INSIDE THE UCLA HUDDLE

Life in the UCLA huddle is never boring.

One game, you’re part of an offense that’s scoring 49 points. The next, you’re holding together for a drive late in the fourth quarter with a ranking or a conference championship or even a national championship on the line.

One game, Cade McNown is throwing to Danny Farmer for big gains. The next, Jermaine Lewis or Keith Brown or DeShaun Foster is running for 100 yards.

With a standout line, it’s an offense that has become the envy of most of the country.

It’s also an offense of varied personalities, making for an interesting huddle.

Guard Andy Meyers and tackle Kris Farris are the enforcers.

McNown is the boss, by action as well as position.

Foster is a freshman tailback with great potential, so he is appreciated because of his skills and abused because of his youth.

“We’re calm,” said Meyers, an All-Pacific 10 selection preparing for Friday’s Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin. “Cade leads and our O-line doesn’t pay attention to what back is in. Each position goes about their business their own little way. It’s quiet and subdued.”

Quiet and subdued?

With some of the finishes the Bruins have had?

“Believe it or not,” Meyers said.

But not boring.

Inside the huddle, with Farris and center Shawn Stuart:

Stuart: “I think that we’ve been around the block with each other, so we know when it’s time to get serious. I think the whole unit knows when things are going good and when things are going bad. When things are going bad, I think we know to pick it up and start getting on each other to get better and to work harder. And I think when we’re doing good, everybody is like, ‘Let’s have fun with this. Let’s work harder that way too, because we know we’re having a good time doing it.’ ”

There is no doubt who is in charge of getting on people.

Stuart: “Andy. Andy’s in charge of getting on the whole team.”

Farris: “Andy’s the emotional leader.”

Stuart: “He’s a self-made man. He goes around and gets on everybody. He gets on us. He’s one of those kind of guys that no matter what’s going good, it’s not going that good. Which is good. We need that. We all have different personalities. Oscar [Cabrera, the other guard] is a really level-headed guy. He doesn’t really change no matter the play. He’s usually pretty calm. [Brian] Polak [the other tackle] doesn’t say a whole lot either. He just plays and he listens to you. But I think Meyers and Farris, they talk probably the most.

Farris: “I make a lot more jokes, though. Andy’s more to fire them up, I’m more to calm people down. If something going’s really bad, I try to get things under control. I think that’s more my role.”

Stuart: “It just comes down to the fact that we trust each other and we’ve been around each other so long that you look in each other’s eyes and say, ‘Whatever I have left on this last drive, I’m going to give it to you.’ Everybody knows that. And because we trust each other and we love playing with each other so much that we can give that.”

Farris: “It’s just a way of accountability. [Stuart] said a couple months ago at a team meeting, ‘You owe me this game,’ to the whole team. ‘I’ve been here six years. This senior has been here, this senior.’ That’s kind of what it is. We just owe each other. We work so hard. There’s no way we could ever let up.”

McNown in Control

“When the game’s on the line,” Foster said, “Cade pretty much is taking control.”

More than pretty much, actually.

“Definitely,” Meyers said. “Absolutely. He’s composed. He’s eloquent when he’s calling out the play. He’s not rushed. He’s under control, and as such we play under control and composed and execute.”

Said Stuart: “I haven’t seen a time when Cade’s really felt a lot of pressure. He’s usually pretty confident about it and let’s get it done. That’s one of the attributes that’s good about him. He really wants the ball in his hands. His personality is like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ There’s not really a lot of yelling.

“When we have close games, we get in the huddle and usually the line is, ‘C’mon, guys, let’s go. Let’s get this done,’ and yelling at each other. But when Cade gets in there, gets in the huddle, he says it and we all shut up. He says, ‘Let’s go,’ and then we all go out. That’s usually how it is.

“He usually tries to calm us down. A lot of times, either we’re mad and yelling at each other--not yelling in a negative way, but ‘C’mon, let’s get this going’--and he will get in and say, ‘Everybody shut up.’ Sometimes we’re just having a good time because we’re running the ball well or we’re driving down the field easily, and we’ll get up and excited about it.”

Leadership has always been one of McNown’s best traits.

It’s an attribute that can’t be measured, but is as obvious to teammates as any of his records.

“I just look in their eyes when I’m talking to them,” McNown said. “I’m not thinking about stuff. It just kind of comes to the surface that way. Guys aren’t all of a sudden acting different in the fourth quarter.”

Said Meyers: “It’s just like a look of confidence, a look of, ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to take to win and we’ve got to do it.’ That’s how he gets us focused on winning.

“It’s just like it’s time to dominate. It’s really calm. It’s really focused. No one says anything. It’s everything you’ve got for the next few minutes, the next few seconds, whatever it is, and we go in with the confidence that we’re going to win, that we’re going to score. And we usually do.”

‘Don’t Fumble’

Foster shared time with Lewis, the usual starter, and Brown at tailback.

He led the team in yards (635) and, among the main backs, yards per carry (5.5).

But he’s still a rookie, something the offensive line in particular wasn’t about to let him forget.

Foster has become used to hearing a typical mention from Farris and Meyers in the huddle when he enters the game:

“Oh, the freshman’s in.”

“Every once in a while,” Meyers said. “Every time I see a new back I recognize, I’m like, ‘Don’t fumble,’ and that’s it. They’re, ‘Oh, you can’t say that. Now I’m thinking about it.’ I’m all, ‘Don’t fumble.’ That’s the only thing I care about. I don’t care what they do as long as they don’t fumble.”

Foster doesn’t get off that easily, though.

“We always tell him shut up,” Stuart said. “He can’t talk in the huddle. ‘Get that smile off your face. What, do you think this is a joke? You think this is a game?’ We joke with him, but we like that. It’s fun to see somebody out there having fun playing football. In the end, you can be so tight.”

In the end, Foster isn’t.

“When the game is on the line, I’m not panicking because nobody else is in there panicking,” Foster said. “I like that situation.”

Quiet Confidence

The end of the game is special to all the Bruins.

Five of the 10 victories--and the loss to Miami--were decided in the fourth quarter or, as was the case against Oregon, overtime.

“When the game’s on the line, Cade pretty much is taking control,” Foster said. “Not too many people are talking. I know I don’t because I’m a freshman.

“You can just tell that he’s about to take over the game or do something great. Either he’s going to throw to [Brad] Melsby [for the win against Oregon State] or make a long run for a first down or something. You can just tell.”

Thus, the win over Oregon State, as the Beavers planned for overtime, on the McNown-to-Melsby 61-yard scoring pass with 21 seconds left.

Or the 53-yard pass play from McNown to Drew Bennett on the final play from scrimmage of regulation against Oregon, putting the ball at the Duck three, before Chris Sailer missed a chip-shot field-goal attempt.

“We all look at each other in the eyes and we have that glare that we all know, that this is serious business,” Farris said. “There’s no room to mess up and we all know that. If one of us is the one that messes up, the other four [offensive linemen] will never forgive us. So we don’t want to be that one.”

Said McNown: “We’re pretty consistent. That’s to our benefit. If you’re a little behind, some teams may be really anxious and really trying to do something and then end up jumping offsides and overextending on reach blocks and different things like that. Our guys just play consistent. It’s like, OK, let’s just do this.”

Because inside the huddle, they have come to make it appear that simple.

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ROSE BOWL

Wisconsin (10-1) vs. UCLA (10-1)

Friday, 1:30 p.m., Channel 7

UCLA: Bruin Coach Bob Toledo said he has agreed in principle to a new contract. Page 6

WISCONSIN: Matt Davenport goes from walk-on to Badgers’ all-time field-goal accuracy leader. Page 6

ALAMO BOWL: Kansas State, a one-time national title contender, is upset by Purdue, 37-34. Page 7

OTHER BOWLS:

Music City (Page 6)

Virginia Tech 38, Alabama 7

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Micron PC (Page 7)

Miami 46, North Carolina State 23