Picking up the slack
Despite absences,
the UO secondary
has done well.
PAGE 8B
7:15 p.m.
Saturday
at Autzen Stadium
Scott Barnett Emerald
After leading the Ducks to consecutive comeback wins, sophomore Joey Harrington could get his first colle
giate start at quarteitack Saturday. Head coach Mike said he probably won’t reveal his starter until game time.
Ducks give 2-6 WSU
their full attention
■ With three games left in the
regular season, Oregon plans to
stay in the Rose Bowl race with a
win Saturday
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon promises not to overlook Wash
ington State on Saturday.
Sure, the eighth-place Cougars are 2-6
overall and 1-4 in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence.
And OK, several of their key players are
injured, with a few not showing up at all
this season due to various legal troubles.
And yes, if Southern California and
UCLA had not both imploded, Washing
ton State would be exactly where every
one expected it to be before the season be
gan — in the conference cellar.
But besides all of that, the Ducks are se
riously convinced that the Cougars are
every bit as dangerous as any of their oth
er Pac-10 foes.
That’s because one more loss, regard
less of who it comes against, eliminates
Oregon (5-3, 3-2) from Rose Bowl con
tention.
So Oregon players and coaches really
do mean it when they say that they’re tak
ing it one game at a time.
“I don’t see this game as an easy game
for us,” Bellotti said. “I see it as a game
with a Pac-10 Northwest rival. Washing
ton State is our opponent this week, and
they’re certainly capable of beating us un
less we play inspired football from snap
to whistle.”
Now, whether it’s going to be A.J. Fee
ley or Joey Harrington who takes the ma
jority of those snaps offensively is open
for speculation.
Bellotti said he planned to keep that in
formation within the Ducks’ camp until
the last possible moment, just to keep
Washington State guessing.
After sparking the Ducks to two straight
come-from-behind wins, no one will be
surprised if Harrington get his first colle
giate start Saturday.
But the sophomore, 24 of 38 for 410
yards in four appearances, said he’s not
expecting anything.
“If I get a shot to play again this week,
great,” Harrington said. “I’ll come in and
try to do my job. But I don’t think you can
deserve anything as a player.”
If there is a player who is deserving of
another start to rectify any of his previous
miscues, it’s Feeley.
Although the junior hasn’t looked quite
like the standout quarterback he did earli
er, he remains the Pac-lO’s leader in
touchdowns, with 14, and ranks second
in completions, with 134.
‘ The whole thing there is to deal with
the mental approach of what starting
means,” Bellotti said. “And then, what
coming off the bench means. It’s like a re
liever in baseball.
“I’ll say this, when I first got here [as an
offensive coordinator in 1989], if our
first-string quarterback ever got hurt, we
were in trouble. What’s changed in the
last five-to-seven years is that we’ve had
excellent quarterbacks behind our first
string player. That’s been a big factor in
our ability to win consistently.”
The major offensive factor recently has
been tailback Reuben Droughns.
After suffering a rib injury against USC
on Sept. 25 that kept him out of one game
Turn to Oregon, Page 9
J
Cougars struggle to overcome injuries, opposition
■ inexperience, injuries and losses
are nothing new for bruised and
battered Washington State
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
History shows that Washington State can
be trouble for Oregon.
Dating back to 1901, the Cougars hold the
edge in 76 meetings with a series record of
35-34-7. Even in the Ducks’ own house,
Washington State 17-16-5.
But don’t be swayed by history.
Washington State has been nothing short
of a punching bag for the Pacific-10 Confer
ence this season.
Both the Cougars’ victories were uncon
tested. Their only conference win was a 31-7
rout of California that snapped a school
record 12-game losing streak. Their other
victory was a 44-0 domination of defense
less Louisiana-Lafayette.
Unfortunately for Washington State, it is
usually the other team that holds the domi
nating edge on the scoreboard.
w4 *
Utah ruined the Cougars’ season opener,
beating them in Pullman, Wash., 27-7 on Sept.
4. In its first Pac-10 game, Washington State
traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., only to receive an
other beating—this time 54-17 from Stanford.
The fun didn’t stop
there.
Idaho and Arizona
took turns beating the
Cougars in their own sta
dium, winning by scores
of 28-17 and 30-24, re
spectively. Later on, Arizona State took care
of business 33-21 on Oct. 23.
Oregon State is Washington State’s most
recent attacker. The Beavers beat the
Cougars 27-13 the day before Halloween.
A lengthy injured list of 17 players—eight
of whom are out indefinitely—also tells the
story of the Cougars’ frustration.
Washington State has used five offensive
line combinations as injuries have plagued
the starters. Lincoln Walden-Schulz is the
only offensive lineman who has started at
the same position every game.
The defense is equally depleted. The
Cougars have used three different linebacker
combinations and four different combina
tions in the secondary.
Washington State faces yet another problem
— inexperience. Fifty-seven different players
have seen action in at least three games, in
cluding 15 freshmen and nine sophomores.
Despite all their setbacks, the Cougars
can’t expect Oregon to go easy on them.
“It’s just another great football team com
ing to town, and obviously they have maybe
less to gain than we do,” Ducks head coach
Mike Bellotti said. “But they certainly have
nothing to lose, and that’s something that is
an attitude that can make a team play with
great intensity and have a lot of fun. ”
Bellotti is right to not take Washington
State lightly.
Linebacker Steve Gleason ranks second in
the Pac-10 with 10.5 tackles per game, fol
lowed by teammate Billy Newman, who ranks
third in the conference with 9.3 tackles.
Running back Deon Burnett is second uj the
Pac-10 in scoring (8.3 points per game) and
fifth in rushing with 92 yards per game. The
freshman is also riding a four-game streak in
which he has rushed for more than 100 yards.
Quarteiback Steve Bimbaum is also picking
up the pace. He has climbed to No. 6 in the Pac
10 with almost 179 yards passing per game.
“Their quarterback is a good quarterback,”
Bellotti said. “He’s very quietly assumed that
duty this year, and he’s moving up the chart in
yards and all that, but he’s a very accurate pass
er and given time he can pick you apart. ”
Bimbaum looks for wide receiver Leaford
Hackett, who averages six catches per out
ing. Nian Taylor is another receiving threat,
averaging almost five catches.
Still, the Cougar offense doesn’t match up
well with the rest of the conference — it is
eighth in rushing and sixth in passing.
“They’re close, and they come out and they
tend to be a little inconsistent,” Bellotti said.
“They start off like a house on fire in a couple of
games and throw the ball down the field, but
don’t get the ball into the end zone.”
After the Ducks’ last-second win over Ari
zona State last Saturday, it could be argued
that Oregon also struggles at times to finish
off drives.
Sizzling Stats
Scoring Scoring
Offense Defense
Oregon 35.6 Oregon 27.6
WSU 21.8 WSU 25.8
Quotable
“There’s some unique things
about Tony Hartley that people
don't understand. He truly loves
the game, and he is a student of
the game. He knows football.”
- Mike Beliotti,
Oregon head coach
“Everybody wants to be out
there and show what they can
do, but if my job on this team is
to come in and provide a spark,
then so be it. You gotta accept
your role as a team player."
—Joey Harrington,
Oregon quarterback
Key Player
Mike Bellotti
The Oregon head coach
has to decide who to
start at quarterback and
then whether to replace
him with the backup.