In Cross-Town Physics, W Equals Mc-Squared

It’s personal for Jim McElroy, but then again, when he steps on a football field, everything is personal.

McElroy is maybe 150 pounds, and he figures he is overlooked a bit at UCLA, where Skip Hicks and Cade McNown hang out and score touchdowns and throw touchdown passes.

McElroy catches them, eight so far this season, most from long distance, but he sees himself as something of an afterthought. . . .

Until SC Week rolls around.

It’s personal for Daylon McCutcheon, but that’s the nature of the position he plays at USC.

“When you play cornerback, it’s personal because it’s man to man, one on one, me against him,” he says. “My job is to focus on this receiver . . . my skills against his skills.”

So far, McElroy’s skills have generated a 4-0 record, by his count. McCutcheon has no trouble with the arithmetic.

“He is 4-0 against me, the times I’ve lined up against him in Junior All-America or at the collegiate level,” McCutcheon says. “He’s always been on the victorious side, and whoever wins is going to have the bragging rights.”

Let the bragging begin.

“I feel like when he lines up on the opposite side against me, I’m going to win,” McElroy says. “I just have that feeling, that I’m going to go out and win.

“I can see him and say, ‘You’re never going to beat me, no matter what. You could be on the Super Bowl championship team, and I could be on the last-place team, and I think I’ll beat you just because you can’t beat me. I just think you can’t beat me.’ ”

McCutcheon, a cornerback to McElroy’s wide receiver, never has.

It goes back to long before either could imagine their confrontation on a Saturday afternoon before 90,000 people.

McElroy was 11 or 12, a running back for Inglewood.

McCutcheon was a year younger, running for Rowland Heights.

It was Junior All-American football.

“I remember we played them in the playoffs,” McElroy says. “We hadn’t lost a game that year and were supposed to just blow them out. We were up 18-0, and they made a comeback and I think he scored two touchdowns. We hung on to win, 18-13.

“The next year, they were undefeated and they were supposed to win. They had dominated, and had some really good players. I think Daylon was the best player on that team, and we beat them, 13-0.

“It was a pretty good running back battle. He would do good and I would do good. It was like our own personal highlight film against each other. He would have a long run and I would retaliate with a long run. I never thought I would play against him later, but now in college, it makes it that much better.”

And worse.

At Washington High, McElroy was heavily recruited by USC--”I remember Charles White coming into my living room and talking about that ‘sissy team’ with those ‘sissy colors’ at UCLA,” he says--but decided he would go to Washington.

Then he thought it over and decided to stay home, going to UCLA.

“I didn’t know anything about them,” he said. “When I was growing up, I was going to USC and be Rodney Peete. Until I was a junior, I didn’t even know where UCLA was.”

His freshman year, he played behind J.J. Stokes and Kevin Jordan, but got in the USC game long enough to catch a 30-yard touchdown pass from Wayne Cook.

McCutcheon was at Bishop Amat High then, a running back who was heavily recruited at UCLA and wanted to play defensive back at SC.

He has, and well.

Maybe he shouldn’t have.

“I don’t know if it was his decision or their decision to make him a defensive player--it was his decision?--but I think he made a mistake becoming a defensive player,” McElroy says. “He should have played offense. He can catch, he can run. I think he would be one of the deadliest players in the nation if he played offense.”

But no, it’s defense, and they renewed football acquaintances two years ago. USC already had won the Pacific 10 Conference title and a Rose Bowl berth. But the Trojans lost to UCLA, 24-20, and McElroy caught two passes for 68 yards--one of them a 59-yard catch-and-run that set up a UCLA touchdown--and threw a touchdown pass to Jordan.

It was 3-0 against McCutcheon and counting.

A year ago, McElroy caught eight passes for 149 yards against the Trojans, and had a 52-yard catch to set up a touchdown and catches for first downs on each of UCLA’s three fourth-quarter scoring drives in a 48-41 overtime victory.

“I remember last year, he covered me quite a bit and I remember running an out and making a catch and making a little move to get inside him a little bit,” McElroy says. “Other players made the tackle, and I thought, ‘You know what? If he’s on me the rest of the game . . . well, I don’t want him to be on me because I didn’t want to make him look bad.’

“On the long third-down play, he had me covered. He had the route covered, and I just broke off the route and stopped and Cade saw me and threw me the ball and I had that long run.

“That was against McCutcheon, and I was really pumped up. I felt like I was in a zone, and no matter who covered me I was going to win, but seeing he was on me just brought back old times. It brings back a lot of things.”

It was, McCutcheon says, a miserable afternoon.

“People are going to have ups and downs,” he says, “and last year against the Bruins was a down point for me. I just got to watch the film and learn from it. I did not play well at all, and it has stuck in my head for the past year.

“If we had a victory, it probably wouldn’t have been as bad. But when you lose and you don’t play a good game, then it hurts.”

Saturday, they will be there again, No. 1 McCutcheon against No. 85 McElroy. It’s the fifth round of a lifetime bout, and McElroy is ahead on points.

“When I see McCutcheon on me, I think, ‘I’ve got to win this battle. No matter what, I’ve got to win this battle,’ ” McElroy says.

He would rather the battles were every day at Spaulding Field, that McCutcheon were wearing a white jersey on Saturday instead of a cardinal one.

“I talk to him after games, and he’ll tell me ‘Good game,’ and I’ll always think, ‘I wish he was on my team.’ That’s the only thing I can think about when I see him is I wish he was on my team. I have great respect for him because I know the type of player he is. He’s a phenomenal athlete, and I wish he was on my team.

“To have him on the opposite team makes me play better because I want to play well against the best. It gives me that extra motivation, because I know he’s one of the best.”

The feeling is mutual.

“It’s a big challenge,” McCutcheon says. “If you want to be the best, you have to compete against the best and he’s one of the best receivers I’ll face all season. For me to go out and say I’m one of the top cornerbacks in college football, I’m going to have to do well against the best. So yes, it is a challenge.”

And so is 4-0.

Or 0-4.

“One and four still isn’t the best record, and I don’t think I’ll run around and talk about my record against Jim McElroy,” McCutcheon says.

“But a win will make me feel much better.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE RIVALRY

UCLA VS USC

* WHEN: Saturday

* SITE: Coliseum

* TIME: 12:30 p.m.

* TV: Channel 7

* RADIO: AM 1150, KLSX-FM (97.1)

* RECORDS: UCLA 8-2, 6-1; USC 6-4, 4-3

* EARPLUGS? Bruins can’t avoid hearing Washington State updates. C7