Houston Coach Takes His Shot

Houston Coach Kim Helton fired back at Cade McNown Tuesday--though not by name--and the other Bruins who had called the Cougars a dirty team and noted terrible conditions last Saturday at Robertson Stadium.

“I think they created the scenario,” Helton said of the Bruins.

Helton described his own players as “a very honorable bunch of kids put in a position where they must defend themselves. You have to respond to the team you’re playing against.” In other comments, transmitted by the Associated Press, he referred to McNown only as “what’s his name,” but referred to him frequently.

“Some quarterbacks like to stand in the pocket and not get touched,” Helton said.

“He needs to watch his offensive line play football and then probably needs to be ready to understand that in the world of football you usually reap what you sow. . . . I have watched their offensive line play football. And personally, if I was a player, I would respond.

“If that young man thinks he’s a pro quarterback, he better quit worrying about what the grass is like. He better be more worried about who he’s throwing the ball to.”

McNown was hardly the only Bruin who complained about the Cougars and the on-campus stadium, merely the most visible. Defensive end Kenyon Coleman, who could be out for a month with a sprained knee, said the injury happened when one Houston player hit him high and another low. And, UCLA players noted everything from ankle twisting in piles to sprinkler heads sticking up from the field.

There was no bad blood when the teams played in 1997 at the Rose Bowl, and this was the final year in the series. Probably for a long time.

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Next Up For UCLA

WHO: Miami

WHERE: at Miami

WHEN: Saturday, 9 a.m.

TV: Channel 2

RADIO: AM 1150