Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Monday, October 1,2001
Best Get
Monday Night Football.
San Francisco at N. Y., 6 p.m., ABC
OREGON
38
vs.
UTAH STATE jjfm
21
A little scare didn’t hurt: UO pulls through late
■ Ducks win first nonconference
road game in three years, but
lose three key players
against Utah State
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
It wasn’t easy, but for once, the
Ducks beat the spread.
An unorthodox — albeit effective
— offense kept the Utah State Ag
gies (0-4 overall) within reach of
Oregon (4-0 overall, 1-0 Pacific-10
Conference) on Saturday in Logan,
Utah, but only through three quar
ters as the Ducks won their first non
conference road game in three
years, 38-21.
Senior tailback Maurice Morris
rushed for a career-high 175 yards,
including a 69-yard touchdown run
in the fourth quarter, and senior
quarterback Joey Harrington kept
his Heisman hopes alive with two
touchdown passes and a one-yard
touchdown run.
The Oregon defense racked up
four interceptions — three in the
fourth quarter — while holding
Utah State’s Emmett White, the na
tion’s leader in all-purpose yards, to
83 yards rushing.
The win, however, was not impres
sive enough for the critics as the Ducks
dropped Sunday from No.6toNo.8in
the ESPN/USA Today Poll and to No.
7 in the Associate Press poll.
“I’m pleased that we won. Is there
any other stat that counts?... No,”
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We
went on the road for the first time,
handled the environment and stayed
poised throughout the game.”
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon’s 38-21 victory at Utah State on Saturday was costly, as junior wide receiver Jason Willis went down with a head injury. Willis is
seen here celebrating a catch against Wisconsin.
With 3:47 to play in the third
quarter, Utah State quarterback Jose
Fuentes hit receiver Gary Coleman
in the end zone to bring the Aggies
within a field goal at 24-21.
From there, though, it was all
Oregon.
Onterrio Smith had a big running
play on the Ducks’ first play of the
fourth quarter and redshirt fresh
man Keith Allen — in for injured
starters Keenan Howry and Jason
Willis — had two key catches to set
up Smith’s four-yard touchdown
with 12:30 to play.
On the Aggies’ next drive, junior
linebacker Garret Graham picked
off a Fuentes pass inside the red
zone, which set up Morris’s 69-yard
score at the 8:19 mark, putting the
Ducks ahead by the eventual 38-21
final score.
Steve Smith’s interception late
in the fourth quarter was his fourth
of the season and 10th of his ca
reer. Safety Keith Lewis and line
backer Kevin Mitchell also had in
terceptions for the Ducks.
“The defense looked a little con
fused at times, but that’s expected
against (Utah State’s) offense,” Bel
lotti said. “But they refused to give
in and made some huge plays down
the stretch.”
After a lackluster, scoreless first
quarter, the Aggies opened the sec
ond session with the game’s first
score on a screen pass from Fuentes
to wide receiver Kevin Curtis, put
ting Utah State up 7-0.
“I’ve never been as confident for a
game as I was tonight,” Curtis said.
“I thought we were going to be tear
ing down the goal posts.”
Heading into the game, Curtis led
the nation with 10.7 per game for an
average of 130 yards. Lined up
against Oregon defensive back
Rashad Bauman, Curtis finished the
game with 10 catches for 166 yards.
“They came out with a lot of funky
stuff,” Bauman told the Associated
Press.“ That was a good offei ise. ”
But it didn’t take long for the
Ducks to respond, as Harrington
found a wide-open Josh Line for a
34-yard score, tying the game at 7.
Freshman placekicker Jared
Siegel, the hero of last week’s 24-22
victory against Southern Caliform a,
put the Ducks ahead 17-7 at ha p
time with a 46-yard field goal, tl ■ s
longest of his four-game caree i
Siegel was also perfect on fivi
point-after-attempts. “We hun<
with them and Oregon is a class oi t
fit,” said Utah State coach Mich
Dennehy. “They played relative'y
error-free and we did not. That w rs
the difference.”
Turn to Football, page 10
UO volleyball team
now 0-4 in Pac-10
■ Despite a tough loss against Washington to open
their weekend, Oregon volleyball came back with a
strong performance against Washington State
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
After a weekend in the sweltering Arizona sun, the Ore
gon women were hoping to come back to Eugene and cool
down their Washington opponents. However, the Huskies
and Cougars beat them to the punch.
After losing to Washington in three games — 30-20, 30
23, and 30-22 — the Ducks (8-5 overall, 0-4 Pac-10 Confer
ence) came back a night later and were again swept, this
time to a stronger Cougar team. In another three games, Ore
gon lost 30-23, 30-21,30-22.
But it was not an entirely disappointing weekend for the
squad. After coming out flat and seemingly uninspired
against Washington (8-4,2-2 Pac-10), head coach Carl Fer
reira’s team jumped out to a fast start against the Cougars.
A kill by senior Monique Tobbagi gave the Ducks their
first lead of the weekend, 5-4, in the first game. While hold
ing Washington State (7-4, 2-2) off for eight more points,
the Ducks trailed 9-8 before succumbing to the strong
Cougar defense. Oregon would get as close as 19-20 before
falling to Washington State in the first game.
Two games later, the Ducks had their fourth loss of the Pac
10 Conference season, but not before putting up a fight.
Tobbagi led the Ducks with 10 kills, but hit just .094 from
the floor. Junior Lindsay Closs anchored the Oregon of
fense, backing up Tobbagi’s 10 kills with eight of her own,
and hit .286 for the match. Junior Stephanie Martin also
looked strong in the Oregon loss while victimizing the
Turn to Volleyball, page 10
Ducks shock No. 19 ranked San Diego Friday
!_
Adam Amato Emerald
■ Oregon takes a step closer tc
the NCAA Tournament with
victories over San Diego and
Eastern Washington
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon soccer team has a
“Bi-Mart Rally Clock” promotion
at home games, where a fan can
win gift certificates if the Ducks
score within certain time periods.
On Sunday, the fans cleaned up
big-time.
Two days after beating No. 19
San Diego, 3-0 on Friday, Oregon
blew out Eastern Washington 5-0
on Sunday. The Ducks shattered
many team records over the week
end, and took a step closer toward
their goal of a berth in the NCAA
Tournament.
“Each game presents a unique
challenge, and we were able to re
spond to those challenges this
weekend,” Oregon head coach Bill
Steffen said. “We were happy that
we were able to put out consecu
tive efforts.”
Oregon’s biggest win this week
end was Friday’s victory over San
Diego. The Toreros became the
highest-ranked team ever to fall to
Oregon, and the Ducks felt they
Turn to Soccer, page 10