Monday
^_nmm _SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Heading to Pasadena one game at a time
......
Oregon inside linebacker Kevin Mitchell (39) rips down Wildcat wide receiver Brad Brennan, while fellow linebacker Matt Smith (49) and team
mate look on. The Duck defense continued to dominate and made sure that the offense’s 14 points would hold up for the huge Pac-10 victory.
In the end, it's all about the scoreboard
cs
. - HAKUNA
v MAIAXA
JEFF SMITH
It seems that every team that goes
through a spectacular season has
these kinds of games.
The game where its quarterback
completes only nine of his 22 passes
and it takes the tailback 34 carries to
rack up 114 yards.
The game where the offense sputters.
The game where both teams score a
combined zero points in the second half.
The game where the opposing team
has the ball in the final seconds of the
game with a chance to put the ball in
the end zone for the win.
And, lastly, the game where, despite
all of that, it wins.
Such was the case on a cold, Satur
day night in Autzen Stadium where the
temperature dipped as low as 37-de
grees, leaving 45,950 fans blowing in
their hands in between claps.
Folks, this was football.
Oregon’s 14-10 victory over Arizona
Saturday night may not have glittered
with long runs and 60-yard pass plays,
but the result was what mattered.
As the old saying goes, “a win is a
win is a win.”
“This is a huge win,” cornerback
Rashad Bauman said. “It gives us the
number one spot in the Pac-10 and the
edge for the Rose Bowl.”
The Ducks are in control of their own
destiny.
Granted, the football that was being
played was not pretty, but it was football
— smash-mouth style.
Did you see the hit that Oregon line
backer Wesly Mallard laid on Wildcat cor
nerback Michael Jolivette in the first quar
ter? Mallard certainly let the dogs out on
that one as Jolivette’s helmet and mouth
piece flew off as he was getting crunched.
One reporter compared it to a cork fly
ing off a champagne bottle.
“I saw him coming, but it was just too
quick,” said Jolivette, who was taken to
Sacred Heart Hospital to receive 11
stitches in his lower chin. “I couldn’t do
anything about it.”
Many Oregon fans have mentioned
how they didn’t enjoy the game as much
as the others. But how could you not en
joy the great theater of watching an Ari
zona team faced with a first-and-10 with
only 26 seconds left in the game.
Turn to Smith, page 9
A sigh of relief: Ducks win in Pac-10
■ Coach Ferreira and the
volleyball team pick up their first
conference win in a Civil War
sweep at Oregon State
By Adam Jude
Oregon Oaily Emerald
CORVALLIS — Oregon State’s Gill
Coliseum was filled with smiles Friday
night — and they weren’t on the faces
of Beaver fans.
In a much-needed
confidence booster,
the Oregon volleyball
squad won its first Pa
cific-10 Conference
match of the season
and redeemed an ear
lier-season loss by sweeping its Civil
War rival in front of 1,387 fans in Cor
vallis. The match was broadcast live
VOUEYBAU
on Fox Sports Northwest.
“I am just ecstatic for these players,”
head coach Carl Ferreira said after
snapping a six-match losing skid.
“Amy [Banducci], Halie [Mazza], ‘Mo
[Monique Tobbagi] and Julie [Gerlach]
are the reason we are here, and I am re
ally happy for them.”
After defeating the California-River
side Highlanders Sunday, the Ducks
are 9-10 overall and 1-9 in the Pac-10.
“This is a brand new team,” said
Banducci, a senior outside hitter who
tallied eight kills and 25 digs in the
two matches. “We’re finally putting to
gether what we knew we had. This
was huge. It proves that we can play in
this conference, and gives us a big con
fidence booster.”
After a 15-10 win in game one, Ore
gon found itself down by two late in
the second to the Beavers. But three
straight kills by Mazza and a service
ace by Tobbagi gave the Ducks a 12-11
lead, and they eventually headed into
the intermission with a 15-13 win.
“I thought game two was critical,”
Ferreira said. “It didn’t allow them to
gain momentum heading into the lock
er room. Before game three we reiterat
ed what we had learned since the last
time we played them and were ahead
2-0.”
Flashback to Sept. 19 at McArthur
Court: The Ducks appeared to be on
their way to a win over the Beavers
with a two-game lead, but Oregon State
battled back to win 3-2.
Alas, another come-from-behind vic
tory was not in store for the Beavers
this time, as the Ducks rolled past its
Turn to Volleyball, page 9
■ The Oregon football team beats Arizona with
defense and now controls its Rose Bowl destiny
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Beaten by Arizona's “Desert Swarm”
defense and facing one last charge by
the dangerous Wildcat offense, the
Oregon football team rested its Rose
Bowl hopes on the team’s most reliable
force.
Desert Swarm, meet the Green
Swarm.
The Oregon ‘D’ took Arizona’s of
fense by storm under the Saturday
night sky, holding it scoreless in the
second half and putting the brakes on
a last-minute drive to preserve the
Ducks’ 19th-straight win at Autzen
Stadium, 14-10, in front of another
sellout crowd of 45.950.
Oregon’s offense, which tallied an
average 428 yards total offense through
its first six games, mustered just 260
yards total against Arizona (3-1 Pacif
ic-10 Conference, 5-2 overall).
But that didn’t matter on a night
when the Wildcats were held to 217
yards of total offense.
“We talked about it before the game,
about how everything is ordained, and
we believe that — we believe that we
were going to come out here and beat
these guys today,” defensive end Saul
Patu said. “(Our offense] not moving
the ball was fine with us — if that’s the
way it’s supposed to happen, that’s the
way it’s supposed to happen.”
The victory gave Oregon (4-0, 6-1)
sole possession of the Pac-10 lead and
the inside track to the Rose Bowl.
“We always think about the Rose
Bowl, but we have to think about it in
terms of the next game and one game
at a time,” Oregon head coach Mike
Bellotti said. “There are no gimmies in
this conference. I think this is as bal
anced as a conference from top-to-bot
tom as there is.
“Now that we’ve done a good job at
putting ourselves in the drivers’ seat,
we’ve also made that bulls-eye on our
backs a little bit bigger.”
Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins
had one last chance to lead his team to
victory when the Wildcats began the
game’s final drive at their own 10-yard
Turn to Autzen win, page 9
a We
always
think about
the Rose
Bowl, but
we have to
think about
it in terms
of the next
game and
one game at
a time.
There are
nogimmies
in this
conference.
I think this
is as bal
anced as a
conference
from top-to
bottom as
there is.
Mike Bellotti
Oregon head
coach
Dan Brunell Emerald
Senior Amy Banducci dives for one of her nine digs against UC-Riverside
Sunday. The Ducks won their first Pac-10 match Friday at Oregon State.