DAYS LEFT TO
THE CIVIL WAR
“They’ve been talking about our fans, been talking about
our program or whatever... We’re going to let our pads do the
talking Saturday.”
OSU linebacker Richard Seigler
“30-17.” (predicting by how much the Ducks win Saturday)
UO linebacker Michael Callier
Thursday
Best Bet
NBA: Los Angeles vs. Sacramento
5 p.m., TNT
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aoi.com
Why wait any
longer to find
out who wins?
The Oregon defense was sweating. It had to protect
its slim three-point lead.
The Oregon State offense was driving. Beavers
quarterback Jonathan Smith had just completed
^ a 17-yard pass to wide receiver Shawn Kintner and only
needed to go 40 more yards to reach the end zone.
The score was 13-10, Ducks, with just 1:14 to play in the
r game.
Reser Stadium was in a frenzy. ABC play-by-play-man
Keith Jackson’s excitement was clearly noticeable during
his telecast.
“That’s the kind of defensive coverage that will make
the defensive coordinators search the ‘want ads’ come
Sunday morning,” Jackson said of the Ducks’ “D.”
Smith accepted the shotgun snap and rolled left on a
second-and-six. He saw a receiver wide open down the
left side of the field and gunslinged it. It appeared as
though the pass would be complete, but of nowhere came
Oregon linebacker Garrett Sabol.
Sabol reached up and snagged the pass near the 10-yard
line for the interception — his second of the game. The
turnover clinched Oregon’s dramatic, come-from-behind
13-10 victory against the Beavers in the Civil War.
The Ducks celebrated on the field as the Beavers shook
their hands and walked off with their heads down. The
2001 Rose Bowl berth was Oregon’s to treasure.
Think I’m making this up? It really happened — on a
videogame.
As part of rivalry week, Sony PlayStation and 989
Sports have distributed free copies of Sony PlayStation’s
newest game, “NCAA GameBreaker 2001to college
sports editors at schools that are involved in heated con
tests this weekend.
In exchange for the free game, I was to simulate the ac
tion ahead of time and share the results. Well, because I’ve
lost all confidence in my video-game skills since Ninten
do and Sega became “un-cool,” I decided to leave it up to
the computer to dictate the fate of the 104th Civil War.
So it was with half-hearted seriousness that my room
mate and I actually sat and watched Oregon battle Oregon
State in Corvallis — albeit in a video game.
The Ducks sure didn’t start out well, as quarterback Joey
Harrington threw two interceptions of his own on Oregon’s
first two possessions. The first turnover didn’t hurt Oregon,
but the second one did, as Beaver tailback Ken Simonton
made the Ducks pay when he scampered in for a 34-yard
touchdown run.
The Ducks would convert a Josh Frankel field goal at the
end of the first half to cut the lead to 7-3 at halftime. Things
didn’t start out so well for Oregon in the third quarter, either,
as Smith completed a 64-yard pass to T.J. Housh
mandzadeh. But the defense stepped it up when it counted
and forced a three-and-out, setting up a 26-yard field goal bv
Ryan Cesca.
With the score now 10-3, Oregon State, I thought about
just turning the game off and playing it myself, but my room
mate insisted that I let this one game decide everything.
Things looked bleak for the Ducks until the 2:53 mark of the
fourth quarter, when Harrington found tight end LaCorey
Collins in the end zone for an 18-yard score to tie the game.
Then, on the Beavers’ next drive, Sabol intercepted
Smith’s first pass, leading to a Frankel field goal for the final
13-10 margin.
Of course, Oregon State had one last chance, but Sabol’s
aforementioned second pick did the trick.
Advantage, Oregon. And yes, I would have written this
even if the Beavers had won.
So there you go. Now that we know the outcome, whad
dya say we go see what’s playing in the movie theaters Sat
urday, or better yet, let’s just sleep through the whole thing...
HAKUNA
MATATA
Nah!
Jeff Smith is the sports editor of the Emerald. He can be reached at
Smittside@aol.com.
Scott Pesznecker Emerald
Downtown Corvallis is a hotbed of Beaver belief as
Saturday’s 104th Civil War draws closer and closer.
Tne busy beavers
_ u
■ Oregon State fans show
their spirit by decorating
their campus and city
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
CORVALLIS — Reser Stadi
um stands mightily behind a
line of trees on the south side of
the Oregon State University
campus as the setting sun turns
the sky from blue to pink, and
finally, to orange.
The Beavers’ home venue,
not at all large by Division I-A
standards, looks like an over
sized high-school stadium. One
wouldn’t guess that its field will
hold the state’s most meaning
ful football game in history Sat
urday.
But it will, and Corvallis is in
a frenzy because of it.
Walking across town —
which can be accomplished in
minutes — it’s impossible not to
notice the Beavermania which
has gripped the community.
“We haven’t been 9-1 in a
long time,” said Bret Hopkins,
an Oregon State graduate and
employee at the downtown
Headline Cafe. “It’s getting big
ger and bigger and bigger, and
all the closet Beaver fans are
coming out.”
Barber shops, jewelry shops,
bookstores; name it, and there’s
probably orange on it. Some
stores paste their windows with
several small orange ‘Go
Beavers’ signs, while others
hang flags embroidered with the
school mascot — that grinning,
two-toothed Benny Beaver.
Then there are community
members who express their
Oregon State loyalty in less con
ventional wavs. One downtown
candy shop decorated its exteri
or with a scarecrow-turned
Beaver-fan, complete with a
straw hat and an orange-and
black T-shirt. Kitty-corner to
that shop, a massive “Go
Beavs!” is painted in cursive
letters across the windows of
another building.
Orange is everywhere - at
every turn, down every street.
“This year is the first time
that we decorated because we’re
partly surprised that the
Beavers are doing so good
here,” said Pearl Hadder, an em
ployee at Leading Floral Co.
downtown. “We said, ‘Hey, lets
root them on.’”
“I have a blast at the football
games, and I’m really glad to see
that everyone’s getting so much
into this,” said Jeanne Walters,
an Oregon State senior and
Hadder’s co-worker. “I’m really
glad to see the Beavers are do
ing well. I think [Dennis] Erick
son has been great for the team.
He’s really doing a good job,
and so is [athletic director]
Mitch Barnhart.”
The floral shop where Hadder
Turn to Corvallis, page 8A
it The
Ducks could
be playing
the Soviet
national
team, and
riI root for
the Soviets.
Bret Hopkins
osu
graduate
: , - -■ ' -■ W €
fi# %SfJi'W
Ducks expect better as season starts
■ Coach Jody Runge is uncertain about the
status of starting guard Jamie Craighead,
who ‘tweaked’ her knee in a 76-43
exhibition win
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
No. 23 is back.
No, not Michael Jordan again, but rather, Lind
sey Dion.
On Wednesday, the Oregon senior guard
played in her first game since the end of the Pa
cific-10 Conference season last year. Dion has
been hampered by several injuries in the past 12
months, most recently with torn cartilage in her
right knee. She played 10 minutes in Oregon’s fi
nal exhibition game, a 76-43 stomping of National
Women's Basketball League Elite at McArthur
Court.
“It was nice to get up and down the court and
have the chance to play again,” Dion said. “My
knee feels perfectly fine, but I’m sure it will be a
little sore tonight.”
Oregon shot 51 percent from the floor and bet
ter than 45 percent from behind the arc — but
senior forward Angelina Wolvert expects more.
“I’m a little disappointed,” said Wolvert, who
tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. “The team
we played didn’t offer us problems; we offered
ourselves the problems.”
At times, the Ducks were slowed by the inex
perience of their guards, who are still trying to
Turn to Basketball, page 8A
ii We
offered
ourselves
the prob
lems.
Angelina
WolVert
Oregon
forward