Ontario puts ‘Oh!’ in Oregon’s offense Saturday
■ Running back Onterrio Smith
keys the Ducks with 285 rushing
yards against Washington State
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
PULLMAN, Wash. — Imagine
what Onterrio Smith could do if he
played an entire game.
Oregon’s sophomore tailback
broke Ahmad Rashad’s 30-year-old
school record with 285 yards rush
ing Saturday, while his 343 all-pur
pose yards also broke a school
record set by Rashad in 1971 and
tied by Oregon receiver Keenan
Howry last week against Stanford.
Smith broke Rashad’s rushing
record by 36 yards.
And Smith, the backup tailback,
did it all in three quarters in Ore
gon’s 24-17 victory against the pre
viously 14th-ranked Washington
State Cougars.
“I can’t wait to get back to my
bed,” Smith said after his 26
rushes.
Unlike Howry’s 338 all-purpose
yards the previous Saturday, which
came in a 49-42 loss to Stanford,
Smith’s performance will not be
overlooked.
“It feels good, especially, first of
all, to get the win,” Smith said. “It
wasn’t all about the school record
— that’s great and all, but the most
important thing was to come out
and get the win.”
Starting tailback Maurice Morris
began the ground assault with 76
yards on 11 carries in the first quar
ter.
“I think they both might have
had over 200 had Maurice been
able to play,” head coach Mike Bel
lotti said.
Asked about a controversy at tail
back, Bellotti said, “The only rea
son (Smith) would start is if Mau
rice is hurt. I think we’re blessed
with one of the best one-two
punches in not only the confer
ence, but the nation.”
Smith’s first touch of the game
came on a kickoff return at the
10:40 mark of the second quarter.
His first touch at the tailback posi
tion was a 27-yard run on the sec
ond play of Oregon’s second drive
of the second quarter.
Six plays later, on a second
and-goal from the Washington
State seven-yard line, Smith
came face-to-face with Cougar
safety Billy Newman, with New
man ending up on his back and
Smith ending up in the end zone
for the Ducks’ first score of the
game.
“Unbelievable,” . center Ryan
Schmid said. “He’s amazing.” .
Prior to Saturday’s game, the
Washington State defense —
which was ranked first in the Pac
10 against the run — had only al
I
Adam Amato Emerald
Onterrio Smith (2) rushed for a school-record 285 yards against Washington State. He broke the old record by 36 yards.
lowed 93 yards per game on the
ground. Oregon netted 446 yards
on the ground Saturday. Com
bined, Stanford’s (219 yards), Mon
tana State’s (134) and Arizona’s
(76) total rushing yards against the
Cougars were less than Oregon’s
total Saturday.
“We knew we had to run the
ball well today and we did,”
Howry said. “Given the opportu
nity and the time, anybody’s ca
pable of doing anything. Today
was Onterrio’s day.”
With his record-setting day,
does Smith expect a call from
Rashad, otherwise known as Bob
by Moore, the former Oregon run
ning back who rushed for 1,295
yards in 1971?
“I know him. In fact, I played
with his son,” Smith said of the
NBC television show host and his
son, Ahmad Rashad Jr. “My fresh
man year (of high school) I moved
up to varsity and played with (his
son). I met him. He came to a cou
ple of our games.”
Maybe Rashad will now come to
a couple more.
WSU quarterback Gesser says his team is ‘better’ than UO’s
■Jason Gesser said the
Cougars lost Saturday’s game
more than the Ducks won it
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
PULLMAN, Wash. — Jason Gess
er believes the best team on the slick
Martin Stadium surface Saturday
didn't win.
The junior Washington State
quarterback didn't hide his frustra
tion after his Cougars were knocked
out of the unbeaten ranks by under
dog Oregon, 24-17.
“We are a better team than Ore
gon,” said Gesser, who was 17-of-37
for 249 yards. “But we didn't play
better today. ”
Washington State could have
been alone atop the Pacific-10 Con
ference standings had it come away
with a victory. With UCLA losing at
Stanford earlier Saturday, the
Cougars knew that they were in con
trol of their own destiny.
In fact, Washington State could
have moved higher up in the nation
al championship picture on a day
when four undefeated teams lost,
leaving only Miami, Nebraska and
BYU unbeaten in the top 25.
Instead, the Ducks helped jumble
up the Pac-10, which now has five
teams with only one loss.
“We don't want to feel like this
again,” said Cougar safety Lamont
Thompson, who had a career-high
17 tackles. “We have a lot of heart
and character on this team, and
hopefully we will bounce back. We
have another tough team coming up
next week.”
That team would be UCLA,
which will enter Martin Stadium
with running back DeShaun Foster
next weekend. Think the Cougars’
defense will be working on stopping
the run in practice this week? They
don't want Foster to have the kind of
game that Oregon tailbacks Onterrio
Smith and Maurice Morris had.
Smith had a field day and fin
ished with an Oregon school record
of 285 yards, while Morris set the
tone early and wound up with 138
against a Cougar defense that en
tered Saturday as the best run de
fense in the league.
In fact, the average of 93 yards
rushing per game that Washington
State had allowed was the 13th best
mark in the nation.
The 446 yards on the ground for
the Ducks, including Joey Harring
ton's 23 yards, was an embarrassing
statistic to the prideful Cougar de
fense, which probably focused
more preparation time on how to
contain Harrington and his re
ceivers.
“That was a ridiculous amount of
yards, and it's not going to get any
easier next week with DeShaun Fos
ter,” safety Billy Newman said. “I
thought they would come out and
try to pass with their Heisman can
didate. Onterrio is an excellent run
ning back.”
Newman had a great view of
Smith's first of three touchdowns on
the day.
At the 7:23 mark of the second
quarter, Smith ran up the gut, New
man greeted him for the tackle, but
Smith just ran right over the senior
defensive stalwart to put Oregon on
top, 7-3.
Smith was just beginning, later
tacking on a 41-yard touchdown
scamper in the third quarter to ex
tend die lead to 14-3, and then add a
potential back-breaker in the fourth.
With less than six minutes left,
Smith padded his statistics even
more with his 73-yard sprint to the
goal line that left the Cougars shak
ing their heads in astonishment.
“He was pretty elusive,” defen
sive lineman Rien Long said. “Their
offensive line didn't come out and
put us on our backs. I don't know
how, but he just got out there. ”
So with the defense having trou
ble all day containing Oregon, it was
up to the Washington State offense,
ranked first in the Pac-10, to make
something happen. Gesser led a
three-play, 70-yard scoring drive that
was capped by a 15-yard touchdown
pass to Jerome Riley to bring the
Cougars to within 24-17 with 4:25 to
play, but it wouldn't be enough.
Washington State would get the
ball back in the final minute and
drive all the way down to the Ore
gon eight-yard line, but three in
complete passes in the end zone
would end their unbeaten season.
Gesser, though, knew that the
Cougars' inefficient first half was one
of the main reasons for their demise.
“Three points in the first half,
that’s not us,” Gesser said. “We did
n't find our rhythm, we didn't find
our groove.”
And the Cougars didn't find the
win Gesser thought they deserved.
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