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Oregon Feature
THE
Reluctant
Defensive end Saul Pain
has a new attitude toward
his position change
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(yregon Media Services
Patu has compensated for a lack of size by
utilizing his speed against bigger lineman.
Oregon Daily Emerald
Freshman Saui Patu was not going
through a great period of his college experi
ence when he heard the news that would
impact his career more than any other.
While lifting weights during his redshirt
season of 1996, Patu suffered a hernia and
was forced to undergo surgery. He was off
solid foods for the next two weeks, a period
during which the already undersized de
fender would lose 15 pounds, and it was
then that he heard that bit of strategic minu
tiae that would forever affect his collegiate
career.
The 229-pounder, down from a
presurgery weight of 245 pounds, would be
moving from linebacker to defensive end
for the Oregon football team.
Patu would be moving from a position
where he was a four-year starter and team
leading tackier at Seattle’s Rainier Beach
High School to one that demanded him to
stare down 300-pound gorillas on every
pky.
“I didn’t like it when I first moved up to
defensive line," the 6-foot-3, now 260
pound Patu says. “It wasn’t something that I
was familiar with, so obviously 1 was un
comfortable.”
Comfortable or not, Patu was immediate
ly thrust into the limelight last season,
when he started 10 games at defensive end
as a redshirt freshman. Patu was the
youngest member of an already young line
that included one member from each of the
four classes.
Last season, the Oregon defense was the
most suspect in the Pacific-10 Conference,
as evidenced by its lOth-place showing in
both rushing and total defense. While that
unit had something to prove to the confer
ence, Patu was trying to prove he had the
size, or the ability to overcome the lack
thereof, to play defensive end in the Pac-10.
“I did feel like I had something to prove,
being underweight," Patu says. "I tried to
use my speed and aggressiveness to play de
fensive end. The difference between this
year and last year is I’m more mentally into
the game.”
The man Patu credits with opening him
up to the mental aspect of football is his po
sition coach, Robin Ross. He said Ross de
serves a large portion of the credit for help
ing Patu raise his tackle total from 20 last
season to 19 through seven games in 1998.
“The more you do anything, the more
natural it becomes," Ross says. “Saul plays
with such good leverage, and he uses his
size and his quickness to his advantage.
You look at the trend now in college and it’s
more speed at the ends. It’s almost like
you’re playing with six linebackers.”
Patu’s head coach, Mike Bellotti, has also
noticed changes in the sophomore’s mental
approach.
“The improvement I’ve seen in Saul has
been more one of consistency," Bellotti
says. “He doesn’t take downs off now. He’s
not confused by things, he’s more focused
and centered on what he needs to do and
understanding how he fits into the de
fense.”
Patu and Ross both mention the line
man's aggressiveness, which Bellotti says is
the key to Patu’s success.
“He truly likes the physical challenge of
going against a 330-pound tackle and taking
on a pulling guard, and all of those things
XXXX/Emerald
Patu has nearly matched his tackles total from last year already and has also recorded two sacks, one less than in ‘97.
that most of us would be soared to death of,”
Bellotti says.
Taking on a 330-pound lineman would
seem to be a daunting task for any defensive
lineman, but especially a man who weighs
260 pounds, still light by football standards.
Patu is actually the heavier of Oregon’s
two defensive ends, the other being 248
pound Terry Miller.
Ross says the nature of the game has
changed to the point that those players are
no longer viewed as a disadvantage.
"Because the offensive tackles have be
come so big, you’re never going to get a guy
who’s big enough and still contain the quar
terback,” Ross says. “I really think it’s to our
advantage to have those guys outside who
can run. All they are is big linebackers.”
Which would seem, of course, to help an
ex-linebacker like Patu.
In fact, Patu says the transition from line
backer to defensive line has helped simplify
the game.
“We go off of movement,” Patu says of
himself and his fellow linemen. “We only
see a couple of moves. If a lineman drops
down, we're looking fora pulling guard,
and if the lineman pulls, we’re looking for a
boot.”
Patu is facing one of his toughest assign
ments of the season this Saturday when No.
12 Oregon plays at No. 13 Arizona.
The Wildcats boast two quarterbacks,
Keith Smith and Ortege Jenkins, who are
each a threat to leave the pocket on any
play. Patu says his experience playing
against UCLA two weeks ago will help him.
“When you come across quarterbacks
who are mobile, especially a guy like Cade
McNown, he likes to run out of the pocket,
and we had a lot of pressure up the middle
against UCLA,” Patu says. “So I pretty
much stayed at home and waited for him to
come to me.”
Sitting back and waiting paid off for Patu
in the second quarter against the Bruins.
With UCLA up 24-7 and driving toward a
31-7 halftime lead, Patu saw the snap and
immediately recognized a play he had seen
many times before while playing against the
Oregon offense in practice.
“My job was to rush the quarterback on
the play, but when the ball was hiked the
lineman disappeared, and I saw the quar
terback take a 20-step drop," Patu says. “I
knew it was a screen. When the lineman
disappears, it’s a screen to the wide receiv
er.”
Patu stepped between McNown and his
intended receiver and returned the ensuing
interception 20 yards.
It was the first time he touched the ball
since his days as a high school fullback.
“I joke around with the running backs
coach, Gary Campbell, and I always ask him
to throw me in on goal-line situations or
something,” Patu says. “Let me run the rock
or let me block or something. He always
tells me I'm not fast enough for fullback.”
That Patu did not return the interception
for a touchdown may be evidence of that,
but the fact that he even made the play
would support the idea that he has im
proved immeasurably since he came to Ore
gon.
He has even learned to accept the fate he
was dealt two years ago.
“Now, I don't have a problem with D
line,” Patu says. “It’s getting easier the
longer I play and it’s a good position for me
now.”
Hood
Continued from PagelB
invites this season. However, re
spect is another matter. The loser
of this game will likely drop out
of the top 20. The loser of the
game will undoubtedly lose all
credibility with the national me
dia. The hest the loser of this
game can hope for is a second
rate bowl game in Boise, El Paso
or Tucson.
But the winner of Saturday’s
game has an entirely different fu
ture. The winner will get new life
in the eyes of the national media.
(( Both
teams
enter their
Halloween
matchup
wearing
the same
mask —
that of a
Pac-10 title
contender.
V
The winner
will be the
front-runner
for the Rose
Bowl spot as
suming UCLA
finishes the
season with a
No. 2 ranking
and gets an in
vite tothe na
tional champi
onship game
on Jan. 4.
The winner
will make it to
Sports Ulus
trated’s “Hot
List,” have its
highlights
shown on
Sport sCenter
the rest of the
season ana oounce to about No. H
in the country.
No pressure, right?
After Oregon's 17-13 victory
over Southern California last Sat
urday, head coach Mike Bellotti
trotted off the field in tears. But
by all accounts, the Ducks proba
bly should have lost Saturday's
game. They sputtered on offense.
They clunked in the kicking
game. They drowned on defense.
With Reuben Droughns side
lined the remainder of the sea
son, and Herman Ho-Ching
about two weeks from a remark
able comeback. Oregon’s offense
is not as explosive as it had been
through the first six games of the
season.
Ironically, it has been the
Ducks’ passing game that has not
picked up the slack. Akili Smith
was just 15 for 28 for 231 yards
and one touchdown against USC.
Those numbers aren't bad but are
a long way from the Heisman
Trophy numbers he was putting
up through the first half of the
season.
To beat Arizona the Ducks
need to throw the football. They
need to throw it deep. They need
to throw it over the middle. And
they need to throw it short.
UCLA quarterback Cade Mc
Nown passed for nearly 400
yards in the Bruins’ 52-28 route
in Tucson three weeks ago. Al
though smaller, Oregon’s receiv
ing corps is just as dangerous as
UCLA's. Look for Smith to put
up big, big numbers and jump
back into the Heisman race this
weekend.
Oregon has never won as
many as 10 games. A win against
the Wildcats on Saturday would
go a long way toward achieving
that goal. The Ducks will be fa
vored the rest of the way, but
there isn’t any sweeter victory
than one on the road in confer
ence play. And there hasn’t been
a game this season that carries
more importance than Satur
day’s.
Both teams enter their Hal
loween matchup wearing the
same mask — that of a Pac-10 ti
tle contender. One of the two
will have to remove the mask
come Sunday morning.