COTTON BOWL
OREGON VS COLORADO
A close knit Oregon football team worked hard to defend its Pacific-10 Conference title, but fell fust short after losses to Stanford and Arizona State
NAJMJE MONTGOMERY T.rw»:
From spring game to OSU, Oregon focused on Jan. 1
■ THE SEASON: The Ducks never look fhe?>r
eyes off a New Year's Day bowl game
By Trevor Kearney
and Mark McTyre
Spam Hitoots
The Oregon football team'* berth in the Cotton Howl
on Jan. 1 isn’t a perfect compliment to their Pacific-10
Conference Championship and Rom* Bowl appearance
last year, but after a long, hard fought trip it is by all
means the next l**st thing
The flocks’ journey began Kk k on Feb to. when for
mer Oregon coai h Rich Brooks left Eugene for the
Rams of the NFL Brooks’ departure, along with the
graduation of several key seniors, left many questions
as to how the Ducks would go about defending their
confurem « championship.
Hut only four days after the head coaching vacancy
opened up it was filled from within the Oregon coach
ing staff with the naming of offensive coordinator
Mike Bellotti
The Bellotti era begins
Bellotti was faced not only with adjusting to his new
position and the new responsibilities of taking over the
reigns, however, but also w ith replacing defensive coor
dinator Nick Alliotti, offensive line conch Steve Great
wood and wide receivers coach John Ramsdell. all of
whom followed Brooks to the Rams
Bellotti looked outside of the organization and found
offensive coordinator Al Borges, defensive coordinator
Charlie Waters and wide receivers < oach Chris Peterson
to fill the voids
So the Ducks le-gan spring drills with a different head
coach and three brand new assistant coaches and ended
spring practices with a lackluster intrasquad spring
game, in which Tony Graziani, the starting quarterback
for the first-string team, threw two interceptions and
only one touchdown and the Ducks played a sloppy,
mistake-ridden game. The Ducks wont into their first
game of the season unranked in the polls.
Game 1: The Utah Utes
Utah was no laughing matter for
Oregon because the previous
FOd year the Ducks had watched the
Utes waltz Into Autzon Stadium
an underdog and waltz out a 34
tti winner
But Oregon got busy early and utilized its running
game to the fullest Senior tailback Kicky Whittle, who
did not start the game, ended up with 180 yards on 30
attempts, and Graziani threw for 322 yards, connecting
on 28 of 40 attempts for two touchdowns.
In the end. Oregon's defense held a 27-20 win togeth
er and earned the squat! a No. 24 ranking in the Associ
ated Press top poll.
Whittle'* consistent y in running the ball would set the
tone for several games down the road, but the game
proved to be costly, as sophomore kicker Matt Bolden
went down with what would become a season-ending
injury and Craziani suffered a hit that would fort o him
to miss the Ducks' home opener against Illinois.
In an effort to alleviate the prob
duties over to him. while sophomore Josh Bidwell han
dled the punts
Oregon got on the scoreboard first, as Whittle scored
the Ducks’ first touchdown.
1 he Illini took over from there, however, converting
on a touchdown and three Field goals to take a 10-7 lead
into halftime
Oregon quarterback Ryan Perry-Smith took over on the
First piny of the second half, though, converting on a M>
vard pass to Mcl.emore. setting up Whittle's second
tom hdown of the day. The two teams battled back and
forth late into the fourth quarter with Illinois leading 31
2H
Oregon s (iang Green defense then stepped up and put
the game away Sophomore strong safety Jaiya Figuorns
sacked Illinois quarterback Johnny Johnson and Jumped
on the subsequent fumble, giving the Ducks a 34-31 win
and a No. 20 ranking in the Associated Press top 25 poll.
Game 2: The Illinois Fighting illini
Units produi ed when Balden
went down, the Ducks flew in
true freshman Joshua Smith
early and handed the kicking
Game 3: The UCLA Bruins
iLfa Grazinni waa back and in full
^on *'■ ** he lt’*l the Ducks to a 21
iifepF halftime load. The game was
'4/^T all Oregon before the break, as
the Ducks’ new weapon, con
verted-fullback A f. Jelks. ran all over the Bruins defense
and finished with HI rushing yards.
But the Bruins, a preseason Pac-10 favorite, fought
back by scoring 28 points in the second half, but once
again Oregon’s defense proved to be the difference.
On what was the most critical drive of Oregon’s young
season. Figueras and junior defensive back LaMont
Woods stuffed 1JCLA running twick Kanm Abdul-jabbar
just inches from the endzone. and the Ducks went on to
win 38-31.
The win gave Oregon a 3-0 record and a No. 12 rank
ing in the AP poll
Game 4: The Stanford Cardinal
The Ducks showed no signs of
giving up their winning ways, us
they inarched HO yards in to
plays on the first possession of
the game and scored on an 11
yard pass from Graziani to McLemore
But Graziani was picked off on Oregon's next two pos
sessions, and Stanford's running backs. Mike Mitchell
and Anthony Bookman, made him pay for it as they ran
over a flat Oregon defense as the Cardinal took a 14-7
lead.
The Ducks then evened the score on a 57-yard pass
from Graziani to McLemore and then a one-yard touch
down dive by Whittle, but the moment was short lived.
Stanford senior Marlon Kvans returned Smith's strong
kickoff 98 yards to put the Cardinal up 21-14 Stanford
added another touchdown and stopped the momentum
the Due ks created from an 80-yard touchdown drive and
an onside kick to win the game 28-21. The loss dropped
the Ducks to the No. 19 spot in the AP poll.
Game 5: The Pacific Tigers
After a week off, the Ducks host
ed the Pacific Tigers and were
looking to get hack on track.
The Ducks left no room for the
Tigers to escape with a victory,
as the Oregon offense scored four times in the first 25
minutes of the game. Whittle finished with 130 rushing
yards and Graziani completed 15-of-23 passes as the
Ducks amassed 523 total yards and held the Tigers to
217 an route to a 45-7 victory
1 he Ducks did get back on track, moving up to No. 17
in the AP poll before heading south to take on California.
Game 6: The California Golden Bears
4A0
Oregon had something to prove
heading into Berkeley, consider
ing Cal had been picked ahead of
Oregon in some of the preseason
polls.
And behind Whittle the Ducks proved that they wore
the better team The senior dominated Cal in every facet
of the game as he amassed 312 all-purpose yards, 161
of which were on the ground
In the first half of the game. Gang Green stuffed the
Bears, allowing them only three field goals. Oregon's
slow start offensively gave way to an offensive outpour
after the break, as Graziani threw three touchdowns and
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