■ SPORTS EXTRA FOOTBALL
4
Mil PHOTO
Tt># OSU defense has held Oregon to an average of Just over four points a gam# In tha last four contests between tha two.
Let the battle Begin
Chris Metz
i Wy I nutmakl
It's finally hen* The Civil War
to end all Civil Wars lakes ten
ler stage Saturday is the 12th
ranked Oregon Ducks hookup
with the Oregon State Heavers
fur the '(Hth edition of the i las
sn battle for state Itipmnw V
The Heavers (2-5 conferent e.
4-6 overall) are looking to spoil
Oregon’s first trip to a Rose
Hmvl sun e the 1957 season
when the Dinks (n-1, Hi)
invade Parker Stadium in Car
vnllis lor both team’s Pai 10
finales.
Strangely enough- the road
team has won the last four
games in the series and the clas
sic battle has swayed from its
high-scoring contests in the
1970s and 19R0sto an annual
defensive s< rap. usually ■ outing
down to the pla\ of the spar ial
teams.
Oregon State head i ottt.h lerrv
I’ettibone had some concerns
coining Into the final week of
prm tu e about his special teams
play and pinpointed some proh
lam areas for the Heavers
"We have to be a lot more
consistent \sith our snaps on
punts, field goals and PATs.”
I’ettibone said "We must do a
better )ol> with our holds on
extra jtoints and field goals "
With the mysterious im reas
mg reliant» on the kicking game
in Civil War games, plovers
have come to expet t close
defensive battles that are usual
ly settled bv a levs |H»mts
Hut no matter what the final
tally is. a Civil War win is a vs in
nonetheless
"We i ould win seven to zip
like we did two years ago and
every hotly would he more
happy than anything in the
world." Oregon tight end |osh
Wilt ox said "if we hold them to
zero points and we get two
points, then we win We don't
care ”
The intriguing part of the
mr hmoio
Oregon has shown some defense of Its own sgalnst the Beavers in the past and the Gang Green defense
Is more lethal than ever In 19M.
Civil War matt hup is the diver
sity of the offenses and defens
es of the two teams.
The Ducks feature a pro-set
offense with multiple forma
tions while the Heavers are one
of the few teams still around
that work out of the spread
option formation Consequent
ly, the Beavs rot k up rushing
yards to the tune of over 285
yards per game and rank third
nationally in the category.
The Oregon State defense
ranks near the middle of the
Pat 10. hut poses problems to
an Oregon team that has pun
ished two of the worst defenses
in the conference in Arizona
State and Stanford the last two
weeks
"They have a far better set
ondary compared to Stanford."
Oregon head coach Hu h Brooks
said “Assignment-wise, their
defensive line is an offensive
lineman’s nightmare '
Brooks and the Ducks have
had trouble s< oring on the OSU
defense in the past couple of
years, but the Oregon defense
has hit its stride in recent
weeks.
“You have to hand it to Rich
Brooks, his staff and his players
for how well they base played,"
Petti bone said.
Of course the crowd will once
again be a festive one as Parker
Stadium has been sold out for
over a week and the game will
!»■ regionally televised on ABC
A game that would be exciting
under normal circumstances is
just that much more important
with the Ducks' postseason
plans riding on the game
1 expect i lot of booing
man," Wilcox said of the OSl
fans "They're going to be on us
hard. We've played in hostile
environments before but never
anything like this I don't think "
1 think it's going to be
crazy," Oregon linebacker Jere
my Asher said.
The Oregon players know
what they have at stake in this
game for state bragging rights,
but they also understand very
well what a win would mean for
the Beavers and their season as
well.
"They're going to play like
they have the Rose Bowl berth
on the line." Oregon quarter
leu k Danny O'Neil said "That's
just how they play."
"It means the world to them,"
Wilcox added "If they go 5-6
this year, it's the best they’ve
done sim » 1971
"When you get to this game,
everything goes out the win
dow It s a dogfight "
Oregon s Kicky Whittle has
no doubt that this game is the
biggest game for Oregon in a
long time. Me believes that the
Ducks must \w able to adapt to
anything that happens in a
rivalry where strange things
have been known to happen
over the years.
“The thing about this rivalry
is that you can't really expect
anything, you have to exper t
everything." Whittle said. "It's
not what they will do, it's what
they won't do.
"It's all alnnit rising to another
level, and that's what this team
is made of It's made of a lot of
people that want to become
champions and understand what
it takes to get there."