"I'm going out with my family and my friends and my teammates and I'm going to hit the town because I haven't done it yet after an Army-Navy game," the senior quarterback said. "Watch out Philadelphia."
In a party that probably spilled over from Saturday night into Sunday, the Cadets celebrated the latest of five straight victories over the Midshipmen, a 28-24 win that propelled No. 24 Army into the Independence Bowl with its first 10-win season.
It was only fitting that McAda lead the Army charge into the rainy Philadelphia night. As he had the previous two years, he had led them on the field over their arch rivals, putting himself into the record book of this series' long and illustrious history in the process.
McAda ran for 134 yards on 15 carries in his role as point man for Army's wishbone offense. He chipped in 116 passing yards, which gave him 533 total yards in three games against Navy, beating the old Army record of 359 yards set by Glenn Davis from 1945-46.
McAda will also be known as the quarterback who led the Cadets on the biggest comeback ever in the 97 games between Army, which trailed 21-3 in the second quarter, and Navy.
"We're very fortunate to have a guy like Ronnie to run our offense," Army coach Bob Sutton said. "Ronnie's an experienced guy, he's got great composure and is a great competitor."
The only time the composure was tested was when McAda - and his offense - was on the sideline at the end of the game, when Army's defense twice made stands that preserved the victory.
"I didn't want to watch," McAda said. "I was praying the whole time, but I knew they were going to pull it out."
The Cadets (10-1) got some luck. LeBron Butts dropped a low, wet ball that would have been the go-ahead touchdown for Navy (8-3). And a would-be receiver fell on the Middies' final play, which turned into an Army interception.
But the bigger factor was hard work. Army's defense outplayed Navy's for most of the game, limiting the Navy offense, which had averaged 37 points over its last eight games, to 297 yards.
"We didn't do what we should have done on the offensive side of the ball," Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie said. "We were up 21-13 at the half, and you come back out and score three points in the second half."