Oregon daily emerald., October 20, 1997, Page 9, Image 9

Scores
Utah.13
Oregon .31
Oregon St.10
UCLA.34
Arizona St.31
Stanford.13
Washington.58
Arizona.28
California.37
Washington St. . 63
USC.20
Notre Dame.17
Penn St. (1).16
Minnesota.15
Nebraska (2).26
Texas Tech.0
Florida St. (3) ....38
Georgia Tech (21)0
N. Carolina (4)....20
N. Carolina St.7
Michigan (5).28
Iowa (15).24
Auburn (6).10
Florida (7).24
OBEGQH PUCKS VS. UTAH UT£S
Saturday’s Star
Oregon quarterback Jason Maas
completed 20 of 36 passes for
369 yards and three
touchdowns.
Play of the Game
Maas hit Blake Spence with a
39-yard touchdown pass on the
Ducks’ first drive of the third
quarter to put Oregon up by 11
points.
The Numbers
Oregon
Utah
Passing
Oregon Maas
2 3 4 Final
14 14 0 31
6 0 0 13
Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD
36-20-0 369 3
Utah Crosswhite 42-21-2 196 0
Rushing No. Yds TD Long
Oregon McCullough 23 114 1 26
, Utah Johnson 32 190 1 28
| Receiving No. Yds TD Long
1 Oregon Spence 6 214 1 56
Utah Anderson 8 75 0 15
Pac-10 Standings
Pac-10 Overall
w l w L
Washington Stale 4 0 6 0
Washington 3 0 5 1
Arizona State 3 f 5 2
UCLA 3152
Stanford 2 2 4 3
USC 1233
Arizona 1 3 2 4
Oregon 1 3 4 3
California 0 3 2 4
Oregon State 0 3 ~3 3
Oregon 31, Utah 13
Losing streak comes to an end
After a stow start, the Ducks
responded to head coach Mike
Bellotti’s halftime challenge
to beat Utah 31-13
By Chris Hansen
Assistant Sports Editor
It was a game the Ducks desperately
needed to win to get back on track after
three straight losses that put their season
in jeopardy.
And in the end, it was a game Oregon
won with relative ease, beating Utah 31
13 in a nonconference game before
39,389 Homecoming fans at Autzen Sta
dium Saturday afternoon.
But it took a halftime challenge from
head coach Mike Bellotti before Oregon
played well enough to take control of
the game. The Ducks barely led at the
intermission, 17-13, after failing to capi
talize on scoring opportunities and the
defense’s inability to stop the Utes’
rushing attack.
“Ichallenged them a little bit,” Bellot
ti said. “I told them we need to find out
what kind of team we are, what kind of
team we want to be. We allowed Utah to
hang around in the first half and it
looked like neither team wanted the
game. I told them we had 30 minutes to
show everybody how much we care
about football and how committed we
are to football.”
Not exactly Knute Rockne, but it
worked just the same.
The Duck offense tacked on two
third-quarter touchdowns and the de
fense held the Utes (3-4) scoreless as
Oregon won its 10th straight game
against nonconference opponents and
improved its season record to 4-3 over
all and 1-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
After back-to-back poor outings and
getting booed by the home crowd last
week, it was sweet redemption for quar
terback Jason Maas as he completed 20
of 36 passes for 369 yards and three
touchdowns and had no interceptions
Turn to WIN, Page 10
MICHAEL CRISP/Emerald
Blake Spence
had a career
day ii'ith six
receptions for
214 yards,
which pat him
fourth on
()repoti's all
time single
game list for
receiving
yards.
Saturday's
game was the
21st straight he
has caught a
pass in.
For a shot at postseason, UO must still improve
At a time when there was no other option, the
Oregon Ducks won, and won going away.
After three straight losses, the Ducks put
themselves in a position where a win was a
must and a defeat would have been complete devasta
tion— and they knew it.
A loss to Utah on their home turf would have put Oregon
right back where it was after losing five in a row last season.
But Oregon wasn’t about to fold like that.
In a collective effort that seemed to erase doubts, at
least for now, of where this team is headed, Oregon re
gained itselfat halftimeand systematically dismantled
Utah on both sides of the ball in the second half.
Jason Maas played like everyone knew he was capa
ble of, having his best game ever, lflake Spence was one
catch short of breaking the school record for most yards
receiving in a game.
And the defense rejected its propensity to give up the
big play, limiting the powerful Utah rushing attack to
just 82 yards in the second half.
In the three previousgaines, the Ducks defense would
Turn to FRANK, Page 13
Ryan
Frank
Glusac leads No. 4 Oregon women to first-place finish
The Ducks
placed four
runners in
the top six
at the Oregon
Invitational
By Joel Hood
Sports Reporter
Fog was not the only thing that burned
up Sunday at Alton Baker Park.
The No. 4 Oregon women’s cross coun
try team caught fire in the early afternoon
during the Oregon Invitational and cruised
to a first-place team finish with four of its
runners placing in the top six collegians.
In front of 100 cheering cross country
fans, an exhausted and cramping Milena
Glusac led a pack of Oregon runners across
the finish line in a time of 17 minutes, 13
seconds — the toughest and best race she’s
run all season, Glusac said.
“It was such a thrill to run so well at
home,” an emotional Glusac said. “For me
though, I think the bigger thrill was that I
GROSS
COUNTRY
my teammates and run a
strong race.
“It’s great to race so
well in my last cross
country race in Eugene.
Everyone has been so
supportive or me and helped me through
my injuries. I knew I could race well again.
I just kept the faith and ran hard.”
Glusac was the first Oregon runner and
collegian to cross the line, followed close
ly behind by teammates Marie Davis, Liz
Howell and Heather McMahon, who fin
ished second, fifth and sixth, respectively.
“I’m so happy with our team effort,”
Davis said. "1 think Milena raced really
well, and I’m happy for her. She has
worked real hard, and it’s good to see her
run well.”
However, Davis was not quite as happy
with her own performance.
“I’m not sure I went out as hard as I
could have. 1 had some left at the end,
which means 1 could have given more at
the beginning of the race.”
Howell and McMahon joined Glusac in
Turn to UO, Page 12
Stats
m WOMEN:
Oregon 30
UCLA 46
Marquette 53
Montana 134
Portland 137
IS MEN:
Oregon 33
Montana 50
Boise State 67 |
Marquette 134 |
Florida State 139