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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2000)
THE BOX Total Offense ■ ■ ac-10 rankings) OREGON 3rd California 10th Total Defense OREGON 3rd California 6th Passing Offense OREGON 4th ( ilifornia 9 th Rushing Offense OREGON 4th California 9th Passing Defense OREGON 1st California 10th Rushing Defense OREGON 5th California 4th Turnover Ratio OREGON +9 California -1 QUOTABLE "He's a damn good quarter back. That guy's a player." -Washington State head coach Mark Price on Oregon quarterback Ooey Harrington, after last Saturday's 27-24 Duck victory over the Cougar: "It's going to be a special da senior place-kicker __ com asked ans: "Which is worse: the BCS or the Electoral College?" With the presidential race in Florida too close to call and 2! electoral votes on the line, the fans' choice was ironic: The Electoral College narrowly won with 52 percent of the vote. Stepping up, running hard ■ Sophomore Allan Amundson has been filling in nicely for Maurice Morris By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Two years ago, Oregon was po tentially on its way to making his tory before losing starting tailback Reuben Droughns to an injury near midseason. Oregon’s running game left with Droughns — as did any chance of going to Pasadena. Fast forward to Oct. 28, 2000: The Ducks’ offense, locked in a double overtime battle with Arizona State, with control of the Rose Bowl race hanging in the balance, took the field with starting tailback Maurice Morris standing injured on the side line. Only this time, Oregon had an other weapon in its arsenal. Sophomore tailback Allan Amundson came to the rescue from the fourth quarter on, scoring the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard run in the second over time period. He finished the day with 41 yards in 14 carries. “It didn’t seem like the winning touchdown at the time,” said Amundson, recalling his dash to the left side of the Sun Devils’ end zone. “I was confident that I was going to get into the end zone because of the blocking, and because we were on the right hash and that’s so much room to get there. It was sort of a race to the comer and with the blocking, I was confident and I thought I could make it.” Amundson — the 23rd-best kick returner in the nation, with an av erage 24.65 yards per return — stepped into the lineup at tailback again last Saturday against Wash ington State and played almost the entire second half while Morris nursed his injured ribs. He had eight carries for 48 yards and helped to move the chains on a day when the offense never quite found its groove. Oregon coaches and players were so impressed by Amundson's contributions through the past two weeks, both as a tailback and kick returner, that he was named a team captain for the Ducks’ game against California Saturday. “He’s done very nicely,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. ‘ I think that certainly we thought Al lan had the potential really since last year. Then he broke his ankle last year and pulled a hamstring in fall camp, and really was not healthy for the first couple games of the season, so it’s nice to see him be healthy and perform where we know he can.” Morris practiced in non-contact drills earlier in the week, but his sore ribs could keep him out of portions of Saturday’s game as they did the past two games. If that’s the case, Amundson said he’ll be ready to play. He’s been ready so far this season, mak ing appearances in all nine games and rushing 56 times for 222 yards and two touchdowns. “Hopefully I’ll get more playing time, but I don’t know,” Amund son said. “I won’t know until the night before, the day before. Anyone wants to play and when I get out there I’m going to try to do the best I can.” Morris has confidence in Amundson’s ability to back him up. “It’s great; this is the time of the season a lot of people are going to get banged up,” he said. “So it’s good to have somebody back there that can get the job done as well.” Turn to Amundson, page 10B sxxtmiim Emerald Oregon tailback Allan Amundson (34), a sophomore, carries the ball downfield against a physical, stingy Arizona defense. Check out the not-so-civil war between Ducks and Beavers on Oregon Live. • Ducks and Beavers forums and live chats • Live chat and radio show about U of 0 football every Wednesday at 12 noon • Updates from the game every two minutes • Ranking, stats and polls Plus, click on Oregon Live for job listings, concerts, dining, movies and more! www.oregon/zVe.com Click on Sports at _ # WWW.'0req0n/71/e.C0m in amance with (Tbc (Oregonian
