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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2000)
Thursday Best Bet NBA: Los Angeles at Portland 7:30 p.m., TNT SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Washington’s Williams suffers spinal iniurv . ... . Courtesy of Washington media services Washington senior defensive back Curtis Williams remains in intensive care after suffering a spinal-cord injury in the third quarter of Saturday’s 31 28 Husky victory over Stanford. The severity of the injury is not yet known, while it is doubtful he will be able to play football again this year. ■ Washington’s Curtis Williams’ spinal injury during Saturday’s game tainted the Husky victory By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald It should have been a night to cele brate for the Washington Huskies after they pulled out a dramatic, last-second 31-28 victory on the road over the Stan ford Cardinal Saturday. Instead, it turned into a night of an guish. Washington senior defensive back Curtis Williams was taken to the Stan ford Medical Center after he was knocked out of Saturday’s game with a spinal cord injury. He remained in intensive care Mon day in Palo Alto, Calif., where he has been since Saturday night. The exact seriousness of his injury will not be known for several days. It is known, however, that there is blood in the spinal cord area, which could mean that Williams suffered a contusion. Washington head coach Rick Neuheisal met with the media Monday and said that that there has been no sig nificant change in Williams’ status and that he is still being given the “best care available.” “As always, I am told in these types of traumatic injuries, uncertainty is the watchword,” Neuheisal said. “It is very difficult to press physicians into telling you one way or the other, because the fact is that these things can go in many different directions. Basically, it is a wait and see situation.” Neuheisal stayed in Palo Alto Satur day night with safeties/special teams coach Bob Hauck and spent some time with Williams’ brothers, David and Paul. The scary play occurred with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter of Saturday’s game. Stan ford running back Kerry Carter took off Turn to Pac-10, page 9 a As al ways, I am told in these types of traumatic injuries, un certainty is the watch word ... Basically, it is a wait and see situation. Rick Neuheisal Huskies head coach yj Where would we be without all-important national polls? TWO MINUTES FOR CROSSCHECKING PETER HOCKADAY I should move to Poland. Honestly, I can’t live without polls and rankings. They are my Buddha. They are my respirator. They keep me alive on those cold winter nights. Without the Associated Press poll, I would have no idea how good my Ducks are. Without the BCS Rankings, I wouldn’t know who Ore gon would play in the title game if it were this Thursday. But they do play with your head, don’t they? Is Oregon seventh in the country, or eighth? Are the Ducks better than Washington? I thought they were. The USA Today/ ESPN Coaches’ Poll doesn’t think so, but the AP agrees with me. So which one is right? Ask people in Eugene and they would say AP; head for Seattle and they’ll say USA Today/ESPN. My question is, do we really need two nation al polls? The AP and USA Today/ESPN polls differ only slightly, and it only makes teams madder when they’re ranked higher in one poll. I suppose they keep both polls around for sports junkies like me, so we can sit around and com plain that Oregon is ranked eighth in the USA Today /ESPN poll. The preseason poll is by far the best of them all. USC, third in the country! Oregon State, 33rd! Oops. The Oregon men’s basketball team is un ranked going into the season, and they’ll use it as a motivating factor. Who knew a poll could have so much impact. And please, don’t think that football is the only college sport to have polls. NCAA women’s soccer, for instance, has five — count them, five — different polls, none of them offi cial. The golf teams have two polls each. The cross country teams have four different polls be tween the two of them. Even different Web sites get in on the act. Check out incard.com/football to see how na tional college sports editors rank the football teams. Or see rivals.com for their take on the na tional rankings. Maybe I should move to the South Pole. Don’t you just love it when people rank pro fessional sports? In Sports Illustrated’s new NBA preview issue, they have the Portland Trail Blazers ranked first in the league. Who, ex Turn to National Polls, page 9 Golfers try to end season on a Hawaii high note ■ i ne uregon women s golt team fields its most experienced lineup of the season this week at the Rainbow Wahine Fall Golf Classic By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon women’s golf team needs a jump-start. The Ducks have played four tournaments this season, and have yet to finish higher than eighth. Ranked 23rd be fore the season, the Ducks have dropped out of the nation al picture all together. The good news is, Oregon has plen ty of time to remedy it’s shortcom ings. The Ducks will compete in the Rainbow Wahine Fall Golf Classic in Kapolei, Hawaii — their final fall tournament. Oregon will take on a 15 team field that includes only three top-25 teams: No. 16 UCLA, No. 17 San Jose State and No. 25 New Mexico. “The fall has been a little disappointing,” first-year head coach Shannon Rouillard said. “But I think we can look at it as a mid-term and see what we need to improve for the spring.” Rouillard will give her lineup a good shake for the sec ond time in as many tournaments this week. This time, the coach decided to field an upperclassman-laden lineup, taking five seniors and a junior to Hawaii. Senior Jerilyn White could be the Ducks’ most important Turn to Golf, page 9 CC The fall has been a little disap pointing, but I think we can look at it as a mid-term and see what we need to im prove for the spring. Shannon Rouillard women's golf coach yy
