Mon, Dec 01, 2008
 Patrick Cowan throws a pass to brother Joe during UCLA's game Saturday at Washington State. The brothers have hooked up for 22 catches for 219 yards this season. dean hare / associated press 2007
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Thanks for the ball, BroOne Cowan is quiet, while the other is a team prankster
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.01.2007
After completing 145 passes in his college career, Patrick Cowan finally connected with his UCLA teammate- brother earlier this season.
Despite being in the program for almost nine years — Joe as a redshirt senior, Patrick as a redshirt junior — the Cowans had never connected as Bruins until Week 4 of 2007.
Last year, when Patrick started the Bruins' final eight games, Joe was out with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
The fates finally lined up, and the brothers, who grew up in Pico Rivera, Calif., playing football in the street, had that special moment. And it happened on Patrick's first pass of his first game, a 13-yarder at the Rose Bowl against Washington.
Um, didn't they?
"I think we got a first down," Patrick said.
But there was more to that, right? When Patrick sees No. 26 open, he has to think, "That's my brother! Throw him the ball!"
Doesn't he?
"I see him as the X receiver or the Z receiver," said Patrick, 21.
The two play their roles innocently enough — either because they are laid-back Southern California guys or just sick of the question. Or maybe it's really not something they think about.
Joe, 23, said he gets asked "about once a week" — usually by out-of-town reporters — but doesn't mind the line of questioning.
"It's not a big deal," he said.
Here's something that is: When the Bruins play the UA on Saturday, the Cowans might be two of the team's best three players. Part of it is talent; the other attrition.
Because of injuries, the Bruins will be without the two starters — quarterback Ben Olson and running back Kahlil Bell — who had been the most effective players at their positions. Wide receiver Brandon Breazell also is a question mark with a rib injury.
The Cowans might have to carry this team.
"When they had their first Cowan-to-Cowan connection in a game, I think some people made a big deal out of it," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "But in terms of what Joe felt, it was just him doing what he does — which is just doing his job — and Pat felt the same way."
Dorrell calls Patrick the "the jovial prankster on the team." He has jumped into puddles of mud with his teammates — for fun — and likes to smile and joke a bit in the huddle. He once held a press gathering armed with offensive linemen, with whom he consulted before every answer.
Joe is painfully quiet, but said he's "just not quite as outspoken" as his kid brother. Ask Patrick for something most people don't know about his brother, and he swears Joe would make a good clown.
"He's really good at the unicycle and juggling and stuff," he said.
Seriously?
"They are different," Dorrell said. "Joe's more business-oriented, doesn't say much, just goes about his work. Pat, he's the quarterback and has the leadership qualities of a quarterback that commands the huddle, and also can keep things light when they need to be.
"They're really different. They're both different ends of the spectrum."
Both got their competitiveness from their father, Tim, a quarterback at Washington from 1980 to 1982. Tim Cowan still holds the UW record for passing yards in a bowl game — 350 in the 1982 Aloha Bowl. Both eschewed UW for various reasons; Patrick wasn't recruited heavily at first, then chose UCLA over Idaho and Arizona.
The Cowans know they will be relied on Saturday more than ever because of UCLA's injuries.
"Regardless of who's out there, I'm gonna do my job," Pat said.
Even if it's with his brother.
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