Football
Continued from Page 11A
Abrams’ second field goal of the
day, from 25 yards out, and Ore
gon (6-1, 3-1) was able to run out
the final four minutes on seven
runs by Derien Latimer to ice the
win.
“The defensive line did an ex
cellent job,” said Oregon safety
Brandon McLemore, who stuffed
USC tailback and friend Chad
Morton on the Trojans’ first play
from the seven-yard line. “They
shot their gaps, held their contain
line and gave us lanes to run
though. If you can just run
through a lane and make a play
every time, that means we can be
a great defense.”
Latimer ran for 87 yards on 24
carries in place of Reuben
Droughns, the Pac-lO’s leading
rusher who is out for the season
with a broken leg. Sophomore Ja
son Cooper earned the start, the
first of his career, but fumbled on
his second carry of the Ducks’
opening possession and played
sparingly the rest of the evening.
“I definitely wanted coach and
the guys and Akili to have faith
in me, and I just didn’t step it up
in the first half,” Latimer said.
“In order to gain the confidence
from my teammates, I had to take
it up to another level.”
Latimer had just eight yards on
as many carries in the first half
but recovered after halftime.
“When you have guys that
haven't carried the ball a lot, it
takes a while to get a rhythm of
((I definitely wanted
coach and the guys and
Akili to have faith in me
and I just didn’t step it
up in the first half. >>
Derien Latimer
Oregon tailback
the plays and try to read blacks
and feel it, and Derien did a great
job of coming back in the second
half,” Oregon head coach Mike
Bellotti said.
Smith completed 15-of-28
passes including 13-of-24 in the
first half, which ended with
Smith taking a knee to end a
streak of 17 consecutive passing
plays. The senior also ran for 72
yards on eight carries and threw
for one touchdown, a 55-yard
strike to Tony Hartley that tied
the game at 10-10 in the third
quarter.
USC took a 10-3 lead into half
time on a second-quarter screen
pass to Chad Morton from Van
Raaphorst that turned into a 70
yard touchdown and a 49-yard
I . .
Abrams field goal. Abrams had
previously missed from 28 and
36 yards out in the first quarter
and also missed a 47-yard at
tempt in the third quarter.
Oregon took a 3-0 lead 45 sec
onds into the second quarter on a
23-yard field goal by Nathan Vil
legas, who broke two school
records on the day. Villegas is
now a perfect 12 of 12 on field
goal attempts this season, break
ing the record set by Matt
McLeod from 1984-86, while his
37-consecutive successful extra
point attempts broke the record
set by Gregg McCallum in 1989.
The game was a bit of a depar
ture from the norm for the Ducks,
who were averaging 48.5 points a
game this season. Instead of a
wild shootout, like last week’s
41-38 overtime loss at No. 2
UCLA, the Oregon defense was
forced to make up for a lackluster
performance by the Droughns
less offense, which was averaging
522.8 yards per game but mus
tered just 394 on Saturday.
"That’s as outstanding an effort
as I could imagine or hope for,”
Bellotti said of the Oregon de
fense. “They came to play to
day.”
Chris Vandiver tallied 11 tack
les, one for a loss, to lead the
Ducks.
MattHarUttns/Emerml
Akili Smith's performance in the fourth quarter gave Oregon the win over the Trojans.
Matt Hankins/Emerald
The Ducks did everything they could to
shut down R. Jay Soward. Oregon tail
back Derien Latimer had a hand in hold
ing Soward to only 19yards for the game.
Soward
R. Jay Soward gets a pass ripped from his hands by Oregon comerback Eric Edwards.
Matt HankitiVhmerald
Continued from Page11A
focus.”
This game did not mark the
first time that Soward, a second
team All-Pacific-10 Conference
selection last season, struggled
against Oregon. In USC’s 24-22
win in 1997, Oregon was able to
limit Soward to 72 all-purpose
yards and one touchdown.
But Saturday, the Ducks’ spe
cial teams and defense bottled up
Soward as never before. The 19
yards of all-purpose production
represent a new career low for
Soward, a junior from Fontana,
Calif., who has been nominated
for the nation’s top wide receiver
honor, the Biletnikoff Award.
Bauman said Soward’s inabili
ty to make his trademark big
plays should be a point of pride
for the Oregon defense.
“R. Jay is awesome,” Bauman
said. “This kid has it all. I take
that as a compliment to me and
the defense as a whole to go out
and stop a guy like R. Jay.”
Edwards, who intercepted a
deep pass from Trojan quarter
back Mike Van Raaphorst, that
was intended for Soward in the
first quarter, felt that USC’s of
fense was too easy to read.
“A lot of times 1 thought their
offense became predictable,” Ed
wards said. “When R, Jay came
out [wide], I figured he was run
ning deep every time, so that
made it a lot easier on me. I could
just turn and run with the guy.”
Michael Fletcher had a first
hand view of the job Edwards and
Bauman did on Soward.
“He’s dangerous, one of the
most dangerous men in the coun
try,” Fletcher said. “We left our
corners out on the island, and
Rashad and Eric played awesome
games. They gave up no deep
balls, and that’s the way to re
spond."