Punter Jose Arroyo and placekicker Jared Siegel are both
experiencing their first years in high-pressured positions
together as teammates, roommates and friends
> .
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
thletes with tattooed biceps
attached to bodies taller than
six feet and heavier than 250
ipounds slam into each other
play-after-play for 59 minutes.
And then, with sweat dripping
from their behemoth frames,
they take their battered
bodies to the sidelines
and watch as all of their
exerted energy culmi
nates in the right leg of a 5
foot-10,172-pound freshman.
That would be Oregon placekicker Jared
Siegel, who raised his value among his team
mates on Sept. 22 when he made their hard
1 work pay off.
; With his team behind by one and with only
12 seconds remaining, he strolled onto the field
. and calmly booted a 32-yard field goal through
the uprights to lift the Ducks to a 24-22 victory
against Southern California under the bright
lights of Autzen Stadium.
“That’s what you work hard for and train for:
that opportunity to help your team out,” Siegel
said. “Confidence-wise, that kick really helped.
Now I know I’ve done it before, and I’m capa
ble of doing it again.”
Just as important, but not as celebrated, is the
life of a punter. Generally, a punter’s appear
ance is greeted with a groan by fans after the of
fense fails to produce a first down.
/ And unless the punt goes exceptionally far, a
punter is rarely given an ovation. But should a
E
punt get shanked off the side of a foot and travel 15
yards out of bounds, or worse, get blocked, you
better believe the punter is going to hear about it.
So goes the thankless job of new Oregon
punter Jose Arroyo. The junior
Pasadena City College wasn’t surprised
people were upset about his two blocked punts
against Stanford on Oct. 20, but knows that
some things are out of his control.
“It gets you mad when they’re blocked, but
those punts are forgotten about,” Arroyo
said. “You can’t do anything about that now.
All you can do is learn and build from that. ”
Learning has been an important
and Arroyo’s first year as members
Both are starters in positions that were
grabs through the spring season, the summer
workouts and into the fall camp.
“Those guys have been a pleasant
surprise because the special teams
was our biggest question mark
coming into the season for us,”
Oregon tight end Justin Peelle
said. “And they’ve exceeded
expectations and done a re
ally good job.”
Statistically, the Ducks
don’t rank near the top
of the conference in
their kicking game.
In fact, Oregon’s op
ponent Saturday,
Arizona State, is four spots
above the Ducks in punting in
Pacific-10 Conference rankings and six notches
Turn to Kickers, page 11B
The Associated Press
Top 25
1. Miami (6*0)
2. Nebraska (8-0)
3. Oklahoma {7-1} .
4. Florida (6-1)
5. Texas (M)
6. Mlchif, (6-1)
/.Tenne • (5-1)
8. Oregon (7-1)
9. UCLA {6-1)
10. Stanford (5-1)
11. Washington (6-1)
12. VirginiaTech (6-1)
13. BYU (8-0)
14. Florida State (5-2)
15. Maryland (7-1)
16. Washington State (7-1)
17. South Carolina (6-2)
18. Georgia (5-2)
19. Syracuse (7-2)
20. Purdue (5-1)
21. Illinois (6-1)
22. North Carolina (5-3)
23. Georgia Tech (5-2)
24. Texas A&M (7-1)
25. Colorado (6-2)
USA Today/ESPN
Coaches’Top 25
I. Miami (6*0)
2* Nebraska <M)j
3. Florida (6-1)
4. Oklahoma , (7-1)
5* Texas (7-1)
6. Michigan ^ (6-1)
7. Tennessee (5-1)
' 8.8YU (6-0)
& Oregon (7-1)
10, Washington (6-1)
II. UCLA 6-1)
12. Virginia Tech (6-1)
13. Stanford (5-1)
14. Florida State (5-2)
15. Purdue (5-1)
16. Maryland (7-1)
17. Texas A&M (7-1)
18. Illinois (6-1)
19. Washington State (7-1)
20. South Carolina (6-2)
21. Georgia Tech (5-2)
22. Syracuse (7-2) .
23. Georgia (5-2)
24. Ciemson (5-2)
25. Colorado (6-2)
I
Jude
continued from page2B
the edge there after their 49-42 win
at Autzen Stadium. But there’s one
more catch: If Washington State
wins out, thus creating a three-way
tie at the top, Oregon would go to
the Fiesta Bowl because 1) The
Cougs played Montana State and
therefore would not have as many
quality nonconference wins, and 2)
Out of the three teams, Oregon was
the last to go to the Rose Bowl
(Stanford went in 2000 and WSU in
1998) and so would be heading to
Tempe.
Much will be decided this week
end, in what should be the most
exciting weekend of the year
(heck, California might win a
game). And If you take anything
anyway from Pac-10 football (or
from this column), just remember
one thing:
Assume nothing.
Adam Jude is the sports editor for the
Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached
atadamjude@dailyemerald.com.
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