UCLA’s Cowan ready to bid the Bruins adieu

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Watching UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft produce touchdowns ... for California ... Saturday had to have Bruins fans longing for the Patrick Cowan Era. It was a brief period, lasting for a few hours on Dec. 2, 2006.

Cowan looked awkward at times and could throw just as bad a pass as Craft at other times, but he did engineer a 13-9 victory over second-ranked USC with his running and passing, and also scored the Bruins’ only touchdown.

Cowan, alas Bruins fans, is already looking beyond UCLA. He was set to be the starting quarterback this season, then tore up his knee in spring practice. He has been a fixture around practice as a quasi-quarterback coach-therapist. He will begin jogging next week and said he will try to impress NFL scouts during a pro day this winter.

Would things have been different for the Bruins if Cowan stayed healthy? Well, the offensive line would have been the same.

UCLA fans, though, will always have that 13-9 victory over USC in 2006, so no matter where Cowan goes, he’ll never have to pick up a dinner tab as long as a UCLA alum is around. He certainly earned a spot next to former Bruins quarterback John Barnes, the walk-on who led UCLA to a 38-37 victory over USC in 1992.

Of course, you never know what the future holds. Barnes was later given a small part as an Alabama quarterback in ‘Forrest Gump.’ Robert Zemeckis, the film’s director, attended USC.

-- Chris Foster