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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1996)
Stanford: Wong plays better against Oregon ■ Continued from Page 2B ity,” Wong said. “It’s not like I did n’t have confidence before, but now I am accepting more of a role in getting the job done. ” That is something that worries Oregon offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. “He is an outstanding pass rush er,” Koetter said. “The [Oregon] players and coaches said that he’s improved, that he continues to get better with each year they play against him. Stanford’s deal in the passing game is to try to put pres sure on the quarterback, and he is one of the main guys who does that.” While Wong may feel he is ac cepting a more important role this year, his teammates think he is be coming a more intense player. “[Wong] has always been kind of leader, he’s always been real vo cal, always trying to pump the team up,” said strong safety Eliel Swinton. “Even though you don’t see him saying stuff during a game, he is saying stuff to us like ‘Let’s go, let’s work through this.’” “[Wong] seems a little bit more intense this year,” added line backer Chris Draft, who rooms with Wong this year. “Our defense has to be leaders — everybody on the defense has to be a leader, and he’s played his part.” Wong has definitely become more vocal on the field this year, as evidenced by his play last week in Seattle. As time was winding down in the third quarter last Sat urday, Wong took exception to a Husky knocking his helmet off. His outburst following the play was perhaps a good sign to many Cardinal fans. “That’s just him showing a lot of emotion this year and showing how his desire for the game has grown within him into more of a hunger for him,” Swinton said. For Wong and the rest of the Cardinal defense, this season has been the first in years in which people are actually talking about the defense rather than the of fense. Most notably, people are boasting that Stanford has the 20th-ranked scoring defense in the nation at just 15 points per game. “We do want to keep scores down,” Wong said. “We don’t want to be pushed around and be considered one of the Stanford teams of the past with all the of fense and no defense.” Despite the defense’s improve ment, Wong still lacks what the Ducks have — a Pac-10 Champi onship. “I never want to go home be cause it will be rubbed in my face,” Wong said. “I’ll go out places or see my friends, they make a concerted effort to tell me about what I missed out on. ” Accordingly, when Wong takes the field on Saturday, he’ll be look ing for a win even more than his teammates. “It’s huge for me,” he said. “These are some of the games that every athlete likes to play in — with people back home watching. "I try to get up for every game the same, but for some reason or another I usually end up raising my level of play a little bit higher against Oregon.” If Wong does step his play up, it could be a long Saturday after noon for the Ducks. OREGON DAILY EMERALD FOOTBALL PICKS STANFORD-4 Oregon Wash. St.-11 OREGON ST. Arizona State-4 UCLA NOIRE DAME -10 Washington FLORIDA-20 Lsu Florida St.-5.5 MIAMI BYU-41 Unlv BALL ST. -13 OhioU. Overall Record Mark McTyre Oregon Wash. St. Arizona St. Wash FLORIDA Florida St. BYU BALL ST. 6-10 Andrea DeYoung Oregon Wash. St. Arizona St. N. Dame FLORIDA Florida St. BYU OhioU. Chris Hansen Oregon Wash. St. Arizona St. N. Dame FLORIDA Florida St. BYU BALL ST. Ryan Frank Oregon OSU Arizona St. N. Dame Lsu Florida St. BYU OhioU. 79 Ryan Halvorsen Oregon Wash. St. Arizona St. Wash FLORIDA MIAMI BYU BALL ST. 6-10 Steve Asbury Oregon OSU Arizona St. Wash FLORIDA Florida St. Unlv BALL ST. 7 9 Dennis Bolt Oregon Wash. St. Arizona St. N. Dame FLORIDA Florida St. Unlv Ohio U. 10-6 Maple Garden RESTAURANT Mon.-Thu. 11-10 Fri. & Sat. 11-11 J Sun. 12-10 i 1275 Alder St. Eugene • 683-8128 BIKE BARN rrTT?rgffT3 y t*Q\N All’96 Bikes 15% Off Mountain • Cruisers • Hybrids • Free Style • BMX Welcome Back (JO Students We Service All Brands Open 7 days a week come, Extreme i) cool prices, I THOUGHTS New& Resale Closing for Men & Women • 98 E, Htfi (at Dad) ■ 683-6501 Open Mon - Sat 10 - 6,5m 12 - 5 • Free Parking • Pacing Casfi for Clothes tell your faraway family and friends to read the Oregon daily emerald now available on the world wide web http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ode DO YOUR PART. THIS PAPER PLAYING THE EMU BALLROOM ANOJHE HOLY highba^ltti the devil mUEtmffliiu&i... THE PLACE TO FIND THE MUSIC YOU'RE LOOKING FORI 2IMAZINGLY STOWED LOCATIONS AT: J WESrfklTH & SENEC?WUGENE / ANO Ik 955 NOrWsT KINGS BLVO. IN CORVALLIS THIS COOL OFhWqOD THRU 10 27 96
