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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1996)
Emerald ONE TO WATCH Linebacker Reggie Jordan is making the most of his final season with the Ducks BACK IN THE SADDLE Tony Graziani will make his first start since a knee injury against Nevada SPORTS EXTRA October 11,1996 The return ofGraziani Since quarterback Tony Graziani’s knee injury sustained five weeks ago, the Ducks have never been the same. Will his return revive a virtually dead Oregon team? OPINION Mark Mcfyre ollowing a Saturday night con test against the visiting UCLA Bruins that put an exclamation JL point on the way Oregon's sea son has gone so far, players and coach es alike showed during the post-game press conference that they were physi cally and mentally beat. "I don’t know what we need right now," said Oregon outside linebacker Reggie Jordan while holding back tears. “We just need to stop letting opportuni ties slip through our hands.” You said it Reggie. The Oregon defense played its best half of football this season in the first 30 minutes of the game. The squad once known as Gang Green showed signs of returning to that form as it held tailback Steve Hicks to 20 yards rushing on 13 carries and the Bruins to seven points. However, the offense that at one time could put points on the board in a mo ments notice fluttered, scoring only sev en points in the opening half. A game that could have been put to bed early by the Ducks took a drastic turn in the third quarter. Hicks, who was benched by Bruins' head coach Bob Toledo for the second quarter because of not producing, ran rampant in the third. Hicks accumulat ed 153 yards in the quarter and led UCLA on a 24-point unanswered tear. Turn to McTYRE, Page 6B MARK McTYRE/ Emerald C£ While he may not he able to bring the Ducks totally out of their downward spiral because of the massive injured list Oregon must endure, he does add more ability and experience to the quarterback position. — Mark McTyre -55 Senior quarterback Tony Graziani caught the attention of the Pacific-10 Conference last year, but went down with a knee injury the second game of this season. He re turns to the starting lineup against Stan ford on Saturday. Oregon, Stanford clash in (must-win game’ for both teams ■ PREVIEW: Stanford has beaten the Ducks four of the last five games in the series By Ryan Halvorsen Sports Reporter It’s crunch time for the Ducks. After three-straight Pacific-10 Conference losses, Oregon will face Stanford in Palo Alto in a pivotal matchup for both teams. The big news of the week for the Ducks is the re turn of quarterback Tony Graziani to the starting lineup. Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said that if all goes well for Graziani this week in practice, he will be calling the plays this weekend. ■ Hh “Based on yesterday’s practice I feel pretty good that he is much healthier than he has been and ca pable of playing,” Bellotti said in a news conference Wednesday. “I think that certainly if Tony is healthy he will play and start, and we’ll go with Tony as long as we feel he’s being efficient or effec tive or his ability to play is 100 percent." Bellotti said he has not lost any confidence in backup quarterback Ryan Perry-Smith, but it is the simple fact that the starter, Graziani, is ready to come back. “We’re going to go with whoever we feel has the hot hand and can help us win, but Tony is the starter and Ryan is the backup at this point,” Bellot ti said. "Don’t rule out the fact that they could both play quite a bit in each game we play.” Graziani is 2-0 this year, starting the first two games of the season before going down in the first half against Nevada. The Ducks, however, have a lot more to worry Turn to PREVIEW, Page 7B Key Player s After catching 10 passes for' 180 yards against Colorado State, Josh Wilcox has been practically non-existent in the Ducks' attack. In the last three games, Wilcox has caught four passes for 52 yards, including no catches against Washington State. fins mmwm per game Stanford University of Oregon Rushing Passing ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 20 1. Florida (5-0) 2. Ohio State (4-0) 3. Florida State (4-0) 4. Arizona State (5-0) 5. Nebraska (3-1) 6. Miami (4-0) 7. Tennessee (3-1) 8. Alabama (5-0) 9. Colorado (3-1) 10. Penn State (5-1) 11. Notre Dame (3-1) 12. LSU (4-0) 13. UNC (4-1) 14. Michigan (4-1) I 15. Northwestern (4-1) 16. Washington (3-1) 17. West Virginia (6-0) 18. Auburn (4-1) 19. BYU (5-1) 20. Virginia (4-1) j
