Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
ad am j ude@da ilye merald. com
Monday, September 24,2001
Best Bet
Monday Night Football:
Washington at Green Bay
6 p.m., ABC
This script
can only
come from
one place
Hollywood—sure, the
symbolic 50-foot-tall white
Hollywood lettering atop Mt.
Lee may be prominently dis
played in the Trojans’ backyard, but
there’s no denying its presence at
Autzen Stadium.
The weekly college football theater
that continues to be on display in the
35-year-old fishbowl is a testament to
how important screenwriters are in the
making of a gripping movie.
What? You think Oregon's 24-22 vic
tory over USC Saturday night was real?
Folks, that was about as “real” as
TeniDtation Island
It was Hollywood
manufactured. It
i had to be.
I There’s no other
* logical explanation
for what has taken
place on the Omni
r" Turf and now Nex
I Turf of Autzen over
■ the Ducks’23-eamp
#
41
Smith
Hakuna Matata
home winning
streak.
Just when you
think the writers
_have run out of all
the juicy storylines
for this highly rated program, they
come up with this, and it's not even
sweeps week yet.
Let’s begin where Saturday night’s
game began: in the pregame warm-ups.
A three hour drama needs a strong
opening to hook its viewers to stick
around, and what could be stronger
than an all-out brawl between teams?
At 6:27 p.m., 48 minutes before the
scheduled kick-off, the Ducks were go
ing through their normal pregame
warm-ups when all of a sudden the
Trojans stormed onto the field. They
did so in a way that the Ducks felt was
disrespectful, and well, let’s let Oregon
cornerback Rashad Bauman tell us
what went down.
“S.C. ran through our drills, man,
and they did some jaw-jacking and
then we did some jaw-jacking, and
then [USC’s Antuan] Simmons ran up
on me and tried to throw a punch at
me or something. My helmet was
knocked off, and I answered back, and
it was on.
“I mean, everybody came and got
into it. Joey was there, you’d think the
quarterback would be the main one
standing there in the back but he was
mixing it up. Coach Bellotti was there.
It brought us closer, it united us a lot to
see the guys have each other’s backs
like that.
"That was college football at its best.
Nothing serious was going to happen. I
mean, it’s not like we were going to kill
each other or really beat each other up.
VVe were all eager and riled up, and it
showed. It’s S.C., baby. That was in
tense.”
Without a doubt, writing in a
pregame skirmish between the teams
was a brilliant storyline. If you weren’t
sure whether you wanted to stick
around for the show, you knew at that
Turn to Smith, page 20
Senior tailback Maurice Morris (9) rushed for 86 yards on 15 carries in the Ducks’ 24-22 come-from-behind victory Saturday against Southern California.
Adam Amato Emerald
Amazing Ducks extend streak to 23
Freshman
Jared Siegel’s
32-yard field
goal gives the
Ducks a 24
22 win, their
fourth
straight over
USC and 23rd
consecutive
atAutzen
Stadium
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Did you ever have any doubt?
In a scene that has become all too fa
miliar — yet never easy — the No. 6
Oregon Ducks (3-0 overall, 1-0 Pacific
10 Conference) pulled off another dra
matic, come-from-behind win against
Southern California on Saturday, 24-22.
Seemingly needing the pressure of
the clock to lift his arm, senior quarter
back Joey Harrington led the Ducks on
a 61-yard, 40-second drive to set up
freshman Jared Siegel’-s game-winning
32-yard field goal with 12 seconds left.
“Jared is a picture of composure for a
freshman,” Harrington said. “He’s a
great kid, carries himself very well, and
I can say this now, but I never doubted
that he was going to make it.”
With 1:20 remaining, USC (1-2, 0-1)
—- and many of the 45,765 in atten
dance — acted as if the nation’s second
longest home winning streak was all
but over. The Trojans’ Bobby DeMars, a
6-foot-4 defensive lineman, got a hand
on Oregon backup kicker David Rosen
berg’s 43-yard field goal attempt, send
ing a rejoicing USC offense back on the
field and many bewildered fans out of
Autzen Stadium.
The game, however, was far from
over.
USC running back Sultan McCul
lough’s two carries netted just four yards,
and after two Oregon timeouts, quarter
hack Carson Palmer threw a pass out of
bounds to stop the clock at 1:11. Oregon’s
Keenan Howry returned the ensuing
USC punt to the Oregon 24, where Har
rington would begin to wave his wand.
For 59 minutes, four seconds, Har
rington looked like anything but a Heis
man Trophy candidate. When it count
ed most, though, Harrington was at his
best.
In the final drive, the senior quarter
back completed 5-of-6 passes — includ
ing two to Howry — to bring the Ducks
to the USC 15-yard line and give Siegel
his moment of glory. The fourth-quarter
comeback was the eighth of Harring
ton’s career.
Turn to Football, page 15
Freshman’s record-tying goal lifts Ducks, 2-1
■ Behind Nicole Garbin’s game
winning goal, the Ducks win their
third game of the year
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
When Nicole Garbin steps onto
the soccer field, good things hap
pen.
That’s why the Oregon freshman
was Hawaii’s player of the year her
senior season at Baldwin High in
Wailuku. That’s why she has al
ready made an impact as the Ducks’
biggest offensive threat of the young
2001 season.
“She’s a nice spark," Oregon head
coach Bill Steffen said of his young
phenom, who has already tied the
school record with her third game
winning goal of the year.
Garbin was a force in the Ducks’
two wins last week, Oregon’s first
two contests since the cancellation
of a tournament in Tennessee.
Turn to Soccer, page 18
WKtt--, -M
Adam Amato Emerald
Nicole Garbin celebrates Brandi Chastain-style after scoring the game-winning goal against Nevada on Sunday. The freshman
from Hawaii netted her third game-winning goal of the season to lead the Ducks to a 2-1 win.