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