Photo by Steve Crowell
Tailback Tony Churry and Oregon's offense found the going
lough Saturday as the University of Southern California drop
ped the Ducks 19-t) at A utzen Stadium.
v | ^*j Continued from Page 12
One opportunity was wasted
when Oregon linebacker T6dd
Welch made Trojan fullback
Todd-Steele cough Up the ball
early in the third quarter.
However. Oregon was unable
to put the ball in the.end zone
and had to settle for a 24-yard
Matt Maci-eod field goal.
The Ducks had another '
chance to. score when Welch
sacked USC quarterback Tin! •
Omen-causing- him to fumble
the ball to Oregon's John Byrne.
Then Miller threw a costly in
terception that was deflected off
McCall into the hands of IJSC'
cornerback Tommy Haynes. *
"We made some poor deci
sions on offense,”-said Brooks.
Jordan hit his°Iast field goal of
22-yards to put .IJSC up 19-9
with 10:25 remaining in. the*
game, .but Oregon tried' unsuc
cessfully to get back in the
game.
"The loss was frustrating.”
Brooks said of the injuries' in
which defensive tackie Dave.
.Maley was lost for the season. '
Ducks had their chances
By Allan Lazo
Of the Emerald
Opportunity knocked on Oregon's door
Saturday afternoon, and no one answered.
The Ducks had numerous opportunities
against the University of Southern California, but
Oregon’s failure to capitalize gave them their se
cond Pac-10 loss as the Trojans marched to a 19-9
victory at Autzen Stadium.
It wasn’t that the Ducks couldn't get their
hands on the football this week, as was the case in
the loss to the University of Arizona last
weekend, but Oregon just couldn’t hang on to the
ball at the right times against the Trojans.
“The key factor was that we turned the ball
over.” said tailback Tony Cherry who finished
the game with 97 yards on five carries. "We
handed them the ball and the ball game with it."
The Ducks finished the game with four tur
novers, two lost fumbles and two Chris Miller in
terceptions. both of which were deflected off of
Oregon receivers.
As a result of Oregon’s four turnovers, the
Trojans put points on the scoreboard.
"1 think the key to their victory was our
mistakes and their taking advantage of our
mistakes," said fullback Alex Mack w'ho led
Oregon rushers with 97 yards on 11 carries. “We
had too many turnovers to win any game.”
On the other side of the football. Oregon also
received the ball three times on Southern Cal
mistakes but managed only three points in the
three drives.
On each of the three Trojan fumbles, the
Ducks received the football inside [JSC territory.
Heading the list of Oregon’s squandered op
portunities was the Ducks' first touchdown — the
one that was called back.
• Opportunity presented itself to. the Ducks
when a Mike Preacher punt hit USC free safety
Jerome Tyler in the back on the punt coverage.
Oregon's Creg A itkenhead recovered the pigskin
in early moments of the first quarter to give the
Ducks a big breaks .
Oregon had a first down on the Trojan
97-.yard line and on the first play of the drive.
Miller hit flanker Lew Barnes for what appeared
to be their sjxth magical connection of the season.
However., the touchdown was called back
because of an illegal receiver downfield penalty.
‘‘We killed ourselves time after time,” said
Mack “It is so frustrating when you know you're
better than the way you’re playing, and when the
team you're playing isn't really better.”
The fact that Oregon may have outplayed
USC was the prevailing feeling in Autzen
Stadium as darkness settled in after the game.
After all, the Ducks came limping into the
game with numerous injuries from the previous
week and also lost four more players before
game's end. Despite the troubles, the Ducks
outgained the Trojans offensively 292 yards to
261.
"We feel very fortunate to get out with a
win.' said USC Coach Ted Tollner whose Trojans
have won three Pac-10 road contests.
“But. it's a win. 1 don't care about statistics
and all that stuff, what you care abut is what's on
the scoreboard," said Tollner.
In a game of lost opportunities, Oregon need
ed the man who had provided new hope for this
Oregon team, but even quarterback Chris Miller
was unable to capitalize on some very key
situations.
Oregon offensive coordinator Bob Toledo
said there was “no question” that Miller should
have taken some of the opportunities to run the
ball when he had open field ahead of him. Miller
passed instead of ran which accounted for his
negative 30 yards rushing for the game that in
cluded three sacks.
“If you don’t run and make that threat, then
people don't come up and respect that,” said
Toledo who saw Miller finish the game with a 10
of 40 passing performance for 177 yards.
‘‘They’ll just stay back and cover you,” said
Toledo of what USC did against Oregon's passing
attack. “So. when you have the opportunity to
run. you have to take it."
USC All-American linebacker Jack Del Rio
saw things a little differently.
The 6-4, 235-pound senior thought that a lit
tle old-fashioned Trojan intimidation may have
kept Miller behind the line of scrimmage.
"You come up .arid get your tail knocked off
by some linebackers and you think twice about
running the ball again,” said Del Rio. “It's
dangerous to turn upfield. and I’d stay in the
pocket and throw if 1 was a quarterback."
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