Oregon Feature
Mike Bellotti credits much of the Ducks' success this
season to Nathan Villegas and Josh Bid well who rank
near the top of college football at their positions
MICHAEL CRISP/E merald
Biduell is one attempt shy of leading
the nation in punting average.
By Rob Moseley
.nso- £~vmc
It was possibly the most endearing im
age. beyond even Pat Johnson's diving
touchdown grab against Washington, of
Oregon's 1997 football season.
The Ducks' junior kicker, a three-year
starter, knelt alone on the sidelines of the
L.A. Coliseum staring plaintively into
nothing. The image of the stadium's score
board loomed above him as Southern Cal
ifornia's fans celebrated their just-com
pleted victory. The final score, 24-22. was
glaringly displayed over the young man
who had iust missed a 36-yard field goal
as time expired.
The difference between the kick sailing
through the uprights and falling short,
which it did. was small. But the missed
kick's effect on the team's season, which
ended at the Las Vegas Bowl instead of
the more prestigious Aloha Bowl, was
profound. It was enough to urge head
coach Mike Bellotti to initiate open try
outs in spring practice for the 1998 kick
er. and even recruit two new kickers to
battle the incumbent senior for the job.
Enter junior Nathan Villegas, a transfer
from Southern California's Citrus Junior
College who replaced Josh Smith. In three
games this season. Villegas has teamed
with senior punter Josh Bidwell to form
the most prolific kicking combo in the na
tion thus far.
“It s kind of cool that we re doing our
jobs and getting recognition for it. so that's
kind of nice." Bidwell says. “Obviously
Nathan's job is to make every kick, and
then mine is to try and keep my net aver
age as high as I can. because that means
I'm helping the team out as much as I
can.”
If Bidwell's descriptions of the kickers'
jobs are accurate, then each is doing his
job to perfection. Villegas has indeed
made every kick he’s attempted this sea
son. including each of his 16 extra points
and all nine field goals, tops in the coun
try.
And Bidwell is averaging 49.3 yards per
punt, six hundredths of a yard better than
the national leader. Unfortunately, Bid
well is one punt short of having enough
kicks to qualify for the national leader
board.
“There's no question that they are di
rectly responsible, or have been a great
part, of our three victories this season,"
Bellotti says. “It’s a good sign that we
haven't had to punt that much, but when
we do I think [Bidwell] is very effective,
and Nathan Villegas kept us in the LTEP
game."
Villegas kicked four field goals, one
short of the school record, in Oregon's 33
26 win over the Miners. Included among
those kicks was a boot of 49 yards, the
longest successful try by a Duck kicker in
five years. Before Herman Ho-Ching's
three-touchdown outburst in the fourth
quarter. Villegas single-handedly kept the
score close for Oregon.
“We rode his foot fix three quarters and
finally got it on track and got the ball into
the endrone," Bellotti says of his kicker,
.whose four field goals kept the Ducks
within seven points at 19-12 entering the
final quarter.
Of particular importance to the success
of any kicker is his holder, which for \H
MICHAEL CRISP/Emerald
Bidweil prepares to take the snap and place the boldfora Villegas attempt.
MDttH. BS5P :-enc
Piacekicker l 'iliegas leads the nation in
field goal accuracy sofar this season
iegas and Oregon fans is a familiar face:
B i dwell's.
“I think that's why I’m doing so well on
my field goals, because he's out there with
me.” Villegas says. "Tm not saying I don't
hare confidence in anybody else holding,
but I think I would have more with him
because I know him personally. Most
kickers, they look at the snap, see if it’s
coming bark, see if they get the hold right.
All 1 do is look for his hands to mme out
and catch it and that’s when I go. cause I
know it’s going to get down. I know it’s
going Id be there."
Bidweli's own kicking has been even
more impressive than his holding, as the
6-foot-3, 240-pound player routinely gar
ners praise from his coaches with the
hang time, length and accuracy of his
punts.
"I enjoy hearing people have confi
dence in me. just because it reassures my
confidence," the Winston native says, “it
doesn’t put any pressure on me at all."
It's a down-to-earth attitude from a guy
who has teamed with Villegas to form a
kicking tandem that so far has been out of
this world.
The mantra in college football says that
kickers are only noticed when they screw
up. That kind of pressure would seem to
be more than any college-age athlete
should be expected to handle.
Tm in the spotlight, but I'm doing the
same thing everybody else is doing," Vil
legas says. “I'm just doing my job."
An even more telling sign of the Oregon
kickers' laid-back attitude came as Bid
wall strolled through the Casanova Center
with an interviewer trailing him.
“Did you tell him how we saved your
career by not letting you play basketball?”
Oregon assistant basketball coach Greg
Graham yelled to Bidwell, who played
hoops in high school.
"Hey, all Tm saying is you would have
had a way better season last vear." an
swered Bidwell. the nation's top punter
continuing to be unfazed by the sudden
attention garnered by the country's best
kicking combo.
The mystery
of our hatred
goes unsolved
I hate Stanford.
I hate the University. I hate its ath
letic department. I hate its students.
I hate the color “Cardinal.” I hate
that Stanford has won the Sears Director’s
Cup the last two years. I hate the arro
gance. I hate the smugness. I hate the
stench of insolence.
This I know.
Even if, for the life of me, I can’t tell you
why.
What is it about Stanford that the people
of Eugene hate so much? 1 have a hunch
that it goes a lot deeper than simply Oregon
Joel
Hood
vs. California, the haves
vs. the have-nots. I have a
hunch it goes beyond all
of this.
On the trail to find the
answers to these ques
tions, I found myself on
the hunt for a guy named
“Buck.” I had phoned the
Duck Booster Club in
search of a man who
could help me to under
stand why the city ol Eugene, and in partic
ular the University campus, has such con
tempt for Stanford. I was told “Buck” was
the man I was after but to never speak a
word of my encounter with him to anyone.
Following up on a tip I had received
from a guy selling fake handicap parking
passes along 13th Street, I made my way to
a secluded little bar across from a wood
processing plant in the heart of Eugene’s
industrial mecca.
The bar’s old wooden door opened with
a creak, and as I slowly walked into this
blackened smoke hole, my eyes burned
shut.
When 1 awoke I was sitting at an old oak
coffee table in an even darker comer of the
bar. Across from me, outlined in smoke,
was a grizzled, mountain of a man. His face
and hands were cracked and worn like old
leather. His immense body was suffocating
beneath a faded Dan Fouts jersey from
1972. He spoke in deep, choking breaths of
air.
This was it, I thought. I grabbed my pen.
“We all know
that Oregon has
won 33 conference
games over the past
four seasons, which
is better than every
team except Wash
ington,” Buck
moaned. “And be
cause of this, Ore
gon acts as if it has
finally made it to
the top of college
football.
“But 1 got news
for you, rookie — it
hasn’t. The Ducks
aren’t even close.”
Tell me more, 1
said.
"More so than
Washington, more
((You d think
that ivith so
many brilliant
scientists that
hai>e
graduated
from Stanford
someone
would figure
out the
Universe does
not reiolve
around
them. ”
so man ulla, cer- _
tainly more so than
those pathetic Beavers, Stanford has
owned the Ducks in the 1990s. The Cardi
nal has won six of its last seven encounters
with the Ducks dating back to 1991. But
there's more, much more.
“Oregon, both the football team and the
state, has always taken into battle a 'me
against-the-world' attitude. A iet's-get-out
there-and-give-them-aU-we’ve-got’ battle
cry. Stanford does not.
"Be it simple arrogance, or whatever, the
Stanford football team does not have this
inside them. You'd think that with so many
brilliant scientists that have graduated
trom Stanford someone would figure out
the universe does not revolve around them.
Perhaps it's not that Perhaps our hatred
Turn to HOOD, Page 6