Cook Happy to Trade Bruises for Roses : UCLA: Quarterback feels great about getting through the season and beating USC.

In the end, there was personal satisfaction, as much in survival as in winning. Others’ doubts had been quelled, and Wayne Cook could walk off the Coliseum field as easily as he had walked on the practice field on the UCLA campus in August.

In between, he had led the Bruins to an 8-3 record, the final victory coming Saturday over USC, 27-21, to put them into the Rose Bowl after preseason predictions of anything from sixth to eighth place in the Pacific 10 Conference.

No knee problems. A bruised thigh muscle, sure, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome with a little therapy. A bruised kidney, but anybody who got hit by DeWayne Patterson the way Cook got hit in the Washington State game would give up a little blood. A couple of pads to protect the kidneys took care of that.

“Once I got the job, I knew nothing was going to keep me out,” Cook said, going back to the elimination process that made him UCLA’s quarterback. “The real gratifying part is coming off the knee injury and playing through the last game of the season. I know I missed one game and three-quarters of another, but that was another injury, not the knee. This is great.”

It became great because UCLA ran for 230 yards against USC, 14 of those by Cook, who reminds no one of Steve Young as a runner.

On the Bruins’ first touchdown, he sent 10 teammates to the left and tucked the ball behind his leg, heading right and beating USC’s Jason Sehorn and Mike Salmon to the end zone.

On UCLA’s second touchdown, Cook got up from a Willie McGinest sack--which was nullified by a USC holding penalty--and handed off to Skip Hicks for five yards and a 14-0 lead.

He ran a play UCLA had struggled with all year, the option, for nine yards, and threw to J.J. Stokes for the Bruins’ last touchdown.

Cook completed 17 of 35 passes for 178 yards. The Bruin offensive line protected him like Dobermans. “We dominated them,” tackle Vaughn Parker said. “We didn’t give up any sacks. We didn’t want (Cook) to get hit. Unfortunately, he got hit a few times, but we weren’t worried about Wayne. (The injuries) are kind of forgotten. We were pretty sure he was healthy, or he wouldn’t have been in there.”

Said Coach Terry Donahue: “We did a great job of protecting him. It was a gamble to spread it out with him because we didn’t know if he took some good hits if he would be able to stay in the game.”

Cook took some of the risk on himself. “I checked off a lot,” he said. “That was one of our game plans: to call a pass, then check off to the run on first or second down if it’s there. I don’t think I checked to a pass all day.”

It made Ricky Davis a hero. In his last regular-season game as a Bruin, Davis rushed for 153 yards in 26 carries. It was only the second 100-yard day of his career.

And it brought the Rose Bowl, secured when Marvin Goodwin intercepted Rob Johnson’s last-minute pass in the end zone.

“As a quarterback, I feel for Rob,” said Cook. “I know that was tough.”

Compassion passed, overcome by relief, euphoria and the moment.

“I’m really happy,” Cook said. “I’ve been in Southern California all my life and seen so many Rose Bowl games, as well as SC-UCLA games. Now I get a chance to play in both. We did pretty well in the first one.

If we go out and win the second one, it’s going to be a storybook ending to a storybook season.”