NOT HYPE-STRUNG; MCNOWN PUTS SPIRITUAL VALUES ABOVE HEISMAN.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

The highlight video ended, the lights returned and 200 children at Rolling Hills Church outside West Linn, Ore., gazed at Cade McNown.

Sitting quietly among them was McNown's mother, Vicky. She had heard him speak before and expected more of the same that crisp Sunday morning last spring: A standard-issue, stay-in-school, work-hard speech, with questions-and-answers tacked on.

Instead, McNown blew her away.

``It's so easy to be motivated when you're winning,'' he began. ``It's easy to be motivated when people are patting you on the back and telling you how great you are. But people can turn on you. Where do you think I get my motivation when things aren't going well, when we're losing?''

Silence.

``I get it from within,'' he continued. ``I get it because football is what I love to do, but it's not who I am. Whether you play soccer or like computers, make that what you love to do, not who you are. I get my motivation because I know who I am in Christ. If I lose, if things don't go well, it doesn't make me any less of a man.''

McNown talked for 10 minutes, maybe 12, and when he finished Vicky had tears in her eyes.

Five months later, McNown begins a journey Kenny Easley, Troy Aikman and J.J. Stokes could not complete - to join Gary Beban (1967) as UCLA's only Heisman Trophy winner. A senior quarterback, McNown is the No. 2 returning vote getter behind Texas tailback Ricky Williams. They meet Saturday in the Rose Bowl in UCLA's season opener.

McNown's Heisman campaign is in high gear, and with it comes the hype. A few weeks ago, UCLA distributed a highlight video to media across the country. He has a website: www.uclabruins.com/mcnown. He's on a slew of magazine covers and a dozen freeway billboards. His poster is splattered on windows throughout Westwood, each proprietor paying homage to the Village's boy-king. The interview and autograph requests are endless. There is a distraction - a temptation - on every tree.

Then there's the small matter of performance. McNown is without tailback Skip Hicks and receiver Jim McElroy, who combined for 37 of UCLA's 60 touchdowns in 1997. In their place are a slew of underclassmen. McNown may be better than last year, when he led the nation in passing efficiency (168.6). He may make better reads and better decisions and perhaps better throws. But without his top playmakers, Hicks and McElroy, his numbers could be worse.

``The people surrounding Cade are a concern,'' UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. ``I know Cade will do the right things. But other people have to do the right things in order for him to perform well.''

Heisman hype is an unforgiving beast, capable of creating legend (Charles Woodson) or squashing it (Peyton Manning) when performances does not meet stratospheric standards. What if McNown isn't fabulous? What if he's merely good? What if Williams outplays him Saturday and the Bruins win seven games instead of 10 and the offense averages 30 points instead of 40? Will his candidacy implode? Probably.

But it won't matter.

Because McNown's playbook has 66 sections, and on third-and-long he calls Jeremiah, chapter 9, verse 23: ``Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches.''

It's his antidote for Heisman hype.

``In my position, you have to stay grounded,'' he said. ``I'm the same person no matter where I go or what I do. I've got nothing to brag about. I don't consider myself better than anyone else. That way, I don't let myself get confused by what people say. They can turn quickly.''

McNown has more in common with Beban than the Heisman quest. Like Beban, he is a demanding leader who is hardest on himself. Like Beban, he can beat teams with his feet and his toughness. And like Beban, he makes up for modest size and arm strength with intelligence, instinct and resourcefulness.

``Cade just has the ability to get done what needs to be done,'' said Beban, who met McNown two weeks ago. ``He has the right attitude: don't play for awards, play to win, and awards are a by-product of winning.''

To some extent, McNown is a by-product of the system. Toledo and offensive coordinator Al Borges have tweaked their offense to spotlight McNown's accuracy and mobility. He's constant motion, using misdirection and rollouts to keep opponents guessing. He throws short- and middle-distance passes but is rarely asked to slingshot a ball through the defense.

``Our system is built to do a variety of things and take advantage of Cade's versatility,'' Borges said. ``I can tell you right now Cade is not going to have great numbers. We're not going to throw the ball 40 or 50 times. We want efficiency.

``A lot of people have high expectations because the kid did all these great things (last season). But he lost his big-play guys. If he's going to have chance to win the Heisman, people are going to have to read through the numbers.''

When McNown was in sixth grade at Sunnyslope Elementary in Hollister, Calif., he was asked to draw a family tree and a crest. In the crest he put a cross, a basketball and a huge football. Then he was asked to state his last name and what it meant.

``My name is McNown,'' he said. ``It means football,'' he said.

He learned UCLA's playbook before stepping foot on campus in 1995, prompting then-coach Terry Donahue to call McNown the best-prepared freshman quarterback he'd seen. Three seasons later, he owns UCLA records for career completions, career yards and career total offense.

Each summer, McNown arranges weekly scrimmages between the Bruins and local junior colleges. He calls the players, sets the time, finds a location. If he misses a pass in practice, he'll stay late and throw it 10 times. If he makes a bad read, he'll watch the play on film time and again. Before bed he studies the playbook and the Bible. He does not drink, he does not smoke and he does not party.

McNown means football.

``Cade's attitude has rubbed off on the team,'' sophomore tailback Jermaine Lewis said. ``A lot of people admire him. They see him getting it done and realize they don't have to party and create a hoopla. The past couple years, a lot of guys are hanging out more. That's because of Cade.''

But where McNown ventures this season - into the blinding light of Heisman hype - his teammates cannot follow. He alone can deflate the pressure. Or succumb to it. Or dismiss it altogether.

He decided months ago not to fight the hype, to shrug it off like an arm tackle. So he chuckles at his massive image on the freeway billboards and at the close-ups on magazine covers. He signs hundreds of autographs and sits through dozens of interviews, answering the same questions over and over, all with a detached amusement.

It's as if there are two McNowns - one engaged and consumed with football, the other distant and disbelieving. To buy the hype, even at wholesale, would be a slap in Jeremiah's face.

``He really doesn't like to talk about it,'' Vicky said. ``He says, `Mom, let's just go game to game.' I ask him about the NFL, he doesn't want to talk about it. I ask about the Heisman Trophy, he doesn't want to talk about it.''

McNown's psychic wiring, his ability to compartmentalize, is one of his greatest assets. Like a cruise missile, he locks on a task until completion. He did it in elementary school - ``He could focus on anything and master it,'' said Diane Francis, McNown's second-grade teacher - and he has refined the skill over time. Whether he throws a touchdown or an interception, it is forgotten the next time he trots on the field. Each play is its own entity, severed from the one before.

``When you throw a touchdown, people get excited, and when you throw an interception, they get upset,'' he said. ``I try to keep an even keel.''

This week, he has Texas in the cross hairs. Next week, it'll be Houston. Then Miami. Nothing else matters. Not the Rose Bowl, not the Heisman race, not the NFL draft. It's not about hype. It's about leading a good Christian life.

A scribbling on his bedroom wall says it all: ``Life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how you react.'' When your self-worth is measured in chapter and verse, not in touchdowns and trophies, then the only pressure is staring back at 200 kids in a local church on a crisp spring day - and convincing them of that very same thing.

``I remember sitting in church listening to Cade and being so proud,'' Vicky said. ``As a mother, it's neat to see your son reach a place where he's so comfortable with who he is as a man.''

MAKING A RUN FOR THE HEISMAN

UCLA's Cade McNown enters his senior season as one of the nation's top quarterbacks. A look at his first three years:

Started 32 games, including his last 31

Third-team All-American in 1997

One of three finalists for 1997 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award

Placed eighth in the 1997 Heisman Trophy voting, second highest among 1998 returnees

Led the nation in pass efficiency in 1997 (168.6, a Pac-10 record and 12th highest in NCAA history)

Set UCLA school record last year with 3,116 pasing yards, completing 189 of 312 passes and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions

In finals 10 games of last season - all UCLA wins - completed 143 of 235 passes for 2,459 yards and 22 touchdowns with four interceptions

Has passed for 200 or more yards in his last 15 games

Has passed for UCLA career-record 7,238 yards and 43 touchdowns with 30 interceptions

Set school record with five TD passes against Texas in 1997

Set personal best with 400 passing yards against Tennessee last year, the second-highest total in UCLA history

Ranks first in UCLA career completions (487)

Ranks first in UCLA career total offense (7,633)

Ranks second in UCLA history with 43 touchdown passes

Has rushed for 13 touchdowns in his career

1997 Gm. Att. Cmp.Pct. Yards TD Int. Rating

Statistics 11 283 17361.13 2,877 22 5 168.6

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) Cade McNown, left, hopes to join Gary Beban, right, as UCLA's only Heisman winner.

Andy Holzman/Daily News

(2) Cade McNown will open his Heisman run Saturday against Texas and another top contender, Ricky Williams.

Michael Caulfield/Associated Press

(3) no caption (Cade McNown)

Ed De Gasero/Associated Press

BOX: MAKING A RUN FOR THE HEISMAN (see text)