. p
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
“Its going to be World War III.”
-UO cornerback Rashad Bauman
Wednesday
Best Bet
NBA: Miami vs. New Jersey
5 p.m., TNT
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Civil War isn’t only key game in Northwest
me Apple
Cup’s outcome
will help
determine who
plays in
Pasadena on
New Year’s Day
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s hard to imagine any Pacific-10
Conference football game this weekend
being nearly as important as Oregon’s
Civil War.
However, looking toward the cold,
snowy city of Pullman, Wash., such a
game does exist.
Washington and Washington State
prepare for the 92nd edition of the Ap
ple Cup, which starts at 3:30 p.m. Sat
urday at Martin Stadium. Just like the
Civil War, this intrastate matchup has
Rose Bowl implications.
If Oregon State beats the Ducks in
Corvallis Saturday afternoon, then the
Huskies clinch a Rose Bowl appearance
if they beat the Cougars.
“Our focus has got to be on this Sat
urday,” Washington head coach Rick
Neuheisel said. “I just don’t want us
thinking about anything other than the
Cougars.”
To make circumstances even more
interesting, the Huskies were ranked
fifth in Monday’s Bowl Championship
Series standings behind Oklahoma, Mi
ami, Florida State and Florida. Consid
ering that Florida and Florida State face
each other this Saturday, Washington
has a mathematical chance of playing
for the national title at the Orange Bowl
in Miami — if it beats the Cougars.
“If we can win this Saturday, it will
be interesting to watch,” Neuheisel
said. “We’re excited about where we
sit.”
Meanwhile...
Southern California, picked to win
the Pac-10 title before the start of the
season, plays UCLA at the Rose Bowl
Saturday in a typically meaningful
matchup.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, this
weekend’s game will be the closest they
get to the Rose Bowl this season — or
any bowl game, for that matter. USC is
last in the conference standings with a
1-6 Pac-10 record.
The Apple Cup may be of importance
to USC. If the Trojans win and Washing
ton State loses, then USC won’t be dead
last in the conference standings at the
season’s end. Southern California can
also avoid sole possession of last place
if it wins and either Arizona State or
California loses.
Regardless, USC coach Paul Hackett
looks forward to Saturday’s game.
“It is very easy to get distracted right
now with the kind of year we’ve had,”
Hackett said. “We’ll have the bell out at
practice and we’ll do our best to focus
on this week.”
Ducks shocked by
the wily Athletes
The Oregon
men’s
basketball
team suffers a
four point loss
to Athletes in
Action in its
final exhibition
game of the
season
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon men’s basketball team
just couldn’t get any action Tuesday
night.
The Ducks lost 84-80 to Athletes in
Action, a touring basketball team com
posed of former college players, in front
of 7,428 fans at McArthur Court.
Oregon couldn’t contain what Oregon
guard Freddie Jones called the “crafty
veterans” of the AIA team.
“These guys have played a lot of bas
ketball,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
said. “We knew coming into this game
that this team was going to make us
think.”
AIA certainly made the Ducks think
all game, especially in the first half. The
Athletes jumped out to an early 11-2
lead as Oregon committed five fouls in
the first six minutes. The Ducks’ de
fense, which Kent had pointed to as an
area that the team needed to work on,
looked like Swiss cheese at times as the
AIA veterans slashed and drew foul af
ter foul.
But midway through the first frame,
the defense toughened up and Jones
started creating plays on offense. At the
10:41 mark of the first half, the guard
stole the ball and took it coast-to-coast
for a reverse dunk that got the fans at
Mac Court out of their seats for the first
time. After an AIA time-out, Jones took
a pass from Bryan Bracey and laid it in
to bring the Ducks within four points.
“I was just trying to make a play,”
said Jones, who played all 40 minutes.
Despite Jones’ efforts, the situation at
halftime favored the Athletes in Action.
The Athletes took a 48-39 lead into the
half and had some impressive numbers
to go with the lead, including 17-for-30
shooting and 6-for-10 from three-point
land. The Ducks went into halftime
shooting 1 of 7 from beyond the three
point arc and 15-for-26 overall.
The hero of the second half was un
doubtedly freshman point guard Luke
Ridnour. With 10 minutes left in the
|?me and the Ducks trailing 63-52, Rid
nour rattled off 11 points in less than
two minutes to cut the deficit to 66-63.
Ffeshmap James Davis then added a
three-pointef of his own to knot the
score at 66 with exactly eight minutes
left.
But the Athletes were persistent
Turn to Basketball, page.10.
Eric Martin for tne tmerald
Junior quarterback Joey Harrington (3) knows as much as anyone how important the Civil War is. The native Oregonian grew up watching and
attending the rivalry game and can’t wait for the game to arrive. He says that his season will not be complete without a win Saturday over OrState.
Rivalry week reaches halfway point
■One more day of hype
ends, as much more begins
for the highly anticipated
Civil War
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
As if Oregon needed any more
motivation than it already had
for this week
end's Civil
War, it got
some Sunday
night In the
Valley River
Center Red
Robin, of all
places.
Oregon’s George Wrighster, a
redshirt freshman tight end, was
enjoying a meal with a friend
when he was spotted by none
other than Oregon State flanker
T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
The Beavers leading receiver,
who so far has been just as hard
to stop as it is to spell his name,
went up to Wrighster and
cupped his hand above his
mouth and let out a few spicy
words.
“Hope you have fun at the Sun
Bowl again,” Houshmandzadeh
said, or something to that extent.
At least that was the story from
Oregon’s Steve Smith and
Rashad Bauman Tuesday.
“We’re definitely going to post
that in the locker room up there,”
Smith said. “I wasn’t there, but
George called me Sunday night
and told me what he said. I don’t
know what T.J. was doing in Eu
gene, but it makes you look for
ward to the game a lot more. ”
“Yeah, I heard about that and
heard he was feeling pretty con
fident,” Bauman said. “We’ll see
if he can back his talk up. I heard
that T.J. was in Red Robin talking
big trash and how he told us to
get ready for the Sun Bowl. Hey,
so be it. It’s good.
“And I’m sure after the game
when we got roses in our
mouths, he’ll remember the
things he said.”
And so Civil War week contin
ues — with just three days re
maining.
A selected number of Oregon
players meet with the media for
the last time today before the
team focusses its full attention
toward Saturday’s game. Mean
while, in Corvallis, Beaver play
ers have finished their media cir
cuit and are practicing behind
closed doors with security posi
tioned outside of Reser Stadium.
Oregon State tailback Ken Si
monton — who scored the game
winning touchdown in the
Beavers’ 44-41 double overtime
Civil War victory in 1998 — en
joys all the attention the game is
getting, but will not be one to
feed the team any more material.
“I guess [Oregon would] be the
people you’d love to hate, if
you’re going to use hate, but I
wouldn’t use those words,” Si
monton said at a recent media
luncheon. “It’s all fun. It’s com
petition at the highest. It’s a rival
ry, so you take that and let [the
media] build that as high as it
can get and try to have fun.”
Oregon junior quarterback
Joey Harrington has viewed his
fair share of Civil Wars during
his years while growing up in
Portland, and can hardly wait to
participate in one of this magni
tude.
“As the week goes on, it kind
of becomes a slow boil,” said
Harrington, who made sure to
point out that he has always
been a Ducks fan through and
through. “By Thursday and Fri
day, you’re about ready to ex
plode.”
The 104th edition of the Civil
War finally explodes at 12:30
p.m. Saturday in Corvallis’
Reser Stadium. It will be telecast
on a regional basis by ABC, with
Keith Jackson giving the play
by-play. .....
As the
week goes
on, it kind
of becomes
a slow boil.
By Thurs
day and Fri
day, you’r£^
about ready
to explode.
Joey Harring
ton
Oregon
Quarterback