Auto
Locally owned
LUBE, OIL, FILTER
• Chassis Lube • New Oil Filter • Up to 5 Qts.
10W-30 Kendall Oil • Clean Front Window
• Vaccuum Front Floor Boards
No
Appointment
necessary
Microsoft
Bellevue Computer, Inc.
Reseller of Academic Software From Microsoft,
Symantec, Visio, Novell, Macromedia,
Aitech, Princeton Graphics,
and Many More
1889 Pioneer Parkway East Computers • Upgrades
Springfield, OR 97477 www.bellevuepc.com Free on-site consulting
Phone:(541)736-5980 Accessories • Networking
Fax:(541)736-5982 Peripherals
for the Emerald
For more information
about freelancing for the
Oregon Daily Emerald,
call 346-5511.
STILL CHUGGING FORWARD
Despite a frustrating senior season, Ken Simonton
can still make history against the Ducks
Courtesy Oregon State Media Services
Ken Simonton has run his way into the Pacific-10 conference record books. The senior
tailback ranks second all-time in Pac-10 rushing and wants to reach the 1,000 -yard mark.
Eugene’s Greatest Sports Bar
013083
1-topping
17 Domestic, Import & Microbrews on Tap
29 TVs including 3 High Definition Big Screens
NTN Trivia • 2 Pool Tables
Internet Jukebox • Great Food & Great Specials
full lottery;
games
"No one has more
fun than we do!”
21 & over only
730 E Broadway, Eugene OR 344-6673
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
D
ay one of 2001 was one
for the history books for
Ken Simonton.
1 The 330 days since
have not been.
Oregon State ended its 2000
campaign with a 41-9 victory over
Notre Dame at the New Year’s Day
Fiesta Bowl.
The Beavers’ summer was,
much like' Oregon’s, filled with
hype and anticipation of the com
ing season. One publication in par
ticular announced that Oregon
State was the best team in the land,
while Simonton was touted as a
Heisman Trophy candidate.
Then Sept. 2 rolled around, and
with it, a 44-22 loss to Fresno
State. From there, everything
rolled downhill for Simonton and
the Beavers.
“I made some mistakes. I could
have run harder on some,” Simon
ton said after the loss. “A lot of
things I could have done better, but
we all could have, so we’ve all got
to look at ourselves and say, ‘I
could do this better.’”
A tough five-point win over .
New Mexico State the following
week evened the Beavers’ record,
but because of the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, Oregon State did not
play again until Sept. 29.
And UCLA had no mercy in a
38-7 trouncing in Corvallis.
By the end of October, the
Beavers were 3-5 and desperately
looking to turn around a once
promising season. In particular, Si
monton, the school’s all-time rush
ing leader, was searching for
answers.
“You just find yourself going in
a circle. ‘What if this?’ and ‘Maybe
we this’ and ‘Maybe we should
this’ — you can’t explain it,” Si
monton said after an Oct. 20 loss to
Arizona State. “You’ve got to just
come out and prepare and just
kind of laugh and say, ‘I’ll see you ,
tomorrow.’”
Oregon State lost in overtime,
16-13, to Southern California on
Nov. 3, a game in which Simonton
rushed for 85 yards, second on the
team behind freshman Steven
Jackson. But from that point, the
Beavers have had little trouble.
Washington entered Corvallis on
Nov. 10 as the eighth-ranked team
in the country but went home to
Seattle with a 49-24 loss, the
Beavers’ first win over the Huskies
since 1985.
Simonton was back in his old
form, scoring three touchdowns on
107 yards rushing to move into
second place on the Pac-lO’s all
time rushing chart.
“Ken Simonton is a true winner,
a true competitor, a tremendous
person,” head coach Dennis Erick
son said. “He’s what athletics
should be all about, because he’s
had to deal with some adversity.
He didn’t have a lot of places to
run at times. What he’s done is,
he’s played as well as he can play,
regardless of what it was.”
Even with the struggles this sea
son, Simonton still has a shot at
becoming just the fifth player in
NCAA history to rush for 1,000
yards in all four seasons of eligibil
ity. The Pittsburg, Calif., native
needs 113 yards — his exact total
in last year’s Civil War — to
achieve the historic mark.
“That’s just kind of a testament
to four years of hard work, so it’s
real important,” Simonton told the
Corvallis Gazette-Times about the
record. “It’s my final curtain call,
Turn to Simonton, page 18B