Thomas Patterson Emerald
Tailback Brian Allen (34) and the Stanford Cardinal control their own destiny in the wild Pac-10 race, but face a big test Saturday in Seattle.
Pac-10 race still up for grabs
with critical contests looming
■The Pac-10 enters the final
month of the season with
each matchup becoming
more and more important
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
When the preseason ranking by
the Sporting News came out in ear
ly August, the Ducks were project
ed to be the odds-on favorite for the
Pacific-10 Conference title. Wash
ington was No. 4, UCLA was
picked to finish fifth, Stanford at
seven, and fi
nally Washing
ton State was
No. 9 in the
conference.
Look at
them now.
A logjam is
the only way
to describe the
top of the Pac-10, with four teams at
4-1 in conference play and UCLA
right behind at 3-1.
But this week will take care of
that, with many marquee confer
ence games lined up. No one can
predict this week, although many
will try. The Fiesta Bowl may be
on the line, but who it will go to,
nobody knows.
No. 9 UCLA (6-1 overall,
3-1 Pac-10) at No. 16
Washington State (7-1,4-1)
Welcome to Pullman, Wash.,
UCLA. Hope you like it.
After last week’s humbling loss
to Stanford, the Bruins must get
back on track this week to stay in
the hunt. And although the Bruins
came back late against the Cardinal
to make something out of it, they
are going to need a whole lot more
effort against the surprising
Cougars. But you can bet head
coach Bob Toledo will make sure
his squad gets up for the game.
“It’s hard to go undefeated in
this day and age,” he said. “There
are five teams tied for first place in
the Pac-10. We’re about three-quar
ters of the way done, and there are
five teams tied for first place. None
of them are undefeated. So we
have a lot to accomplish. There is
a lot of football to be played, and
that is how we are going to ap
proach it. You certainly find out
who is on your side during these
tough times.”
As for Washington State, no one
could have predicted that this
game would mean so much to the
Cougs. A loss to the Ducks last
week has taken some of the sizzle
out of their steak, but they are still
eyeing the Fiesta Bowl.
A key for both teams will re
volve around UCLA running back
DeShaun Foster. After gaining 301
yards two weeks ago against Wash
ington, Foster gained 77 yards for
one touchdown against Stanford
last week. On the flip side, Wazzu
gave up 446 rushing yards to Ore
gon last week. If Foster can get
even a fourth of +hat, watch out
Washington State.
Oregon State (3-4,2-3)
at USC (3-5,2-3)
How the mighty have fallen.
Perennial cellar dweller Oregon
State, two years out of the hole,
looks to stay out of it. Had it not
been for California and Arizona,
they may have been there. Instead,
Turn to Pac-10, page 11B
Stanford travels to the Dawg house
■The game of the week
features two teams prominent
in the Pac-10 race, but only one
will come out alive
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Take a whiff. Smell that. Yeah,
smells like Pacific-10 Conference ti
tle hopes doesn’t it? And when
Stanford and Washington square off
in Seattle, it will smell a lot more.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
No. 10 Stanford (5-1 overall, 4-1
Pac-10), led by newly emerged quar
terback Chris Lewis, travels to Husky
Stadium in hopes of dashing No. 11
Washington’s (6-1, 4-1) title hopes.
But it will be tough for either team to
gain an edge before the game starts.
Stanford features the strong
armed Lewis and a core of talented
receivers in Ryan Wells, Luke Pow
ell and the mammoth 6-foot-7 Teyo
Johnson. However, it is the Cardi
nal running game that has done the
most damage. At 193 yards per
game on the ground, Stanford is
third in the conference and has
scored 15 touchdowns. That num
ber includes the four touchdowns
scored by Kerry Carter two weeks
ago against the Ducks.
Senior Brian Allen has also been
effective for Stanford this year.
“In Brian’s case, we knew that
when we recruited him that he was a
tremendous worker and a very tough
young man that placed very high
standards on himself,” Stanford head
coach Tyrone Willingham said.
“With that being said, it is no wonder
that over the course of the year he has
continued to improve and get better. ”
On the other side, Washington
seems to be the forgotten team of
the Pac-lO’s elite. But they should
be far from forgotten.
Behind a talented one-two quar
terback combination of Cody Pick
ett and Taylor Barton, the Huskies
have jumped out to the second best
pass offense in the conference at
289.3 yards per game. Neither has
been impressive of late, but Pick
ett’s 58.6 completion percentage is
tops in the Pac-10. He suffered a
shoulder injury earlier this year, but
that has not stopped his ability to
lead the Washington offense.
“We are really excited about
Cody,” Washington head coach Rick
Neuheisel said. “We think Cody has
got all the things that you look for in
a quarterback. The team will walk
down any alley with Cody because
of the way he’s fighting to partici
pate and fighting to be in the game
even though he is in obvious dis
comfort. It’s kind of a neat thing to
watch unfold. Fortunately he’s able
to pull it off and make all kinds of
big plays. We are going to need him
in a big way this weekend.”
The game is not televised, but
check the radio waves because this
one is going to be a dandy.
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