emerald
Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Supplement
Wednesday, April 21,1982
happened?
ies spoil Oregon's football hopes, or
were the Ducks just a bunch of quacks?
By JeM Dickerson
*t>t the Enwald
Sphng is a time for forgett ng the past'
Warm sunshine and pleasant showers thaw the
earth life bfegips to spring forth mto abundance once
again abd footbalt tedTns across the nation begin
preparations for arnjther fall season
Bi>t abnormally coqi weather this spring has made
spring dnlls less than ideal in Eugene where the
Oregon football team is still trying to figure what
happened to cause last season s bitterly < old'' fa
Hope sprang up everywhere last August, as the
'981 Ducks gathered for the media on pirn." day As
the sun beat down on the-Autzen Stadium turf
coaUdant smiles were reflected on many of the face
as coaches and players speculated at spending the
holidays in the Sun Beit.
Betsrid them vy^n-Mw sk r. essh;'1 seasons Br-f ;e
them w*s a season of «air'v easy r, jn-conferem e
opponents did a conference schedule that 'eft m.?
USd and placed their most powerful pponeots tp the
friendly confines o' Autzen. Star urn
The experts' had fht Ducks bait ny tor the Pac he
1 '),■Conference crown After ait they a reasoned );■.«
was pas ally the m e team that had gone o- ' ? the
year befu'e, oeatuic la - uos Angeles
Washington in Seattle and tying USC The Ducks were
expected to have a watershed year :
Hoopla died
Air the hoopia died down however, after the
Ducks fell to underdog Fresno State in the season
opener m California The Bulldogs thwarted the flat
unemotional Ducks whenever the VVebfoots wer’en t
do-nq i? to'themselves
Their confidence was again shaken the neu
weekend as they tell to a good Kansas club Again
mistakes plagued a disappointed Duck squad
What resulted was a headlong dive the rest ojlh#
season into the cellar of the conference Instead 'ht
playing hard to find wins the Ducks were merely afraid
to. lose Oregon, took a 6-3-? regard from the previous
year and convened it into a 2-9 disaster
But where dm the experts - including head coach
P oh Brooks — go wrong ' What happened to this
seemingly bowl-bound team’ Tnp answer may be
found m one of severa. theories about the
Ducks problems „
No offense
A omparisor) of statistic s dver the two-year
penortw i show where the Ducks' problem* have lam
— the offense
pf .w nq one htrasquad mimmage-|dst spimg %
Hr ,q- sm.Myf. : /,nai ter oit> pa major Achilles'
Ht-ei for the Ductn
continued on page 2B