Losing Battle for Bruins, Paus

By just about any measure, Cory Paus is playing brilliantly. By just about any measure, that is, except victories.

The UCLA coaches insist they have a great quarterback in Paus. But the great quarterbacks win. They may pass their team to victory or run their team to victory, prod their team to victory or will their team to victory. Somehow, some way, they win.

“That’s the bottom line,” UCLA offensive coordinator Al Borges said. “If you don’t win, it doesn’t matter how you do.”

Paus and the Bruins carry a two-game losing streak with them into Arizona Stadium today. Paus is healthy. He is productive. He is not winning.

In the three games since Paus returned from injury, the Bruins have scored 38 points each time. Paus has passed for 939 yards and eight touchdowns. Of his four interceptions, two glanced off the hands of his receivers.

“If we were winning right now, he’d be the toast of the town,” Borges said.

But, in the three games since Paus returned, the Bruins have lost two and dropped out of the Rose Bowl race and the national rankings.

Including his freshman season last year, Paus has started 11 games, leaving four because of injury. In the seven games he has played start to finish, the Bruins are 2-5.

“At quarterback, you want to put your team in position to win. Cory’s done that,” backup quarterback Ryan McCann said. “He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s put up a lot of points. He just hasn’t been on the lucky side.

“It’s frustrating. You play well, so you’re not so mad at yourself, but you’re frustrated that you couldn’t put a W up. No matter how many points you scored, you needed to do better.”

Is it Paus’ fault that the UCLA defense gave up 604 yards last week? Is it Paus’ fault that the Bruins have the worst rushing offense in the Pacific 10 Conference? Is it Paus’ fault that the Bruins are on pace to set a school record for points allowed in an 11-game regular season?

No, no and of course not. The danger, Borges said, is that Paus might start to believe the only way that the Bruins can win is if he wins the game single-handedly, with daring feats of bravado that too often show up in the stat sheet as interceptions and sacks.

“You’ve got to tell him he can’t try to do too much,” Borges said. “You try and go over and above the call of duty and you end up making bad plays worse.”

UCLA is not the only Pac-10 school concerned about the effect that losing has on its star quarterback. Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser leads the conference with 1,828 passing yards and 16 touchdown passes, but consecutive overtime losses compelled Cougar Coach Mike Price to spend a little extra time this week pumping up Gesser.

“You need to win to validate what you’re trying to do,” Price said. “You can only go so long playing hard and losing close games. You have to win them or your attitude is going to drop off. It’s human nature.”

Borges said he is not the least bit concerned about Paus losing confidence in himself. But Paus grades himself harshly enough that an interception or two is reason enough for him to believe he cost his team the game.

“What I look at is, how many plays did I make that hurt the team?” Paus said. “How many bad plays did I have? All the numbers are good, and all that looks nice, but all I look at is, how many plays did I make that hurt our chances to win?

“A win is the most important thing. I’d rather throw four picks and win 40-0. That’s not going to happen, of course. But I’d trade all that in to be undefeated, or to have a couple of losses. That’s just not the way it’s been going.”

The offense is playing well, Paus said, but a victory would erase any lingering doubts about whether the offense can propel the team to victory.

“A win gives you extra confidence,” he said. “If you play fairly decently as an offensive team, and you lose but you see you didn’t get shut down the whole game, then that’s something to build on. That’s where we’re at right now.”

Said McCann: “It’s nice to know you’re doing well. It’s really nice to know you’re doing well and you’re winning.”