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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1968)
Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26,” 1968 vn 9* 1 Fighting Ducks' Take on Utah Wed ski ns Exciting, Explosive Ball Club Ilfhe Utah Redskins bring an citing, explosive offense to Len Stadium today for a 1:30 |n. battle against the Oregon The Utes, 2-3 on the season :e Oregon, lost their last en unter to Wyoming, 20-9. They it their first two contests, 31-0 Nebraska and 27-24 to Ore n State, but brought them Ves back to .500 in their next o games with victories over jshington State (17-14) and w Mexico (30-7). I Thomas Leads Club ■Leading the Salt Lake City liib is senior split end Louis ■peedy” Thomas. In five con |ts this year, the 6-0, 176 ftund Houston. Tex., product |s latched onto 23 passes. But pat he does with the ball after E catches it is even more im [Thomas has scored four touch Iwns this season—on pass-run lays of 48, 56, 53 and 51 yards. |n those 23 receptions he has, E’s racked up 447 yards. [Directing the Utah forces is fcarterback Ray Uroth. Groth I an average thrower, accord ■g to Oregon Head Coach Jerry pi, but is a good scrambler lid likes to run the ball. ■ Actually, the Redskins have I better rushing than passing [tack. With fullback Steve Mol Ir running out of the Utes’ jot-T formation, the Ducks luld be in for a rough day. lolnar, a senior from Canada, p rushed for a 3.8 average kainst some of the toughest lotball teams in the country. [Halfback Dave Smith, with I yards in 20 carries, will start I another back field spot, with fill Fowler opening opposite piith on the left side. I Line Satisfactory jlohn Marshall, the Frosh as lant who scouted the Utah fyoming game last weekend, eported that the Ute line was Itisfactory but not very big— averages 206 pounds. On defense, the Redskins ave a big, strong line. They wploy a split-six line forma on, thus not using a middle aard. Most eared pair on the n® are the defensive ends, °rm McBri e and Gary Kerl. they re very strong and lg’ Marshall said. "They do a >od job of anchoring the line.” oth are 6-3 and in the 220 >und range. , dn sports Information Di Th°r, Ron Fessenden adds, y re two of the finest, most ^lfpS1Ve*dffensive men in the ip i m Athletic Conference,” Maff f,ln which Utah Plays i K3 laid he felt Oregon „ai d able to get outside Vhf,Ute defense. “They o LfUnt’ he said’ “but they ;a,,hj ® g00d linebackers,” in en y Stone and Fred McFar iXS®,. defensive backfield, otatirm $kl-ni use a three-deep oe f a,’Wlth Dick Worley and larv rJTe ,at halfbacks and osition! kCr Sted at the safety The in °°d Puntin« he punti™ f6 weR'suited in hey have Ppdepartment. There •unted 4n t a's ^mith, who has 1.4IverL!"16!,1111’3 year for a f 63 yardSs ^ 3 longest kick One of Utah’s downfalls is a tendency to fumble frequently. They’ve dropped the ball 16 times this year and lost it on 12 of those occasions. Although the Ute roster lists a total of 33 returning letter men, that figure tends to be somewhat deceiving. Last sea son the Redskins posted a 4-7 overall record and a 2-3 mark in league play, but the thirteen Utah lettermen who ran out of eligibility accounted for the bulk of what punch the Utes had. Coach Bill Meek is in his first year at Utah, the second week in a row Oregon meets a first year coach. Meek, 45, had been offensive coach at Army for two previous seasons, and dur ing his time there the Cadets posted a pair of 8-2 records. Meek installed the forward pass, missing for several sea sons at West Point, and added outside running to the Army attack. Meek in Pros Meek, a standout quarterback at Tennessee in the early 1940's, spent five years with the Denver Broncos ajid Dallas Cowboys in the professional ranks begin ning in 1961 before going to West Point. He previously had been head coach at Kansas State, Houston, and Southern Methodist. Utah has met the Ducks 12 times previously and has lost eight of those games. But they’ve won the past two, 17-14 in 1966 and 21-0 last season in Autzen Stadium. Biggest Ore gon win was 35-8 in 1962. UTAH END LOUIS ‘SPEEDY’ THOMAS 23 receptions for 447 yards and four touchdowns Oregon Tries for Number Three Webfoots Rolling info High Gear The “Fighting Ducks” of the University of Oregon, starting to roll into high gear after two straight victories, face a tough Utah squad today at Autzen Stadium. The Utes are coming off a 20-9 loss to Wyoming while Ore gon tripped Idaho 23-8 in its 600th football game after up setting Washington 3-0 the week before. Both Teams 2-3 Although both teams are 2-3 for the season, all losses have been to one-time top twenty teams. Utah dropped contests to Nebraska, Oregon State and Wyoming while Oregon lost to Colorado, Stanford, and the number two team in the coun try, Ohio State. If the Ducks should win today it would be the first time they have reach ed the .500 mark since the ninth game of the 1965 season. Oregon’s two straight wins clearly give them the momen tum edge as they prepare to meet USC, the top team in the country, next Saturday also at Autzen Stadium. The Ducks appear to be in their best physical shape with only slotback Andy Maurer still out of action. Maurer will be on the injured list for at least two more weeks. The return of several key players in the last two weeks may be just what Oregon needs to rack up win number three. Coach Jerry Frei will have both his top signal callers back in action with the return of junior Alan Pitcaithley. John Harrington took over for Pit caithley last Saturday and com pleted 5 to 16 passes including a 28-yard bomb to Bob New land. He also scrambled for another 63 yards on the ground. Harrington was also instru mental in Oregon's 3 0 win over Washington. Pitcaithley has completed 11 of 34 passes in three games. His totals include two touchdown tosses and 94 yards rushing. Welch to Start Teaming with Harrington to start in the Webfoot backfield will be one of Oregon’s all-time great rushers, Claxton Welch. The former all-state high school football and basketball star now stands eighth on the Oregon all time rushing list with 1,012 yards during his three year career as tailback. Last, Satur day he gained 139 yards in 28 carries against Idaho to move from tenth to eighth on the rushing list and receive "back of-the-game” honors. Welch is now fast approaching Jake Leicht who gained 1,240 yards during his varsity career. Roger Smith, filling in for injured Andy Maurer, will be at slotback. Smith was Oregon’s leading receiver in 1967 with 28 receptions but has caught only 2 aerials for 11 yards this fall. Marshall at Fullback Sophomore Greg Marshall will again assume fullback duties and possibly share the punting chores with Pitcaithley. Marshall is the second leading rusher on the squad with 133 yards in 47 carries. With the return of Bob New land to his offensive end posi tion last week, Oregon’s passing attack should give the Utah de fense plenty of trouble. New land, who caught his first var sity pass for a TD against Idaho, will team with Denny Schuler and Greg Lindsey to give the Ducks three good pass re ceivers. Schuler leads the club in pass receptions with 12 and also has two touchdowns to his credit. Lindsey has caught seven pass es for 170 yards and a 24.3 average. Oregon’s offensive interior line, which provided good pro tection for Harrington against Idaho, will remain intact for to clay’s contest. Dave Roberson will be at tight end with War ner Wong, Nick Shur, Tom Wooton, John Luger and Joe Phillips forming t h e interior line. Improvement has been the byword for Oregon’s defensive alignment which has allowed only one touchdown in the last two games. The Duck's defensive unit led by George Dames limited Idaho to -12 yards on the ground last week and limited the Vandals’ quarterback, Steve Olson, to -52 yards rushing. Dames Leads Charge Dames was named “lineman of-the-game” as he led the de fensive charge from his middle guard position. Joining him on the front line today will be Jack Rust and Jim Nicoliasen at tackles and Dennis Gassner and Mike Kish at defensive ends. Kent Grote, the Ducks’ leading tackier, will open at linebacker along with Keith Sherman. Steve Hilbert, second in Pa cific Eight pass interceptions with 5 for 77 yards, is Oregon’s top pass defender and will be at the lone safety position. Oregon looks in good shape overall but will have to go "all out” to win their third consecu tive game.
