August 23,2000
Olympic hopefuls
Eugene and the University will be represented at
the Sydney Olympics, with hammer thrower
Lance Deal leading the way. PAGE 16
Wednesday
JEFF SMITH: SPORTS EDITOR jsmith@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Starting wide receiver Keenan Howry (left) and the entire Oregon offense strive to post winning scores such as last year’s 44
41,72-10,47-28 and 52-10. The Ducks ended the 1999 season with six consecutive wins.
Gridiron
HMUOILS
■ The 2000 Ducks won’t be heading south this winter,
instead opting to heat things up in the Pac-10
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Head coach Mike Bellotti
looked into the herd of media
and
opened his
annual
preseason
press con
i' e r e n c e
with these
words:
“Welcome to the new millen
nium of Oregon football.”
While those words give the
impression of a new beginning,
you can be sure Bellotti wants
to carry on with the progress of
the past decade.
Since the 1994 season — the
year the Ducks went to the Rose
Bowl — Oregon has had the best
combined win-loss record among.
Pacific-10 Conference schools.
So naturally, Bellotti is opti
mistic about seeing his troops
do much more than simply
achieve another winning record.
“We’re very excited as a staff
and a team to get this thing
rolling,” Bellotti said. “We felt
that we had a very good season
last year and that we finished
strong. I think it gave us a real
positive momentum into the
off-season.”
The Ducks ended their 1999
season on a gut-wrenching six
game winning streak that in
cluded scores such as 44-41,20
17, 24-19 and 24-20.
And most of those wins were
of the comeback variety.
With that in mind, the Oregon
athletic department came up
with the motto, “This Team
Doesn’t Quack Under Pressure.”
And indeed, the team has been
known to be a resilient bunch
that fights all the way down to the
final seconds — proven by last
season’s Joey Harrington to Mar
shaun Tucker 29-yard touch
Turn to Gladiators, page 14A
Restoring reputation
Pac-10’s motivation
■ With a sullied rep trailing them from last year, the teams of the
Pac-10 hope to fire back with white hot play
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Typically, non-conference games
are just a test for an individual team
to gauge where it is in preparation for
the upcom
ing confer
ence season.
For the Pa
cific-10 Con
ference foot
ball teams,
however, the
non-confer
ence games
taking place
within the next month or so are all
going to be important games to re
deem the reputation of their confer
ence.
A conference, which after last sea
son’s opening round of games was
termed as the “Pathetic-10 Confer
ence” by many scribes a’cross the na
tion.
First there was highly acclaimed
Arizona falling on its face to Penn
State 41-7 in a nationally televised af
fair, and then there was Arizona State
getting pounced at home by New
Mexico State 35-7. The Sun‘Devils
then decided to go to South Bend,
Ind., where they got hammered 48-17
by the Fighting Irish. California
joined the sad-sack party when it was
embarrassed 45-0 by Nebraska, and
Washington lost its first two games of
the season to BYU and Air Force.
And just for good measure, the Pac
10’s Rose Bowl representative, Stan
ford, opened its season by getting
crushed by Texas 69-17 and then
couldn’t even beat San Jose State at
home a few weeks later.
Making matters worse, four of the
five Pac-10 teams that played in a
bowl game lost — with the Oregon
Ducks’ 24-20 victory over Minnesota
in the Sun Bowl being the only con
solation.
But this is a whole new year and
the always unpredictable Pac-10 has
heard its fair share of criticism and is
ready to surprise folks with solid play.
“There is no doubt as to the talent
level of the teams in this conference,”
said Oregon quarterback Joey Har
rington, whose Ducks will be in
Madison, Wise., Sept. 9 to take on the
Wisconsin Badgers. “I think people
will see the real deal this fall from all
of the teams. ”
And aside from the national scope,
the competition between the teams in
the conference itself will be just as
wild as it ever was. Predicting the
Pac-10 race is like guessing the
weather in a city where it snows,
rains, hails and then shines with sun
all in the same day.
After all, who could have forecast
last season that Arizona, which en
tered the season ranked No. 4 in the
nation, would finish at a measly 6-6
and not earn a bowl bid?
Or that Stanford would actually be
playing on Jan. 1, let alone against
Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Hyping up a team never seems to
bode well in the Pac-10, but that has
n’t stopped the Washington Huskies
and the USC Trojans from receiving
most of the early accolades.
The Huskies return 16 starters
while the Trojans bring back 15 of
their starting corps. Husky head
coach Rick Neuheisal is flattered by
the attention his team is receiving,
but is quick to add that talk is cheap.
“If they are picking you near the top,
then that means there are some good
things happening,” said Neuheisal,
who led the Huskies to the Holiday
Bowl in his first season as head coach
after moving west from Colorado.
“You have to make the team under
stand that it does not mean they have
accomplished anything yet.
“Predictions are just on paper.
Turn to Pac-10, page 13A
Volleyball coach’s philosophy
hits ‘em where it counts
■ Under new tutelage, the Oregon squad looks forward to a
winning season and away from last year’s blunders
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Don’t stop thinking about tomor
row.
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here!
It’ll be better than before.
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.
A fitting chorus
from Fleetwood
Mac’s 1977 hit song
“Don’t Stop,” one
that could easily be
dubbed as the
theme song of the
2000 Oregon volley
ball team.
Because there’s a
new sheriff in town who is making
sure that the troops have their eyes fo
cused on the future, in hopes that the
memories — or lack thereof— of last
year will whither away under the
success of this squad.
Gone is head coach Cathy Nelson,
VOLLEYBALL
whose Ducks were 7-20 overall last
year, but only 1-17 in Pacific-10 Con
ference play to finish in last place.
Enter new head coach Carl Fer
reira, who is making sure people
know early on what he expects of the
Ducks.
“Our primary expectation is to just
win,” said Ferreira, who has a six
year overall coaching record of 148
56 with Cal State Bakersfield and Ida
ho. “You have to have purpose in
what you do. We’re just trying to im
plement our new system right away
and we’re beginning to solidify roles.
“They’ve had pretty phenomenal
attitudes so it’s been great.”
Indeed, Ferreira has breathed some
new life into this team, whose opti
mism gives the impression that they
are coming off a strong season.
No longer are the Ducks just “hop
ing” to win. Now, they are expecting
Turn to Volleyball, page 12A
Emerald
Senior Amy Banducci (11) hopes to lead the Oregon volleyball team out of the Pac-10 cellar and into a top three finish.