The Bruins began the game throwing the ball, while the sportswriters in the press box were wondering out loud what had happened to UCLA's Heisman hopeful, Johnathan Franklin?
After the game I asked Mora whether he had heard us, or if someone from UCLA had told him the writers wanted Franklin.
"I feel the same way you feel with regards to that," said Mora. "I think in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line, and I told [the team's offensive coordinator] this: I want Jonathan Franklin to have the football."
I've often said teams would be so much better off letting the sportswriters in the press box call plays, but that's probably a column for a later day.
Although it should be pointed out, as I did to Mora, "We were calling for Franklin in the first quarter."
"I can understand that," said Mora. "But it's really important we don't wear him out early in a game. We've got to manage him so that when we need the big plays in the fourth quarter, he can make them like he did today."
Franklin ran 26 times for 164 yards and two touchdowns, just as the sportswriters thought he would.
But Hundley was just as impressive, his stretch drive to set up the game-winning field goal the handiwork of someone poised beyond their redshirt freshman status.
Now it would be easy to diminish this win, knowing how hard Arizona State's coaching staff worked to give the Bruins the game. I have never seen a worse job of coaching than that turned in by Arizona State, and I've been around UCLA's coaches for more than a decade.
Up 17-14 with 1:19 remaining in the half, the ball on its own four-yard line, Arizona State's coaching staff asked its quarterback to retreat into his own zone and throw the ball. Under pressure, he threw a pass that was intercepted and one play later, UCLA had a 21-17 lead.
But Arizona State's long-range problems are UCLA's short-term gains. As his team prepares to do so, Mora has already turned the corner by apologizing recently to the sports information assistant he had earlier berated.
What a winning formula: good karma and exciting football.
And along with that, sportswriters willing to help when they can and a coach willing to make winning adjustments.
I'm almost getting goose bumps thinking about the possibilities.
