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
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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.