Bruins’ Win Is Positively Redeeming

It was a family chat, well, actually a scolding from the old man earlier in the week, and he got the kids together again three days later in a meeting that brought to mind a switch and a woodshed.

Sometimes negative reinforcement works best, as on Saturday in the Rose Bowl, where Cade McNown, who says his status as UCLA’s quarterback is “week-to-week,” stayed in charge with a 16-for-32, 230-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 38-14 victory over Washington State.

Two of those touchdown passes went to Skip Hicks, who also scored on a 38-yard run to give UCLA a 7-0 lead.

Whether McNown, who openly campaigned for UCLA to hire Bob Toledo as its coach after last season, sends his coach a Christmas card is in doubt.

“He doesn’t like me much right now,” Toledo said. “I’ve been like a father to him, but he probably thinks of me as a stepfather by now.”

Whatever the motivation, it worked.

Maybe it was the meeting with Toledo on Monday, with a scolding for his recent play and the promise that if it continued, McNown would be watching Steve Buck play quarterback.

Maybe it was the Thursday gathering of the offense, with a video replay of the final 51 seconds of the Stanford game the week before, Toledo watching and critiquing, his voice rising with his temper as each play unfolded.

Maybe it was the criticism of the media, and of the student body.

“It’s a little bit of all the above,” McNown said. “We’ve been through enough losses this year where experience comes in. And a little bit of anger. And some guys wanted to finish off this game and get some people off their backs.”

The Bruins (4-5 overall, 3-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) were able to do that by taking a 21-7 halftime lead, extending it to 28-7 in the third quarter on a double-reverse pass from Jim McElroy to a double-covered Danny Farmer, then riding out the game with a defense that had things its own way.

“We had a lead and we were able to dictate things on defense,” linebacker Danjuan Magee said.

One of the things they dictated was punishment for 6-foot-6, 244-pound Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf, who completed 20 of 46 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown, and who was sacked only twice, for losses totaling 27 yards. But he was battered and bruised at day’s end.

“We didn’t play well in any phase of the game,” said Cougar Coach Mike Price, whose team is 5-4 and 3-3 in the Pac-10. “They won the defensive game, the special teams game and the offensive game. Either our receivers dropped the ball while they were wide open, or Ryan tried to aim at them and missed.”

Leaf disagreed.

“It was nothing UCLA did; we just didn’t make plays,” he said. “We didn’t take advantage. We just didn’t get points.”

UCLA did, and early, with Hicks scoring on a 38-yard run that followed two McNown passes.

McNown then threw an interception when his arm hit the helmet of UCLA tackle Kris Farris and the ball flew like a duck into the waiting hands of Dee Moronkola, whose role Saturday varied from goat to hero seemingly with the wind.

The interception set up a 52-yard drive that ended with Michael Black plunging over the final yard on fourth down for a 7-7 tie.

From there, it was all UCLA.

McNown rolled left, then threw right to Hicks, who ran behind a wall that included center Shawn Stuart for a 10-yard touchdown completion and a 14-7 lead.

That became 21-7 when McNown found all his receivers covered and his body in peril because of a Washington State blitz. Hicks was his “hot” receiver, meaning an outlet in times of trouble, and McNown threw to him in the backfield. Only Moronkola was between Hicks and the goal line, and UCLA’s Jim McElroy was locked on Moronkola. Hicks scored from 24 yards out untouched for a 21-7 halftime lead.

That became 28-7 with what Toledo called “The Daily Bruin” play. Named for the school newspaper, the play began with McNown handing to Hicks, who started left, then handed to McElroy, going right.

Downfield, Farmer, who finished with five catches for 121 yards, was bracketed by Washington State’s Shad Hinchen and Duane Stewart.

“It was the same play we used against USC last season,” Toledo said. “The play was not like we diagramed, but it still worked.”

You can bet the diagram did not include throwing into double-coverage, but McElroy, a wide receiver by trade, recognizes that as a problem only when he is the player double-covered. His job was to throw, so he did . . . over Stewart and in front of Hinchen, to Farmer for the touchdown.

“I thought we were well covered,” Price said. “We just didn’t play [the ball] well in the air.”

From there, it was a matter of holding on, no sure thing for the Bruins, who had blown leads against Arizona State and Stanford.

Washington State got an 11-yard Leaf-to-Shawn Tims touchdown pass, and UCLA countered with a 20-yard Bjorn Merten field goal and McNown’s 16-yard scoring pass to Mike Grieb for the game’s final points. The Bruins also continued to play hard-nosed defense.

“[Washington State] got a little tired,” Toledo said. “We kept the pressure on. We didn’t give up the big play.”

Mainly, the defense stayed in charge.

“We still remember that Arizona State game,” said safety Shaun Williams, who sacked Leaf once and finished with four tackles in returning after sitting out two games because of a knee injury. “This is one day where we were going to play 60 minutes.”

That the Bruins did, which gives McNown another try next week at Arizona.

“I’ve just got to be happy with this week and regroup,” he said. “I’m going to take my shots anyway. The only people those shots hurt are my family, not me.”

Instead, they motivated him, the shots, a little negative reinforcement and a lot of defense.