Go ahead. Try and wipe the smile off Steven Moore’s face this week.
Can’t do it.
For one thing, he’s going home. The sophomore cornerback for the No. 7 Oregon Ducks was born and raised in Los Angeles and is buzzing with anticipation of playing in the sold-out Rose Bowl for the first time in front of family, friends and his high school coaches.
“I can picture it, just walking through the tunnels and looking around and just, man, seeing all those people,” Moore said. “And I know there’s going to be 15,000 Ducks fans there, maybe more. That’s going to be fun.”
Speaking of those Ducks fans, who will no doubt make their presence felt at 12:30 p.m. Saturday when Oregon faces UCLA, they’re a big part of the other reason why Moore has been grinning that unstoppable grin all week.
In Oregon’s 42-24 win over Arizona State last Saturday, Moore unleashed a hit on Sun Devils receiver Shaun McDonald in the third quarter that generated some “oohs” when it happened live and some “ahhs” when it was replayed on the big screen.
Those noises just can’t seem to escape the fresh-faced 18-year-old’s mind.
“Ahh!” said Moore while lifting both hands in demonstration of the crowd. “The adrenaline was flowing, and you hear all 46,000 people cheering. Ahh! It’s wonderful. It’s a great feeling.
“I wanted to separate him from the ball, and I didn’t, but I got him good, though,” he said.
The tackle was the first of three Moore recorded in the game, a career high for the man who now has recorded eight on the year while playing in every contest.
“Stevie’s doing a great job and making plays,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “The more and more he plays, the better he gets.”
Moore’s soaking in every moment while being the backup to senior Rashad Bauman, who Moore said is like another coach, and has filled in nicely when needed. For example, the reason he played much of the third quarter against the Sun Devils was that Bauman had a bad reaction to anti-inflammatory medicine and was throwing up at halftime.
So for Moore, the satisfaction of keeping things afloat while Bauman was away and making big plays in the process gave him a feeling of “having arrived.”
“I didn’t give up any big plays and held my own, and that feels good and gives the coaches confidence in me,” Moore said. “You kind of get that confidence going. Like, you always knew you could do it, but when you actually just get out there and do it, the confidence starts rolling, ya know?
“I can’t even explain it, but I like it,” he said.
And Bauman has liked what he’s seen out of his pupil.
“Stevie’s good, there’s no hiding that fact,” Bauman said. “He’s a lot like me.”
One of the similarities the two share is that they both hail from California. In fact, 60 players on the Ducks played high school football in the state, giving this week’s game a little extra flavor and providing those players some added motivation to want to have a good game.
Moore, who grew up following Southern California more than UCLA, is one of many Ducks who wanted to play college ball for one of the two L.A. schools, but such an opportunity never knocked.
“Yeah, it’s kind of like, let’s prove them wrong and go out there and show them what we can do,” Moore said. “You know, we got a little chip on our shoulders and we’re going to go down there and try to bang them up a little bit. That’s what it’s all about.”
And playing in games with as much magnitude as Oregon-UCLA this Saturday is what college football’s all about.
“Yup yup, the Rose Bowl, 90,000 people, ABC. It’s on. Oh man, is it going to be on,” Moore said.
His smile will be too.