dorrell's first season. He then won the job.

But Moore injured his knee in the season-opening game and then stewed when, with Olson managing the Bruins to a 5-2 start, he was told not

to rush back. Moore would make four starts that season, but was pulled in the fourth quarter of his last two starts and did little to hide his displeasure.

In a blowout loss to USC, Moore stood on the sidelines, listening on a headset as Dorrell told other coaches he wanted Olson, who had kept any of his disappointments to himself, to stay in the game as experience for the following season.

Moore, with his helmet on, sprinted up the Coliseum tunnel to the locker room at the final gun. Shortly thereafter, he asked for his release.

``He truly wasn't happy from day one with Dorrell,'' said Moore's father Don, who came to the coach's office one day during his first spring to talk his son out of leaving. ``Matt could have stayed and battled, but he wasn't enjoying himself. He didn't want to keep playing musical chairs.''

Moore wasn't sure where he would end up. He took classes at College of the Canyons and considered Nebraska and Colorado State, then had a dalliance with the Angels, who made him a 22nd-round draft pick a year ago.

Then last fall, Hart coach Mike Herrington let Oregon State defensive coordinator Mark Banker know about Moore.

Coach Mike Riley watched high school, UCLA and workout tapes of Moore, then invited him to Corvallis, Ore., for a visit.

``It was a long process,'' Riley said. ``I didn't want a transfer quarterback who first of all wasn't a good guy and secondly, couldn't compete for the job. When we thought both those things were there, we went after him.''

Moore arrived for classes in January and won his teammates over with his personality as much as with his big arm and mobility. He beat out sophomore Ryan Gunderson for the job in spring practice.

``It's about fitting in, being a teammate,'' Riley said of the quarterback position. ``None of the other stuff matters if you're not that. Matt immediately became one of the guys. That's the most important thing and then he's a good player. He's done a remarkable job when you think of first-year quarterbacks.''

Said Hass, who makes sure he needles Moore whenever they see Olson make a good throw on TV: ``He's a likable personality. He wasn't arrogant. He wasn't saying 'I'm the best.' He just came in here and won the job.''

The difference in how Moore is viewed in Corvallis and Westwood may be a matter of scenery, or perspective. It may also be a matter of maturity.

When Moore arrived at UCLA, he'd turned 18 just days before his first practice.

``I don't think he knew how to handle the situation,'' his father said.

It's a point Moore won't argue, even if he doesn't quite endorse it. All he knows is that he's happy now.

When he visited home two weeks ago during a bye, Moore hung out in Westwood with some of his friends from UCLA. He hasn't spoken to any football players since he left, but he looks forward to seeing Olson, along with linebackers Justin London and Spencer Havner on Saturday.

``It'll be good, all laughs,'' Moore said as he headed off to see his parents outside the locker room. ``Win or lose, it's going to be a good time. There's no bad blood or anything like that.''

Does he have anything to prove?

``Sure, I'd like to put up some good numbers, but mostly I want to win. I don't think I played to my best ability when I was there. I want to show people that I'm not just a backup that transferred,'' said Moore, with what looked to be a very straight face.

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Oregon State quarterback Matt Moore, a former UCLA quarterback (below), returns to face his former team and coach on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Tom Mendoza/Daily News

Box:

UCLA vs. OREGON ST.