Football
Continued from Page 9
run last season but a re
spectable fifth this season en
tering Saturday’s game, held
the Wildcats to 34 yards on the
ground in the first half but
couldn’t maintain that level af
ter halftime.
Arizona tailback Trung
Canidate scored from 71 yards
out on the Wildcats’ third play
of the second half to stake a 17
3 lead and open the floodgates.
Fullback Kelvin Eafon
scored on runs of four, five and
seven yards in the second half,
in which Arizona ran for 268
of its 301 total yards. Canidate
led the deluge with 180 yards
on 17 carries, with 12 runs for
158 yards in the second half.
“He picked it up,” Oregon
safety Michael Fletcher said.
“He was running kind of timid
in the first half, but he started
running a little harder in the
second half and he hit the
holes and he was out.”
Latimer ran for 47 yards on
20 carries, a 2.3 yard average,
in his third start of the season.
It was Latimer’s second
straight start in place of
Reuben Droughns, who was
leading the Pac-10 in rushing
with 164.8 yards per game
when he learned learned he
would miss the remainder of
the season after breaking his
right fibula in the Ducks’ Oct.
17 loss at UCLA.
"The running game, we
need that, it takes a lot of pres
sure off me as a quarterback to
have that running game,” Ak
ili Smith said. "Reuben’s at the
house right now, we know he
was rooting us on, but being
without Reuben is making it a
little tough for us offensively.”
Oregon’s second-leading
rusher was quarterback Jason
Maas, who split time with Ak
ili Smith as the starter last sea
son and appeared in just his
fourth game this season.
Smith, the nation’s leader in
passing efficiency just three
weeks ago, completed 13 of 25
passes for 168 yards and no
touchdowns. He was inter
cepted twice, the second time
by Rafell Jones, and sacked
three times.
Oregon’s only points of the
game came with 28 seconds re
maining in the second half,
when Nathan Villegas hit a 33
yard field goal to extend his
school record to 13 straight
successful conversions.
That kick pulled Oregon to
within seven points, as Ari
zona kicker Mark McDonald
had staked the Wildcats to a
10-0 lead with a 38-yard field
goal with 1:26 remaining in
the first quarter.
After four second-half rush
ing touchdowns, Smith
summed up the Ducks’ perfor
mance.
“We had some opportuni
ties we just didn’t take advan
tage of like we could have,” he
said. "They’re a good football
team. We came to their house,
and they basically kicked our
butts. We didn’t play as well as
we wanted to, but they kicked
our butts.”
"Tyf
Oreaon can’t put the Dieces toaether in defeat
TUCSON, Ariz. — This
was the performance
Duck fans feared the
most.
This was quarterback Akili
Smith running for his life. This
was the Ducks’ ineffective run
ning game being bottled up at the
line of scrimmage. This was Ore
gon’s undersized but overachiev
ing defense missing tackles and
Opinion
Joel
Hood
getting bounced
around like pin
balls.
Here was the
penalties and the
miscues and the
misreads, and all
of it was unfold
ing before us in a
frightening 38-3
loss to Arizona on
Halloween night
in Tucson.
\ It was the per
s formance the national media
j thought Oregon was going to give
two weeks ago when it fell to No.
2 UCLA at the Rose Bowl 41-38.
It has been many, many years
since Oregon football has had to
endure a loss as embarrassing as
this one. Its offense, which
ranked No. 1 in the Pacific-10
Conference in total offense and
scoring before Saturday’s game,
produced just 272 yards in total
offense and scored just three
j points, the Ducks’ lowest point
total in three seasons.
Oregon’s defense fared much
worse, allowing the Wildcats to
rush for a season-high 268 yards
and to score 28 unanswered
points to end the game.
For the more than 3,000 Duck
fans in attendance, the game was
| an eery reminder of season’s
J past where the Ducks’ defense
(( We got our tails
kicked. Arizona did a
great job of playing a
very physcial game on
both sides of the ball. We
were still in things at the
half but Arizona came
out and closed the door
on us. **
Mike Bellotti
Oregon head coach
was able to contain its opponent,
insofar as they could stop them
on first and second downs, then
give up a 75-yard touchdown run
or a 50-yard first down catch on
the very next play.
In all, Arizona amassed 442
yards on offense, remarkable for
a unit that only ranked No. 3 in
the Pac-10 before the game.
If Oregon was looking for ex
cuses, it would have several to
choose from; with its top three
running backs sidelined with in
juries, its best defensive player
lost for the year with a torn pec
toralis muscle and its most expe
rienced offensive lineman out for
at least another week with an an
kle injury.
But the Ducks are not ones to
make excuses.
"We got our tails kicked,” Ore
gon head coach Mike Bellotti
said. “Arizona did a great job of
playing a very physical game on
both sides of the ball. We were
still in things at the half, but Ari
zona came out and closed the
door on us.”
In Arizona’s locker room fol
*
lowing the game, players hugged
each other, veterans cried, and
head coach Dick Tomey was mo
tionless save for a polite nod after
Arizona’s athletic director Jim
Livengood cradled the back of
Tomey’s head and whispered
into his ear, “That was an ass
kicking, coach. Unbelievable."
Indeed it was.
The last time the Ducks lost
by this many points was a 45-7
loss to California in 1991. But
that’s the only similarity
between the Ducks this season
and that 1991 team which
finished 3-8.
Arizona’s players were
shocked by how easily the
Wildcat defense could control
the Pac-lO’s most prolific
offense.
“I would not have expected
this performance,” Wildcat
quarterback Keith Smith said
after the game. “Our defense
stepped up a whole bunch,
they did whatever they could
to contain Oregon's offense.”
Even with the Ducks’ barrage
of injuries, there was a large
number of Duck fans who
thought Oregon’s offense was
so explosive that it could
simply will itself to victory
against the top teams in the
Pac-10. Saturday’s game was a
rude awakening.
No sooner had the Ducks
thought they had arrived at the
doorstep of a New Year’s Day
Bowl bid when they were
quickly kicked off for wearing
the most dated costume of
them all — that of a Pac-10 title
contender.
Joel Hood is sports editor for the
Emerald.
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