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Hie Box
Week 4 National
Football League
Green Bay ;
Carolina ;
Denver
Washington
Oakland
Dallas
Kansas City
Jacksonville
Tennessee
Arizona
St. Louis
New Orleans
Seattle 10
Pittsburgh 13
N.Y. Giants 34
San Diego 16
Atlanta 20
San Francisco 31
Minnesota 31
Chicago 28
Ctocfnnatf 24
Baltimore 31
Associated Press
Top 25 Poll
1. Ohio St. 3-0
3.Tenn. 3-0
4.0QLA 2-0
5. Kansas St. 4-0
6. LSU 3-0
7. Penn St 3-0
8. Florida 3-1
9. Florida St ; 3^1
10. 'B(frgiidt\ 4-0
ii.Syracust 2*1
12. Georgia 3*0
14. Arizona 4-0
15. Colorado 4-0
Oregon 63, Stanford 28
Ducks rip through Cardinal
Four-game winning streak
has clinched a ranking of
17th in nation for Oregon
By Rob Moseley
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon Ducks began the 1995
season with three victories. In week 4
the Ducks hosted Stanford. A 28-21 loss
later, Oregon found itself at 3-1.
Last season, the Ducks began the year
with three victories. In week 4 the
Ducks traveled to Stanford. A 58-49 loss
later, Oregon found itself at 3-1.
Oregon began this season with three
victories. On Saturday before 43,948
fans at Autzen Stadium, the No. 20
Ducks hosted Stanford. A 63-28 win lat
er, Oregon finds itself at 4-0 overall, 1-0
in the Pacific-10 Conference, and
ranked 17th in the nation.
“We’re playing great right now,” quar
terback Akili Smith said. “The only
thing that can stop us right now is our
selves. The coaches are putting together
a great game plan, and we’re going out
there and executing.”
Whether Smith was referring to exe
cuting the Oregon game plan or execut
ing the Cardinal is the question, as the
Ducks rolled up 664 yards of total of
fense, just three short of the team record.
The 63 points were an Autzen record
and the highest point total for an Oregon
team since a 97-0 win over Willamette
in 1916.
Smith continued to have the hot hand
for Oregon, completing 18 of 28 passes
for four touchdowns and 357 yards. It
was the second time this season that the
senior has thrown for four scores and
the third time in four games he has
achieved his career-high for passing
yards.
“At this point in time, Akili is playing
at a level possibly unmatched here at
Oregon,” head coach Mike Bellotti said.
“We’re playing well, and I think Akili’s
a big, big factor in our offensive produc
tivity.”
In the first quarter, Smith sandwiched
scoring tosses to Damon Griffin and
Tony Hartley around a one-yard Derien
Latimer touchdown run. Latimer started
Turn to DUCKS, Page13A
man rta tun nvt meraia
Ducks' wide receiver Damon Griffin pushes away a Stanford defender to score a
touchdown.
Win means
more than
Ducks let on
Akili Smith is a very good quar
terback.
He is a tremendous leader, a
pinpoint passer, and he has a
simple arrogance to his game that all the
great ones seem to possess.
But he is one terrible liar.
Just minutes after the Ducks’ 63-28 an
nihilation of Stanford at Autzen Stadium
on Saturday, Smith is standing in a beau
tifully tailored tan suit in the first floor of
the Casanova Center doing his best Jon
Lovitz impression for the media.
And nobody is buying it.
“We weren’t thinking about last year’s
game [with Stanford] one bit," said Smith,
wlio threw for a career-high 357 yards and
tour touchdowns on Sat
urday. “We’re just not
worried about our history.
It’s time for us to remake
history.”
If you really want to
know how important this
win was for Oregon, ask
the Duck defenders who
say they were embar
rassed by the Cardinal last
season when they racked
up 578 yards on offense
and 58 points on the unit
Opinion
Joel
Hood
iormeriy Known as Gang Green.
Ask Mike Bellotti, who had never be
fore beaten Stanford as head coach and
who was positively beaming at the post
game press conference while he told re
porters how proud he was of what his
team has accomplished so far this season.
There was nothing small about this win.
Smith had touchdown passes of 37,35
and 29 yards. Reuben Droughns ripped
through the Cardinal defense for runs of
67 and 40 yards. Even the final score was
a record — Oregon’s previous highest
point total at Autzen was 59 in a win
against UNLV in 1992.
And it’s no coincidence that Bellotti
kept his two most explosive players
(Smith and Droughns) on the field for
nearly the entire second half, despite a
35-point Duck lead.
"The last two years here we lost tough
Turn to HOOD, Page 13A
Oregon faces numerous challenges on the court
After an uplifting season
opening, the volleyball team
loses its luster in California
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
Call it what you will — youth, inexperi
ence, a lack of consistency — but whatever
the case may be, the Oregon volleyball team
must resolve vast problems if it hopes to
reach postseason play.
After an authoritative Pacific-10 Confer
ence win over Oregon State on Sept. 18 at
McArthur Court, the Ducks traveled to
Southern California for a difficult three
game stretch against Cal State Fullerton,
UCLA and No. 8 USC.
Oregon opened the trip on a high note by
beating Cal State Fullerton 15-11,15-9, Il
ls, 15-8. Once again the Ducks were led by
Madeline Ernst, who recorded 24 kills and
18 digs. Ernst was aided by fellow senior
Alii White, who had 19 kills, and redshirt
freshman Annie Pogue, who tallied 11. Ore
gon finished with a .233 attack percentage
to the Titans .155.
Defensively, sopho
more Amy Banducci and
senior Tanya Minion
came through for Oregon.
Banducci recorded a ca
reer-high 23 digs, while
Minion added 21 of her
own. The Ducks outdug
the Titans 93-73 and out
blocked them 14-11.
Volleyball
But it wasn’t until the Ducks went farther
south that their problems began to show.
The young Oregon team dropped its second
Pac-10 match of the year 15-9, 15-8, 8-15
and 15-7. Oregon committed 41 errors and
combined for a lackluster .140 hitting per
centage compared to UCLA’s .278.
“We need to know that the opponents
we’re going to play are going to be good,”
head coach Cathy Nelson said. “They ar :
going to make good plays, and we need to
rebound a little bit sooner.”
Oregon (6-7 overall, 1-2 Pac-10) has had a
difficult time thus far playing with confi
dence when they are trailing, and it’s an
area that Nelson knows needs work if the
Ducks hope to compete in this demanding
conference.
“I think in both matches we had that
same look on our face, like, ‘oh no,’ instead
of just knowing that good teams are going to
make good plays," Nelson said. “We need to
know that we can make good plays as well.
Our understanding of what we need to do to
win is much clearer even than it was after
the Oregon State match.”
After dropping the UCLA match, the
Turn to VOLLEYBALL, Page16A
(( They’re
going to make
good plays,
and we need
to rebound a
little bit
sooner. >>
Cathy Nelson
UO head coach