One thing is certain about UCLA’s 27-7 victory over
Arizona on Saturday, and it’s that it made backup quarterback
Pat Cowan look very good. The player formerly known as
“Joe’s younger brother” went 20/29 for 201 yards,
and threw two touchdowns with no interceptions to lead the Bruins
in Olson’s absence.
I have three theories as to why Cowan looked so strong against
the Wildcats this weekend, and they’re about as different
from each other as humanly possible.
One, Pat Cowan is just that good. Sitting on the sidelines for
the first four games of the year was a phenom, frustrated that
he’d missed the opportunity in camp for the starting job, and
waiting to pounce on a chance to get in there and dethrone Justin
Medlock as the team’s best Heisman candidate. Saturday was
that chance and he shined, leaving only one question unanswered:
Will he follow in his brother’s ‘stached footsteps, or
remain clean-shaven?
Not to hate on Cowan, because he did play well, but I
don’t think that was the reason. Cowan played very well for a
backup and did his job Saturday, but he didn’t look perfect,
or even dominant enough to keep the job if Olson’s MRI shows
a clean bill of health and he can play against Oregon.
Cowan’s play should have inspired confidence that the Bruins
aren’t dead in the water if Olson goes down, but it
shouldn’t have people scheduling any trips to the New York
Athletic Club.
Theory number two: There is a weird electromagnetic phenomenon
at the Rose Bowl similar to what happened on “Lost”
that makes the Bruins play well when Ben Olson gets hurt. Last
year, the Thousand Oaks native, then in competition with Drew Olson
for the starting job went down with a broken left hand, and the
Bruins went on to a 10-2 season and a Bowl win. This Saturday,
Olson went down with a knee injury, and his team went on to get
back at Arizona for last year’s loss with a convincing win
over the Wildcats.
If Olson’s MRI results come back with bad news and the
Bruins sweep the rest of the year, then there might be some weight
to this conspiracy theory; otherwise I think it’s probably
best to just let it go.
Theory number three ““ and in my opinion, the most likely
““ is that it has more to do with offensive coordinator Jim
Svoboda than anything else.
After Olson was helped off the field, Pat Cowan came into the
game and Svoboda opened up the playbook. Instead of letting Cowan
get his feet wet slowly by handing the ball off to Chris Markey
three times in a row, Svoboda went straight to the air, and it led
UCLA straight to the end zone.
The play-calling was incredibly smart for several reasons.
First, it caught the Arizona defense by surprise that the Bruins
would start passing immediately with their backup quarterback
behind center.
“I’m not sure if they were expecting it or not, but
it caught them off guard,” said wide receiver Marcus Everett,
who hauled a touchdown pass by Cowan.
The gutsy and surprising play-calling opened up the field and
gave the wide receivers a little more space, and Cowan more of a
margin for error.
“We probably caught them off guard,” fullback
Michael Pitre said. “But we knew what Pat was capable of
doing. He just went out there and did a good job, and the coaches
put him in a good situation, (and) us in a good situation to make
plays.”
Calling roll-outs for Cowan also played into his strength, as he
showed his out-of-the-pocket abilities, both running for first
downs and finding receivers on the move.
Cowan did not play a perfect game. He missed a wide-open Brandon
Breazell on a route that would have produced big yardage. He did
play very well though, and as is often the case in college
football, it is because his coach put him in a good position to
perform.
E-mail Gordon at
bgordon@media.ucla.edu if you’re holding out for
theory number two.