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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2000)
Monday Best Bet NFL Jaguars vs. Colts ABC, 6 p.m. SEPTEMBER252000VOLUME 102, ISSUE 19 Smittside@aol.com JEFF SMITH :SP0RTS EDITOR Ducks dismantle UCLA in rockin’ Autzen ■ Maurice Morris and the defense lead Oregon to a big-time win over UCLA in their Pac-10 opener oy 3tuu rcuiiciKCi Oregon Daily Emerald The Ducks made a state ment under the Saturday af ternoon sun, and they did so with vigor. The scene: Oregon up, 22 10, with time winding down. Ryan McCann, UCLA’s soph omore quarterback, had struggled with his arm all day and needed a football miracle for his team to win. The crowd was roaring, the Autzen Stadium scoreboard read first-and-10 on the Bru ins’ 18-yard line, and then the snap — and the fumble — and the ball disappeared un der the diving frame of Ore gon linebacker Matt Smith. There would be no game saving miracle. All that then No. 6 UCLA could do, be sides wait for the clock to expire, was try to enaure tne mocking chant of “overrat ed” from more than 45,000 Duck fans. But Oregon wasn’t done. Two plays later, junior tail back Maurice Morris capped 139 yards of rushing on 37 carries with his second touchdown of his Pacific-10 Conference debut, a six-yard dance into the end zone. Then the defense joined in, sacking McCann twice dur ing UCLA’s last drive. The crowd stormed the field with 10 seconds left, and Oregon (3-1 overall, 1-0 Pac-10) won in a big, big way, 29-10, humbling the Bru ins (3-1, 0-1) in front of a sell out crowd and a nationally tel evised audience. “Beating the No. 6 team, it was a great welcome,” Mor Turn to Big win, page 23 C3ES—lliliAMMI Dan Brunell Emerald (Left) Senior defensive end Saul Patu sacks UCLA quarterback Ryan McCann to further spread icing on the cake, less than a minute after (above) running back Maurice Morris scored Oregon’s final points on a six-yard touchdown run. Emotions run high as sweet victory engulfs UO One by one, as the fi nal seconds ticked away, Oregon players and their coach shared in the jubilance, the tri umph and the emotion. Head coach Mike Bel lotti hugged defensive stalwart Saul Patu and James Rose. Senior defensive end Jason Nikolao put his right arm on Bellotti’s shoulder, smiled widely and went in for the bear hug. Bellotti then embraced senior wide re ceiver Marshaun Tucker, looked proudly at the young man and kissed him on the cheek. As Joey Harrington took a knee, and the students charged the field 10 seconds too soon, you just knew that Saturday’s 29-10 win over sixth-ranked UCLA was more than a game. It was a statement. A statement of courage, a statement of to getherness, a statement of dominance, but most importantly, it was a statement of awareness. Just last week in Knoxville, Tenn., on ESPN’s “College GameDay”, analyst Lee Corso asked, “Where is Eugene?” Well on Saturday, Corso knew exactly where Eugene was located as he was in town to film “GameDay”, and it is safely as sumed that he will never forget the locale. Because along with the emotion on the field, there was the madness in the crowd. The game-time atmosphere certainly lived up to its hype, and helped the Ducks secure its 17th-straight home victory. It was loud. It was crazy. It was, well, Autzen Stadium. "Our crowd was outstanding today, and they were in the game for all four quarters of play,” said sophomore wide receiver Ja son Willis, who piled up 48 yards of total offense on five plays. “More importantly was that they never let up and they helped us against a tough UCLA team.” While the victory is huge for the simple reason that it was Oregon’s Pacific-10 open er, the fact that it was on national television and that it was against the Bruins made it even more so. No Oregon player had ever beaten the Bruins in their careers, and for the seniors that was motivation enough. “It’s awesome,” Patu said. “We feel like we should have gotten this win a couple years ago. We let some chances slip by us Turn to Smith, page 25 Women’s basketball team loses its leading scorer ■ Shaquala Williams, point guard for the Oregon women’s basketball team, will miss the season with a torn A.C.L. By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Ironically, the greatest challenge of Shaquala Williams’ college basketball career may take place off the court. W ’bams, the Oregon women’s basketball team’s star point guard, will miss the 2000-01 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, an MRI revealed last Monday. Williams said she sustained the season-ending injury in a pickup game at McArthur Court on Sept. 16. Surgery should take place this week at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Ac cording to head coach Jody Runge, rehabilitation will take six to nine months. “I’m proud of the way she’s han dling this,” Runge said. “Obviously a grieving process will come, and Tu rn to Women’s, page 20 Emerald Shaquala Williams will sit this season out with a torn ACL.
