McNown’s Motto: Whatever It Takes

The game was only four plays old when Cade McNown let USC know what kind of a Saturday it was going to be. He sent Danny Farmer and Jim McElroy downfield, retreated, then started drifting to his right.

Farmer and McElroy kept running their pass patterns, taking Trojans with them to the general vicinity of the peristyle of the Coliseum, and McNown suddenly found himself surrounded by green grass. Trouble was a toll call away when he packed the ball under his arm and took off.

It took 29 yards for Rashard Cook to bring him down, McNown’s longest run of the year moving the ball to the USC 13.

It was McNown being McNown, an older, wiser junior quarterback who had taken his time, considered his options and chosen legs over arm. Two years removed from the freshman, a year removed from the sophomore who would have chosen legs first, then thought about it later.

“They kind of flushed me out of the pocket, and they had our guys covered downfield,” he said. “There was a ton of field in front of me, so why risk it? Just try and make a play and try to get the yardage for a first down.”

Two plays later, he had the ball in Mike Grieb’s hands for a 7-0 UCLA lead. Three hours later he was kneeling down for the third time in the series, in a 31-24 Bruin victory.

In between, he made play after play, completing 15 of 24 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns, running 11 times for 48 yards, including two sacks.

“He was obviously the difference in the game,” USC Coach John Robinson said. “He’s one of the finest quarterbacks that we’ve played against in my time. . . . If you take away those handful of plays that he made, I think we were right there with him.”

If you take away his 19-yard pass to Farmer, UCLA doesn’t have a first down on its 45 en route to a McNown-to-Jim McElroy touchdown pass and a 21-21 tie in the second quarter.

If you take away his 26-yard pass to Farmer on third and 17, UCLA doesn’t have a first down on the USC 46 en route to a McNown-to-Grieb pass and run for a touchdown and a 28-21 lead in the third quarter.

The former was a planned go-down-and-come-back pattern, the latter vintage McNown improvisation.

“I remember seeing [Brian Poli-Dixon] turning back, and I saw Danny turn downfield,” he said. “I saw Poli first, but I saw Danny going upfield versus Poli coming downfield so I just laid it in there to Danny.”

The play had broken down, and McNown had bought time, turning Farmer from a sprinter to a marathon runner.

“He turns three-second routes into six-second routes,” offensive coordinator Al Borges said. “Nobody can cover six-second routes--not cornerbacks, not safeties, not anybody. I could send you on a six-second route and you would get open.”

Said Farmer: “You can’t give up on a pass route with him in there.”

Said his USC counterpart, John Fox: “He just makes big plays. He’s led his team to nine straight victories and hopefully I can learn from that.”

He can learn from a McNown bromide, culled from a list of instructions given by coaches who have curtailed his flights of foot fancy.

“They’ve told me that you can run for yards, but you pass for miles,” he said. “I’m just trying to do whatever is called upon me to do. It doesn’t matter. I just try to make plays.”

And he has made enough to have UCLA ranked seventh in the country going into Saturday’s game, perhaps even higher today.

“I’m sure next year that he’ll be singled out as one of the guys selected to win the Heisman,” Coach Bob Toledo said, then turned to McNown and added, “I say that, Cade, so you don’t come out of school.”

McNown has said he won’t until he has played another season, something that makes Borges happy.

“I wouldn’t trade him for any college quarterback in the country,” Borges said.