Sunset for a Golden Era

Cade McNown did not help win a national championship, but he won over a city.

He will almost certainly not leave with a Heisman Trophy, but he will have left his mark.

If they are mixed results, it’s only because his success pushed the expectations so high. His legacy won’t be mixed.

McNown heads into the final stretch as UCLA quarterback, with only the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl against Wisconsin remaining, as one of the great quarterbacks in a program that has produced the likes of Kenny Washington, Bob Waterfield, Gary Beban and Troy Aikman. He might have been named All-Pacific 10 as a senior only after Bob Toledo lobbied to get McNown on the first team as a dual selection with Oregon’s Akili Smith, but he may also be the most valuable player in the nation after a season that in some ways was disappointing but in others was remarkable.

Typical for his four-year run. The player who now can do little wrong--and almost nothing wrong in his brilliant performance Saturday at Miami--faced brief criticism earlier this season and faced much worse before that. Don’t think he has forgotten being booed by home fans as recently as 15 months ago, in the first appearance at the Rose Bowl after helping stage the miracle comeback against USC in the finale of his sophomore season.

“It’s been an awesome journey for him,” said Mike Grieb, the senior all-conference tight end. “I feel real lucky to have watched his development, as well as the team’s development at the same time. We have developed together.”

McNown, though, chooses not to reflect on his career.

“No, no,” he said.

He avoids the issue as if it’s an oncoming defensive lineman.

“If I start doing that,” he said, “I’ll probably have some problems. That’s not really my personality, to start reflecting. I just take everything one day at a time.”

On this day, he knows he still has to write an acceptance speech for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented to the top senior quarterback. He picks that up on the way to New York for Saturday’s Heisman announcement, a presentation he will attend as one of the finalists, but also probably as a runner-up to Texas’ Ricky Williams.

But maybe McNown will be closer to the top because of what happened the Saturday before. With the game being played in the East, allowing for the attendance of a potentially new block of Heisman voters, and with it being televised nationally on ESPN to make for what could be another boost, he completed 26 of 35 passes for 513 yards to set one school record and five touchdowns to tie another. He also ran for a score.

Working behind a standout offensive line and with dependable and talented receivers, the left-hander threw one touchdown pass as his feet danced just inside the left sideline and the left side of his body tipped over an invisible plane, just as he released the ball to Brian Poli-Dixon. It is a highlight that will surely be shown for years because of its degree of difficulty, but might also stand as a single play that defines a career.

McNown, finding a way to win.

Except that he couldn’t. Arguably the greatest day for any UCLA quarterback, it still ended in defeat because two of the long gains, passes to Poli-Dixon and Brad Melsby, ended with fumbles, and because the defense could not stop Miami, could not even slow the Hurricanes in the fourth quarter.

That much, at least, he has reflected on.

“Anybody can sit around and beat themselves up, but there’s just too many stories of when a team can’t get up for that next game and gets embarrassed again,” McNown said. “This being Tuesday, it’s been a while since the game. I’ve moved on. For that first day or two, you think about what could have been. But you can’t go any longer than that because once the past starts affecting the future, you’ve got to change your mind-set.

“This will be a new challenge, the first time we’ve lost in well over a year. It’s a new challenge, but the teams that have character are the teams that can bounce back from defeats like this and are the teams that can go out with a bang. That’s how we’re approaching it.

“The season’s not a disappointment. The loss is a disappointment. I think what happens in this Rose Bowl and how we respond to that [defeat] will really dictate what kind of season it will be. We can go out and win an 11th game, which no UCLA team has ever done, win a Rose Bowl, finish in the top five. To come from where we have and possibly accomplish that is really quite an accomplishment.”

But, he insisted, the offense is not frustrated and does not feel let down by the defense, a statement that comes despite statements from others to the contrary.

“Shoot, they’ve bailed us out before,” McNown said. “If there’s anything that Miami game proved, it’s that it’s a team game. If one team is working the ball really well and the other isn’t, you’re not going to win. To have any dissension or to get upset doesn’t do any good, so we’re not going to do it.

“We don’t look at it that way. We know there are three aspects to the game--offense, defense and special teams. At times, we helped quite a bit. At other times, the defense got a big turnover or the special teams had a big punt return. I think we’re as close as we are and have accomplished as much as we have because we don’t resort to getting into what one team may have done over another.”

Now he comes to the end, after setting the Pac-10 record for total offense in a career, the UCLA record for total offense in a season and becoming the only Bruin to twice throw for at least 3,000 yards.

With all that, others can do the reflecting for him.

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Leading Man

McNown holds most of UCLA’s passing records:

Yards

1. McNown: 10,368

2. Tom Ramsey: 6,168

3. Tommy Maddox: 5,363

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Completions

1. McNown: 675

2. Ramsey: 441

3. Troy Aikman: 406

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Attempts

1. McNown: 1,216

2. Ramsey: 751

3. Maddox: 670

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Touchdowns

1. McNown: 66

2. Ramsey: 50

3. Aikman: 41

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Total Offense

1. McNown: 10,952

2. Ramsey: 6,255

3. Maddox: 5,482

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Total Offense (Season)

1. McNown: (‘98) 3,319

2. McNown: (‘97) 3,142

3. Ramsey: (‘82) 3,124

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Rose Bowl Facts

UCLA (10-1) vs. Wisconsin (10-1), Jan. 1, 1:30 p.m., Channel 7