I mean seriously. Around here the standards have fallen so tragically low during the miserable Dorrell era that some people are happy about a little sign of life from the QB position courtesy of Patrick Cowan:
"(Cowan) gave us signs of life, and showed his scrambling ability and moved around the pocket," Dorrell said. "I know he wasn't perfect. He missed some throws, and things like that. But Pat plays with a lot of energy, the players enjoy him. He's out there trying to make plays, and that's what makes him exciting to watch."
Then again anything that moves around is "exciting" in Sleeping Beauty’s joke of an offense. So before any gets a little too super excited and proclaim that PC should be the starter when he gets healthy, there are some numbers we need to take into consideration.Before leaving the game because of injury (which he suffered after throwing a terrible interception), Bruins were up by a score of 24-10. 7 of those points came via Keyes interception.
So under Cowan Bruins came up with 17 points against the worst defense in the Pac-10.
Cowan was 17 for 30, completing 57 percent of his passes for 147 yards. He had only thrown 1 TD, and was averaging an appalling 4.9 yards per attempt.
IIIRC the only bomb in the entire game came not from Cowan, but from Brandon Breazell.
Cowan made something happen, scrambled around a bit, got some first downs, but when it came down to it despite Cowans scampering around Bruins drive were stalling time and time again.
Sure it looked like some of the players were playing with a little oooomph with Cowan under center, perhaps blocking a little better, getting more separation from the receivers, but our offense still looked extremely average.
And Cowan's number when it came down to it also looked very average. I know what you are thinking. You are saying well he still showed a lot of heart and practically won the game.
Well I am not sure if that will be enough. If Dorrell wants to hold on to his job this season, he will have to win the Pac-10 championship. And he is not going to get that done with the kind of production Cowan provided yesterday. Remember what Coach said:
Do not mistake activity for achievement.
Last time I checked Cowan’s record as a starter is 4-5, and it might have been 3-5 if not for Eric McPick.Anyways, for now this discussion doesn't matter since Olson is back next weekend and will be starting against Oregon State. From Dohn:
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said he expects QB Ben Olson to start at Oregon State, provided he does not feel any lingering affects from his headaches. Olson went through an exertion test (basically, it's to get the heart rate going and make sure no symptoms return) Sunday, and he is expected to practice Tuesday. Dorrell ruled QB Patrick Cowan out because of his right knee injury. Cowan will undergo an MRI Monday. Doctors believe it is an issue with his medial collateral ligament.
We hope PC recovers quickly. However, the decision about who should be our starting QB when he is fully healed is not as clear cut as you may think. I sure didn't think we got the answers yesterday. But then again as I have said before, these are not my headaches. Since our head `added-coach' is sleeping so well, who am I to worry about these issues?We know he is always ready to "answer the bell" and we will expect DG to ring his bell out of Westwood, if he doesn't resolve the QB situation and win the Pac-10 championship this season.
GO BRUINS.