A
I
DAYS LEFT TO
THE CIVIL WAR
“We’ve been answering questions about Oregon for
four weeks, so it is nice to finally be playing them.”
OSU quarterback Jonathan Smith
“ I t’s goi ng to be Wo rid Wa r 111
-UO cornerback Rashad Bauman
Best Bet
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SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
One day down,
four more to
go ‘til the War
{*%
' W* HAKUNA MATATA
JEFF SMITH
This was no normal Monday for Oregon football
players.
This was “day one” of “War week.” All of the oth
er weeks in the season combined don’t add up to
the same importance as this one.
. There’s just one game left — against your in-state rival —
with both teams being ranked in the top 10 — and the Rose
Bowl on the line.
Each day of practice will be crucial, and each day will
also bring another dose of hype that already has the state of
Oregon in a frenzy.
Listening to the Oregon players speak Monday, it sounds
as if they wish they could just strap on the pads today and
play the 104th edition of the Civil War.
“I’m not sure yet whether this week is going to fly by or
whether it’s going to drag on,” senior linebacker Michael
Callier said. “But it doesn’t matter man, because in five days
it’s going to be on.”
The Ducks practiced behind closed doors Monday, as
they will all week, and were only made available to the me
dia in the Pittman Room of the Casanova center earlier in
the afternoon.
Fox Sports Net cameras shone on one side of the room,
while scribes from throughout the state and beyond picked
these players’ brains to see what their attitude was heading
into the week.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of news cameras, and the media and
everybody wants to be talking all about the Civil War game,
but we have to look at it just like another hard-fought foot
ball game that we have to play on Saturday,” sophomore
free safety Rasuli Webster said.
Other Oregon players weren’t so bashful when discussing
the attention that they were receiving in regards to the game.
Callier, for one, didn’t believe the hype was too much for
this game.
“Heck no, this is expected,” he said. “It’s good. Bring on
all of this. Not just the media circus, but the fact that [Ore
gon State’s] playing well and we’re underdogs now. What
ever man, it’s all good. We’re ready to play.”
The spread on Saturday’s game lists the Beavers as four
point favorites. Also, the Bowl Championship Series rankings
were released Monday and it had Washington at fifth, Oregon
at seventh and Oregon State sitting in there at ninth.
Sports Illustrated joined in on the parade and ran a big
feature on Beaver tailback Ken Simonton titled, “Eager
Beaver,” with a tease on its cover stating, “Oregon State’s Re
naissance Runner.”
Indeed, the hype for this game — which has been build
Turn to Civil War, page 8
Emerald
Defensive end Saul Patu (48) tackles Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith in last season’s Civil War at Autzen Stadium, which Oregon won 25-14.
Oregon ‘not worried’ by OSU
■The Ducks aren’t fazed by
Oregon State’s convincing win
Saturday at Arizona
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Television sets across Eugene tuned
in to Oregon State’s game against Ari
zona in Tucson 7:30 p.m. Saturday, as
Oregon football players and fans antic
ipated the possibility of an early Rose
Bowl berth.
By halftime, when the score was
Beavers 23, Arizona 3, many of those
people were probably changing the
channel.
The Beavers’ suffocated the Wildcats
defensively and dismantled them of
fensively. They left little doubt as to
who the best team was in Arizona at
the moment.
"I was impressed,” Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said of the game,
during a Sunday conference call. “The
Beavers are a good football team that is
peaking at the right time. They never
gave Arizona a chance to get back in
the game after the first quarter.”
They may have even made a case as
to which was the best team in the state
of Oregon, or even the whole Pacific-10
Conference.
The Las Vegas gamblers thought so,
naming Oregon State a four-point fa
vorite to win the Civil War as of Mon
day morning.
But even the Beavers’ total domina
tion of an Arizona team — on its home
coming night — didn’t convince Bel
lotti that his team should be viewed as
underdogs.
“Personally, I like being the under
dog,” Bellotti said. “If we’re the fa
vorite, awesome. We should be favored
because we’re undefeated in the con
ference.
“If we’re the underdogs because
we’re playing at their place, that’s awe
some too.”
Defensive end Saul Patu watched
the Wildcat massacre with his wife.
Walking between television interviews
in the Casanova Center’s Pittman room,
he said he was disappointed with the
way Arizona played.
“Being at their house on homecom
ing weekend, there’s a lot to play for, a
lot of pride and things at stake, for
them and their season,” Patu said. “I
like to see things happen where they
Turn to Oregon Notes, page 8
Oregon State beefs up stadium security for Civil War
Emerald
Beaver fans show no mercy toward the Oucks.in 1998's Civil War.
■The Ducks still steam about
Beaver fans’actions toward them
after losing in 1998
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Memories of the 1998 Civil War in
Corvallis’ then-Parker Stadium still
don’t sit well with Oregon players and
coaches, but it has nothing to do with a
dramatic, 44-41 double-overtime loss.
What chaps head coach Mike Bellot
ti’s hide is what happened after Oregon
State’s Ken Simonton ran into the end
zone for the win, and what happened at
the end of the first .overtime when fans
presumed the game to be oven
• Tbtal’chaos. V.Y.V
Oregon players and coaches were
mobbed and harassed by unrestricted
Oregon State fans who stormed the field
in wild celebration of their team’s upset
win.
Bellotti’s voice turns gravely serious
when he recalls the situation, which in
volved taunting, name calling and bot
tle throwing. Players talk about trying to
pray afterward, and not being able to
without fans shouting in their ears to
“get off’ of their field.
“After that game, I witnessed a lot of
things that I never want to witness
again,” defensive end Saul Patu said.
“It’s not something I fear or am afraid of,
b.ut jt’s a determination that I’m never
going to be treated like that again.”
“It was a very difficult situation,” Bab
lotti said. “Our kids remember that, 1 re
member that and it’s something I’ll nev
er forget.”
When asked how he feels two years
after the incident, Bellotti didn’t say
whether he is still angered by what hap
pened.
"That was an out-of-control situa
tion,” he said. “That was detrimental to
the game of football.”
Since September, Oregon State has
taken steps to prevent such a scene from
happening again.
Oregon State Athletic Director Mitch
Barnhart met with Oregon Athletic De
partment officials Monday to present his
department’s “tactical plan” for control
ling the Reser Stadium crowd Saturday.
•Turn to 05U Security, page 8