Initial Plan for J.K. McKay Was to Try Luck With Irish

J.K. McKay pointed Thursday to the corner of the north end zone of the Rose Bowl where he caught the 38-yard pass that enabled USC to upset Ohio State 24 years ago today, recalling he had told his dad that the play had no chance of succeeding.

“I said, ‘I can’t get open in the corner,’ ” J.K. said.

“It won’t work,” his quarterback, Pat Haden, agreed.

“Shut up,” John McKay told them.

The play worked. Haden then passed to Shelton Diggs for the two-point conversion, an 18-17 victory and, ultimately, a share of the national championship, in the final Rose Bowl game for both McKays.

They were there again Thursday, John watching as J.K. joined him in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

J.K. almost broke down when he introduced his father during the induction ceremony, calling him “the greatest coach there ever was.”

What he didn’t say is that he considered not playing for him because of concern about how it might affect their relationship.

Haden, who lived with the McKay family while he was in high school, and J.K. signed Big Eight letters of intent with Nebraska because they liked a young assistant there named Tom Osborne.

“It was highly unlikely we would go to Nebraska,” J.K. said, adding that he and Haden were more serious about Notre Dame until a blizzard hit during their visit to South Bend. “But it shook my dad up a little bit. He had to really recruit us.”

Coach McKay said Thursday he never took it for granted he would sign them.

“They mowed the lawn,” he said, “But I could never get them to pick up the grass.”

They apparently didn’t always agree with his play calling, either. Fortunately for USC, he won those battles.

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Rick Neuheisel, a Hall of Fame inductee for his play in the 1984 Rose Bowl game, said he almost didn’t go to UCLA. . . .

When coach Terry Donahue called to ask if Neuheisel wanted to walk on at UCLA, the quarterback told him Princeton seemed more enthusiastic about him. . . .

“Maybe you should go there if you don’t feel you can play big-time college football,” Donahue said. . . .

Among the other inductees Thursday was Don Durdan of Oregon State, who played in the only Rose Bowl game since 1923 not played in the Rose Bowl. . . .

The 1942 game was played in Durham, N.C., because of crowd restrictions on the West Coast after the attack on Pearl Harbor. . . .

Durdan starred in football, basketball and baseball. . . .

“He was a winner in everything he did,” said a former teammate, Martin Chaves. “On the long train rides from Corvallis to games in California, we’d play penny-ante poker. He’d arrive in San Francisco or Los Angeles with all the pennies.” . . .

Also inducted were Oregon’s Jack Crabtree (1958), Michigan’s Butch Woolfolk (‘81) and the late Bill Nicholas, a longtime Tournament of Roses official. . . .

Remember how much attention it got out here when the Pac-10 won 16 of 18 Rose Bowl games between 1970 and ‘88? . . .

Some of the wind has been knocked out of us with five Big Ten victories in the last six games. . . .

If Florida State wins the Fiesta Bowl, the Seminoles are likely to be voted No. 1 in both polls. . . .

That, however, doesn’t mean they’ll be undisputed national champions. It hasn’t been proved that Florida State with one loss is better than some other teams that could finish with one, including UCLA. . . .

“The American Football Coaches Assn. says the winner of the Fiesta Bowl will be crowned national champion, but, if we finish 11-1, I don’t think there’s any reason we shouldn’t claim a part of it,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo says. . . .

Toledo says the same goes for Wisconsin if it beats the Bruins to finish 11-1. . . .

But Badger Coach Barry Alvarez disagrees. “I go by the rules that were laid out,” he says. “I think the winner of the Fiesta Bowl should be the national champion.” . . .

The last word, naturally, comes from John McKay, who doesn’t understand a world in which the Fiesta Bowl is more important than the Rose Bowl. . . .

Asked how he would advise Toledo to motivate the Bruins, McKay said, “Tell them they’re playing in the best bowl game there is. Who ever wanted to go to the Fiesta Bowl? They should play the national championship game right here.” . . .

They will, but not until 2002.

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While wondering if John McKay would consider coming back to coach USC, I was thinking: The Trojans now haven’t played in a bowl game in three years, UCLA will win by two touchdowns in the Rose Bowl, Florida State will win by two points in the Fiesta Bowl.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com