Wildcats can move
closer to first Rose
Bowl berth Saturday
No. 9 Arizona travels to
Berkeley to show voters it
belongs in the Bowl
Championship Series
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
No. 9 Arizona (9-1,5-1) at California
(5-4,3-3)
Losers of three of their last
four, the Golden Bears hope to
earn a sixth win and become
bowl eligible as they close out
the regular season with two Pac
10 home games.
Judging by the way the Wild
cats have devoured their oppo
nents of late (outscoring the op
position 152-24 in their last four
games), Cal will probably have to
weekend's grudge
match with Stan
ford to cap its sur
prising season.
The stagnant Bear
offense, last in the
conference in scor
ing at 17.4 points
per game, will likely
have trouble mov
ing the ball on Ari
zona’s swarming de
fense, which is
giving up a Pac-10
low 15.1 points per
game.
The matchup to watch in this
game will be Cal wide receiver
Dameane Douglas against Wild
cat cornerback Chris McAlister.
Douglas leads the Pac-10 with 81
catches for 928 yards and four
touchdowns, while McAlister is
widely considered the best cover
man in the conference and has
four interceptions.
Last season, Douglas got the
upper hand in grabbing 12 pass
es for 143 yards, but McAlister
had the last laugh in a double
overtime, 41-38 Arizona win.
That thriller came the season af
ter the Bears needed three over
times to defeat the Wildcats 56
55 in Berkeley, Calif.
When Arizona has the ball, Cal
will need its duo of big-play line
backers to perform heroically
against the balanced Wildcat of
fense. The Bears’ Sekou Sanyika
and Matt Beck rank first and sec
ond in the Pac-10 in tackles for
loss with 22 and 15, respectively.
Arizona averages nearly 231
passing yards per game and al
most 204 rushing yards per game.
The Wildcats should not need
any extra time to dispose of Cal
this time around.
Washington State (3-6,0-6) at Stan
ford (1-8, 0-6)
Why ABC did not select this
intriguing showdown as its Pac
10 broadcast of the week is a
mystery. FoxSports too, for that
matter.
All kidding aside, these two
teams have a lot to play for in
this matchup of ineptitude. Both
teams have suffered through six
game losing streaks, and neither
wants to finish the conference
season winless. The last time the
Cougars failed to earn a Pac-10
win in a season was 1975, and
u Why ABC did not
select [Washington
St. at Stanford] as its
Pac-10 broadcast of
the week is a
mystery. FoxSports
too, for that
matter. >>
the Cardinal last
stumbled to an li
fer conference fin
ish in 1960.
Another record
Washington State
does not want to
set is to become the
first Pac-10 team to
go from the Rose
Bowl to outright
last place since
UCLA dropped to
the bottom of the
son after its 1943
Rose Bowl appearance.
Stanford had been close to
breaking out of its dry spell in
losing by seven points or less in
three straight weeks until last
weekend. Southern California
then promptly drubbed the Car
dinal, 34-9.
The Cougars, on the other
hand, have two separate 10-point
losses as their best Pac-10 results.
Offensively, Stanford possess
es far more firepower than Wash
ington State. Receivers Troy Wal
ters, DeRonnie Pitts and Dave
Davis provide Cardinal quarter
back Todd Husak, who leads the
Pac-10 with 296 passing yards
per game, with ample weaponry.
But defensively, Stanford gives
up about 58 yards more per out
ing than do the Cougars, who are
led by safety Lamont Thompson
and his four interceptions and 55
tackles.
Look for the Cardinal offense
to give the home crowd that rare
winning feeling Saturday.
Nick Medley /Emerald
Jabari Issa, shown here attempting to strip Herman Ho-Ching, and the Huskies host UCLA in this week’s Pac-10 Game ot the Week.
Game of the Week
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
No. 3 UCLA (8-0,6-0) at Washing
ton (5-4,3-3)
The Bruins are still in the
hunt for the national champi
onship, but they have been far
from impressive in recent
weeks. Following a narrow 28
24 home victory over Stanford
two weeks ago, UCLA barely es
caped Corvallis with its 18
game winning streak intact after
a 41-34 win against Oregon
State last week.
The Huskies have lost two
straight, but they should pro
vide the Bruins with a test, es
pecially at Husky Stadium in
Seattle. If playing the No. 3
team in the country is not moti
vation enough, Washington still
needs a sixth victory to become
bowl eligible.
In the preseason, this
matchup would have been
billed as a battle between the
Pac-lO’s two best quarterbacks
— and two of the top quarter
backs in the nation. But while
UCLA’s Cade McNown has
lived up to the hype amid his
run for the Heisman Trophy,
Washington’s Brock Huard has
not enjoyed the kind of success
prognosticators thought he
would.
Perhaps the gap in the two
quarterbacks’ statistics — Mc
Nown owns a 150 efficiency
rating vs. Huard’s 112.9 — is
due to the differences in the two
teams’ running games. The Bru
ins have set the pass up by aver
aging nearly 185 rushing yards
per game, while the Huskies
have struggled to average 119.4
rushing yards per outing.
If Washington is to shut Mc
Nown and the potent UCLA of
fense down, the combination of
linebackers Todd Johnson and
Jeremiah Pharms and defensive
tackle Jabari Issa will have to
continue getting to the quarter
back with the regularity that has
given them a combined 23
sacks.
The Bruin defense will need
to regroup after allowing the
Beavers 491 yards in total of
fense last week. Safety Larry
Atkins, an All-American candi
date, leads the team with 55
tackles.
Last season, UCLA rode Mc
Nown’s golden arm to a 52-28
win in Los Angeles, where the
Bruins put up 565 yards in total
offense. McNown threw for 320
yards and three touchdowns,
while Huard passed for 271
yards and accounted for two
touchdowns, one through the
air and one on the ground.
UCLA also intercepted two of
Huard’s throws and sacked him
five times.
Expect another wide-open,
high-scoring affair Saturday on
ABC.
Oregon
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