Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2000)
Haughty Bruins upended by Ducks ■ UCLA’s national title hopes are dashed in part by Oregon’s famously ferocious Autzen Stadium home crowd By jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald At the tail end of UCLA’s upset wins over then-No. 3 ranked Alaba ma and Michigan earlier this month, the Bruin crowd in the Rose Bowl began chanting “Ov-er rat-ed!” On Saturday, the Bruins again heard that same chant, but this time there was something awfully different about the words. They were directed at them. As the cliche goes, what a differ ence a week makes. After beating the Wolverines at home, the No. 6 Bruins were on cloud nine and in serting themselves in the race for the national championship. “I think we proved we were the No. 1 team in the nation,” said quarterback Ryan McCann, after his team became the first team since 1993 to beat two teams ranked No. 3 or better in the same season. “I don’t know who else we can beat, or what else we can do.” All such talk was quelled by the Oregon Ducks (3-1,1-0), who dom inated UCLA 29-10, beating their Pacific-10 rival for the first time since.Sept. 16,1995. It was the first road game of the season for the Bruins, who only have four road games on its schedule. “If you’re going to win champi onships, you gotta win on the road,” Bruin head coach Bob Tole do said. “Because it’s going to be hostile wherever you go.” Toledo did say, however, that Autzen Stadium certainly puts the visiting team at more of a disadvan tage than other stadiums. “They got it going [here],” Tole do said. “They’ve got nice facilities, they got a great crowd, great venue with that stadium and they’re do ing a nice job coaching some skilled kids.” In the week leading up to the Turn to Bruins, page 25 Bigwin continued from page 19 ris said about his first conference game. “Actually, I think it was the best I could have.” The victory was the Ducks’ 17th straight at home. It was also the first Oregon win over UCLA since 1995. “I’m extremely proud of my play ers and coaches, they did a great job,” Oregon head coach Mike Bel lotti said. “They battled, and I can’t think of a better stage or better op portunity for people across the na tion to see us do what we do best, and that’s win at home.” The Ducks cracked the AP Top-25 poll for the first time this season at No. 20. Meanwhile, UCLA dropped from No. 6 to No. 15. The Bruins, who made a late come back to beat Michigan last Saturday, threatened to do the same against Oregon as they entered the second half down by 10. Chris Griffith kicked ,a 46-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and with 6 minutes, 55 sec onds left in the period, backup quar terback Drew Bennett faked the op tion and found Freddie Mitchell in the end zone with a 54-yard touch down pass. The extra point was good, tying the game at 10 all. Oregon quarterback Joey Harring ton completed two passes to Keenan Howry and one to Mar shaun Tucker on the ensuing pos session, but the drive stalled at the Bruins’ 34-yard line when three passes fell incomplete. At fourth-and-10, with 5:20 re maining in the third, the Ducks de cided to go for it — and did it. Harrington spotted tight end La Corey Collins streaking down the Oregon sideline. He pulled back and released. Collins vied for posi tion with a defender as the ball came down. Both Duck and Bruin jumped for it, and Collins, who managed to cradle the pigskin with one hand, came down with it. Place kicker Josh Frankel com pleted the drive with a 24-yard field goal as the Ducks went on to score 19 unanswered points. “The key was the offensive line and Maurice, without a doubt,” Harrington said. “We had young guys in there, a couple guys making their first start, and they came out and dominated that defensive line.” “We got to go out in the second half and we got to execute,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said. “We got it tied up at 10-10 and I started feeling better about it, but we just couldn’t make any plays offensive ly. Defensively we just got kind of worn out.” Before the game, ESPN’s College GameDay show — broadcast live from Pape Field — pumped up Autzen Stadium as one of the coun try’s most dangerous destinations for opposing teams, comparing it to the Florida State “chop shop” and the Florida Gators’ “Swamp.” Three consecutive false starts by the Bruins in the first quarter showed the nation that Autzen is worthy of such a billing. “The crowd was wonderful to day,” defensive tackle Jason-Niko lao said. “We were getting our hands up to get them up. It was so loud the offensive linemen couldn’t hear the quarterback. ” On paper, Oregon bettered UCLA in almost every statistical category. The Ducks rushed for a total of 208 yards, while the Bruins’ running game fizzled with a loss of nine. The Ducks had 361 yards total offense, the Bruins had 197. The Ducks fum bled twice but recovered both, while the Bruins lost two of three fumbles and committed an interception. The ability of the Oregon defense to contain UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster was crucial. Suspecting that the young McCann would be rattled by the hostile Autzen environment, the defense focused its collective ef fort on stopping Foster. The result was a mere 49 yards of rushing from a 1998 freshman All American. “This is the most fired-up I’ve ever seen this group as a defense,” Nikolao said. “This is the only Pac 10 team we haven’t beaten in past years, so we knew we just had to be on top of our game and just attack these guys.” After the Bruins won the coin toss and opted to kick, the Ducks scored on their second drive when Har rington dove into the end zone from one yard out and Frankel kicked the extra point. Frankel, who missed first-quarter field goal attempts from 44 and 39 yards, connected from 26 yards out with 1:24 to play in the second quarter. Oregon held a 10-0 lead at halftime. The Ducks’ schedule doesn’t get any easier, as they host undefeated Washington (3-0 non-conference) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. “The nice thing is that the Huskies have to come to our place,” Bellotti said. “They’re a very good football team, and certainly so are we. We have to continue to improve and hope that we stay healthy.” Erin Swanson-Davies Emerald UCLA’s Tab Perry (1) experienced first hand the wrath of the Ducks defense on Saturday, as Kevin Mitchell (39) and Keith Lewis (16) help bring him down. ■(D- ■(lUft- ■(!>■ Computing (enter Microcomputer Services Wonts We need savvy students to answer computing questions for students, faculty and staff. Starting pay: • Micro Services employees - $8/hr. • Departmental consultants - $9/hr. Work study not required Inquire at 151 Grayson Hall See http://micro.uoregon.edu/jobs for more information. You Guys Put The “In” In Intern! Enterprise Rent-A-Car is happy to recognize all of our interns who went the extra mile for us this summer. Your hard work and dedication make you a true “In Crowd”! Thank You Summer Intierns! Kristi Huey Jeff Huisman Heather Jenkins Aaron Miller Joy Nair Nik Powell Brittany Thomas Enterprise rent-a-car Visit us at www.enterprise.com/careers
