Sports
Fumbling Ducks lose futility bowl
Displaying an tne feroc
iousness of a sleeping cub, the
Washington State Cougars
managed to sneak out of Autzen
Stadium Saturday with a 10-3
Pac-10 Conference football win
courtesy of Oregon's fumbling
Ducks.
The question before the game
wasn’t which team would win
the game, but rather which team
would lose it. With an offense
which appeared as lost as ever
through most of the game, and a
lot of help from an ill-timed
bumbled punt, the Ducks
managed to snatch defeat from
the jaws of victory again
The loss dropped the Ducks
to 0-8-1 overall and
strengthened their hold on last
place in the Pac-10 by dropping
them to 0-6 in conference play
The Cougars improved their
record to 2-6-1 overall, and
1-3-1 in conference
"We continue to self-de
struct,” said a worn Oregon
coach Rich Brooks "We re just
inept at this point on offense '
The Duck offense played like
a disaster waiting to happen
throughout the game They
fumbled the ball seven times,
losing three of them, and threw
in an interception And with 3:35
to play in the third quarter.
disaster finally struck
On fourth down and seven
from their own 17, punt snapper
Steve Johnson skidded the ball
toward punter Kevin Hicks on
the two. Hicks couldn't handle
the wet ball, tried to pick it up,
then watched it slide across the
end zone and into the arms of
WSU's Cedrick Brown Presto —
the game’s only touchdown
"When you win a football
game with the kicking game
based on something that they
do wrong — you still won," said
WSU coach Jim Walden
"That's a very simple fact."
The Ducks made it very
simple.
The Cougar TD made the
score 7-3, erasing the
advantage the Ducks built when
Todd Lee booted a 24-yard field
goal with 10:11 to go in the third
quarter But even that field goal
displayed the inability of the
Oregon offense to get the job
done when the opportunity
presented itself
Freshman tailback Eugene
King put the Ducks on the
doorstep when he rambled 37
yards to the Cougar five on a
trap play off the right side It was
Oregon's longest rushing play
of the season, and appeared to
be even longer when King
The Ducks were turned on their heads again Saturday, but Oregon
middle linebacker Chris Cosgrove (58) had a big day with 16 tackles
including this acrobatic effort.
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Oregon punter Kevin Hicks tries to handle the snap on a third quarter punt attempt, but he couldn't and
the Wasnington State Cougars tell on the ball in the Oregon end zone for the game's only touchdown.
WSU won 10-3 Saturday at Autzen Stadium.
danced into the end zone But
he was ruled out-of-bounds at
the five
From there the Ducks went
the wrong way First, Terrance
Jones was dropped for a six
yard loss on an option pitch
which didn't fool anyone On
second down, Jones got four
yards back on another trap play,
leaving Oregon with third-and
goal on the seven
This time it was King, Ore
gon's leading rusher filling in for
Dwight Robertson who rein
jured his knee, who came up
with the mistake in the clutch.
Oregon called an option left. But
King, who was sent to the ho-,
spital with a concussion in the
fourth quarter, went right,
leaving quarterback Kevin Lusk
facing a pack of Cougars at the
line of scrimmage.
While the offense was bumb
ling along, the Oregon defense
"did some marvelous things,"
according to Brooks.
Leading the defensive charge
for the Ducks was an inspired
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middle linebacker, Chris
Cosgrove, who finished the
game with 16 tackles, 10 unas
sisted
“I was hungry,” said Cos
grove, who missed the two
previous games with a pinched
nerve
Lusk and company made
things fun for the Cou
gars, when another promising
drive turned sour late in the
fourth quarter. Lusk had moved
the Ducks to the Cougar 21 from
the Oregon 46, completing back
to back 14 yard passes to Os
borne Thomas and Rourke
Lowe along the way. But, as
usual, the Ducks found a way to
stop themselves.
First, Lusk was nearly
intercepted when he was hit as
he threw on second down and
one at the 21. Then Lusk let
Ryan Zinke's snap go through
his legs on third and one, forc
ing Harry Billups to fall on the
ball at the 24. “He was ready to
take off, and I wanted to get the
ball and go,” Lusk said of the
attempted sneak.
Lastly, on fourth-and-four the
Ducks attempted a fake field
goal Kicker Lee took the
handoff from holder Hicks and
was greeted by four Cougars six
yards behind the line of
scrimmage. With 5:11 to play
WSU took control of the ball, ran
it for three first downs, ano ran
out the clock.
"Coaches tend to think
alike," said Walden. "We were
thinking that we would probably
do the same thing in that situa
tion.”
"In retrospect, it's probably a
dumb call on my part," said
Brooks of the attempted fake.
"We probably should have just
lined up and gone for it."
Hindsight is often better than
foresight. But for the Ducks, the
only thing hindsight provides is
a painful view of another game
that got away.
Story by Paul Danzer
Photos by Mark Pynes