Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1999)
Huskies Continued from Page 1 scrimmage and wait for things, so he really couldn’t use his-aggres siveness and quickness to get to the quarterback either. ” Along with facing those offbeat offenses, Issa has also had to com bat a position change, moving from the inside (defensive tackle) to the outside (defensive end). “[Plays] take a little bit longer to develop,” said Issa, who prefers defensive tackle nevertheless. “The quarterback’s no longer right in front of you, so it’s a little bit harder to get to him. ” Considering his relative quiet ness so far and with three games no under his belt at defensive end, is Issa ready for a breakout game Saturday night at Husky Stadium against No. 25 Oregon (3-1,1-0)? Not so fast, Neuheisel said. “He’s kind of waiting for a con ventional attack,” said Neuheisel, 2-0 against the Ducks from his days as the head coach at Col orado. “He’ll have to wait another week because Oregon does so many things to keep you off bal ance as a defense. ” Issa expressed his own anxiety about facing the Duck offense, which averages a conference-lead ing 43 points per game. “They’re very explosive,” the Washington co-captain said. Jabari Issa Year: senior Position: defensive end Height/weight: 6-foot-6,285 pounds Hometown: Foster City, Calif. Career highlights: Named to Several preseason All American teams... First-team all-Pac-10 last season... tied for team lead with eight sacksin 1998 whiie start ing every game... started eight games as sophomore in 1997.. . played in 10 games as true freshman in 1996.. . three-sport athlete at San Mateo High School (football, track and field, basketball). SOURCE: Washington Media Services “They can put a lot of points up on the board real quick, so everything pretty much scares me about them.” Issa said he’s not concerned with a personal breakthrough against the Ducks. He just wants to even the rivalry score during his collegiate career at two. “I wanna even the series out for me at least and get another win on our side of the border,” said Issa, a senior sociology major. Precisely which side of the bor der Issa would be representing wasn’t always a given, however. The native of Foster City, Calif., was close to coming to Oregon—a recruiting loss that Duck offensive line and assistant head coach Neal Zoumboukos still regrets. “We’d love to have Jabari Issa on our team,” said Zoumboukos, in his 20th season at Oregon. “He’s an outstanding player. He has great size, as well as great athletic ability. He’s a definite pro prospect. He may be the best de fensive lineman that we have to face the entire season. ” With an offensive line that is banged up, how will the Ducks stop Issa? “Holding,” Zoumboukos said with a chuckle. “No, we have to be fundamentally sound. When he’s on the guard, die center has to give help, and when he’s on the tackle, the guard has to give help. No mat ter where he is, we have to double team him in order to protect ade quately.” But if Issa lives up to his stature, he promises to have a big impact on Saturday’s game regardless. “It’s a big-time rivalry,” Issa said. “We’ll be ready.” Sports brief Mets continue amazin’ col NEW YORK* — The 1951 Dodgers. The ’64 Phillies. The ’78 Red Sox. Unless they turn things around almost instantly, the New York Mets’ amazin’ collapse will join the ranks of baseball’s biggest. “I can’t believe it’s going that bad. ... I don’t believe it’s hap pened,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said Tuesday night af ter his team’s seventh straight loss, 9-3 to the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta, which became the first NL team in 55 years to win 100 games in three straight seasons, chased Orel Hershiser after just one out, his quickest exit in 459 career starts. The Mets are desper ately searching for a way to end their free fall. “Don’t watch TV. Don’t read the paper. Don’t listen to the ra dio,” said Al Leiter, who starts Wednesday against Greg Mad dux. “You know it’s going to be bad. Why reinforce the negative?” New York, which led either the NL East or the wild-card race from July 21 until Sunday, is 1 1/2 games behind Houston, the cur rent wild-card leader, with just five games remaining. Cincinnati overtook the Astros for the NL Central lead with a 4-1 win. The Associated Press Ever dreamed of taking on the Emerald staffers in the weekly "Pac-10 Picks" that appear in editions of Game Day? Now is your chance! Simply march up to the Emerald offices at Suite 300 in the EMU, fill out an entry deposit it to the left | form and in the box of the receptionist desk. 'Deadline is every Wednesday by 5 pm. Winners will be notified Thursday mornings. Then you could get the chance to prove your PICKING PROWESS. ... Scott Barnett Emerald On her way to tying for fifth individually, Oregon senior Anika Heuser putts. Golf Continued from Page 13 teammate Cheryl Lala fin ished second with a 152. Tak ing third was San Diego State’s Asa Jankler, whose round of 73 Tuesday tied her with Laing for low score of the tournament. Although nobody likes sec ond place, Baumgartner did find a shining light in it all. “We lost to Cal only by six strokes, and we played proba bly as poorly as we possibly could,’’ Baumgartner said. “People will look at our sec ond-place finish and think, ‘Oh, that’s great,’ but it’s not. Our goals are a lot higher.” White, perhaps the most talented Duck, was clearly disappointed in her play in the invitational and looks to get back on the right track. “Mentally, I just hit a bit of a slump,” White said. “I don’t want to say I felt pres sure, but I did put too much emphasis on this tournament and winning it and thinking that I could lap the field. “The expectations all just caught up to me and I lost it.” Baumgartner has not lost faith in her team and is confi dent heading into the Fall Nittany Lion Invitational, which takes place Friday through Sunday at Penn State. “I’m not going back on my word that this is the best team I’ve ever coached,” Baumgart ner said. “This tournament was simply a midterm and we flunked, but it was just one little match in the whole scope of things. “We know where we want to go, and I truly believe we’ll get there.” Sports brief Yankees get back on winning track BALTIMORE — The New York Yankees have spent the entire season operating in the shadow of last year’s wildly successful team. In most cases, the 1999 version has paled in comparison. Yet the current club now has this feat to brag about: For the first time in 60 years, the Yankees have four players with at least 100 RBIs. Tino Martinez homered and drove in four runs to reach 100 RBIs for a fifth straight season, and the Yankees rallied from an early three-run deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-5 Tuesday night. The victory reduced to two the Yankees’ magic number to win their second straight AL East title. Any combination of New York wins and Boston losses totaling two will give the Yankees the di vision crown. Martinez has driven in 102 runs, giving the Yankees four players with 100 RBIs for the first time since 1939. Martinez joins Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neill. This is the fifth team in Yankees history to have as many as four players with 100 RBIs. “We can’t measure up as home run hitters, but we have some productive hitters,” New York manager Joe Torre said. “We’re getting men on base, getting deep in the count and we know what to do with it.” Martinez came into the game batting .257, but he’s been quite proficient in the batting order be hind Jeter, O’Neill and Williams. The Associated Press
