The Box Major League Baseball San Francisco 3 Chicago 5 National Football League Tampa Bay 6 Detroit 27 NCAA Football Total offense In Division 1-A t. Oregon 543 2. Kentucky 541 3. Louis. Tech 535 4. Ohio St. 530 5. Florida 526 6. Tulane 511 7. Central Fla. 505 8. Indiana 500 9. Tulsa 499 10. UCLA 497 11. Texas 488 12. louisv. 481 13. Boston C. 471 14. Kansas St. 470 15. Nebraska 466 16. Syracuse 462 17. W. Mich. 460 18 Arkansas 460 19, Texas T. 456 20. Akron 442 91. Oregon SL 290 1. Kansas St. 205 2. Oklahoma 207 3. Wrsconson 209 4. Colorado 212 (t)5.Virg. Tech 216 (t)5. Florida St. 216 7. Georgia 229 8. Miami 236 9. Ohio State 238 10. Arkansas 239 11.So. Miss. 258 12. Florida 262 13. TexasAM 271 14. Mississippi 271 15. Utah St. 274 16. Auburn 275 17. Texas T. 280 18. Virginia 281 19. Penn. St. 281 20. Wash. St 284 57. Oregon 350 * yards per game San Diego at Houston 1:07 p,m„ ESPN Women lead, men in second at invitationals By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald After first rounds of play concluded last night for the Oregon men and women golf teams, the women had a commanding lead over their competition in the Portland Invita tional while the men, playing in the Husky In vitational, were locked into a tie for second. With a team score of 596, the first-place women have a 22-stroke lead over second place San Diego State University, which fin ished with 618. The University of San Fran cisco follows in third place with 632. Capturing the first, second and fourth spots for individual performance, the Ore gon women were led by Karin Bristow, who finished with a two-over-par 146. Angie Riz zo was close with 147, and Dawn Berry stroked 150. Oregon individual Claire Hunter was in third place with 149. Jerilyn White was locked into a three-way tie for sixth place with 153, and Pam Sow den brought up the rear with a 154 ninth place ranKing. Deja vu could best ex plain the situation faced by the Oregon men. After the first round of the Pacific In vitational last week, the men were tied for second place with California. Go ing into today’s second and final round, they were in a 729-stroke tie for second place with Brigham Young. Northwestern held a three stroke lead over Oregon and B YU with 726. “We played well, and we’re in the same po sition now as we were last week,” said Steve Nosier, men’s head coach. “We’re out here to win, not just to make a good showing. We’ve got to go out and play good golf tomorrow.” Leading the Ducks was Ryan Lavoie, who shot a 72-71 for a one-under-par total of 143. Derek Croskrey finished on par with 144, and Adrian Burtner stepped up and hit two sets of73, finishing with a two-over-par 146. Burt ner did not play in Oregon’s first tournament. Ben Crane and Andrew Tradway, who each have totaled 148 strokes, are in a three way tie with Nevada’s Joe Lucidi for 24th place. Tied for the title of individual champion of the Husky Invitational are two Northwest ern golfers, Luke Donald and Josh Habig who each scored 141, three under par. (( We played well, and we re in the same position now as we were last week. » Steve Nosier UO men's head coach Matt Hankins/Emeruld The Ducks will get to rest for a week before playing Washington State Oct. 10 after their bruising victory over Stanford Saturday. Bye will allow Ducks to recover The No. 17 Ducks hope to rest their wounds before they battle Washington State By Joel Hood Oregon Daily Emerald There is little question that the Oregon football team is on a major roll after winning its last six games dating back to last season. But now the No. 17 Ducks have a week off to prepare for their meeting with defending Pa cific-10 Conference champion Washington State, prompting questions about whether Oregon can stay in game-ready condition through the break. Head coach Mike Bellotti ex pressed little concern Sunday about keeping his team focused on the rest of the season. In stead, he said he is “excited" to have the Ducks’ bye week at this time. “My initial impression was that we need the time right now to rest up and get rid of a lot of the bumps and bruises that have been accumulating,” Bellotti said. “Even though we are play ing very, very good football right now, I think this will be a nice break for us.” Bellotti named tailback Reuben Drougnns, linebacker Garret Sabol and defensive line man Zack Frieter as players who have been able to suit up the last couple of weeks but need the week off to let some of their wounds heal. FOOTBALL vvnai is nor yet known is the severity of linebacker Pe ter Sirmon's in jury. Sirmon, the Ducks’ cap tain on defense wno iea cne rac-iu last season with 104 tackles, was pulled out at the halftime of the San Jose State game on Sept. 19 af ter retearing his left pectoral muscle in the second quarter. Sirmon did not suit up against Stanford last Saturday, and had surgery Monday after noon at Eugene’s Sacred Heart Hospital to repair the torn mus cle. Starting in place of Sirmon against Stanford was junior Chris Vandiver, who led the Ducks with career-high numbers that included 19 total tackles and a sack. On Sunday, Bellotti called Vandiver’s performance “maybe the best” by a linebacker this sea son. “He has started games for us before; it’s not as if he is a rook ie,” Bellotti said. “It’s not sur prising to me that he has stepped in and is having this kind of suc cess. With Sirmon going down and possibly being out the whole season, our concerns for who was going to play in his spot were very real. “But I think with Chris Van diver and Aaron Cheuvront, I’m breathing a little sigh of relief in that I believe we’ve got a couple young guys who can play.” Tailback Derien Latimer, who was pulled in the first quarter against Stanford after bruising his ribs, will probably play against the Cougars, Bellotti said. Latimer, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., has started just two games in his Duck career af ter being selected as Colorado’s prep offensive player of the year following his senior year at Air Turn to FOOTBALL, Page 15A 1998 season allows baseball to be reborn I’m not going to tell you that the 1998 major league baseball regular season has been the best ever. If I tell you that, some old-timer who witnessed a gargantuan Babe Ruth homer, saw Jackie Robinson integrate the big leagues or watched Bob Gibson menacing ly stare down batters will bean me. And I won’t have much of an argument because my baseball memory goes back to about 1986, when the New York Mets rolled through Bill Buckner’s wickets to win the World Series. But I can confidently write that this sea son has been the best in my lifetime. Just when baseball was supposed to shrivel up and die in the shadows of the hipper NBA and more physical NFL, something happened. It might have taken a monumental tater chase to pull the spotlight back, but the fact is, baseball has en joyed a renaissance this sea son. Opinion Tim Pyle Ana tne revival came just in the nick or time. If baseball had continued to dwindle in popularity, the plethora of superstars the game offers today would have gone largely unnoticed by the American public. Greg Maddux, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, Ivan Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr., not to mention those new home run kings, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa ... When has the grand old game had so many great players? Refreshingly, this season has also im proved the relationship between the play ers and fans. Many of those same fans who vowed never to take themselves — or any body else, for that matter — out to the ball game again during the 1995 strike, now have rejected millions of dollars to return historic home run balls to Big Mac. But perhaps the most dramatic mo ments of the season still await. Three of the four divisional playoffs start today to begin the postseason. In the American League, the Texas Rangers (88-74) travel to Yankee Stadium Turn to PYLE, Page 14A