Click on the link to each article

Fresh start excites McNown - 7/25/02, USA Today

49ers make McNown their own - 6/14/02, San Francisco Chronicle

Dolphins offer McNown a clean slate - 8/23/01, USA Today

McNown dealt to Miami - 8/22/01, USA Today

Will he ever be ready? - 12/21/00, Chicago Tribune

McNown getting little support - 12/21/00, Chicago Tribune

McNown loses starting QB job - 12/20/00, Chicago Tribune

Jauron needs to blow up and be blunt - 12/19/00, Chicago Tribune

McNown being compared to Manning - 8/6/99, The Sporting News

McNown vows not to be holdout - 4/19/99, CNN/SI

McNown learning the business side of football - 4/8/99, CBS Sportsline

Bruins struggle before McNown and Lews lead 42-24 victory - 9/20/98, Los Angeles Times

Houston, It Was a Real Problem - 9/20/98, Los Angeles Times

A Texas Two-Stomp - 9/13/98, Los Angeles Times

Bruins roar in '98 debut - 9/12/98, CBS Sportsline

Not quite "Rout 66," but UCLA blows out Texas again - 9/12/98, CBS Sportsline

High Expectations - August 27, 1998, Los Angeles Times

Bruins Look Good on the Face of Things - August 20, 1998, Los Angeles Times

UCLA the Preseason Pick; USC to Make Soward Wait - August 5, 1998, Los Angeles Times

UCLA thinking national title ... in football! - April 21, 1998, CBS Sportsline

Coach Bob Toledo's Open Letter to the UCLA Student Body - March 3, 1998, Daily Bruin

UCLA 'Hatfields' outgun USC 'McCoys' - November 23, 1997, Los Angeles Times

Raising Cade By Steve Springer, Los Angeles Times - January 1, 1999 Cade McNown was struggling.   And frustrated.  And the more he struggled, the more frustrated he became. The scene was the Coliseum. The year was 1995. The event was the UCLA-USC game. For McNown, who spent much of his youth in Oregon, it was his first exposure to the biggest annual date on the Bruins' football calendar and the freshman quarterback seemed out of sync.  Finally, Bob Toledo, then UCLA's offensive coordinator, called   McNown over on the sideline to talk about the quarterback's troubles. Terry Donahue, then the head coach, listened but kept quiet. Suddenly, with Toledo in mid-sentence, McNown reached over, grabbed Donahue by the shoulders and started banging his helmet against Donahue's forehead while yelling, "I can do this! I can do this!"  Donahue, making allowances for youthful exuberance, calmed his 18-year-old quarterback, allowed him to stay in the game and McNown led the Bruins to a 24-20 victory. Three years later, with Donahue in the CBS broadcast booth and Toledo the head coach, McNown is still at it, leading the Bruins into today's Rose Bowl against Wisconsin to cap one of their most successful seasons. But despite having etched his name into the UCLA record book in nearly every significant passing category, McNown is right back where he was on that Coliseum sideline three years ago, needing to prove himself again.   Except this time, he might have to grab the entire NFL by its shoulders and start banging foreheads. Come springtime, McNown knows he will be picked in the NFL draft.  He also knows that at least four other quarterbacks could go higher. According to many NFL scouts, the best McNown can hope for is a low first-round or a second-round slot despite his third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting. What's the problem? Oh, nothing other than: * His height. * His speed. * His arm. Unfair? Donahue certainly thinks so.  "Some guys can just play football," Donahue said. "He [McNown] can just play football. He's got game, as they say. He's going to have to go through the normal transition to the pros, but he's blessed with talent and the intangibles needed for success. He can play on my team any time." Pro scouts, coaches and general managers, however, can be extremely conservative. They punch into their computers the height and weight and 40-yard dash speed and arm strength of quarterbacks and match them up. It's not so easy, though, to punch in character and toughness and field vision and heart.   But the message does get through, according to Billy Devaney, director of player personnel for the San Diego Chargers.  "When you look at tapes," Devaney said, "it doesn't say what a player's height and weight are. But what jumps out of the tape is if a player is making the plays. The tape doesn't lie." McNown is listed at 6-1½ and 209 pounds. In the draft, he'll be compared to Daunte Culpepper of Central Florida (6-5, 250), Donovan McNabb of Syracuse (6-3, 220), Akili Smith of Oregon (6-3, 215) and, if he comes out, junior Tim Couch (6-5, 223) of Kentucky. With the defensive linemen getting bigger all the time, coaches like to know that their quarterbacks can see more than the tops of the helmets of those charging in their direction. "It's not like I'm 5-6," McNown said. "There are other quarterbacks that are bigger, but it shouldn't be an issue." No argument from Donahue. "He knows where guys are supposed to be," Donahue said, "and he knows how to get them the ball. That won't change if you are 6-4 or 6 foot. You look at a shorter guy like Doug Flutie [5-10] and a taller guy like Troy Aikman [6-4]. They both get it done, just different ways. "I think the guy [McNown] can play at any level of football. I watched what he did in high school when I was recruiting him. I watched what he did in college. And I'm looking forward to watching what he will do in the pros." McNown is often compared to Jake Plummer, the former Arizona State star now with the Arizona Cardinals. Plummer has more speed, but McNown has compensated by developing a wider vision of the field, enabling him to stay out of harm's way as he searches for a friendly pair of open arms. "I think he can be a Steve Young kind of guy," Toledo said, "even though he does not have Steve's speed. But he moves with the pocket and he has great vision. He's hitting the fifth option now. Finding the first, second and third guy can be tough enough, but he's now seeing the fourth and fifth guy." As for McNown's arm, nobody expects him to throw bone-rattling spirals like John Elway and Brett Favre. But then pro scouts once turned their noses up at the arm of a third-round draft choice named Joe Montana. Ask Alan Borges, the Bruins' offensive coordinator, about whether McNown's arm is good enough for the pros and then stand back while Borges relates in great detail one of McNown's five touchdown passes again Miami in their last game, the pass he rifled into the end zone while falling out of bounds with a Hurricane defender in hot pursuit. "It was incredible, amazing, unbelievable," Borges said, "to make a throw like that with a guy nibbling at your back. He uses his athleticism. Steve Young and Mark Brunell use their athleticism as well as their arm. "There are not enough great quarterbacks out there. They've got to give [McNown] an opportunity." The problem, according to Toledo, is a pro attitude. "I think the NFL people sometimes look too closely," he said, "and find too many negatives and not enough positives. They don't look at the heart."   McNown figures to get his opportunity with a team that runs some form of the West Coast offense, a team looking for a quarterback who can scramble and throw a lot of medium to short-range passes to a variety of receivers.  "Guys that have a cannon for an arm, those kinds of guys come along once in a lifetime," Devaney said. "The way the game is now, it's better suited to guys like McNown and Plummer, guys who can run around and make plays. You wouldn't expect to see McNown in a vertical passing game. But more and more, they are getting away from that. "McNown seems to thrive under pressure. The intangibles are there. But from what I understand, the guy eats, sleeps and dreams football. He's a tireless worker, so it's not surprising." McNown also has two other qualities valued by the pros--confidence and toughness. "He's got that swagger everybody's looking for," Devaney said. As for toughness, people around the UCLA program still remember McNown's second game in his freshman season, which came against Brigham Young. On a double reverse, McNown, enthusiastically leading interference, took on opposing middle linebacker Shay Muirbrook, springing Derek Ayers loose for a 30-yard touchdown run.  McNown has since learned to save his body. He doesn't even bang heads with his head coach anymore. But he figures he's still tough enough for the pros. "I can play," he said. "There's not a whole lot I haven't seen." Copyright Los Angeles Times Poster Boy   by Sally Jenkins    ESPN's The Magazine - November 2, 1998 Cade McNown came from central casting to be UCLA's quarterback. It's probably not Cade McNown's fault he looks like the statue, but that doesn't stop the UCLA Bruins from torturing him for it. They call him Poster Boy, Trophy Boy, Statue Boy. "Geez, I don't know if I can snap the ball to a Heisman candidate," center Shawn Stuart says. "Shut up," McNown replies. He's got reddish-blond, close-cropped hair and a face that appears to have been dug out of clay, and what about the two perfectly even lines of eye black anointed on his cheekbones, glinting-even on a cloudy day? There aren't too many things more glamorously cliched than a UCLA quarterback, but there aren't too many things more vulnerable to sneering either. And something about McNown makes you want to muss him up. He cries out to be teased, deconstructed. He doesn't date. He doesn't drink, smoke or cuss. Even the underwear in his drawer is folded neatly, in stacks of four. "He's Opie," says UCLA coach Bob Toledo. Yet McNown must have a knack for this Poster Boy gig, because UCLA has dropped $200,000 on a "Heismania" marketing campaign. McNown's likeness is plastered on 500 billboards along Hollywood's freeways and boulevards. He shines down on the entertainment capital of the world in pastoral blue and shimmering gold, a sun king in a neon-lit town. When he was in sixth grade, McNown was assigned by his teacher to draw a family tree and a crest. In the crest, he put a cross, a basketball and a large football. Then he was asked to explain the derivation of his last name. "My name is McNown," he said. "It means football." Poster Boy has plenty of imperfections. He's short (UCLA lists him at 6'1", which can't be true unless he's standing in cleats on a hardwood floor.) He's built like a linebacker. He's a lefty with a slightly sidearmed motion. And his long ball is a feathery thing that seems to die in the receiver's arms. Actually, the only thing McNown does exceptionally well - apart from looking and acting like a poster boy - is wind up on the right side of the final score. He has led UCLA to 15 consecutive victories, the longest winning streak in Division I. And you would have to go back to 1988, when Troy Aikman was UCLA's QB, to find the last time the Bruins were ranked No. 2. Heisman voters will probably be more awed, though, by Ricky Williams' extravagant rushing yards or Tim Couch's voluminous passing stats. To believe McNown is the most deserving candidate, you have to be a fan of subtlety, one who understands the storied West Coast offense. McNown runs it with a brawny mobility and creative discipline that merits comparison to Steve Young. He talks passionately about the layered options and reads, the creative lobs, fades and screens. The one stat that leaps out of his dossier? Passing efficiency. He led the nation last year with a 168.6 rating - 12th-best in NCAA history. Still, if the Heisman race comes down to numbers, McNown has already lost - and he knows it. He simply won't be permitted to rack up huge stats in UCLA's balanced scheme, and he doesn't regret it. "I'm not running a Heisman campaign," he says. "I'm running a Rose Bowl campaign. In Heisman voting, there really is no set criteria. It's very, very fickle. So to be consumed by that is really insane. It's just not very smart." Ask Poster Boy about his so-called flaws, however, and a hint of real truculence creeps into his otherwise modulated voice. "Anybody that wants to come out and check my arm strength can play catch with me," he says. "They can decide for themselves. Because I can throw the ball. And I'm not saying that, like, bragging." What the naysayers need to realize is this: What McNown lacks in size and brawn, he makes up for with a bloodlust competitiveness. The last teams to beat him were quarterbacked by Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning. Thanks to those back-to-back disappointments, the Bruins opened the season 0-2. Pulling out of the Rose Bowl parking lot after the Tennessee loss, McNown heard a talk-radio caller ripping into him and Toledo. Poster Boy picked up his cellular and dialed the show. For the next several minutes, he took on every yahoo who called in. "They got after him pretty good," Toledo says. "He defended me and him. We haven't lost since." In the 1988 rematch with Washington State, McNown made a playthat the Bruins talk about with reverence. On first and goal at the Cougars 6, he rolled to his left, saw that his receivers ere covered and decided to run. A pair of defenders met him at the 2. A more deliberate quarterback might have slipped to the grass or stepped out of bounds. McNown vaulted the defenders, took a lick and cartwheeled to the ground in the end zone. Stuart, the center, jogged to the sidelines and announced, "If that doesn't win the Heisman, I don't know what does." McNown's teammates find his sweathog mentality endearing. "The thing we love about his is his toughness," Stuart explains. "In practice, he isn't worrying about his red jersey. In a world where everybody is encouraged to take a slide, Cade is hitting. It solidifies his place as our leader. People follow that." Even Aikman admires McNown. The Cowboys quarterback met his UCLA counterpart for dinner in Dallas before last season's Cotton Bowl. Throughout the meal, McNown questioned Aikman about field tactics. Afterward, Aikman was exhausted, and incredulous. He asked the UCLA coaches, "Does this guy ever talk about anything but football?" The answer: Not really. This history major studies collegiate lore like it was geopolitics. He can recite the statistics of virtually every UCLA quarterback, and he can name every Heisman winner from Jay Berwanger in 1935 to Charles Woodson in 1997. "He eats, breathes and sleeps football," Aikman says. "It's just impossible to quench his thirst for the game." The two men speak by phone every couple of weeks. "He's going to be scrutinized," says Aikman. "NFL scouts will look at his height, his arm strength. But they tend to overlook intangibles. They need to ask the question, 'Can he play?' The bottom line is he's a tremendous student of the game, and he makes things happen." If there is any doubt about McNown's resolve, it's erased by this fact: He hasn't had a meaningful conversation with his father in almost five years. In the summer of 1994, after his junior year of high school, McNown packed all of his belongings into an old VW Rabbit and drove from his boyhood home in Hollister, Calif., to West Linn, Ore., to live near his brother Jeff. His parents were embroiled in a painful divorce, and the dusty ranch town of Hollister looked like a dead end. "You could get poetic about it," he says. "I wasn't worried about what I was leaving behind. I was just looking for a future." Cade and his father, Mark, a chiropractor, both say reports of the animosity between them have been distorted. But there is a rift. Mark was never crazy about his son's decision to play football. He thought the physical price was too high. He encouraged Cade to peddle his 95-plus mph fastball instead. "When my parents split, it was almost a formality," Cade says. "My dad wasn't around when I was growing up. He put food on the table and took care of all the fatherly things except for being around, which to me and a lot of kids, is most important. There has never been a need for me to try and establish a relationship because there's never been anything there. I live my life and he lives his and it's not an issue. I don't feel there's anything missing. Down the road I might get to the point where I say, 'I need to establish contact with my dad, get to know him.' But right now I got a lot of other things going on." He remains close to his mother, who moved to Oregon with his two younger sisters shortly after he did. Mark is in the peculiar position of experiencing a father's dream from the upper deck (he has season tickets to UCLA's games). He refuses to dissect his relationship with Cade publicly, but he acknowledges that he would like more contact with his son. According to Mark, the Cade McNown of UCLA is far different from the sullen boy who took off for Oregon. Cade wasn't so self-effacing then, Mark says. He made it clear he felt stifled on San Benito's run-oriented team. "At that time he was less modest," Mark says. "I'd like to think that when he matured and got these opportunities, he became more appreciative of other people. I'm proud of him for his guts and tenacity." Oregon transformed Cade. He moved in with Jeff's father-in-law, a church pastor named Dale Ebel. He got himself baptized in a swimming pool. He made All-State as a quarterback and as a safety. He was a punter, placekicker and returner, too. He threw the discus and the shotput, and could pole-vault more than 15 feet. But McNown competed in track and field only to improve his strength and speed for football. When UCLA signed him in 1995, he asked Toledo, then the offensive coordinator, if he could have a playbook to study over the summer. Toledo sent it to him, one piece at a time. For the next few months, McNown pestered him, sometimes calling Toledo's home at 11 p.m. to ask about a read or progression. He arrived on campus with his sidewall haircut, looking and acting like a West Point plebe. He would do anything the upperclassman told him to do: He would fetch water, drop and give them 20 push-ups. Many nights after practice, he would stay behind for up to two hours to work on his footwork with assistant coach Ron Caragher. Then he would study in the film room. If he had nothing else to do, he would hang around the football offices, badgering coaches with questions. Toledo had to tell him to go home. "You couldn't get any work done," Toledo says. There seemed to be no embarrassing McNown. Because he was lefthanded, he had trouble taking snaps at first. He would get his feet tangled up with the linemen and fall on his face. Sometimes he was too slow pulling out from under center and the guards would knock him flat. McNown would pop back up like a human Super Ball. By the end of camp, he had wrested the backup job from senior Rob Walker. Early in the 1995 season, junior starter Ryan Fien went down with a concussion. McNown, just four months out of high school, grabbed his helmet and sprinted onto the field. "Okay guys, here's the play," he said firmly. And that was it. Before long, McNown had thrown for 1,698 yards, leading UCLA to a 7-5 record and a berth in the Aloha Bowl. Fien transferred to Idaho and when the Bruins went 5-6 the next year, McNown took all the blame. But every time the coaches thought about benching him, he did something to keep himself in the game. Once, when he was a play away from getting yanked, he threw a block on a reverse that leveled an inside linebacker. The coaches shook their heads - and left him in. He learned how to lose. And he learned how to win. And he learned something fundamental about a star quarterback's role: "If it happens, it's your fault." The guy is a total, viceless, scanner-brain football wonk. More than once, he has invited teammates over to his off-campus house to watch a movie. When he would slide the cassette into the VCR, football highlight films would fill the TV screen. "Some people compartmentalize their lives," he says. "They leave their office mentality at the office. I have the same mentality wherever I am. I don't ever want somebody to look at me and say, 'Boy, I didn't know that guy was like that.' Football is not something I leave at the field." He applies the same mentality to everything he does. He used to pillow-fight with his older brother until he blacked out. Last summer, he invited flanker Danny Farmer to visit Oregon with him. They arrived on a Saturday night and McNown took Farmer for a ride on his four-wheeler. They hurtled down an orchard path doing 40 mph in the pitch dark. Farmer cowered behind McNown, branches lashing at his face. He was terrified, but McNown loved it. "He pushed it like he does everything," Farmer says. "He was in heaven." The next day, McNown took Farmer out on the water. They skied, wake-boarded and inner-tubed. Every time Farmer turned around, McNown was hollering for more speed. "I needed a vacation from that vacation," says Farmer But take away his love for high-speed antics and football is the closest McNown comes to a vice. His love for it is obsessive; his sacrifices for it are extreme. In four years, no one has known him to have a romantic attachment. Not a single date. In all his days at UCLA, no one has ever heard him swear. "You'd think even the most pious person would slip once," offensive coordinator Al Borges marvels. It's as if he wants to conduct the rest of his life the way he conducts the Bruin offense - to perfection. Even his coaches want to muss him up a little. "He loves football so much, it occupies most of his time," Toledo says. "I'd like to see him branch out and experience other things. It sounds crazy coming from a football coach, I know. He doesn't have a girlfriend. He doesn't hang out. He's a straight arrow. That's not bad. But there's more to life than football." Not to Poster Boy. Sunset for a Golden Era With All He Has Accomplished at UCLA, McNown Won't Be Remembered as a Loser By Scott Howard-Cooper, Times Staff Writer      December 9, 1998 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. As Usual, Don't Count Him Out By Diane Pucin      Los Angeles Times,  November 8, 1998 Corvallis, Oregon--Cade McNown should have made himself the Heisman Trophy favorite Saturday.   When you complete 23 of 37 passes for 377 yards and four for touchdowns; when you scramble for a 30-yard rushing gain and then, when you've barely caught your breath, you pitch out to your tailback and you take off to catch a pass from that tailback and go for a 22-yard gain, and you soon thereafter throw a seven-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 24, a game that only means absolutely everything and yet it's still only the third quarter, which means that there is still plenty of time for you to finish things off by heaving, with 21 seconds left, a 61-yard touchdown pass to a receiver who hasn't caught a touchdown pass all season to win the game, that is a Heisman Trophy performance. Somehow, when there are still so many big games left in this college football season, when there are so many crucial plays to be made, somehow Texas running back Ricky Williams has become the overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. And this is not to say that Williams isn't a wondrous running back and all-around stand-up guy who has been a minor league baseball player and who befriended a Texas hero, Doak Walker, when Walker tragically injured himself in a skiing accident. This is not to say that Williams doesn't have a Heisman hairdo and Heisman derring-do. This is simply to say that McNown is doing some pretty great things too. Plus, just as Sammy Sosa was hitting home runs for a team in a playoff race as well as to break records while Mark McGwire was hitting home runs without those pesky playoffs to think about, McNown is playing for a team where every point matters while Williams is only running.   By the way, Williams gained only 90 yards Saturday. Yes, 42 of them came on a game-winning drive in the Longhorns' 37-34 win over Oklahoma State, but if Williams had gained 100-something as he usually does, maybe the Longhorns wouldn't have needed a game-winning drive at the end.   Certainly he is a biased observer, but listen to UCLA Coach Bob Toledo. Was that a Heisman performance by his quarterback? "If it wasn't," Toledo said, "I don't know what is. I don't know what his stats were, but to me a player who wins games for his team and who has great character off the field, that's a player who should win the Heisman. Cade's my pick for the Heisman." On this slippery, sloppy fake-grass field on a gloomy, drizzly, chilly afternoon and evening where you could see your breath and not feel your toes, and on a day when the Bruins seemed to try so hard to lose, when the special teams' play was terrible and the rushing attack was mediocre and when the Bruins seemed to tighten up as they saw that Ohio State had been shocked by Michigan State, which meant that UCLA could very well be right back in that national title game, McNown would not let his team lose.   "Don't make him the Heisman pick off this one game," UCLA receiver Brian Poli-Dixon said, "because it's supposed to be a collective thing, but what you saw today was the heart he has and the way he just seems to make all the big plays." There was no more amazing sequence than in the third quarter when McNown, his team behind 24-17 and with the ball on his own 37, looked right and left and straight ahead to see no open receivers but plenty of unpopulated real estate, tucked the ball under his arm and ran. McNown even kind of hip-faked a defender and so infuriated the Beavers that one of them grabbed McNown by the facemask at the end of the 30-yard scramble.  After freshman DeShaun Foster gained two yards, McNown pitched the ball to running back Jermaine Lewis, who passed the ball back to McNown, who ran and ran until he was at the Beaver four. Wasn't McNown out of breath by then?  "No," he said. "Not at all." That 61-yard touchdown pass to Brad Melsby to win the game, that wasn't too clutch either, was it?   But McNown doesn't only do the big, flashy things.   When UCLA had third and a little more than five yards to go from the Oregon State 18 with about a minute and a half left in the game, McNown, with his cadence and his eyes, caused the Oregon State defense to jump offsides. The penalty still left the Bruins just short of the first down, a first down they didn't get, but the UCLA kicker, Chris Sailer, has been operating with a sore groin all season and no field goal is a sure thing. Those extra yards were certainly appreciated by Sailer when he made a 30-yard field goal with 1:17 left to give UCLA a 34-31 lead. At the end, after the Bruins won for the 18th consecutive time but earned negative style points, McNown stood barefoot on a cement floor outside the showers and displayed not a hint of . . . anything. Not of exhaustion or frustration or exhilaration or desperation. His 30-yard run? "Just saw an opening," he said. About that pass reception? "We've been working on that play." Oh, yeah, and that game-winning 61-yard pass? "Saw Brad wide open."   There is no Heisman on his mind, McNown said, only a national championship. So let us think about the Heisman for him. If McNown didn't win the Heisman Saturday, he also shouldn't have lost it yet either. Even if he has. Bruins struggle before McNown and Lewis lead 42-24 victory By Scott Howard-Cooper, Times Staff Writer  Sunday, September 20, 1998 HOUSTON--It was the perfect analogy. The handful of UCLA players in one corner of the sweltering visitor's locker room at Robertson Stadium, a few in chairs and a few in full recline on the trainer's tables, extended their arms to get the I.V., the surest sign of the toll the heat and the humidity and even the Houston Cougars had taken on them. And then they got up and walked out. Those were the Bruins of Saturday afternoon, beaten up, severely in some cases, but not beaten, able to gut out a 42-24 victory over a four-touchdown underdog before 19,540 in what they will argue was as much a testament to their heart as the first three quarters a week earlier was to their ability. It's simply that it was hard for them to celebrate. Freddie Mitchell, the explosive receiver-returner, was lost for the season after breaking his left leg in the first quarter and scheduled for surgery Saturday night while the rest of the team returned home. Kenyon Coleman, a starting defensive end, sprained his right knee and is expected to be sidelined about a month.  Center Shawn Stuart, guard Andy Meyers and cornerback Jason Bell, all starters, sat out about the last five minutes of the opening half when the weather, better than it could have been but still bad enough, forced them to an early intermission to refuel with the needle.   Beyond that, though, it was a great day. "Everything was wearing down on us," tailback Jermaine Lewis said after tying a school record with four rushing touchdowns, part of his 63 yards in 16 carries. "The heat. Injuries. Everybody was fighting through it. But none of us ever gave up. We showed a lot of poise." Said Stuart: "I think we came in here ready to play, and bad things happen sometimes. We had bad things happen. You can't expect it to be like the first half versus Texas all the time.  "Some of the guys are a little upset. Some guys just need to fix what they did. The No. 1 thing we got out of this game was that we dealt with adversity early, we dealt with it late and we handled it well overall." The early was not only Mitchell's injury, which, as if to drive home what his game-breaking presence means to the Bruins, came at the end of his 47-yard kickoff return. There were the other scheduled obstacles. The Cougars. Houston scored first, on a 34-yard field goal by Mike Waddell.  And then second, on a 39-yarder by Waddell.  It didn't exactly put UCLA in panic mode, but it was, it turned out, an early statement. The team that came in 0-2 and had a combined 17 points to its name controlled the scoreboard in the opening quarter. "I think we might have surprised them," Cougar quarterback Jason McKinley said.   Not so, the Bruins said later, insisting this was no letdown after the big victory over Texas last week and no ambush because they were looking ahead to Miami at the Orange Bowl next week.  "They underestimated us," Houston wide receiver Jerrian James said. The Bruins again would disagree. Whatever. The question quickly became what the Bruins were going to do about it.  The response was to score three unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter, on runs of one and eight yards by Lewis and a 61-yard pass from Cade McNown to Brian-Poli Dixon. But the Cougars would not be shaken, needing only 1:39 to go 80 yards and make it 21-14 at halftime. Dominate? The fourth-ranked Bruins were suddenly going for survival. Even when UCLA opened the third quarter with two more scores, Lewis going over left tackle from a yard out and Ryan Roques intercepting McKinley's pass to the left flat and taking it back an uncontested 17 yards, the best it could hope for was control. There would be no putting the Cougars away until the final portion of the final period, not when Houston was still within a reachable 35-24 with 9:18 remaining.   McNown was in the midst of what Coach Bob Toledo called an average game, en route to completing 17 of 32 passes for 315 yards, one touchdown and one interception, with Danny Farmer accounting for 100 of the yards in four receptions. Lewis, though superb near the goal line, would not have a run longer than nine yards all day, a prominent addition to the resume for the defense that had allowed only 38 yards on the ground the first two games combined. Even kicker Chris Sailer, the All-American candidate, missed two field goals, wide right from 47 yards and to the left from 42. To be sure, this was hardly the Bruins at their best. What emerged midway through the fourth quarter, though, was the Bruins at their good enough. Good enough to put together their best drive of the game, good enough to seal the win.  Good timing, too, after the Cougars had closed to 11, still a considerable margin given the difference in talent between the teams, but enough to encourage them to dream the wildest dreams. But when UCLA marched 74 yards and churned 4:05 from the clock, the lead officially became insurmountable, at 42-24 with 5:01 remaining after Lewis slashed in from the three and Sailer added the extra point. This being one of those days for the Bruins, it didn't come without a struggle. They needed offensive lineman James Ghezzi to recover DeShaun Foster's fumble at the Houston 3 to keep the drive alive. But come it did. "Playing against teams that have attacking defenses, it sometimes takes a while to really break them down," said tight end Mike Grieb, who had catches of 51, 18 and 11 yards. "I feel like that last drive, they felt like defeat was imminent." Even if it took a while. "It took a long while," Grieb said. Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

Houston, It Was a Real Problem Triumph more bitter than sweet as Mitchell suffers season-ending injury. By Bill Plaschke    Los Angeles Times   Sunday, September 20, 1998 HOUSTON--Just another wondrous fall afternoon in the Southwest.   Creaky stadium. Checkered end zones. Dill pickles. Frito pie.   A player writhing in pain on the 40-yard-line.  Just another football game poured from a coffee-table book.   Dusty kids chase balls kicked through the end zone. Their perspiring parents flap paper fans while drinking Ozarka water.  A team gathers in solemn prayer as a buddy is wheeled away with a broken left leg and fractured future. Some days it seems everything that is good about this sport is also everything that is bad. So the fourth-ranked UCLA football team learned Saturday before 19,540 at cozy Robertson Stadium, when it won a game but lost a piece of its heart.   He is receiver Freddie Mitchell, the most exciting player on the team, the one who would have been so scary in January, the one with whom they had a decent chance at a national championship.  The last anyone saw of him here Saturday, he was crumpled on the sideline after landing wrong while completing a 47-yard kickoff return before UCLA's first possession of the game. "What's wrong with my leg, what's wrong with my leg?"' he asked Will Dauchy, the Houston emergency medical technician who was summoned to help him.   "I think it's broken," Dauchy said.  "Can I play again?" Mitchell asked.   "Not this year," Dauchy said.  "Oh, no," Mitchell said, closing his eyes.  After recounting the incident later, Dauchy shook his head.  "I've never been what you call a big football fan," he said. For a while, neither were the Bruins, some of whom were as woozy as Mitchell after their 42-24 defeat of Houston.  "This is a heartbreaker, I'm not even excited about the win," receiver Brian Poli-Dixon said. "I could have gained 500 yards receiving and I wouldn't care." They all say they understand the risks. They know that while dancing amid marching bands and pompoms, they are always one step from a walking cast. That around the corner from adulation waits agony. But, being college kids, they never think it can happen to them.  And they absolutely never thought it would happen to Mitchell, the redshirt freshman who was always talking, always entertaining, always making them believe.  He sat out the 1997 season because of academic deficiencies.   When he took the field last week against Texas, it was his first football game in 22 months.   And what a debut, as he threw the first touchdown pass of the season on a trick play, caught another touchdown pass, ran the ball, returned the ball on punts and kicks, accounted for 267 total yards. "It's been so long," he said afterward with a smile.  Now it's, so long.  "This really hurts, it hurts the heart," Cade McNown said. "It looked like he had turned that corner, but now . . . he just got cut off." Mitchell was scheduled for surgery Saturday night at Methodist Hospital here, and probably would be transported back to Los Angeles by the end of the week. Rehabilitation could take four to five months.  "If all goes well, there's a very good chance that he can be performing next season, and be as good as he was," said Gerald Finerman, team physician. Injuries obviously can be much worse. There are enough Mike Utleys in wheelchairs to prove that Mitchell was very lucky.   Yet on splendid football Saturdays, everything is relative.  "It was just horrible," guard Andy Meyers said.   Mitchell had just sprinted through a large hole and was speeding down the sidelines in front of the UCLA bench before being tackled out of bounds by Houston's David Williams.  Oddly enough, Williams tackled Mitchell's right leg, not his left.   But his left leg landed awkwardly on the grass, and the upper bone just cracked.  "I saw him go limp," UCLA linebacker Billy Pieper said. "I thought it was a cramp, but then his leg was just hanging there."   Mitchell actually lay on the Bruin sidelines for UCLA's entire first offensive series--about 10 minutes of actual time--before the EMTs arrived with a special splint.   The delay caused Mitchell to endure more pain that could not be relieved until he reached the hospital about 30 minutes after the injury. "He was asking for something for the pain, but we are not licensed to give it out," Dauchy said.  What might have made Freddie Mitchell feel better--but what he didn't see--was many of his teammates gathered beside him in an impromptu prayer.   It was the first time most of them had prayed like that during a game, but defensive end Travor Turner said everyone felt it was necessary. So they fell to their knees and bowed their heads.  "We prayed out loud for the Lord to put his healing hand on Freddie," Turner said. And they were supposed to play a football game after that?   Well, they did, but they clearly missed Mitchell's excitement and unpredictability.  Poli-Dixon, who must now do more, caught only two passes, although one was for a 61-yard touchdown.  More of the load also must be carried by Brad Melsby, who caught only one ball for 11 yards and now has only two catches in two games--not a ton for a starter in a Cade McNown-run offense. "It is hard to lose that much productivity, we're just going to have to find it elsewhere," said Al Borges, offensive coordinator. "But this is UCLA, we have a good corps of receivers, we find it there." Yes, this is UCLA. But for a while, Saturday, it was just a group of uncertain young men, struggling to find their feet, trying to remember exactly why they call it a game. Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved Commitment to Faith and Team are Most Important Bruins Spotlight - Cade McNown By Colette Jue    UCLA Media Relations Assistant Ask UCLA senior quarterback Cade McNown what he would be doing if he didn’t have football and he’s at loss for words. "If and when I ever can’t play the game, I’ll think about it," McNown answered. "But right now it’s just been one of those things where I’ve given football my all." Fortunately for UCLA, McNown’s efforts have paid off. Against Tennessee last year, he set a personal best with 400 passing yards, the second-highest total in UCLA history. McNown’s 31 consecutive starts mark the longest streak ever by a Bruin T-formation quarterback. He also holds school records for career completions (487), career passing yards (7,238) and career total offense (7,633). And, of course, McNown is slated to be one of this season’s favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. With such impressive statistics, he could have left school for the NFL. But McNown enjoys college so much that he decided to stay for his fourth year. "When I talk to a lot of guys, their advice is to enjoy college because it only happens once," he said. "The NFL is more of a business. It will be there in another year. I still feel like there’s a lot that I’ve got to learn." Certainly McNown will be learning as much as he possibly can during his last year at UCLA. A football junkie, the senior can often be seen frequenting the football office, bombarding coaches with questions. He even watches tapes of opponents and the Bruins’ offense during his spare time. Sure he’s obsessed, but there’s more to McNown than just football. A devout Christian who enjoys reading theological books, he’s not your typical athlete. "I think people should certainly know where I stand in terms of my faith," he said. "That’s the most important thing to me. Football is second." McNown credits his faith for helping him keep football and his fame in perspective. "The biggest thing to me when it comes to my faith is that I know there’s a bigger picture than getting caught up in college football," he said. "I think a lot of people get into trouble when they think that the whole world revolves around football." Mention all the magazines he has appeared in and McNown will be quick to reply that those magazines represent only a small portion of the rack. Talk to him about all the pressure he has to deal with and he will shrug it off. "I’ve been chastised by people and the next minute I’ve been patted on the back," he said. "The more you see and experience this stuff, the more familiar it becomes and the less you’re affected by it. The great thing is I don’t think anyone expects more out of me than I do." After three years of playing for the Bruins, McNown knows firsthand what it takes to make it as a college athlete. "I see a lot of people go by the wayside because they can’t just get up and do things whenever they want," McNown said. "I love to go on a week-long vacation out of nowhere but you can’t do that because you have a commitment to give all you have, not only to the team, but to yourself." Yet for all the sacrifice and commitment that being a college athlete requires, McNown would not give up his game or his fame for anything. "There are obviously some drawbacks but I wouldn’t trade it," he said. "I would never wish anything differently. I’m just a guy who’s enjoying what he’s doing." No doubt Bruins fans enjoy what Cade McNown is doing as well. A Texas Two-Stomp UCLA: Bruins overwhelm Longhorns again, this time a 49-31 decision at the Rose Bowl in opener. By Scott Howard-Cooper, Los Angeles Times    September 13, 1998 The only people who left the Rose Bowl horizontal Saturday afternoon were the Texas Longhorns, trashed again and apparently in such desperate need of salvaging something from this home-and-home series that they grabbed on to the prideful second half. The one that came after they trailed by 32 points.   So much for being motivated. In place of that he's-a-dead-man threat by defensive end Aaron Humphrey against UCLA quarterback Cade McNown, whether delivered with actual or comedic intent, the Bruins played the undertakers in an often-overwhelming game for the second season in a row, burying Texas, 49-31, before 73,070 to record a school-record 11th consecutive victory. It wasn't 66-3--the final a year ago today in Austin, the one that supposedly would offer some motivation for the Longhorns in the rematch--but it was impressive, especially for starters. UCLA, mostly living up to every expectation that came with the No. 6 ranking, its highest to open a season in nine years, had 584 yards in offense, 113 from tailback Jermaine Lewis in his first start.  McNown contributed another 339, along with three touchdowns, on 20-of-30 passing. "Yeah," Lewis said, "he's still alive." He's not the only one. The receiving corps trying to replace Jim McElroy's 47 catches and 11 touchdowns came through with big contributions from Freddie Mitchell (108 yards and a score in four receptions and a touchdown pass on the option), Brian Poli-Dixon (five for 78 yards) and Danny Farmer (81 yards and a score in four grabs). The running game looking for a successor to Skip Hicks combined to average a commendable five yards a carry and total 217 yards, with freshman DeShaun Foster looking as if he has already moved up to No. 2 at tailback. The defense trying to replace almost everybody--seven of the 11 players who started the 1997 finale are gone--surrendered only 10 points the first three quarters, before Ricky Williams scored all three of his touchdowns in the final 12:49. The inability to close strong, whether because of fatigue in that it was the first game of the season or because it was only a matter of time before the talented Williams broke, will remain as one of the two bits of bad news. That, and the series with the Longhorns is over. What's a Bruin to do? In the two games within a calendar year, they recorded two dominating victories, this time over a team that was ranked 23rd, and combined to outscore Texas, 115-34, and outgain Texas, 766-534.  UCLA will instead have to settle for picking on Boise State and Fresno State in the home nonconference schedule next season.   The Longhorns never had a chance, either time. It was 38-0 at halftime a year ago and 35-3 at the Rose Bowl, but it might have been worse in '98, UCLA having rampaged without benefit of prime field position off Texas turnovers. Saturday, it was more like brute force. "We knew if we set the tempo, Texas would be like, 'Man, another 66-3,' " Mitchell said. "If it could be bam, bam, bam, it could really get to their self esteem."  Said Lewis: "As a team, we talked how we wanted to jump on them early to take that emotion--they came in looking for revenge--out of them early." The Bruins did more than talk about it. Getting the opening kickoff when the Longhorns deferred until the second half, UCLA needed only 2:42 to score, seven plays to go 80 yards.  The option reverse capped it, Mitchell taking the handoff from Lewis and hitting Poli-Dixon in stride for a 34-yard scoring pass, the first of many times the Texas secondary got torched. The Longhorns went three-and-punt. The Bruins, merely getting warmed up, went eight and in, 67 yards in all by the time Lewis used the lead block from UCLA's other first-time starter in the backfield, Durell Price, to go in from the three.  The next possession, after a Texas field goal, the next score. Lewis again, this time from the seven, one play after Mitchell kept the reverse and gained 30 yards. It was 21-3 at the end of the first quarter. It was over. The Longhorns went to Plan B, the moral victory, and even that was little more than lip service. They were pleased they didn't give up, that being the lone accomplishment.   "We said we're not going to let them score 66 on us again," said Humphrey, who contended all along his McNown comments were in jest, even if the Bruins never quite got the joke. "The hell with that. We're going to play four quarters." It was in the final one the Longhorns scored 21 points, but even that couldn't get them within two touchdowns. Only self respect.  "We had three points at halftime," Humphrey said. "They had 35. We just got fired up." They apparently didn't want to rush into it. If the Longhorns were standing tall at the end, the Bruins were the only ones standing, at 1-0 and bound for another step up in the polls because of Florida State's loss to North Carolina State.  UCLA had a school record, Bob Toledo had his first win in an opener in three years as coach, and everyone had a glimpse at what could be. "We came out and wanted to prove we were ready to play," Farmer said. "I think we did a good job of that." Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved If It's Early September, It's Time for Heismania By Randy Harvey   Los Angeles Times     Tuesday, September 8, 1998 If Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had played against each other the first or second weekend of the baseball season, it's obvious there wouldn't have been near the excitement surrounding their game within the game as there is this week in St. Louis.   That's what's great about college football. It's never too early for Heisman hype.   UCLA opens its season Saturday at the Rose Bowl against Texas, a game that might or might not impact the national rankings at the end of the season. But, for Heisman voters, it definitely is one to watch because of the game within the game between Bruin quarterback Cade McNown and Longhorn tailback Ricky Williams.   Now, if asked about that, the proper cliche response from   McNown and Williams would be that they shouldn't be measured against each other because they're never on the field at the same time. That is reasonable, too reasonable. It's like saying the home run derby between McGwire and Sosa is irrelevant because they don't pitch to each other.   True, but . . .  UCLA Coach Bob Toledo understands.   One of the most intriguing aspects of watching the first full day of college football on television Saturday, Toledo said Monday, was comparing the players considered Heisman favorites--Tim Couch's seven touchdown passes for Kentucky, Daunte Culpepper's four for Central Florida, Donovan McNabb's two touchdown passes and one touchdown run for Syracuse, Williams' six touchdown runs for Texas.   "As a fan, I love it," Toledo said of Heismania, as it has been identified on UCLA's McNown billboards. "I think it's fun."   As a coach, though, Toledo said he will check his enthusiasm when he reaches the sideline.   Asked if he would coach McNown the Heisman candidate any differently than he did McNown the sophomore or junior, Toledo said: "No, not really. I would love for Cade to win the Heisman Trophy, but he's not going to throw seven touchdown passes. He knows that."   One reason is that UCLA remains a running team first.  The other reason is that McNown probably won't still be playing in a game in which he has been able to shred a defense for six touchdown passes.   Toledo said his philosophy hasn't changed since the 66-3 victory over Texas last September, when McNown threw only five passes in the second half and didn't play the final 13 minutes. "I won't run up the score," Toledo said. "I didn't run up the score against Texas last year."   Also, he said, he doesn't want to risk an injury to McNown.   Another factor is that Toledo needs to give as much playing time as possible to Drew Bennett, the sophomore second-team quarterback expected to replace McNown next season.   Toledo, however, added that the fan in him might emerge late in the season if McNown is still a candidate.   "It depends on the situation," Toledo said. "If we've got a lead in the ninth or 10th game and he needs one or two more touchdowns, I might consider leaving him in the game. I'm not going to paint myself into a corner."   It's not something they teach in coaching schools, how to coach Heisman candidates, but, for Toledo, it's a challenge he wouldn't mind confronting every season. Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved CADE McNOWN / THE CANDIDATE Bruin May Say He's Not About the Hype, but the Hype Will Be About Him By Scott Howard-Cooper,  LA Times Staff Writer    August 27, 1998 Somewhere amid embracing the hype, cherishing the team, displaying the toughness, giving the looks, accepting the sad realities and ignoring the pressure, all that leftover time remains.  There must be dozens of seconds of it. Cade McNown will use it to attend classes, play quarterback for UCLA, speak about the importance of God in his life, hunt and try not to three-putt. On those stolen moments, he might even sneak in time to win the Heisman Trophy. There might also be some quiet time. That's when things can really get interesting, or exciting, or scary. It's when all the talk that has sold almost everyone on the idea that he doesn't give much thought to the top individual award in college football gets peeled back, and McNown will say to close friend Greg Sherwood:   "Dude, what if it happens?" For one thing, someone will have to tell McNown how the presentation works, because he has never seen the Heisman show on TV. Maybe he won't see it on TV this year either.   Embracing the Hype McNown had already made up his mind to ride the wave rather than go against it, but the advice has come anyway. Ronnie Lott, recalling his USC days when teammates would react to interview requests as if they were ticking, encouraged him to enjoy the process. Gary Beban, who won the Heisman in 1967 as UCLA's quarterback, sent a letter about a month ago that offered a reminder that team achievements were still most important. The two had not met until this week, but McNown appreciated the note.   "If you convince yourself that you don't like it, then every time you're dealing with it you're going to hate it," McNown said. "But you can just say, look, I'm having fun with it, and it's good while it lasts. By no means should you buy into it and let what people say about you be how you perceive yourself. Just enjoy it. Embrace it. Take it for what it's worth. "I go in after the game for the interviews and I'm calling guys by their first name sometimes and kind of laughing at some of the questions they have. They're kind of taken aback by it. I'll get questions and I'll be, 'C'mon. You kidding? That's a terrible question.' I'm not afraid to say something like that anymore."   Good thing, because there should be plenty of opportunities for such serve-and-volley games, even before the first postgame "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" McNown has already done a series of one-on-one interviews. He will do a weekly conference call with out-of-town reporters once the season starts, the first time UCLA has done that since 10 years ago with Troy Aikman. He will also be available for additional in-person media sessions, but, to keep control, the sports information department will limit those to Mondays and Tuesdays, another practice from the Aikman days. "He's got to buy into it," said Marc Dellins, UCLA's sports information director. "If he isn't willing to do the interviews, then the purpose is defeated. And he's been very cooperative, especially since I know this is not something he wants for himself. If it were up to him, I think he'd rather take that extra time and put it in the film room." Said McNown: "I'm not going to shy away from it. I'm not afraid of it. I've been dealing with the media for three years already, and even though it's on a different scale now, it's still the same sort of questions--'Are you going to be able to do this? Are you going to be able to do that?' " Or there's always this one: Is winning the Heisman more important than you're letting on?  "He'll debate it, and it's probably the right thing to do, to debate it," said David Norrie, a friend and the commentator for UCLA's Fox Sports West 2 broadcasts. "I don't think he gloats and he doesn't focus on it, which is the proper approach. But I think it's something that spurs him on. The level of success, the notoriety, the support he gets from teammates, I think it's driven him.   "Cade is a team-oriented guy. But Cade is also a guy, I think, who enjoys the attention, because football is what Cade lives for." Cherishing the Team "I'm running a Rose Bowl campaign, not a Heisman campaign," McNown says.   He was the one who organized the seven-on-seven passing league games during the summer. He was the one who took in Freddie Mitchell in an off-campus apartment when Mitchell, a flanker from Lakeland, Fla., wanted to stay around to take part but had no student housing because school was out, even though the two were not close friends. He was the one who cooked for them both. "I think there's a kind of sweetness about it to him," McNown's older brother Jeff said. "He recognizes how blessed he is. He recognizes that there's a lot of guys out there with the same arm and the same skills who are squandering away in bad programs." Instead of, say, the one that opens the season No. 7 in the nation and favored by many to win the Pacific 10 Conference title.   "I totally respect the award," Cade McNown said. "I'm totally honored to be a candidate. But that's not why I came here. I came here to try to win some Rose Bowls, and I got another shot at it this year. "Certainly I feel I have to be 100%. But not for them [fans and voters]. Not for anybody but for this team. "And not for myself, either. As soon as you start going out of your way to try and make things happen, it's like you're putting your ego before the team's success and all of the sudden you're doing things that cost the team more than they actually reward you. You can't get into that situation." Displaying Toughness "Cade McNown is easily the toughest quarterback who has played in the league since 1981," said Norrie, who played in it from 1982 to '85 and has watched closely ever since. "I'm sure of it. I'm positive of it. He's the type of guy that if you're hitting him, if the team is behind, his play will get better. All you have to do is turn on the Washington State game last year. Even better, the Tennessee game. He was making extraordinary plays.   "Cade can be sensitive off the field. But I don't think he's sensitive on the field. In fact, he can be downright insensitive on the field. He'll run down the field and look for a defensive back to hit with a helmet. On the field, I've never seen Cade shy about what he's doing. Cade's a winner. And he's the toughest quarterback I've seen in the league in two decades." Giving the Looks   Here's the thanks McNown gets for taking in a teammate in need: Mitchell caught a ball during one of those passing league games, crossed the goal line and decided to strike the pose, breaking into the stance captured on the Heisman Trophy. And then he pointed to his quarterback.   McNown grinned back. Just like the other times when teammates ride him with equal joy for all the billboards and newspaper ads and hype, because what are friends for? He'll usually smile, sometimes shake his down-turned head, and occasionally throw in a "shut up." Heismania. That's a favorite line when he walks in a room.  McHeisman. Also popular. "Because they just know it makes me upset," he said. "More than anything, what I want these guys to know is that I'm not about it. I'm not about the hype. I'm not about trying to get people's attention and trying to be the guy that stands out."   In truth, the preseason buildup has been considerable but not ridiculous, devoid of McNown key chains or McNown coffee mugs or McNown T-shirts. The ads are obvious, but those are just as much to promote ticket sales as the individual. The school budgeted extra money for the Heisman push, then devoted six pages in its media guide for McNown, compared to about half a page for most teammates. He appeared first, everyone else went in alphabetical order. He has his own page on the UCLA web site: http://www.uclabruins.com/mcnown. He was the star of the three-minute highlight video set to music that was sent to 450 media members and a few former winners of the award, mostly directed at voters from the South, East and Midwest, on the notion that everyone near the Pac-10 has either seen McNown in person or on a regional telecast. Postcards and fliers and other mailings could come later, depending on whether McNown remains a contender. Accepting Sad Realities "You'd be amazed at some of the fans around here," McNown said. "Geez."   It's a bandwagon city.  "Very. They're not sticking by you. They'll be off the boat faster than rats on a flaming boat.  "I've been through it, where it's 'What have you done for me lately?' People around here, certainly, but anywhere, they turn on you a lot faster than they come around for you. It's funny. But it's very, very true. And I've had it. "I remember my sophomore year, the last game of the year we go out and we beat USC in a dramatic comeback and it's like everybody in the world loves you and everything. Second game of the [junior] year, first home game, and those same people that were patting me on the back are booing me after an interception. Everybody's on the field, it's quiet, I run on the field: 'Booooooo!   I'm like, geez. So not only am I aware of it, but it's happened to me and I'm very understanding of how things turn. "Blew me away." He's not the same Cade McNown who arrived in 1995, who as a sophomore lost the innocence while taking a lot of the heat for the 5-6 finish when there was actually plenty of blame to go around. And who in 1997 led the nation and set a Pac-10 record in passing efficiency, posting the 12th-best mark in NCAA history, and finished eighth in the Heisman balloting.   Friends say he has become more calloused about the task at hand, a notion he does not deny. The love for the game has not diminished, but the hardened attitude arrives before the scheduled entrance to the pros a year from now. "I think there's been an eye-opening experience for him in that sports at UCLA, sure it's athletics, but it's a business," Sherwood said. "He has had his eyes opened to the reality that coaches' jobs are very important to them and the media's job is very important to them, but not everybody has the chance to look out for him.   "It's beyond the game a little bit for him. It's beyond the game that it's more like a business for him. It was very sobering for him. I don't think he's mad about that or anything. It was the reality--'I've got to produce or that's it.' "   Said Norrie: "He'll say, 'Oh, yeah. Wait until I throw a bad ball or have a bad drive.' I think that was part of his development, the adversity he fought through.   "If he's criticized or someone treats him the wrong way, he'll take it personally. In so many ways, he's beyond his years. He's beyond his 21 years. But in some other ways--his sensitivity--he's younger than 21." Ignoring the Pressure During the Stanford game last season, McNown appeared frustrated after some dropped passes. Sherwood noticed while watching on television and later confronted him, suggesting that McNown had gotten caught up in the excitement of an impressive passing-efficiency rating. McNown fell silent. He didn't disagree.     Now comes a slightly bigger race. "Being under the microscope for every play," he said of the challenge, "they're going to try and analyze something. I watched some of the guys play last year, like [Peyton] Manning. They'll say, 'Now watch Manning throw this swing pass here. That's just experience right there. He puts it right on the money. This is not an easy throw.' Where I'd go back and throw the same swing pass and nobody would say a thing. On the other end of the spectrum, it's like he does what he's probably supposed to and throws the ball away and it's like, 'Manning, he's a Heisman Trophy candidate. He's got make those plays. He's got to move the chains in this situation.' "Every little move gets put under the microscope, good and bad. The key is not paying attention to those play-to-play critics and just understanding that, hey, it's a long season. There are a lot of things that are going to happen between the first play of the Texas game and the last play of, hopefully, our bowl game that'll dictate what sort of team we're going to be.  "In many ways, the pressure last year may have been more than it is this year. I feel like I've sort of been through some of those fires, been tempered a bit. But with each year, new challenges come up. I don't think it's bad right now. What's going to be a question mark is how you handle it when things aren't going well. Maybe you go out there, the team wins, but, 'You didn't look that impressive.' How are you going to handle that? I can just tell you right now, I'm going to probably throw some interceptions." No! "Yeah. It's amazing. You can actually make mistakes even if you're hyped as much as I am. I will make mistakes. I'll make some bad reads and probably hurt the team a little bit at times, but the question is, am I going to repeat those mistakes? You don't want to repeat 'em. The other question is, how are you going to react to it? Are you going to go into the tank? Are you going to just fall apart? I haven't, and I don't think I will." Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved HIGH EXPECTATIONS UCLA: Bruins Trying to Keep Ball Rolling By Scott Howard-Cooper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer   August 27, 1998 It is a turning-point season for the UCLA Bruins, a huge moment not only for this team but for the future of the program.   "I think it is," Coach Bob Toledo says. It is a daunting task, maybe even imposing if the Bruins were to consider it in that context.   "There's some kind of hesitation," senior center Shawn Stuart says. It is a surprise, even the administration has to admit. "From the vantage point of the end of the 1996 season, I would not have predicted this, no," Athletic Director Pete Dalis says. It is unfamiliar, adding to either the weight of the moment or the excitement. "You've got that thing looming over your head and we've always, especially in the last few years, have been a team that's been more of an underdog and come back," Stuart says. "I think there's a little bit of a concern there." No big deal. The 1998 season that begins Sept. 12 against Texas at the Rose Bowl only likely carries with it historic implications. That's all. These Bruins are merely in charge of the present and the future as one, which might be seen as getting overly dramatic except that they realize as much. A successful season makes them a good program worthy of national recognition, having gone from the 10-2 record in 1997--including a 10-game winning streak and Cotton Bowl victory to close--to an enviable recruiting class to another major bowl game. A disappointing season--anything worse than third place in the conference, anything more than two or three losses--makes them a capable team, not an impressive program, a difference that goes beyond semantics. "We've worked to gain some national recognition and respect and now it's in our grasp," Toledo says. "The key now is to take advantage of that opportunity. We're [ranked] seventh and we're picked to win [the conference], but that doesn't do you any good if you don't continue to earn the respect and take advantage of that opportunity. "I don't know how good we'll be. I can't say that for sure right now because I don't know. But if we can have another big year, that means a lot for us in future years . . . We have to prove now that we are capable of being a top-10 team consistently and then we've got to back it up by having another good [recruiting] class." Says Brendon Ayanbadejo, the senior linebacker who was there for the 5-6 showing in 1996 and now for the recovery: "The process has just started. We have to get it going, to instill it in the freshmen. Everyone else has that attitude. The process is ongoing, from the veterans down to the youngest members on the team.  "The tradition here now is to be tough, to take everything as a challenge, to overcome those challenges in life and on the football field. Before, I don't think that was the tradition.   "We want that pain. We want to go through that because we want to be the best. We know if we do that and do everything we can do, going through Coach Yox [Kevin Yoxall, the strength and conditioning coach] and all that stuff, we know we are we going to be better. We see that as a challenge, whereas before maybe they didn't want that. They shied away from it. They were scared. But we're not scared." Here's how they stack up, by position: QUARTERBACK If Cade McNown can withstand the constant scrutiny that will come with being a Heisman Trophy candidate, his value to the Bruins should increase even more, if that's possible. Most of the attention going to one player means others will be able to develop outside the spotlight that normally comes with a top-10 team.   Beyond the hype, and beyond the several school passing records he already owns, McNown is also one of the Bruins' emotional leaders, so the importance of his health and presence exceeds his left arm.  Just in case there aren't enough things being piled on his shoulders.   If the unthinkable happens, Drew Bennett is the backup. RUNNING BACKS Jermaine Lewis opened practice No. 1 on the depth chart at tailback in the race to replace Skip Hicks, given a slight edge over Keith Brown because Brown sat out part of spring practice because of food poisoning. But in the end, they both could be backing up highly touted freshman DeShaun Foster, maybe even by the first drive of the first game.   Fullback Craig Walendy will supply the senior stability, starting the second week if the infection that sidelined him in the early going of two-a-day workouts also knocks him out of the Texas game and puts junior Durell Price in the starting lineup. Walendy's blocking has turned him into an important but underrated contributor. RECEIVERS Danny Farmer moves from split end to flanker to replace Jim McElroy, only not McElroy's speed. A pair of freshmen, Freddie Mitchell and Cody Joyce, also figure to have significant roles, along with both split ends, Brad Melsby and Brian Poli-Dixon, in an offense that in the past has used as many as four receivers on a play. The experience is limited at both spots, with Farmer the only one who had more than 10 receptions last season. A healthy return for Melsby, who has been out most of the last two seasons because of injury and illness, would be a boost. OFFENSIVE LINE Counting a deep and talented set of tight ends, led by Mike Grieb, arguably the best at his position in the conference, this will be one of the Bruin strengths.   All-American Chad Overhauser needs to be replaced, but Kris Farris, considered by many the finest tackle in the country, is back, as is Andy Meyers at right guard and Stuart at center. Oscar Cabrera was slowed by back problems in the first days of practice but should be ready at left guard. Brian Polak's encouraging start to workouts after a disappointing and frustrating freshman season could translate into the job as Overhauser's successor at right tackle. Three newcomers could also contribute: junior college transfer James Ghezzi and freshmen Mike Safer and Blake Worley. DEFENSIVE LINE In what is a young defensive unit as a whole, this is the youngest area of all. One spot remains an uncertainty, but junior Pete Holland is back after starting seven times last season and Kenyon Coleman will almost certainly start as a sophomore. LINEBACKERS New faces and a new alignment, with a 3-4 set after the 3-3-5 of last season meaning more linebackers will be utilized. Freshman Robert Thomas, an impact player in the making, figures to be one of them, possibly along with several others who have switched from other positions.   Just as important is one of the players who will be in the same place: Ayanbadejo. SECONDARY Strong safety Larry Atkins is everyone's preseason All-American. Jason Bell, Marques Anderson and Eric Whitfield, all of whom had supporting roles last season, get the chance to become major contributors. SPECIAL TEAMS Chris Sailer is the punter and the kicker and a standout at both.   Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved Bruins Look Good on the Face of Things College football: Despite his team's acclaim and new talent, Toledo realizes swift development is needed in several key areas. By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER, Times Staff Writer The lofty perch--No. 7 in the Associated Press preseason rankings, the choice by many to win the Pacific 10 Conference title, a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback—sits on a ledge. It has a grand view in every direction. The UCLA football team, which opens practice Saturday and plays its first game three weeks later, is aware of the landscape, showing a willingness to be as realistic of its shortcomings as it is proud of what has been built and what might yet come. So the talented offensive line, anchored by tackle Kris Farris, will begin to stand across from a defense that has four returning starters, including only one lineman and one linebacker. Cade McNown, coming off a junior season in which he led the nation in passing efficiency, returns to find a lot of youth hoping to replace flanker Jim McElroy. The team that averaged 39.8 points a game in 1997 has seven starters back on offense, but not Skip Hicks or McElroy, who between them accounted for 37 touchdowns. And the recruiting class that earned such praise might be needed to produce immediately. So it goes for the Bruins, filled with potential but also required to develop in key areas. "I'll tell them [the players] where people are picking us and that our program has aimed at more national recognition," Coach Bob Toledo said, "but that it's a new year and a new team and a lot of new faces. These people have got to play to the level so that we can reach those goals." These people at these positions, for example: * Tailback. The inability to develop a ground game will mean trouble, for the Bruins and for the Heisman campaign around McNown. Of the four scholarship players, only two--junior Keith Brown and Jermaine Lewis--have experience, and Lewis is only a sophomore. That, along with potential, means freshmen DeShaun Foster and Ken Pritchett have the opportunity to win the starting job. "I would say we'll look very hard" at those two, Toledo said. * Flanker. The Bruins won't have a senior at wide receiver, although tight end Mike Grieb is one and junior split end Danny Farmer had 41 catches last season. Replacing McElroy, which would have been tough enough for an experienced player, falls to Brad Melsby, a junior who has been out most of the last two seasons because of injury and illness; sophomore Brian Poli-Dixon; redshirt freshmen Cody Joyce and Freddie Mitchell and true freshmen Jon Dubravac and Paul Nelson. The leader in receptions among that group is Melsby--with 12. * Secondary. Larry Atkins is an All-American candidate at strong safety. But he can't play all four positions at once. The two cornerback spots and free safety position are less secure. But Marques Anderson and Jason Bell, who split time at cornerback in 1997, return, and Eric Whitfield has experience at safety. "And I think that's a big concern of mine," Toledo said. "We need to play there and improve. And we've got some young guys there." New defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti, who oversaw the Gang Green defense that helped Oregon reach the 1995 Rose Bowl game, replaces Rocky Long, who left to become head coach at New Mexico. Aliotti gets a group that has only two senior starters. The combination of new faces there and a greater confidence in the offense probably will prompt Toledo, whose background is largely on offense, to spend more time with the defense for the next three weeks. "I will watch over it closely and make sure it's getting done," he said. The test will come quickly. The first game is Sept. 12 at the Rose Bowl against Texas and its Heisman candidate, running back Ricky Williams. That's long enough for the buildup, and about all the maturation process some freshmen will get. Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved Heisman Hype  MCNOWN: UCLA pushes quarterback McNown into spotlight Monday, August 17, 1998      By Greg Lewis    Daily Bruin Staff As the college football season rapidly approaches, coaches, players and fans are anticipating the start of the big race. Not the race for the Pac-10 crown or the race for the Rose Bowl. It's the contest to see who is left holding the revered trophy when the smoke finally clears. Hello, Mr. Heisman. The Heisman trophy, awarded annually in December to college football's best player, is voted on by a panel of roughly 900 media members. Members, whose identities are kept secret, are inundated every year with Heisman propaganda from sports information directors across the country. The competition by athletic departments to get the most effective promotional materials out to those who decide the Heisman trophy winner begins in the new season's infancy. It has been decades since UCLA has had a bona fide contender for the Heisman, but this year, many experts say quarterback Cade McNown has a legitimate shot. The athletic department has been working day and night to keep the hype machine in full swing. However, McNown did not build his reputation on hype. "I can't imagine anyone being more valuable to the team than Cade is to us," said head coach Bob Toledo. "He has the complete package. He possesses a strong arm, quick feet and outstanding leadership qualities. "He knows the offense like a coach and has developed a comfort level with our system. But, above all else, he is driven to succeed." The attributes mentioned by Toledo are merely enough to get a player into the running. Being a talented football player is important, but to be a serious candidate, athletic departments have to do everything short of going to war for their Heisman contender, all the while making sure that the hype doesn't affect the team as a whole. Marc Dellins, head of the UCLA Sports Information Department, is the man in charge of making sure that McNown is, as he puts it, "as recognizable as any player in the country." From his office in the Morgan Center, Dellins coordinates the Heisman campaign through as many mediums as one can imagine. McNown is featured in brochures, magazines, videos, radio and television shows, newspapers and even on the World Wide Web. Since nobody knows exactly who is on the list of Heisman voters, Dellins selects approximately 500 members of the media whom he believes have the best chance of being on the panel to the mailing list. Those people receive a brochure and three-minute video set to music, which include some of McNown's recent highlights and quotes about him from some of the coaches he has played against. Updates of McNown's stats and more highlights are mailed periodically throughout the year. Dellins organizes the campaign regionally, first making sure that voters in the East, South and Midwest who might not normally get to see McNown in action, get even more attention; then he involves Pac-10 and West Coast voters. Dellins sees to it that panel members know as much about McNown's class and leadership as they do about his statistics and athletic ability. As Coach Toledo put it, "(McNown) is an extremely competitive person who is always looking for a way to improve, whether it be working out with his teammates or watching video by the hour." Along with sending out the UCLA-produced brochure and video, information director Dellins plans several radio and television interviews during the week. Dellins has even engineered a conference phone setup which allows up to 25 media members to talk to McNown at the same time during a post-game press conference. The operation started months ago, during the break between the final regular season win against Southern Cal and the nationally televised Cotton Bowl game versus Texas A&M. McNown was featured by ABC television as one of next year's Heisman favorites during its promotion of the New Year's Day Cotton Bowl game. Dellins also helped arrange a focus on McNown as a Heisman trophy candidate in Sports Illustrated's upcoming College Football Preview issue. The public relations machine isn't limited to the print media, however. UCLA's official athletic internet site, www.uclabruins.com, is highlighted by a picture of McNown that, when clicked on, leads to an entire page devoted to Cade McNown - the Heisman trophy candidate. Viewers can easily access McNown's preseason honors, current statistics, statistics from the past three seasons, McNown in high school and even some personal information. The web page will be updated after each game to make sure that McNown's most recent totals are available. Readers of the Los Angeles Times and other sports sections are already familiar with prominent ads that advertise "Heis-mania" over an action shot of McNown poised to launch a bomb. Care must also be taken to make sure that a Heisman trophy hopeful is not overexposed. Tennessee officials tried hard last year to make sure that their promotion of eventual runner-up Peyton Manning did not grow to be overwhelming. Publicity for McNown will most likely not become excessive, as some say Manning's did, because Dellins plans to spend a total of less than $10,000 on the entire campaign. The "Cade campaign," according to Dellins, is both simple and aggressive. The primary theme of the campaign is to focus on McNown's winning ability. Dellins believes that winning games, not individual statistics, will be the most important factor in deciding who ends up with the Heisman. McNown couldn't agree more. McNown said in a recent television interview, "If you look at the winner, it's always who's got the great team." Dellins works personally with McNown to make sure that his Heisman promotion does not interfere with McNown's academic or athletic schedule. During the football season, interviews are restricted to the Monday and Tuesday afternoons following a game. All the Heisman hype can go to a player's head, but McNown appears to have kept everything in perspective. According to Dellins, working with him is a pleasure. He says that McNown is very cooperative and makes the sports information director's job easier by consistently impressing interviewers with his candor and exceptional speaking ability. McNown maintains that winning the Heisman trophy is not really a goal for him. The only real goal for the season is a Fiesta Bowl National Championship victory. "I'm running a Rose Bowl campaign, not a Heisman campaign," McNown says. "I'm worried about the team aspect. If I was into individual awards, I would have played golf or tennis." The UCLA offensive line might want the award for McNown more than McNown does. Returning starter Andy Meyers lists getting McNown the Heisman fourth in importance this season. "(Our priorities are) not getting Cade killed, allowing zero sacks and amassing a lot of rush yardage," he said. "Then we'll worry about the Heisman." If McNown manages to take home the Heisman hardware, he will join 1967 award-winner Gary Beban as only the second Bruin to capture the prize as the nation's top player. Recent UCLA football players who earned attention as candidates include Skip Hicks last year, Sharmon Shah during the 1995 campaign, J.J. Stokes in 1994 and Troy Aikman back in 1988. McNown, who finished eighth in last year's Heisman balloting, has already been installed as the preseason front-runner by the likes of Athlon Sports Magazine and Football News. His competition in the Heisman race will be fierce, and the Bruin schedule this year includes at least two head-to- head meetings with other Heisman trophy contenders. Rickey Williams, the big, bruising running back from Texas and a also a leading returning vote-getter, would like nothing better than to steal the spotlight from McNown during the season opening game at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 12. On Nov. 14, McNown and the rest of the team travel into Seattle to do battle with quarterback Brock Huard and the Washington Huskies. Running back Kevin Faulk of LSU heads the list of remaining Heisman trophy hopefuls, followed by linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer of Ohio State, quarterbacks Tim Couch and Donovan McNabb of Kentucky and Syracuse respectively, West Virginia running back Amos Zeroue and Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne. No matter who ends up clutching the trophy at season's end, it can be assured that they've had their entire athletic department behind them all the way. Ultimately, the true test for the candidates will be surviving the rigors of Heismania. © 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board UCLA the Preseason Pick; USC to Make Soward Wait by Robyn Norwood    Times Staff Writer UCLA and quarterback Cade McNown will open the football season under the rather bearable burden of expectations after being picked to win the Pacific 10 Conference title in a preseason poll, but USC, picked fourth, will have to try to fend off Purdue on Aug. 30 without receiver R. Jay Soward. New USC Coach Paul Hackett decided that despite Soward’s performance in summer school and off-season workouts, he won’t back off his earlier decision to hold Soward out of the Pigskin Classic game at the Coliseum. Hackett said Soward "responded tremendously" to a situation that left his academic eligibility in question, but will not rescind last spring’s decision to suspend Soward and defensive back Darnell Lacy for one game. "I am not going to change what I say because it would undo what I’ve done," Hackett said, calling Soward "an absolutely phenomenal talent" and saying he spent a long time mulling the decision. UCLA, which won its final 10 games last season to go 10-2 edged Arizona State in the closest Pac-10 preseason media poll in 20 years, finishing with 284 points, three more than the Sun Devils. Washington was third with 217 points and USC had 197, followed by Arizona, Oregon, Washington State, Stanford, Cal and Oregon State. Hackett said that USC freshman running back Sultan McCullough will report to camp late because he is completing a summer-school course required for NCAA eligibility, but added there is "not a question" he will be eligible. There has been no decision on junior college transfer Windrell Hayes, a USC receiver facing felony charges in Northern California for his alleged involvement in a bad-check scam. Hayes faces a Nov. 16 trial but was seeking to plead to a lesser charge. "I’m not overly encouraged," said Hackett, who hopes for word by the end of the week. Slash Flood   by Larry Felser      Buffalo News   Street & Smith’s College Football   (the following is an excerpt from the feature) Some of the best college quarterbacks this fall have the versatality to win in a variety of ways. Option quarterbacks are unlikely to end up on top of the NFL scouts’ premium-prospect list. That’s a status reserved for classic passers such as Kentucky’s Tim Couch and Washington’s Brock Huard. They may not even get serious consideration in the Heisman Trophy vote. At least their predecessors have not done well in that respect. If you want to compete in college football, though, it’s a good idea to have a quarterback who has the skills to win games with his feet, his quickness, and his unpredictability, as well as with his arm. Some of the best quarterbacks to be seen this fall come fully equipped with those weapons. Cade McNown - Maybe Cade McNown, UCLA’s brilliant lefty, shouldn’t be included with this group of versatile quarterbacks. McNown’s reputation now rests on his passing. Consider the evidence from last season: a school-record 400-yard day against Tennessee, a school-record five touchdown passes (by the half) in the shocking 66-3 rout of Texas, three touchdown passes in the 52-28 rocking of Washington, three more against crosstown rival USC, and two in the comeback victory over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. McNown does not throw many interceptions (6). McNown’s notoriety as a passer coincides with the elevation of Bob Toledo, UCLA’s creative offensive mastermind, to head coach in 1996. McNown threw 12 touchdowns as a sophomore and doubled that for another school record as a junior. McNown, however, was once renowned for his abililty to produce first downs with his feet. In the last six games of his freshman season, when he became comfortable with the starter’s role, he ran for 281 yards, an average of almost six yards per carry. In the victory over Washington last fall, he ran for 44 yeards, including 11 for a touchdown. He won his third game against USC largely on the strength of his ability to escape the Trojan pass rush. In the Cotton Bowl he made a 360-degree spin move during his 20-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. That put the Bruins ahead of the Aggies for the first time. He also had a 76-yard punt on a quick kick. "He’s the complete package," says Toledo. "Strong arm, quick feet, and outstanding leadership qualities." In the Year of the QB, UCLA Has the Best One in Cade McNown San Francisco Examiner   by Dwight Chapin In 30 years of writing about West football, the subject has come up a few times, but this season it bears repeating: The Pac-10 is a quarterback conference. Almost every team seems to have a good one. A few schools have two good ones. And a couple of schools—UCLA and Washington—may have great ones in Cade McNown and Brock Huard. Why does this conference turn out so many of them? Quarterback guru, Paul Hackett, who takes over as head coach at USC this season, says, "I’ve always felt it had to do with the weather—guys being able to go out and throw the ball year-round. They develop skills quicker. For the most part, too, West Coast prep kids have stayed in the West. And the Pac-10 coaches have been influenced for a long time, going back to Stanford’s Rose Bowl teams in the early ‘70s, by passing coaches like John Ralston, Dick Vermeil, and Mike White." Stanford’s new offensive coordinator, Bill Diedrick, who helped develop Huard and his brother Damon at Washington, makes many of the same points as Hackett, and adds: "The heritage and tradition of the programs really do play a part now, too. A Ryan Leaf sees what Drew Bledsoe does at Washington State and knows he’ll have the same opportunity. The quarterback talent we’re getting in the Pac-10 now is pretty much homegrown." With Leaf gone, McNown seems likely to step into the Pac-10 spotlight and lead the Bruins to the top this season, but Ryan Kealy of Arizona State, the Arizona tandem of Keith Smith and Ortege Jenkins, and the Huskies’ Huard figure to have their teams in the title hunt. The dark horses look to be USC, with Jeff Van Raaphorst as the likely quarterback, and Oregon, with another talented QB tandem of Akili Smith and Jason Maas. The Kid Becomes a (Heis)Man The Los Angeles Times - Sports Section                                                                Friday, January 2, 1998                                                                                            BILL PLASCHKE Dallas-- Requiring one more credit to complete a successful junior season, Cade McNown bit hard on his mouthpiece Thursday and got it.  The UCLA quarterback with the wonder arm and fearless feet needed to show the football world something far more important and rare, something resembling a heart. By the time the shadows had fallen in front of a hostile crowd in a chilly old Texas stadium, the football world had gotten an eyeful.   Trailing Texas A&M, 16-0, with 42 seconds remaining in the half of the Cotton Bowl, McNown stepped into a UCLA huddle filled with chattering, worried teammates and cocked his head. He had been battered, smothered in the end zone, watched passes dropped and thrown an interception.  He wanted to scream. Instead, he told everyone to shut up.  "Talk is cheap," he said. "Let's just score." Just 31 minutes later in playing time, the Bruins had scored, and scored, and scored, and scored.  McNown had thrown for two touchdowns, run for another, booted a surprise 76-yard punt and been named offensive MVP of the Bruins' 29-23 victory.  Not to mention, fulfilled a directive from a boss.  "I told Cade at halftime, now we're really going to find out whether you are really a Heisman candidate," said Al Borges, UCLA offensive coordinator. "Well, I think we did."   In his three years at UCLA, he has won with 400 yards passing, won with five touchdown passes, won by completing 70% of his passes.  He can now say he has won a bowl game from his back.  Cade McNown, Heisman Trophy candidate.   One can now say that makes sense.  "I remember when Cade first came here, he used to throw some of the most gawd-awful rocks," UCLA receiver Jim McElroy said with a laugh. "Guys were saying they wished we had another quarterback."  Those were the days of seven-for-19 passing with three interceptions at Washington . . . eight-for-27 passing with three interceptions at Michigan . . . three interceptions and a failed comeback at Stanford.   Thursday was the day for . . . well, just ask McElroy.  At the end of McNown's talk-is-cheap drive, with 10 seconds remaining in the half, he called a play for McElroy to run across the middle of the end zone.  When they lined up and saw Texas A&M in a defensive formation that would make that impossible, both of them adjusted on the fly. McElroy ran to the outside. McNown threw to the outside.  The result was a 22-yard touchdown pass that, with an extra point, closed the gap to 16-7 at halftime.  "Last year, I would never make book that would happen," Borges said. "No way."   Everywhere Thursday were signs that the quarterback somebody once wrote belonged on a playground--well, he did--is ready for richer pastures.  "If he's not the leading Heisman Trophy candidate, then I'd like to see the one who is," UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. McNown heard this and shrugged. There is the sense that he could hear Toledo pronounce him as a leading Miss America candidate and he would shrug.   McNown begins the new year with only one thing missing from his Heisman candidate portfolio, that being the swagger.  He looks like a star quarterback with streaks of eye black and assertive gestures toward teammates and the ability to do wondrous things while being pulled to the ground by his shirt.   But he talks like a walk-on. His voice is plain, measured. He gives credit to teammates. He professes undying servitude to coaches despite their animated sideline discussions.  "They call the plays, I run them, I only give my input when asked," he said.  While returning to the locker room after a TV interview Thursday, he even held the door for reporters.   "I'm trying to win games, not trophies, seriously," he said. "I'm not afraid of the Heisman . . . but that is the farthest thing from my mind."   Some teammates were thinking of little else after Thursday's fourth quarter, when McNown drove the team 71 yards in eight plays for the winning touchdown with 7:05 remaining.  It was his first fourth-quarter comeback drive this season, leading him to say, "Isn't that what you are supposed to do? Take the ball and score? It's not like it was an unbelievable thing."  Well, perhaps not, but the crowd was screaming and a rusher was in his face when he earned the drive's initial first down on a five-yard pass to Brian Poli-Dixon.  He completed a third-down pass to McElroy for 11 yards later in the drive, then it was his superb fake to Skip Hicks that allowed Ryan Neufeld to run untouched into the end zone for the winning score.  If he went crazy celebrating, nobody noticed.  "He is so calm in the huddle, just telling us what to do, no panicking or anything," senior tackle Chad Overhauser said. "I'd love to be watching him next year. In fact, I will be watching him next year, no matter where I'm at." From now until Sept. 12, when the Bruins open at home against Texas and possibly another Heisman candidate if running back Ricky Williams stays in school, it is UCLA's job to make sure everyone is watching McNown.   The sports information department will soon be firing up the copying machine, licking the envelopes, hauling out the hype.  He won't win the Heisman with mere numbers--"Our offensive scheme is too balanced for that," he said.   He probably won't win it with an undefeated season--the Bruins lose eight defensive starters, Hicks, McElroy, and two offensive linemen.   He can win it, however, with a good statistical season, another 10-2 record, and more big-game heroics like Thursday's.   He can win by remaining the same player who, late Thursday, tugged on a faded blue UCLA baseball cap and addressed bystanders as if he were back in that huddle.  "Talk," said a young man suddenly staring at riches, "is cheap." (c) 1998 Copyright The Los Angeles Times UCLA 'Hatfields' outgun USC 'McCoys'                                   (c) 1997 Copyright Nando.net (c) 1997 Scripps-McClatchy Western LOS ANGELES (Nov 23, 1997 - 05:29 EST) -- As when this feud first began in 1929, the Hatfields and McCoys turned their backs to each other Saturday at half past High Noon, took 20 paces, turned around again and started shooting. With assault weapons this time instead of Colt .45s. The UCLA Hatfields opened fire with a 9-yard touchdown pass to finish off their first possession of yesterday's annual grudge match. The USC McCoys shot back with an 80-yard bull's-eye touchdown pass on their first play from scrimmage.  USC slowed down after that -- the Trojans needed three plays and then a whopping five plays for its next two touchdowns. Meanwhile, UCLA countered in the shootout with drives of eight plays and 10 plays to go 80 and 74 yards for two touchdowns.  It was that kind of afternoon: UCLA getting off six shots to USC's one, but the Trojans made their's count early on. Did I say Hatfields and McCoys? USC and UCLA fans make the Hatfields and McCoys seem like Regis & Kathy Lee. At the latest Apocolypse In The Coliseum, here is how you could tell the two feuding sides apart... Some USC fans tied a stuffed teddy bear to the bumper of their stretch limo and dragged the poor thing through the streets on the way to the game. A UCLA fan was driving the limo. (Just kidding -- I wanted to give USC fans something to smile about after the 31-24 loss.) USC fans took a moral victory in the 21-21 halftime score. UCLA fans figured, "So what? Germany won the first half of World War II." USC fans bragged about beating the 9 1/2-point spread for the intracity showdown. UCLA fans bragged, "We beat you." USC fans wondered why the Trojans didn't cover tight end Mike Grieb on UCLA's first score? UCLA fans thought: "Seven-zip! Grieb sure ran a nice 9-yard slant and Cade McNown put the ball on the money." USC fans loved it when cornerback Anthony Volsan hit UCLA punt returner Eric Scott so hard Volson's own helmet came flying off. UCLA fans think USC's helmets are always empty anyway. USC fans couldn't understand how the Trojans could miss four tackles to let Grieb score on a 38-yard catch-and-carry play for the go-ahead-for-good TD and a 28-21 lead in the third quarter. UCLA fans thought Grieb sure broke a lot of wimpy Trojan tackles. USC fans still brag about being "Heisman U." UCLA fans say USC fans have good memories. USC fans were rooting for Washington (Delon) to have a big day. (His 67 yards on 10 carries with no TDs wasn't big enough.) UCLA fans were rooting for Washington (Huskies) to have a big day. (It lost to Washington State to keep the Bruins out of the Rose Bowl.) USC fans thought wide reciever R. Jay Soward was The Player of The Game with two kick returns for 54 yards and eight receptions for 181 yards, including the 80-yard scoring bomb on USC's first play. UCLA fans think that's just "soured" grapes because Cade McNown was the day's MVP with three passing touchdowns and 213 yards, plus 66 yards scrambling. USC fans say, "Who's McNown think he is anyway, Fran Tarkenton?" UCLA fans say, "Who's McNown think he is anyway, Fran Tarkenton?" USC fans still think USC is "Heisman U." UCLA fans agreed with Coach Bob Toledo, who after the game called McNown "a real Heisman candidate" for next season. USC fans yelled, "Look at quarterback John Fox!" after he made a number of exciting plays. UCLA fans countered: "Watch our winning highlights on Fox Sports West." UCLA fans are also big basketball rooters. USC fans don't have a reason to root for basketball. USC fans like to think of their school as "Tailback U." UCLA fans call USC "Snailback U." USC fans think the Trojan Song Girls are the prettiest in the land. UCLA fans probably secretly agree. A lot of USC fans think John Robinson should resign after losing to UCLA yet again. A lot of UCLA fans hope John Robinson will stick around so the Bruins can be sure to extend the win streak to eight. UCLA fans hate the nickname "Gutty Little Bruins." USC fans hate the gutty little Bruins. USC fans think the Trojan Marching Band is terrific. UCLA fans think the Trojan band knows only one song. USC fans also think Traveler V is "College Football's Most Famous Mascot." UCLA fans think Traveler V looks like Traveler IV, who looked like Mr. Ed. USC fans kept hoping Saturday for a big play by Student Body Right. UCLA fans cheered as Skip Hicks ran sweeps for 117 yards. UCLA fans cheered after shutting down Student Body Right. USC fans wondered how to stop UCLA's Student Body Go Out And McKnown Will Throw It To You With His Left. USC fans ran a Student Body Right to the exits with 1:15 to play when Wasswa Serwanga intercepted a last-gasp pass by the Trojans. UCLA fans stuck around to cheer until their heros left the field. UCLA fans, gloating after the Bruins extended their win streak over the Trojans to seven, agreed with a happy Toledo, who called UCLA "The Best Football Team In Los Angeles." USC fans have no comeback for that one, except to say they would still be "The Second Best Football Team In Los Angeles" even if the Raiders and Rams hadn't moved. UCLA fans say bring on a Big Bowl. USC fans say bring on next season. By WOODY WOODBURN, Ventura County Star McNown shares beliefs with WL athletes: UCLA quarterback makes appearance at his alma mater West Linn Tidings   April 2, 1998    By Scott Butler, Sports Editor In a time when drunk-driving accidents kill or injure high school students at alarming rates, Cade McNown says he does not drink. In a time when teen-agers become sexually active at increasingly younger ages, Cade McNown talks of abstinence. And to high school students, who are a time in their lives where peer pressure is at its strongest point, Cade McNown says not to be afraid to ask for help. Seems like common sense, doesn’t it? Sure. Sounds like the beliefs of a Christian? Well, yeah, if you think about it. Kind of snuck up on you, didn’t it? But that’s the last thing the former West Linn High School all-state quarterback wants to do. He sneaks up on no one. In fact, he may be the most direct person you’ve ever met. The current UCLA quarterback and one of the frontrunners for college football’s Heisman Trophy, McNown returned to WLHS Tuesday to speak to the school’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. More than 100 students used their lunch hours to listen to McNown, one of the best athletes ever to graduate from WLHS. And he liked being back on familiar territory. "This was the first time I’ve ever been introduced at a school where they didn’t list my accomplishments or talk about whatever football accolades I’ve received," he said, to open his speech in the auditorium. "And that really meant a lot. Because that’s not important. What’s important is that we’re here in fellowship, and the fact that you’re getting together. You are the pillar of this school’s religious community." And McNown is the pillar of the UCLA Bruins. Football wasn’t his topic, however. Instead, he spoke on what his life is built around—his beliefs. He was eager to take questions and probably would have talked for most of the afternoon if he hadn’t run out of time. But he had enough time to make his points. "The most important thing I’m going to talk about today is being unashamed of your faith," he said. "Be willing to not care what other people think about you if you’re going to share the word with them. The fact that I’ve been able to have a platform as an athlete and be able to maintain people’s attention has really helped my confidence. But that confidence stems from me being secure in myself as a Christian. God tells us to not go the way of the world. That’s good. You don’t want to be part of the world. You want to be living your life for Christ." And that’s what McNown tries to do, and not just on TV, praying after big games. It is who he is. "If I go out and somebody’s trying to get me to drink, it’s easy for me to say no just because I don’t want to do that. I don’t believe it," he said. "I continue to not drink and I’ve maintained my virginity, which I’m very proud of. But I couldn’t have accomplished these things—and I hope I can continue to accomplish them—without the help of my relationship with the Lord." The students seemed to enjoy McNown’s talk. He doesn’t come off as preachy, and it wasn’t as if he was issuing warnings or trying to convert anyone to anything. He simply told his audience what he believed and let them take from it what they wished. "I think Cade’s status and his being pressed by the media all the time and still being able to stay pure and stay holy is quite an example to follow," said Drew Bennet, who penned the letter that asked the former Lion QB for some of his time if he made it home on spring break. "If we come away with one thing today it should be to follow his example to really believe in what we believe is the truth." And while the "truth" has been debated for centuries and will continue to be for many more, some things have already been proven. Like the fact that McNown is an excellent college quarterback. He has started for the Bruins since his freshman year, and the Heisman is definitely within his reach. He’s a highly skilled, motivated, talented, hard-working individual. "A lot of people ask me what motivates me," he said. "I’ve given 11 years of my life to football. Winning the awards, championships or records, well, someone else is going to come along later and do the same things. In the greater scheme of things, that won’t mean much. "To be honest, I think it’s just the love and honor I feel for the sacrifice Jesus made for me when he died on the cross. All I have to do is believe in him and I can achieve salvation. When you sit down and meditate on that you can see yourself in a whole new way." On the field, McNown uses his eyes to scan a secondary or read a defense for a blitz. Off the field, he looks inward and constantly strives to follow his beliefs. "As I’ve gone through college, I’ve experienced things that never entered my mind in high school," he said. "Sex and drugs, problems like that just aren’t that important. You can get past that. It’s the little things that can be the most devastating. I’m a sinner. That’s the reason I came to the Lord. Without him I’d probably be in the corner of my room crying." McNown, who should graduate from UCLA a quarter early, kept his audience laughing with descriptions of the good life on college football road trips. But along with the tales of nice hotels and steak dinners, he told about sharing his beliefs with teammates. "I’ve sat down and had discussion with atheists and finally got them to admit that there is a God," he said. "It’s simple, because truth is on your side." McNown has an engaging speaking voice and a relaxed manner on his side too, and he uses them to give people all the information they are willing to listen to. "I think it’s important for me to tell these kids that I’m one of those guys that has been through the same things they have and that things can change in college and get better," he said. "You can get your message out to them and get them thinking before they go off to college and really have people coming down on them. The kids that I was talking to today may have fundamental faith but may find it tough now to be in an environment where people may look at them in a different light." (special thanks to Cade's mom for sending me this article as well as Scott Butler and the West Linn Tidings for permission to use it). McNown: Football is 2nd string to Jesus Sports Column: Scott Butler     West Linn Tidings To say the prodigal son returned, especially considering the circumstances, is probably a bit sacrilegious. But I don’t think that would bother Cade McNown. And if it did, he’d be sure to tell me. He’s an upfront kind of guy. The 1995 West Linn High School graduate returned to his alma mater Tuesday to speak to WLHS members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The starting quarterback since his freshman year at UCLA, McNown is one of the favorites to win college football’s Heisman Trophy next season—his senior year. But McNown didn’t want to talk football with the 100 or so students in the West Linn auditorium. He didn’t want to talk about the Heisman, one of the most prestigious awards in sports. He wanted to talk about something that’s more important to him—his relationship with God. Already known as one of the best quarterbacks in the country, McNown is also becoming known for his faith. McNown, on spring break from UCLA, came back to West Linn after senior Drew Bennett and the FCA council wrote him a letter. To stand up in front of a roomful of high school students and announce that you’re a virgin who doesn’t drink takes guts. Anyone who has seen him play football knows he’s not afraid to lower his head and take on a linebacker. And anyone who has seen him speak knows he’s not afraid to share his faith. "It’s not like a big thing for me," he said. "I’m comfortable with it. If people don’t like it, then they don’t like it. I’ve got to get it out to them and let them know what I think at least. That’s what I’m here to do. To talk about what I stand for and who I stand for." And that was one of the main points he stressed: being unashamed of one’s faith in God. McNown, who moved to West Linn the summer before his senior year, found Christ at an early age—first or second grade—and has been a religious person since. He did say that he had a rebirth of sorts once he got to Oregon. He took stock of his life and decided to become even more devout. "One of the things I try to do is have enough evidence to convict myself of being a Christian," he said. "In fact, the other night I was talking to a couple of people, and a girl said, ‘Oh, aren’t you some sort of religious freak?’ And honestly, I was happy that she said that. Because that means the word is getting around." And as McNown’s fame spreads with the Bruins’ success, he hopes his message is spread as well. "I wish everyone knew that the center of my life is Jesus and that football isn’t even second," he said. "My family and a lot of other relationships come way before that. Football is just something I do. It’s part of my life, but it’s not the all-consuming thing. Any day I could get injured, or for whatever reason leave the game and still be just as happy. It’s something I’ve enjoyed and I’ve enjoyed some success, but when it’s time to pack it up I don’t want to be one of those guys who has to go see a therapist. I want to be able to walk away knowing I did the best I could, but also knowing that the best part of my life is yet to come." The other main player in the running (or passing) for the Heisman is University of Washington quarterback Brock Huard. Huard, also a very religious young man, points to the sky after throwing a touchdown pass. It’s his public way of acknowledging the part God plays in his life. McNown too, has his symbols. "I’ll admit that there are times when it’s first and 10 on the goal line with two seconds left and I’m not thinking directly about God, but nevertheless, when I go out on the sideline I can look down," he said. "I always have a little cross on my shoe to just remind me of where I come from and what I represent." The two quarterbacks met a while back at a meeting for Christian athletes. "I met him for the first time at a retreat down in Santa Barbara for Athletes in Action," said McNown. "He’s a really solid guy. I enjoyed getting to visit with him. I haven’t talked with him since we won this year, though. For whatever reason." So you have to Christian QBs battling for college football’s major award on programs in the national eye. Could there be a better platform for sharing their beliefs? "It’s definitely something I’ve thought about," said McNown. "It would be a lot of fun. But I don’t get ahead of myself with what might happen. Some people would love to have a person in the religious community who’s got a platform socially to come in and talk. That can be a big draw. You hear people talk about it all the time: The more success you have the more people want to have you around." A lot of people would like to have McNown around, including probably more than one NFL franchise. "I’ve been given a lot, and a lot’s expected of me," he said. "As long as God keeps giving it to be, I’m going to keep dishing it out." Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admire his conviction. Scott Butler is sports editor for the West Linn Tidings (special thanks to Cade's mom for sending me this article as well as Scott Butler and the West Linn Tidings for permission to use it). OPEN LETTER TO THE UCLA STUDENT BODY Dear Students: I hope you enjoyed the 1997 Bruin Football season.  We finished the year with a victory over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl and were Pac-10 co-champions ranked 5th in the nation.  We are riding a 10-game winning streak, and this fall we have every intention of picking up where we left off.  Our goal is to win every game and end the season as National Champions.   A major factor that could help push the Bruins to the top is you, the UCLA student body.  The heart and soul of college football is the spirit displayed by the students.  We need your support in creating an energetic atmosphere in the Rose Bowl for all five home games.  When the people in the seats are charged, the players on the field feed off your energy. We are already working hard to prepare for the upcoming season.  Our players and coaches are involved in an early-morning off-season conditioning program.  I am proud of the efforts of our students-athletes, but what I am asking for now is that the student-fan become just as involved and dedicated.  Spring ball starts on April 7th.  Come out and watch the team on Spaulding Field.  You will enjoy what you see and be on your way to becoming the best student-fan you can be.   The biggest committment you can make as a student-fan is to purchase season tickets.  I promise you five Saturdays of exciting football.   This is your team; this is your school--let's do it together! Sincerely, Bob Toledo Head Football Coach (Printed in the Daily Bruin on 3/10/98) UCLA thinking national title ... in football! By Andy Jasner CBS SportsLine Staff Writer April 21, 1998 LOS ANGELES -- Michigan and Nebraska earned a share of last year's national championship. But that doesn't mean either school was the best team in college football.  That distinction easily could have gone to the UCLA Bruins, who rebounded from an 0-2 start to reel off 10 consecutive victories. Instead of competing in the Rose Bowl, they were shipped to the less prestigious Cotton Bowl, where the Bruins disposed of Texas A&M. Had UCLA been participating in a long-overdue playoff system, it very well might have finished as the national champion. By the end of the season, no team was more explosive offensively or more stingy defensively than the Bruins. No team was more confident, either. All UCLA could do was watch helplessly as the Wolverines defeated Washington State in the Rose Bowl and the Cornhuskers routed Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. "That's the way the system is set up," UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. "This is a new year. We have a chance to help ourselves this year."   A terrific chance. The Bruins return the crux of their defense, which forced 40 turnovers last season and finished second nationally in turnover margin. They also return All-America quarterback Cade McNown, a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender. THE ROCKET-ARMED left-hander powered UCLA to a school-record 477 points and 429.7 yards per game. He completed 189 of 312 passes for 3,116 yards, 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions.   McNown's 7,238 yards passing and 487 completions both rank first in school history, and his 43 touchdown passes ranks second behind Tom Ramsey's 50 scoring passes between 1979-82. It's easy to see why Toledo is so excited and optimistic about '98. "If there is a better Heisman Trophy candidate than Cade, I'd like to meet him," Toledo said after the Bruins recently sweated through another day of spring practice. "I can't imagine anyone being more valuable to his team than Cade is to us. He has the complete package. He has a strong arm, quick feet and unbelievable leadership qualities. "He's so doggone competitive. He hates to lose. He always wants to improve. No one was more upset after the first two losses last season than Cade." McNown, a 6-foot-1, 214-pounder, could have made himself eligible for the NFL Draft. Much to the delight of the Bruins faithful, he decided to return to school. "I like our team," McNown said. "We were playing on a level with anyone by the end of last year. We have to start strong and then maintain it all year. That's the key." Another key to this season will be replacing talented 1,000-yard running back Skip Hicks. The Bruins had a similar concern, trying to replace Karim Abdul-Jabbar before Hicks, and Hicks turned out just fine. It appears the starting tailback position will be split among lightning-quick 5-foot-7 sophomore Jermaine Lewis (282 yards in '97) and junior Keith Brown (272 yards). THEY'LL BE RUNNING behind a mammoth offensive line that includes the 6-9, 310-pound Kris Farris; 6-5, 313-pound Andy Meyers; and 6-3, 300-pound Shawn Stuart. "I think we'll be in good shape offensively," Toledo said. "Obviously, Cade is back and if we can establish the run early and get some confidence early, we'll be OK." The Bruins open the season at home, where they will be facing pesky Texas and star running back Ricky Williams.   This isn't exactly an easy way to begin the season. "We have to take care of business and not worry so much about the opponent," McNown said. Kind of like how UCLA approached the final 10 games last season. Do that again, and the Bruins not only will be playing in the friendly confines of the Rose Bowl, they'll be shooting for a national championship. That sure beats the alternative and wondering "What if ... ?" (Andy Jasner is a sportswriter on CBS SportsLine's staff.) Hoping to Make Grade in the NFL, McNown Drops Out Pro football: Quarterback drops courses at UCLA to prepare full time for scouting combine and draft. by Eric Sondheimer,  Los Angeles Times - January 20, 1999  Facing a critical three-month period that will determine whether his NFL ambitions rise or fall, quarterback Cade McNown has left UCLA to focus on selling himself to NFL scouts. Since Jan. 4, three days after UCLA's 38-31 defeat to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, McNown has been based in Bradenton, Fla., and engaged in full-time training sessions at the International Performance Institute on the grounds of the Bollettieri Sports Academy. McNown's agent, Tom Condon of International Management Group, hired veteran NFL assistant Larry Kennan to serve as McNown's private quarterback coach in Florida.  "The whole thing is we want to get Cade as ready as possible for the combine, then spring training," said Chris Ciaccio, assistant director of the Performance Institute.   McNown left Bradenton last weekend to begin workouts for the Senior Bowl on Saturday in Mobile, Ala., then is expected to return to the institute to prepare for the NFL combine Feb. 18-22 in Indianapolis and the NFL draft April 17-18.   Marc Dellins, a UCLA spokesman, said McNown is not enrolled in the winter quarter but indicated it was  certainly possible" McNown could return for the spring quarter that begins April 5.   McNown is so focused on NFL preparation that he declined to play in last weekend's East-West Shrine Classic even though UCLA Coach Bob Toledo was an assistant for the West team.  McNown decided to play in only one all-star game, the Senior Bowl, an NFL production.   McNown's decision to devote full attention to the draft and put his studies on hold is part of a growing trend among potential draft picks because of increasing time demands, Newport Beach-based agent Leigh Steinberg said.   "The second season of scouting following the regular season has become so expansive that it makes it difficult to excel in scouting [workouts] while maintaining academic progress," Steinberg said. "If the difference in a player being No. 27 instead of No. 2 [in the draft] is a $10-million signing bonus, players reason they can finish the quarter later."  Another player who has left school to prepare for the draft is quarterback Tim Couch of Kentucky. But two USC players--linebacker Chris Claiborne and defensive back Daylon McCutcheon--remain enrolled for the spring semester.   Much is at stake for McNown, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting but is considered a borderline first-round draft pick because of questions regarding his size and arm strength.  At the performance institute, close to a dozen football players train six days a week with a series of workouts designed as a mini-combine under the guidance of trainers and coaches.  "We're trying to get them prepared physically and mentally," said Mark Verstegen, the institute's director. "We want them to perform real well." There is a custom-built weight room and 30,000-square-foot domed facility with a 70-yard synthetic grass running surface for players to work on improving strength, agility and speed. They watch videotape of workouts and learn about nutrition.  "We teach them what it's like to be a professional athlete," Verstegen said. A representative for McNown said the 22-year-old wanted to devote full attention to his NFL preparation and declined comment. Leader pass FOOTBALL: Perfection and patience is what makes Cade McNown the ideal quarterback By Vytas Mazeika   Daily Bruin Staff    Thursday, October 30, 1997 UCLA, meet your quarterback. He wears a blue-and-gold uniform most Saturdays, from the start of September to the end of November. You can spot him if you look for No. 18. It's easier to pick him out in practice because he wears a red jersey - but he still sports the No. 18. His name: Cade McNown. McNown has a rather laid-back personality that radiates confidence. He knows what is needed from him on and off the football field. In the past, he may have tried to do too much, but you won't catch him making many mistakes this season. You see, McNown is the top-rated quarterback in the nation. With a pass efficiency rating of 169 (which is higher than the NFL average), McNown surpassed fellow Pac-10 quarterback Brock Huard of Washington (168.2). He ranks ahead of Heisman Trophy candidates Peyton Manning of Tennessee (146.2) and Donovan McNabb of Syracuse (165.4). McNown is even better than probable future NFL quarterbacks Tim Couch of Kentucky (147) and Ryan Leaf of Washington State (164). "I'm excited for him," UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said. "He has more than reached my expectation level. To have 16 touchdowns and only four interceptions, and to make some of the plays he's making - for a junior he's playing as well as I thought he'd ever play. I'm really proud of him." But don't expect McNown to take much of the credit. His quiet nature won't allow him to gloat over his success. If anything, McNown would rather have everyone else realize that it is due to his teammates' efforts that the No. 12 Bruins enjoy a six-game winning streak. "No. 1 pass efficiency, I think, is a credit to the offense, not just one person," McNown said. "The receivers have to catch the ball, and the line has to protect for me to be effective. It's really a culmination of everyone on the team." McNown stands 6 feet 1 inch and weighs 215 pounds. Not really what the NFL considers your ideal quarterback. Nevertheless, McNown makes believers out of most, with plays like the one against Cal in the third quarter of Saturday's game. Flushed out of the pocket and with a defender draped all over him, McNown rolled to his left and threw a perfect strike to senior flanker Jim McElroy. Toledo called it "one of the best plays of his career." McElroy caught the ball in full stride and scored on the 58-yard play. Plays like this one are what made McNown a great field general. "I think his leadership has gotten a lot better - particularly with his success," UCLA offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Al Borges said. "I think the best leadership is by example, and he has exemplified a quarterback who knows what he is doing. There is a carryover to the rest of the team, and they know he knows what he is doing ... They have confidence that he can get the job done, and that is the best leader." McNown wasn't the starting quarterback during the beginning of his freshman year, but by the end of the Terry Donahue era in 1995, he found himself first-string. The experience gained that first year has helped McNown develop. Yet Toledo and Borges are quick to point out that McNown has gone through two freshman seasons. Last year, when a new offensive system was integrated by Borges, McNown struggled to make reads and committed many mistakes - as shown by his 16 interceptions, as opposed to his 12 touchdowns, on the season. "I was concerned with his inconsistency, but I've coached for a while, and I've coached quarterbacks most of my life," Toledo said. "When you put in a new system, it's not easy. I think when you're playing with a young guy who's inexperienced, it takes him a little while to get going. I knew that with his work ethic, his character and the pride he had that he would be better than he performed. It was just a matter of time." The success that both the Bruins and McNown have had this season is reflective of McNown's grasp of the offense and his decision-making abilities. Toledo emphasized last week that McNown touches the ball on every offensive snap, and the fate of UCLA rides on his efficiency. However, as evidenced by the 16 touchdown passes to four interceptions this season, McNown now finds himself more at ease with   his role in the offensive scheme. "I think I'm more comfortable in the huddle," McNown said. "I've been here for a while, and it's nice coming in here and seeing familiar faces. Guys that I've been to war with. It's a familiar atmosphere in that huddle." McNown has a strong belief that his wide receivers - like McElroy and redshirt sophomore Danny Farmer - will get open, if he waits long enough. McNown has a career low minus 72 rushing yards this season because he stays in the pocket until the fourth read in many plays. To him, that statistic only portrays his commitment to the team. "I'm trying to stay away from ill-advised throws," McNown said. "If something is not open, I'm just going to swallow it, or throw it away, or something and live to find another day. Interceptions just hurt a team too much." McNown expressed his frustration when forced to throw away the ball in games like the one against Cal. He tends to get upset - not at himself - but at the situation. The patience employed by McNown on the field, though, only enhances the improvements in categories like accuracy and game management. Nevertheless, McNown knows that he is far from perfect. "Obviously I'm not a perennial All-Pro in the NFL, so I've got plenty of work to do," McNown said. "Actually, even those guys have some work to do once in a while. I'm in a position where there is room for growth - room for getting better. So if I'm not completing just about all my passes, I'm going to be a little upset." Borges describes McNown as a perfectionist, "just like the entire coaching staff." McNown has high expectations of himself, and Borges believes that, due to the self-criticism, McNown has developed into the perfect quarterback for UCLA. "I know (McNown) fits what we want and he does what we want," Borges said. "To say that a lot of quarterbacks can (run our system), I don't know that a lot of quarterbacks can do it. But I know he can do it, and he's got all of the physical and mental qualifications that we are looking for in the position." McNown may not be a Heisman candidate, he may not be a future NFL quarterback - although his efforts this season may give him a shot - and he may not end the season as the top-rated college quarterback, but for another season-and-a half, he will wear blue and gold as your UCLA quarterback. Let others talk of Heisman, McNown just lives football Orange County Register, April 26, 1998 LOS ANGELES - He is the other great quarterback in the Pac-10.   He is not the one who was just drafted second overall by San Diego. The one whose face seemingly has been on TV every few minutes the past two weeks. The one who is about to sign a $25 million NFL contract. Cade McNown is the other guy. He is the junior who has decided to stick around for his senior season at UCLA. The redheaded Steve Young-play-alike who wants to be the first quarterback in the history of L.A.'s famous crosstown series to go 4-0 against USC. While Ryan Leaf will be throwing for dollars next fall, McNown will be running and passing his way into the school record books. And maybe all the way into New York's Downtown Athletic Club, where they pause every December to present a cherished piece of hardware known as the Heisman Trophy. Sure, this is only spring. But the Great Heisman Hype Machine already is down there, getting warmed up in the bullpen. UCLA sports information director Marc Dellins has McNown on an internet Web page, probably will feature him on a poster he'll send out nationally and most likely will set him up for a weekly national teleconference beginning in September. McNown is regarded as one of the morning-line Heisman favorites, along with running backs Ron Dayne of Wisconsin, Ricky Williams of Texas and Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch. "It is absolutely flattering," McNown said of the early Heisman talk. "I'm proud and honored to be mentioned as one of the top football players in the country." But enough of that. McNown doesn't live for trophies. He lives to play. He is the football equivalent of a gym rat. The guy you have to chase off the field every day. He can't get enough of the game. When he isn't busy practicing, he is stuck in some coach's office studying tape. "He knows the offense like a coach and has developed a comfort level with our system," UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. "But, above all else, he is driven to succeed. He is an extremely competitive person who is always looking for a way to improve, whether it be by working out with his teammates or watching video by the hour." McNown's only complaint about UCLA's current spring practice? "I haven't been getting enough reps," he said. He is serious, too. Bruins coaches want their young quarterbacks to experience more live action, so they're only allowing their All-America candidate to handle about a third of the snaps in spring drills. "It will be different in the fall, of course," McNown said. Of course. But even he doesn't know how different. UCLA is primed to have its best shot at a national championship season since Troy Aikman's senior year in Westwood in 1988. The 11-week schedule - there are no byes - couldn't be designed much better. Texas, Houston and Miami are the three nonconference opponents, none of whom would appear equipped to offer much resistance. The Bruins don't play Arizona State, and they get Washington State and USC at home. The only game that would seem to pose a serious danger is the Nov. 14 match against Washington in Seattle. Eleven of 22 starters return, seven of them on offense. And Toledo has just signed what many consider to be the best recruiting class in the country, with several blue-chip freshmen - including Tustin High running back DeShaun Foster - who figure to contribute immediately. Best of all, the Bruins will be attacking with the most efficient quarterback in America. McNown's statistical rating of 168.6 not only led the nation's quarterbacks in 1997, it was the best figure ever recorded in the Pac-10 and the 12th highest in NCAA history. But it is not just his ability to throw. It is his ability to make plays. He is the finest combination runner and passer UCLA has had at quarterback since Gary Beban, who remains the only player in Bruins history to own a Heisman Trophy. Beban won his in 1967, 10 years before McNown was born. Although Beban was right-handed and McNown is a lefty, the two have one important trait in common. They have the same voracious appetite for the game. "Yeah, I'm in the coaches' office quite a bit," McNown said. "I'm always trying to get into their heads. I want to eliminate mistakes. I want to find out what I can do better." He amazes Al Borges, the Bruins offensive coordinator. "Cade is a real football junkie," Borges said. "He's truly enamored with the game. ... It's not work for him. It is fun." A 6-foot-1, 215-pounder with definite NFL aspirations, McNown is sort of a throwback football player. Norman Rockwell would have loved him, with his close-cropped haircut, his freckles and his easy smile. No earrings or tattoos for him. No, nobody ever will accuse this kid of going Hollywood. On his last quarter break, while friends were heading for the beach or the desert to party, McNown went home to West Linn, Ore., and talked to his old high school on the behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "It was no big deal," he said. "I just talked about not being ashamed of your faith, staying in school and gave them some idea of what it's like to go to college." Unlike Leaf, McNown is in no hurry to turn pro. "UCLA has been a great time for me," he said. "I've grown up a lot. There are a lot of things you can't learn unless you come to L.A. I think I got more of a sense of the world here." Besides, you can go to Dodgers or Lakers games, hang out in clubs, take in all the sights. Right? "Not really," said McNown. "I think I've been to one Dodgers game and haven't even made it to a Lakers game the whole time I've been here. I guess I'm funny that way." Unlike some of his Generation-X friends, Cade McNown's tastes are more simple. A football, an empty practice field and a few spare hours. That's all it takes to keep him happy. Steady Cadence December 31, 1997     By ART THOMPSON III   The Orange County Register From Irving, Texas His buddy promised they would watch an action-packed video, so UCLA receiver Jim McElroy accepted the invitation to visit teammate Cade McNown's house. McElroy had visions of Carl Weathers in a commando rescue flick or perhaps Claude Van Damme kick-boxing his way out of peril. But when McNown popped the tape in the VCR it definitely was not a film Siskel and Ebert had reviewed. "We watched a film on football. I thought we were going to watch a movie," McElroy said. "It was the highlights of the 1993 Auburn team that went undefeated but was on probation." Predictably, when asked to give his version of that story, McNown, UCLA's junior quarterback, wondered what the fuss was about. "It was an action movie," he said. "And it was pretty sweet." But then McElroy, a senior, should have known better. He was a sophomore when McNown arrived at UCLA in 1995, as a chubby kid, McElroy recalled. Even then there was something different about McNown. There are players and coaches who love football and a small percentage obsessed by it. McNown's devotion to football was, and continues to be, beyond obsession. "Football is his life," McElroy said. "Football, football, football. That's what he loves. I love football, too. But I've learned how to separate it from regular, normal life. But with Cade, football is his life." That was clearly illustrated this season during a wild victory party. More than 600 guests were packed inside and outside the Sherman Oaks house that McNown shares with several teammates. The music was hot and everyone was dancing. Well, nearly everyone. "During the party he was mostly in his room. He wasn't really outside with everyone else," McElroy said. "He was talking to people, probably about football." McNown's appetite for football knowledge is insatiable. He wears out the VCRs at UCLA watching tape of opponents and the Bruins' offense. At every opportunity, he bombards offensive coordinator Al Borges or Coach Bob Toledo with questions. That knowledge has become dangerous to UCLA foes. This season, McNown led the nation in passing efficiency, setting a Pac-10 mark with a rating of 168.6. Going into Thursday's Cotton Bowl against No. 20 Texas A&M, McNown has completed 173 of 283 passes for 2,877 yards, with 22 touchdowns and only five interceptions. With one more season to play - and he will be back for his senior year - McNown already is UCLA's career leader in completions, passing yards and total offense. Next year's Heisman hype already has began, much to McNown's consternation. "If the Heisman talk is going to come, it comes," McNown said. "I'm not going to give much thought to it, and I'm not going to brace myself for it." Yet, it is bound to come because McNown could be the nation's top returning quarterback in 1998, and he has played a significant role in the Bruins' nine consecutive victories. During that stretch he has completed 127 of 206 passes for 2,220 yards, with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions. McNown has thrown for more than 200 yards in 14 consecutive games. But he snorts at that statistic, too. "It's not that important to me," he said. "An opposing team could go into a game intent on stopping one facet of your game, and if they really concentrated on it, they could do it. ... Throwing for 200 yards every game is not that important. When I'm passing, I want to make good reads and hit all my passes. But I don't have to throw on every down to be happy." McNown has started 30 consecutive games, beginning in his freshman year, and locked up the starting job so securely that two quarterbacks - Ryan Fien and Steve Buck - transferred. Although McNown's devotion to football never has been questioned, his improvement has been meteoric. Toledo was the Bruins' offensive coordinator when McNown was a senior at West Linn High in Oregon, and Toledo made the recruitment of McNown his personal project. The two developed a relationship so close that not long into McNown's freshman year his teammates jokingly told McNown that he acted like Toledo was his father. In a way, they were not far off. Toledo praised McNown when he did well, scolded him when he made mistakes and cajoled him into improving. "I've seen Cade change quite a bit," Toledo said. "He was a young, naive freshman when he came here. Now he's an experienced veteran, very serious, very focused and a fierce competitor." McNown is also an honor-role student and one of the most recognizable faces on campus. He is the type for whom coaches use the cliche of "he's the kind of guy I'd like my daughter to marry." But McNown has not had a girlfriend since he came to UCLA the summer of 1995, and he's not looking, either. "It would probably have to be someone who can talk football with him, anyway," McElroy said, laughing. "Maybe a coach's daughter."