Monday, October 12, 1998
UCLA wins despite McNone
SIDE BAR: Quarterback’s play has been weak for several games in
a row
By Rocky Salmon
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA tallied 52 points on Saturday, and only two touchdowns came
on a Cade McNown touchdown pass.
When the horn finally sounded and UCLA walked off victorious,
McNown had had a terrible game, completing ten of 24 passes for
only 171 yards.
These are not what you would call Heisman numbers.
In fact, since the Texas A&M game in the Cotton Bowl last
year, No. 18 has not put up stellar numbers against anyone.
Versus the Aggies he hit 16 of 29 with one pick. Against Texas
he overthrew many of his receivers. Against Houston he was only
17-32 and one touchdown. Versus Washington State he was only 14-27
for 205 yards.
The accumulation of the string of bad games continues, as
evidenced by Saturday’s numbers. Luckily McNown had DeShaun Foster
and Keith Brown to shoulder the load.
‘At the beginning, the crowd kind of rattled the whole offense,’
wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon said. ‘Before the game we were all a
little nervous but Cade has not struggled in practice.’
In the game against Arizona, McNown would become McNone. On the
first possession of the game, it was third and ten, McNown
overthrew Danny Farmer. The next possession, he would hit Craig
Walendy for a six-yard pick up  but on the next five attempts
McNown would underthrow open receivers.
At halftime he would stand at 5-16 for 74 yards, not big numbers
for a big player in a big game. For the Heisman candidate this was
the time to shine and step up like DeShaun Foster did with 118
yards rushing and Keith Brown did with two touchdowns.
What made the first half stats more puzzling was that Arizona’s
Desert Swarm defense rarely got into the backfield to put pressure
on McNown.
‘They were guessing right as far as whether we were going to
roll out, if we were going to drop back and if we were going to
play action. They were sending a lot of guys and guessing right,’
McNown said. ‘But you can’t guess right the whole game.’
And that is exactly what happened. Even though McNown would
complete five more passes in the second half he showed something to
UCLA fans that had disappeared for awhile: his running ability.
‘They were sending a lot of blitzes,’ running back coach Kelly
Skipper said. ‘So we had him move around the pocket more to spring
him loose.’
The game plan worked brilliantly as the Arizona Desert Swarm
defense faded off into the dehydrated red sea of Arizona fans.
Using quarterback sneaks and options, the safeties began to move
in and bite on play action passes. This opened the door for the
turning point of the game.
On a fake quarterback option, McNown pulled the ball back and
threw it to a wide open Danny Farmer for a 64-yard touchdown which
put a dagger in the Wildcat’s heart.
‘Cade did not hit his passes in the beginning,’ Bob Toledo said.
‘But he is a big play guy and makes the big plays.’
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