The whispers and implications coming from the UCLA coaching
staff suggested that UCLA was going to open up the offense and
challenge the Arizona secondary.
But nobody said Pat Cowan would be the guy to do it.
Following Ben Olson’s knee injury in the first quarter,
Cowan entered the game. What happened next seemed to shock
everybody at the Rose Bowl except for Jim Svoboda, the guy calling
the plays, and Cowan, the guy executing them at a surprising
rate.
Cowan, a redshirt sophomore, seemed to catch the Arizona defense
off guard. On his first play in the game, Cowan rolled to his left
and found fullback Michael Pitre for an eight-yard gain. The next
play, Cowan passed to Brandon Breazell in the flat for a five-yard
gain. Four plays later, Cowan threw a well-timed slant pass to
Marcus Everett in the end zone for a touchdown.
With the Wildcats loading up on the running game, Cowan got off
to a blistering start, completing seven of his first eight attempts
for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Before Arizona even had a chance
to see what the UCLA offense would look like with backup Cowan in
the game, the Bruins had driven down the field for a touchdown.
“Once you’re on the field, there’s no going
back,” Cowan said.
UCLA’s aggressive play calling by Svoboda, the offensive
coordinator, seemed to shock Arizona, considering the Bruins
hadn’t even thrown the ball as liberally with Olson behind
center.
“We learned our lesson about harnessing the
offense,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. “And
that’s not what we want to do.
“Pat came in, and we didn’t decide to leave any of
our game plan on the shelf. We wanted to make a statement early
with Pat, that we’re not just going to run the
ball.”
Although the play-calling gave Cowan a chance to succeed, it was
ultimately his own decision-making that delivered UCLA’s 27-7
win over visiting Arizona. Cowan finished the game 20-29 with 201
yards and two touchdowns.
Aside from finding a rhythm with the receivers, Cowan also
displayed some little-known mobility and arm strength.
He scrambled for the first rushing first down of the game by
either team. For his second touchdown, he stepped into a pair of
Wildcat defenders to deliver a strike to Matt Willis in the back of
the end zone.
“I prepare myself to play any way I can get on the
field,” Cowan said. “It was unfortunate that it
happened like this.
“I think that the entire team was supportive, and when you
have the support of the team you feel more confident. My teammates
were confident in me, and I played for them,” he said.
Although Arizona (2-4, 0-3) has a much maligned defense, Cowan
was able to get the ball to Junior Taylor and Everett, two wide
receivers that had been noticeably quiet in the previous games.
Cowan’s play was impressive when compared to
Arizona’s Adam Austin, Willie Tuitama’s backup
quarterback who struggled with inconsistency against UCLA (4-1,
2-1).
Cowan’s emergence flies in the face of those who perceived
the quarterback competition between Olson and Cowan in training
camp to be nothing more than a coach’s plot to motivate his
young star.
“I definitely think that whatever happened in the
offseason improved both of our games,” Cowan said.
“Since the day I’ve gotten here I’ve planned on
playing and prepared myself to play.”
With Olson’s scheduled MRI examination on Monday, Dorrell
will know early in the week whether or not he will have
Olson’s services for the next two games, against Oregon in
Eugene and against Notre Dame in South Bend. Dorrell didn’t
comment on any prospective quarterback controversy, saying that he
feels comfortable with either Olson or Cowan in the game.
“We’re not thinking right away there’s a
quarterback controversy,” he said. “We just won a
football game; we have a great challenge next week to play Oregon
at Eugene. I know that we’re plenty capable of winning if
Ben’s not able to play.”