Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Best Bet
NBA: Toronto at Sacramento,
5 p.m., TBS
Tuesday, November 13,2001
BCS gives Oregon new hope for national title
BCS Standings
Record
11-0
8-0
9-1
9- 1
8-1
9-1
7- 1
9-1
6-2
8- 1
7- 2
9-1
10- 0
8- 2
8-2
lllllillfil
1.
2. Miami
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Florida
6. Texas
7. Tennessee
8. Washington St
9. Stanford
10. Illinois
11. Michigan
12. Maryland
13. 8YU
14 Colorado
15. Syracuse
2.20
7.31
7.89
11.97
11 Ml
13.51
14.81
17.99
23.61
24.17
25.16
25.29
28.03
33.65
33.97
■The Ducks, near a Fiesta Bowl berth, have
also put themselves in contention for another
visit to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Nebraska is one. Miami is two. Oklahoma’s
three.
And the Oregon Ducks, who reside in the wacky
West Coast Pacific-10 Conference, are still in the
hunt for the national championship at the fourth
spot.
In the latest Bowl Championship Series rank
ings released Monday, Oregon leapfrogged Texas
and Tennessee up to No. 4 with a total of 11.97
BCS points, where less is best.
“Who would of thought that?” Oregon tight end
Justin Peelle said. “I thought they had all written
us off by now.”
Just behind the Ducks (9-1 overall, 6-1 Pac-10)
at the fifth spot, with 11.98 points, is Florida, fol
lowed by Texas, Tennessee, Washington State and
Stanford.
The top two teams in the final BCS rankings on
Dec. 9 will meet in the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl and play
for the national title. Which leaves the Ducks with
two weekends off to watch and wait to see how it
all plays out, before worrying about Oregon State
on Dec. 1.
As of Monday, though, Oregon would rather just
enjoy its 21-20 win over UCLA and not worry too
much about all the pesky little details regarding
the BCS standings.
“Won’t catch no rise out me,” cornerback
Rashad Bauman said. “It ain’t no big deal if it ain’t
one or two. I mean, that’s what everybody’s shoot
ing to get at and three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, 10, they’re all in the same bracket in my
book.
“It’s definitely exciting to be rated that high; it’s
awesome really, but whatever happens, happens.”
Bauman can hardly be blamed for not wanting
to think about all that has to happen for the Ducks
to make a return trip to Pasadena. The BCS stand
ings can be quite confusing when considering that
they’re formulated using both the coaches and me
dia polls, eight separate computer rankings, the
strength of schedule, the teams’ records and added
points for “quality wins,” which are victories over
teams currently in the BCS top-15.
For Oregon, that win is against Washington
State, giving the Ducks reason to root for the
Cougars this week despite what a loss by them
would mean.
Turn to BCS, page 10
w*
Adam Amato Emerald
Sophomore Courtney Nagle, along with partner Monika Gieczys, defeated Tulsa on Sunday, one o! just two doubles victories for Oregon at the Duck Invitational.
UO women’s tennis ends fall season with 19 wins
■ Behind a strong singles play,
the women’s tennis team finishes its
fall season in the Duck Classic
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
The Oregon women’s tennis team finished
its fall season with 19 victories in the Duck
Classic last weekend.
The Ducks dominated in singles by win
ning 17 of the 21 matches played.
“I’m really pleased with how we played in
singles,” head coach Jack Griffin said. “It’s
still very early, and they are handling them
selves very well.”
Oregon struggled, though, in its doubles
matches, winning just two of nine over the
weekend.
“We were up early, but
couldn’t hold it,” said Jan
ice Nyland, who lost three
doubles matches with part
ner Davina Mendiburu, one
by a score of 9-7. “We still
have a lot of work to do.”
Adeline Arnaud and Es
ter Bak won the first doubles match for Ore
gon on Saturday. Courtney Nagle and Moni
ka Gieczys. won the second Sunday.
“We must work on our service returns,”
Griffin said. “We are inconsistent on the
starting points and it’s really hurting us.”
Teamwork is an area that the Ducks said
they don’t need to improve on before they be
gin the regular season in January.
“We’ve been playing together for a while
now,” Mendiburu said about Nyland. “We
know how each other plays the game.”
The tournament included players from
Brigham Young, Tulsa, New Mexico and
Portland. Oregon won seven of its 10 match
es against New Mexico on Friday, the first
day of the tournament.
In singles, all eight Ducks won matches,
with Bak, Gieczys and Vickie Gunnarsson
Turn to Tennis, page 12
UO runners
receive bid
toNCAAs
■The No. 14 men’s cross country
team was granted an at-large
invitation to NCAA Championships
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon men’s cross country team
has achieved its goal: to be invited to the
NCAA Championships.
The 14th-ranked Ducks received
word Monday that they would be
among the 31 teams who will compete
on Nov. 19 at the Furman University
Cross Country Course in Greenville, S.C.
“Our No. 1 goal from the first practice
this season was to position ourselves to
have a chance to advance to the NCAA
Championships,” head coach Martin
Smith said. “We’re excited as a program
to match up against the nation’s best
teams and see where we stand. ”
Oregon will have to choose seven run
ners to compete in the national meet and
eight have stood out this season. Two
time All-American Jason Hartmann,
who has run in the past two national
competitions individually placing 37th
in 1999 and 35th in ’00, has led the unit
that includes redshirt senior Adam
Bergquist, sophomores John Lucas,
Brett Holts and Noel Paulson, redshirt
freshmen Ryan Andrus and Eric Logs
don and true freshman Seth Pilkington.
This trip to Furman will mark the
27th time the Oregon men’s team has ad
vanced to the NCAAs since its first trip
in 1963. They have four team national
championships and four individual
championships, three of which belong
to Steve Prefontaine, as well as seven
team runner-up finishes.
The last time the Ducks competed in
the NCAAs was in 1999, when they
came away with a sixth-place finish.
Chris Cabot is a sports reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.