Oregon daily emerald., January 08, 2001, Page 9, Image 9

Pez Sez
continued from page 7
the game for Oregon.
Evidence: A fake punt attempt
that would have worked, had the
pass actually covered more than
half the distance to the receiver, or
the end-around by receiver Jason
Willis that resulted in the winning
touchdown.
And when quarterback Joey Har
rington handed off to receiver
Keenan Howry, who passed it back
to — Harrington? Who then bar
reled into the end zone for his first
ever touchdown catch?
That Howry-to-Harrington play
must have been scripted not by of
fensive coordinator Jeff Tedford,
but by the writers of “Top Gun,”
who, back in 1986, came up with
another clutch play that worked
just as well: “Hit the breaks and
he’ll fly right by.”
Heck, Bellotti could have bor
rowed a line from Maverick in his
postgame interview: “You don’t
have time to think up there. If you
think, you’re dead.”
Anyway...
“Top Gun” is a movie about a
gung-ho fighter pilot at an elite
dogfighting school who, every
time he flies, pushes the envelope
to almost out-of-control levels. The
Ducks took a similar game plan
into the Holiday Bowl, and even
though they may have appeared
out of control at times, they
weren’t, and they won.
But, of course, there’s more link
ing the Holiday Bowl to Top Gun
than comparisons.
When football teams travel to
new places to play in postseason
games, sight-seeing is a given. In
San Diego, popular tourist sites in
cluded Sea World and the World
Famous San Diego Zoo.
Oregon did that. They also went
to a military base.
There, they talked to a real-life
Top Gun instructor.
“We had a great speaker this
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon junior guard Anthony Norwood prepares to shoot one of his nine three-point at
temps against Oregon State. Fifteen of Norwood’s 17 points came from beyond the arc.
Men’s
continued from page 7
The Ducks were led by senior
forward Bryan Bracey, who scored
24 of his game-high 28 points in the
second half through a barrage of
three-pointers, jumpers and a
smooth reverse alley-oop dunk. At
one crucial five minute stretch in
the second half, Bracey accounted
for 17 of Oregon’s 19 points.
“In the first half I was just over
shooting the ball and we were kind
of startled,” Bracey said. “We were
down and I knew I had to help my
team. I can’t really explain what
was going on. I was just feeling it.”
Oregon also got solid games from
Jones and guard Anthony Nor
wood, who scored 18 and 17
points, respectively. Norwood con
nected on 5 of 9 three-point at
tempts, while Jones recorded his
third career double-double with his
11 rebounds.
The Ducks shot 54.5 percent
from the field in the second half, in
cluding 50 percent from beyond the
arc. Oregon State, meanwhile,
could only convert two of 11 three
pointers in the second half.
“When you talk about playing
defense, spreading the ball around
and shooting the ball the way we
shot it against a caliber of an oppo
nent like an Oregon State team, I
was very pleased with that,” Kent
said.
Perhaps the biggest turning point
of the game occurred when Oregon
State’s senior center Jason Heide
picked up his fourth foul with 51
seconds left in the first half. The
short-handed Beavers never really
recovered once the fouls starting
piling up. Oregon State’s Adam
Masten and Brian Jackson fouled
out in the second half.
“When Jason Heide picked up
his fourth foul, I just thought that it
was going to be hard to pull our
guys out of that,” said first year
coach Ritchie McKay, who coached
at Colorado State and Portland
State before heading to Corvallis.
“We went from aggressive to pas
sive and as a result, Oregon became
the attacker and we were the attack
ee.
“We got out of character offen
sively and fueled their flame.”
Many of the Oregon players ad
mitted that they probably were a lit
tle too hyped up during the early
part of the game, but were encour
aged with the way they fought
back.
“We gotta win our home games
and I think that’s the biggest key,”
Norwood said. “At first we started
off kind of slow, but then we start
ed realizing that this was our home
and it’s the Civil War, let’s take care
of it.”
Oregon’s hoping that its presea
son schedule against teams such as
Massachusetts, Auburn and
Louisville prepared them for the
Pac-10 gauntlet.
The Ducks travel down to the
Bay Area to take on California
Thursday and second-ranked Stan
ford Saturday in a game that will be
televised by ABC.
“This team is going to be a good
road team, I can tell that already,”
Kent said. “If we can weather this
road trip, then that’s going to be
huge for us. It’ll take us to another
level.”
week that was a fighter pilot,” de
fensive end Jason Nikolao said as
his team celebrated its bowl victo
ry on the field. “He talked to us
about how he was really a part of
that life and death experience, and
he made us feel that this game,
right here, was really going to be
about life and death.
“So we talked about that with
each other, and it was great to
come out here and perform.”
I don’t know if I’d ever call a
football game a life-or-death expe
r
rience, but whatever that instruc
tor told those players did the trick.
The defense flew around the field
with reckless abandon, and the of
fense continued to out-wit its op
position.
Oregon proved it still had that
love and feeling, even after losing
an outright Pac-10 title and a trip
to the Rose Bowl in a crushing Civ
il War loss.
The day before the Holiday
Bowl, players, coaches and alumni
from Oregon and Texas gathered in
the San Diego Convention Center
for a luncheon. Each team showed
a highlight video of their season’s
best plays.
The Ducks set their video to the
emotional music from “Gladiator.”
“Highway to the Danger Zone”
would have been more appropri
ate.
Scott Pesznecker is the assistant sports edi
tor of the Emerald. He can be reached at
pezsez1@hotmail.com.
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