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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1972)
McAllister bulls for yardage The Pac-8 They said Hushies9 hut here comes EJSC By JIM HUNTER Of the Emerald Look at Husky Stadium any Saturday Washington is home and you’ll find 60.000 Seattlites screaming for opponents’ blood. Vigorous fans they are, probably the most rabid on the West Coast. And why not. They’ve suffered through some massive indignities in the recent past. In the six years after their last apperance in the 1964 Rose Bowl Washington trudged to a 26-32-2 record. Not bad for a Colorado State or a Vanderbilt but not the stuff that fostered Jim Owens sweat shirts and “Mush” buttons. Sixhiller Then it happened. To Husky rooters it was a second coming. To Owens a reprieve. To press and public relations men a bonanza. It was—he was— Sonny Sixkiller. In the sophomore star of 1970 football fans saw a quality quarterback who could get Washington on the path to Pasadena. Owens saw his job security stabilizing. News and PR men saw countless puns about Indians and, when the public got sick of ethnic lines, a chance to appear liberal, together, hip by refering to him as a native American. Or better yet, not even mentioning he was something other than a signal-calling WASP. National publications jumped on the Sonny bandwagon once they discovered this unheralded soph was more than a flash in the pan. His junior year found his stolid visage on the cover of several national mags and that due how much to the fact he led the nation in passing the season before? While in his second year he improved Washington’s record from 6-4 to 8-3, the opposition and fans discovered something. Though able to fire bullets all over the field his passes were many times too hot to handle. And his passing percentage in dicated this—only .424. Following the 1970 campaign, before the world learned Sonny was a thrower not a passer, “ex perts” were practically conceding Washington the Pacific-8 crown in ‘72, Sixkiller’s senior year. But his percentage last season and events early in the current go-round have thrown new light on the situation. The Purple Hoard hasn’t been at all impressive in barely edging powerhouses University of Pacific and Duke. And a very real peril to all Pac-8 teams, not only Washington, is the reemergence of Southern California to the glory that was theirs in the days of Garrett and Simpson. The Trojans, generally acknowledged as a close second to the Huskies in the race for the Roses and with little chance to break into the Top Ten nationally, are currently sitting atop the country after dumping highly-touted Arkansas, 31-10, and destroying Oregon State, 51-6. So who’s to stop USC from capturing it all? Well, there is Washington. And for optimists there’s hope of an Oregon upset. But it will probably be up to Notre Dame Dec. 2 to thwart Trojan national championship ambitions—though that’s the only hope they’ll rip asunder. For, you see, by then USC will have the Rose Bowl birth well in hand. Then if the Trojans will be in Pasadena playing the Big Ten representative—most likely Ohio State—what’s the fate of the other seven conference members? The Huskies should get second, and probably with as good or better record as last season’s, but with nothing to show for it but the rain and slush of Seattle in late December. UCLA, 2-7-1 last year because of a sputtering offense, is revamped and rolling. Loser to the likes of Pittsburgh in ‘71, the Bruins shocked everyone, except perhaps their sparkplug coach Pepper Rodgers, by tripping up Nebraska, 20-17. To prove it wasn’t any fluke, UCLA took care of Pitt, 38-28, Mark Harmon, son of 1940’s all American Tom Harmon, running the wishbone effectively and junior James McAllister rumbling like they knew he would before he was declared ineligible for 1971. Stanford and their all-American candidate running back-flanker John Winesberry should grab fourth. While Don Bunce, the man who could never hope to replace Jim Plunkett, is gone Mike Boryla, a little-used player his first two yeara, is now at the helm. But everyone knows he could never hope to replace Bunce. The quality drops off after those four schools though one school could surprise and sneak into the top division. That’s Oregon. Expected to be losers the first part of the season though spoilers towards the end after sophomores gained experience, the Ducks have looked better than anticipated in their first two games against Missouri and Arizona. League wins over Washington State, California and (well, its got to come sometime) Oregon State should materialize and an upset over Washington or Stanford is not out of the question. Cal's good for sixth though they too could sneak up a notch or two if they ever settle on a quar terback and he pans out. Washington State and Oregon State should battle it out for the bottom. Though neither will be awesome it's hard to pick the Beavers for last. Not only do they consistently finish strong (and who do they always play last?) but they have all-American Steve Brown anchoring the defense from his linebacker slot. Still, the Cougars could nab that vaunted seventh position if senior quarter-back Ty Paine finds a somewhat respectable replacement for graduated speedster Bernard Jackson with which to run the option. The only thing of which one can be virtually certain is, considering the Pacific-8’s sub-par 22-20 1971 interconference record and their 1972 successes against foes like Arkansas and Nebraska, the Pac is back.
