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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2000)
Arizona not scared of Autzen ■ Defense will be the key to victory for the Arizona Wildcats, who hope to stay in the run for the roses By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Arizona head coach Dick Tomey said it’s not Autzen Stadium that makes the Oregon football team so good — it’s the Oregon football team itself. “Oregon’s home streak [of 18 games] is unbelievable,” said Tomey, who ranks eighth all-time in Pacific-10 Conference wins, but has never won at Autzen Stadium. “But the problem with playing up there is Oregon’s team. There’s a lot of noise that takes some time to ad just to, but the team is the main problem.” Tomey insists that if you put a less talented team in Autzen, the wins wouldn’t come as easily. “If you take a look at the confer ence stats, they are number one in a lot of categories,” Tomey said. “If they had a bad team, and the crowd was so loud that you couldn’t hear, that wouldn’t be much of a chal lenge.” There’s too much at stake for the 21 st-ranked Wildcats (5-1, 3-0) in this game, so don’t expect them to look too far ahead. “We can’t let uncontrollable, ex ternal circumstances get in our way,” said Tomey, who has led the Wildcats to the best Pac-10 record (59-30) over the last seven years. Arizona’s fifth-year quarterback Ortege Jenkins, who did not play in the Wildcats’ last visit to Autzen in 1997, told the Arizona Daily Wild cat that he is not intimidated by Oregon’s rowdy fans. “We understand that there are some problems, and we know what we have to do to make it happen,” Jenkins said. “It’s a football stadi um. It’s not like a dungeon where they put poison in our food. It’s a stadium; you play the game. It’s be tween the lines that the game is on.” Perhaps Jenkins will change his mind Saturday. Nonetheless, the one thing that the Wildcats know for sure, despite all of the hype about Autzen, is that their defense will have to stop the Pac-lO’s top offense if they wish to stay in Rose Bowl contention. While Arizona’s rushing defense Can you see Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington’s mouth watering? “I think we’ve proved we’re not a great defense,” said Tomey, after his team narrowly defeated Washing ton State 53-47 in triple overtime last weekend. In that game, the Cougars’ Jason Gesser threw for 378 yards and six touchdowns.One positive for the Wildcats’ defense is cornerback Michael Jolivette. The redshirt freshman is third in the nation with five interceptions. “Michael has shown maturity far beyond his days this year,” Tomey said. “It’s just incredible what he’s done so far.’’Arizona’s offense has also had its struggles. Jenkins is barely completing 50 percent of his passes, while his touchdown-to-in terception ratio is just 7-to-5. Overall, the Wildcats have the worst offense in the Pac-10, averag ing 310 yards per contest. Both teams know the implica tions that come in this matchup of undefeated league teams. The Wildcats are not letting the thought of roses get to their heads, though. CC It's a football stadium. It's not like a dungeon where they put poison in our food. It's a stadium; you play the game. ..This game will be a big-time game. If 11 test our character; going up there where people say you can’t win. Ortege Jenkins Arizona quarterback “We’ve done a good job of han dling the fact that we were under rated,” Tomey said. “Now we need to handle the fact that we are get ting a little recognition.” The Wildcats are also not looking past the Ducks. “I'm not thinking Rose Bowl. I’m thinking Oregon Ducks,” Jenkins told USA Today. “This game will be a big-time game. It'll test our char acter, going up there where people say you can't win.” While there are four more confer ence games after this weekend, the championship trophy may likely be decided Saturday in Eugene. “[The champion] will be the team that gets better from here on out,” Tomey said. “You have to as sume that every game you play in the conference is for the champi onship. It's going to be a wild fin ish.” “Everything is Just Ducky at Quackers!” breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Cocktails • Domestics • Imports • Micros Pool Tables ® Video Games • Darts • Lottery Games Satellite Sports (Every Legal Package Known to Man & Duck!) 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