Catherine Kendall Emerald
Oregon's Matt Smith (49), Kevin Mitchell (39) and Ryan Mitchell (24) bring down Arizona receiver Brad Brennan in last week’s Duck win. The surging Oregon defense will be looked upon to shut down the Sun Devil offense.
Preview
continued from page 1C
In 1988, the Ducks also stormed
out to a 6-1 start that had fans
drooling over the possibility of
playing in their first bowl game
since the 1963 Sun Bowl team.
Then the day of Oct. 29, 1988,
changed everything. Oregon took
on Arizona State and barely lost,
21-20. What followed were four
more consecutive defeats, giving
the Ducks a meager 6-6 record and
no bowl game.
Sure, times have certainly
changed, but the concept is there.
Each week is indeed “the only
game to think about,” as wide re
ceiver Marshaun Tucker said.
“We can’t look forward to Cal or
Oregon State,” said Hicker, forget
ting to mention Washington State.
“It’s Arizona State, and they’re a
great team. They really are.
They’re like 13 points away from
having a perfect season, so we
know we’re going to have to go out
this weekend and play some real
ball.”
The Sun Devils’ two losses this
year came at the hands of UCLA
(38-31) and Washington (21-15).
While those were narrow defeats,
the Devils also have been the ben
eficiaries of some tight games,
such as San Diego State (10-7), Col
orado State (13-10) and just last
weekend, to Washington State (23
20 in OT).
The close scores don’t bother
Arizona State head coach Bruce
Snyder, as he thinks they help in
grain mental toughness in his
team.
“I would think the fact that you
go into overtime and win it has to
do something to your psyche,”
Snyder said. “I believe we are a
stronger team now. This is a team
with great toughness.”
It is also a team that has the
Ducks worried. The Sun Devils are
an emotional and bonded group —
especially after surviving last
week’s plane ride home from Pull
man, Wash., in which the aircraft
was hit twice by lightning.
The Sun Devils start redshirt
freshman Jeff Krohn at quarterback
and walk-on Tom Pace at tailback,
both of whom have done solid jobs
in place of the injured Ryan Kealy
and Delvon Flowers.“They’re very
scary because despite all of the set
backs, they’re playing good foot
ball and giving them a chance to
win,” Bellotti said. “They’ve ex
ceeded expectations. Plus, we
have to go down there, where they
play very hard.”
The game will be Oregon’s third
road game of the year, which could
be a good thing for quarterback
Joey Harrington, who has done
much better away from Autzen
Stadium.
“We’re going to play against a
very underrated team,” Harrington
said. “I’ve heard some things about
that stadium as far as the fans and
the atmosphere so I’m looking for
ward to it. We’re in for a tough
game.”
One particular match-up to
watch will be the Oregon receivers
versus the Arizona State second
ary. UCLA’s passing game lit up the
Sun Devils en route to a 38-point
effort. No doubt, Harrington and
the Ducks will be looking to do the
same thing Saturday.
Harrington has been clicking
with Tucker lately; the two con
nected on two touchdown scores
in last week’s 14-10 win against
Arizona.
The Sun Devils certainly haven’t
forgotten the two players after
what they did a season ago. Last
year, the Sun Devils lost at Autzen
Stadium 20-17, after Harrington
connected with Tucker on a gutsy
29-yard game-winning touchdown
pass with only nine ticks of the
clock left.
“Man, that game last year was
crazy,” said Tucker, who originally
planned to attend Arizona State
out of junior college before coming
to Oregon. “But that was last year.
This year is a whole new game,
and we just have to go one week at
a time and go from there. If you
start thinking forward, you’re go
ing to slip.”
There they go again. Yadda. Yad
da. Yadda.
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