Reversal of roles in 90th Apple Cup
Civil War: Seniors play
last game at Autzen
■ Continued from Page 1B
Poulan/Weed Eater Indepen
dence Bowl, the Sports Hu
manitarian Bowl, or the Las
Vegas Bowl.
But what on paper looks like
a wash for the Ducks (they are
favored by 17 points) is never a
guarantee, no matter how bad
Oregon State is. The Civil War
game is where the Beavers like
to flex their muscles and give it
their all to ruin the Ducks’ sea
son.
That’s why, said Bellotti, the
key to the game is to play with
emotion.
"Especially on the defensive
side of the ball,” Bellotti said.
“Historically, there is a reason
that this has been a low-scoring
game, partly that is due to this
being a very emotional game
which tends to favor defense.”
The Oregon defense will be
seeing a very different Beaver
offense than the one it’s faced
in recent seasons. New Oregon
State head coach Mike Riley
has entirely revamped the of
fense, ridding it of the option
and introducing a pass-orient
ed attack.
Which, considering the
Ducks have the worst run de
fense in the conference, might
be just the kind of relief they
are looking for to get back on
track after giving up 405 rush
ing yards to Arizona State last
Saturday.
In fact, the Beavers have
gone from being one of the
league’s better running teams
to the league’s worst, averaging
only 80.5 yards per game.
Beaver quarterback Tim
Alexander, recruited to run the
option by former head coach
Jerry Pettibone, has adapted
well to the passing game,
throwing for 1,530 yards and
four touchdowns.
“I’ve been impressed with
his toughness,” Bellotti said,
“the accuracy with which he is
throwing the ball and the
quickness of his release.”
Offensively for Oregon, con
sistency of the ground game is
the big key Bellotti said.
Oregon
■ 1997 SEASON: 5-5,2-5
vs. Fresno State (W OT) 43-40
vs. Washington St. (L) 24-13 j
at Washington (W) 31-28 j
at Arizona State (L) 52-31 j
■ Leads all-time series with
OSU 50-40-10
■ Has won 18 of last 22 games |
against the Beavers
■ With win, would clinch Its
fourth straight winning season
for first time since 1935.
vs. Arizona (W)
at Nevada (W)
vs. UCLA (L)
vs. Utah (W)
at USC (L)
at Stanford (L)
"Our chance to win the game
will be decided in a large part
by our ability to run the foot
ball,” he said. “Saladin [Mc
Cullough] needs to have a big
game.”
Not to be lost in all the Civil
War hype is that it is Senior
Day for Oregon.
Playing at Autzen Stadium
for the last time include Mc
Cullough, wide receiver Pat
Johnson, tight ends Blake
Spence and A.J. Jelks, offensive
linemen David Weber, Seaton
Daly and Matt Nichols, full
back Eric Winn, free safety
Jaiya Figueras, defensive line
man Desmond Byrd and Trey
Towns, and linebackers Garth
White, Jeff Branson and Curtis
Moore.
“This a group of seniors that
has played a very active role
over the last four years of Ore
gon football,” Bellotti said.
“Four years that has included a
Rose bowl, a Cotton Bowl and
a bowl-eligible team last year.
Many of them have played sig
nificant roles in the develop
ment of the program and the
continuing of the winning spir
it. We would like to send them
out winners.”
Your guide to Oregon footall
ODE Sports Extra
http://darkwing.Boregon.edii/~ode/sports
Emerald
Skip Hicks and the
Bruins take on the
Pac-lO’s best run defense
By Alex Pond
Sports Reporter
No. 11 Washington State (9-1,6-1) at
No. 17 Washington (7-3,5-2)
Just two weeks ago, who would
have thought the Huskies would
be reduced to playing the role of
spoiler in the 90th edition of the
Apple Cup?
Certainly not Huskies fans, who
were beginning to make travel
plans to Pasadena as their beloved
Dawgs sat atop the Pacific-10 Con
ference with a perfect 5-0 record.
But that’s exactly the case as
Washington stumbles into Satur
day’s game having suffered two
embarrassing conference losses in
a row, the latest a 52-28 thrashing
at the hands of UCLA last Satur
day, which knocked them out of
the Rose Bowl picture.
now, me MusKies can only taKe
solace in trying to dash the
Cougars’ Rose Bowl hopes, a role
that has been reversed from what
usually takes place in this series.
For the Cougars to earn their
first trip to the Rose Bowl since
1931, they need to beat the
Huskies and hope UCLA beats
Southern California on Saturday,
or that Arizona beats Arizona
State on Nov. 28.
But first things first, they need
to take care of Washington in
Husky Stadium, something they
haven’t done since a 21-20 victo
ry in 1985.
The game pits Washington
Pac-10 Schedule
Nov. 22
Oregon State at Oregon
California at Stanford
Washington State at Washington
UCLA at Southern California
Pac-10 Standings
Pac-10 Overall
W L W L
ArizonaState 6 18 2
UCLA 6 18 2
Wash. St. 6 19 1
Washington 5 2 7 3
USC 4 3 6 4
Arizona 3455
Oregon 2 5 5 5
Stanford 2546
California 16 3 7
Oregon State 0 7 3 7
State’s high-powered offense,
which ranks first in the Pac-10 in
pass offense (343,1 yards per
game), total offense (500.4 yards
per game) and scoring offense
(42.6 points per game) against a
Washington defense that ranks
first in total defense (323.3 yards
per game), second in pass defense
(208.8 yards per game) and second
in scoring defense (19.5 points per
game).
Washington State, which has
lost the last two games in the se
ries, will be looking to avenge last
season’s 31-24 overtime loss in
Pullman.
The Cougars were held to 16
yards of total offense in the first
half and trailed 24-0 in the third
quarter before putting together a
massive rally. Quarterback Ryan
Leaf passed for 218 yards in the
fourth quarter and led three touch
down drives in the final nine min
utes as the Cougars tied the game
at 24-24 to force overtime.
However, Washington pre
vailed when quarterback Brock
Huard connected with Jerome
Pathon on a three-yard touch
down pass in the first overtime,
and the Cougars were held score
less on their possession.
A couple of interesting side
notes: Leaf needs one touchdown
pass to break the Pac-10 single
season record set by California’s
Pat Barnes last season.
Washington has not lost three
games in a row since 1989.
UCLA (8-2,6-1) at
Southern California (6-4,4-3)
One week after beating Wash
ington, the Bruins turn into the
biggest Washington fans south of
Seattle.
If Washington beats Washing
ton State and the Bruins beat the
Trojans, UCLA will represent the
Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl on New
Year’s Day.
The Bruins come into the game
on a major roll, having won eight
straight games since losing two in
a row to begin the season. They
are fresh off perhaps their most
impressive outing of the season
in the win over Washington.
UCLA blew the game wide
open with a 38-point explosion
spanning from midway though
Turn to PAC-10, Page 11B
1,000:175 yards will break Moore’s record
■ Continued trom Page 5B
“1 was upset,” McCullough
said. “I didn’t really care about
the 1,000 yards. 1 was really up
set we lost.”A fact that wasn’t
lost on Oregon head coach Mike
Bellotti.
“I feel badly that wasn’t some
thing that we could have all got
ten excited about,” Bellotti said.
“Because certainly a 1,000 rush
er, the first one in the regular sea
son since Derek Loville in 1987,1
think is a tremendous accom
plishment, one that obviously he
deserves tremendous accolades
for because he is a special back.”
If there is one thing McCul
lough has become for Oregon it is
a special running back.
After transferring from junior
college last season, he tied the
school record for most touch
downs in a single season with 15
and gained 708 yards on the
ground in just seven games.
“He’s a as good as anybody
who has ever played a game
here,” Bellotti said. “He’s been a
joy to coach, he’s a good football
player, he’s a team player, and I
can’t say enough good things
about him.”
Neither can Campbell.
“He’s probably a combination
of all the best guys I’ve had
here,” Campbell said in the Sept.
22,1997 edition of the Emerald.
“He’s the total running back at
this point.”
McCullough on the other
hand seems to take it all in
stride.
He was not even aware that
only five other Ducks had ac
complished what he just had.
Nor did he know how many
yards he needed to break
Moore’s 26-year-old record.
“I am not going to be trying to
break the record,” McCullough
said.
When told that he needed just
175 yards against Oregon State
on Saturday, a number certainly
reachable against the eighth
ranked run defense in the con
ference, McCullough changed
his mind.’They shouldn’t have
told me that,” he said.
While he was excited for Mc
Cullough, Campbell said the se
nior was living up to expecta
tions.
“This is kind of what we ex
pected from him,” Campbell
said. “I am just happy to see that
it did turn out that way. It start
ed out a little bit slow, but he got
on track and had some good
runs and fortunately they got a
little blocking done for us.”
The blocking was somewhat
of a question mark coming into
the season, and McCullough
said his production behind a
suspect line should help him
come NFL draft time.
“I think for me to get 1,000
yards .... I think that shows a lit
tle something of my ability,” he
said. "Everybody knows I don’t
have the best line in the world
and for me to make things hap
pen with the line that I have ...”
Whether his 1997 perfor
mance catapults McCullough
into the high rounds of the NFL
draft remains to be seen, but the
certain fact about the senior
from Pasadena, Calif., is that he
left a mark on the Oregon pro
gram that won’t soon be forgot
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