Scott Ostler
Las Vegas, Nev. -- When it comes to entertaining, heroic, improbable, emergency fill-ins, you've got a short list. There's Rudolph, of course. And you've got Ted Striker, the troubled dude in the movie "Airplane" who lands the big jet when the two pilots fall ill. Add to that list Steve Levy, instant legend. Levy, Cal's who-dat quarterback, produced his second huge game in his second start, leading the way to a 35-28 win over BYU in Thursday night's Las Vegas Bowl. If this is all there is to Levy's college quarterbacking career -- he's a junior but the job will be up for grabs next season -- it's been a good one. Beat Stanford in the Big Game, going long? Check. Beat BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl, going long? Check. Wherever great Cal quarterbacks of the ages meet to hoist a beverage and relive the memories, be the place real or mythical, Levy now has a chair with his name on it. "Two-game Steve," they might call him, but they'll say it with respect.
Winning two big games with a guy like Levy at quarterback is like winning the Indy 500 in your family minivan. This was the perfect spot for a choke job, a return to reality for Levy after that big Big Game. But Levy once again seemed oblivious to the pressure. Coach Jeff Tedford has been saying he's not sure if Levy is cool because he hasn't fully grasped the gravity of the situation, or because he's just that confident. On Wednesday, Tedford said, maybe hopefully, "I'm leaning toward confident." Levy says he's been amped up for the last three weeks, telling his teammates, "Let's go, let's go!" Three of Levy's high school teammates from New Jersey were at the game.
"He phoned us when he found out he'd be starting (against Stanford)," Matt Handy said. "He was freakin' out! He was freakin' out!" Like, scared freakin' out? "No!' Handy said, "He was ecstatic!" "I'm just excited all the time," Levy said.
And, apparently, ready to roll. Levy way-underthrew his first long pass; on his second long try, the ball slipped in his hand and he underthrew again. But his third bomb, just before halftime, was a dead-on 42-yard strike to DeSean Jackson in the corner of the end zone, good for a 21-14 halftime lead. Levy, like Rudolph and Striker, had considerable help from a supporting cast. "It's all about the team," Levy said. "I didn't do anything special tonight. I just put the ball in our athletes' hands and let 'em fly." In fact it was the dazzling speed of running back Marshawn Lynch and wideout Jackson that prevented BYU from finding, attacking and destroying what figured to be Cal's weak spot -- Levy. Lynch was the MVP, running for 199 yards and three touchdowns. He set the tone with a 22-yard gain on a swing pass on the first play of the game, and simply scared the Cougars to death. This might not have been a storybook season for Cal, but they took a mediocre season and tacked on a storybook ending. Thursday's game capped an interesting week, which started with several of the team's players taking finals in a ballroom of the Hard Rock Hotel.
S'cuse me, could you ask 'em to turn down Hendrix so I can concentrate on my molecular biology? The Bears ran the standard Vegas gauntlet of slot machines, Elvis impersonators and chorus girls, and finally got to the entertainment -- a football game. Cal was favored by a touchdown over the 6-5 Cougars, but the equalizer figured to be the quarterbacks. BYU featured junior John Beck, a classic rifle-armed, swift-footed quarterback running amok in a legendary passing system. Man, would this guy look good in a 49ers or Raiders uniform. Thursday he completed 35-of-53 passes for 352 yards. Cal featured Levy, who looks like what he is, a quarterback who became a fullback who was converted back to quarterback as an emergency quick-fix. For BYU, Job One was rattling Levy, upsetting what's left of the dangerous offense and sending Cal to its second straight bowl humiliation. Levy said he knew BYU would be coming, and, "They had a lot of shots at me. I got rocked pretty hard early three or four times." But he threw for 228 yards, hitting 16-of-23 passes, and two touchdowns. It's been a crazy month for the kid who happened to be standing there when Tedford ran out of quarterbacks and started looking, saying or thinking, "Anybody? Anybody?" Before Thursday night Levy probably would have been a longshot to win the starting job next season, when he'll be a senior. Just not enough true quarterback pedigree for the sophisticated Cal system. But this game might have changed that picture. Maybe what goes on in Las Vegas doesn't always stay in Las Vegas. It's not like this guy is operating in a real world anyway.
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