Sports Editor:
Adam Jucle
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Best Bet
NFL: Green Bay at Jacksonville,
6 p.m., ABC
Monday, December 3,2001
Just trying
to make
some sense
of it all
Oregon capped off its best-ever
football season Saturday with
a 17-14 win over Oregon State
in the 105th Civil War to claim the
throne as the outright Pacific-10 Con
ference champion.
Everything else is a little complicated.
First, there’s the BCS hoopla. If this
team does that, and that team does
this... I know what you’re thinking:
“Just give me the results when they’re
finalized Dec. 9.”
But that’s no fun. The Bowl Cham
pionships Series is here to tease your
hopes, when really, there’s not much
to cling to. Yes, the Ducks are one of
the best teams in the country and
will be in one of the best bowls in
the country, but
save yourseir
some grief and
some money and
buy your plane
tickets to Tempe,
Ariz., for New
Year’s Day.
The Ducks,
now third in both
the Associated
Press and
ESPN/USA Today
polls, are guaran
teed a trip to the
Fiesta Bowl, but
need help to get
to the national title game at the Rose
Bowl. Even with Texas and Florida
losing this weekend, Oregon will
probably be no higher than fourth in
the BCS when it’s released today.
That leaves Tennessee, now No. 2
with a game against Louisiana State
on Saturday, and Nebraska as possible
opponents to play undefeated Miami
in the national championship.
Odds are that the Ducks will play
a dangerous Colorado team in the
Fiesta Bowl.
“We’re happy with the Fiesta Bowl,
but the rest is not in our hands,” Ore
gon linebacker Kevin Mitchell said.
“Whatever happens, happens. If it
does happen, we’re ready.”
Then there’s that other race in
volving the golden boy, quarterback
Joey Harrington. A national audi
ence tuned in to see if Harrington
could take control of the Heisman
Trophy debacle, but you can be sure
the East Coast voters took notice of
the dismal ll-for-22, 104-yard, no
touchdown performance against
Oregon State. Most notably, Heisman
winners don’t fumble the ball with
less than two minutes to play and
the game on the line.
To Harrington’s credit, the condi
tions Saturday weren’t exactly
suitable for a quarterback... wait a
tick, was that Jonathan Smith
throwing for 252 yards on 20-for-38
passing and one touchdown in
those horrible conditions?
Harrington deserves a seat in New
York, but don’t expect to see the tro
phy in Eugene any time soon.
Turn to Jude, page 19
Defense fuels Civil War victory
Kevin Mitchell (39) and David Moretti (44) take down Oregon State’s Ken Simonton in Oregon’s 17-14 Civil
War win at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. The two Oregon linebackers combined lor 28 tackles.
■The Oregon defense made up
for the offense’s lack of production •
and sealed the win with a key interception
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Take away the 46,000-plus fans.
Take away Keith Jackson and the mostly-nation
al ABC telecast.
Take away all the Civil War hype that had even
longer to build up during the three-week layoff.
And add severe cases of rain, wind and hail.
“I loved it. I was in my element out there,” Oregon
offensive lineman Ryan Schmid said. “You just need
ed to add a mud pit, and it’d be like high school. ”
The result was hard-nosed, defensive-oriented
football that only produced nine combined points
through 36 minutes of action.
The Oregon defense made the
biggest play in the end, clinching
the Ducks’ 17-14 victory over the
Beavers on Saturday at Autzen
Stadium.
“That’s smash-mouth football
to the fullest,” safety Keith Lewis
said. “A bunch of bangers just going at it.”
Quarterback Joey Harrington may get credit for his
10th career fourth quarter comeback, given that the
Ducks trailed 6-3 at the end of the third, but it was the
defense that saved the game.
Harrington had the ball in his hands with the
Ducks leading by three and with the clock showing
less than two minutes to play. But Harrington fum
bled it back to Oregon State, forcing the Oregon de
fense to end the game on a bright note, much like it
did in wins at Washington State and UCLA.
“I felt terrible for putting them in that position,”
Harrington said. “But they stepped up. I was confi
dent they’d stop them.” *
With sole possession of the Pacific-10 Confer
ence championship on the line and all the pres
sure of keeping Oregon State off the scoreboard,
the defense was... nervous? Scared? Frustrated?
Try relaxed.
“I’d never seen a looser group out there than I
did tonight after that fumble,” Lewis said. “Every
body was smiling and having fun. Our backs have
been against the wall so many times.
“The defense was up for the challenge. ”
Oregon State’s first play of the drive that started
with 1:33 to play was a three-yard pass. The second
was a Jonathan Smith fumble that he recovered for
a loss of four. And then came the third.
Turn to Defense, page 19
Men’s hoops throws away another possible win
■The Ducks fall by one point.
to Portland in the Rose City
for their second straight loss
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon men’s basketball head
coach Ernie Kent will have night
mares, and every night it will be
the same dream.
The Ducks are in a close game,
and there are seconds left. An Ore
gon guard dribbles upcourt, looks
for Anthony Lever, throws it to an
opposing player, that player is
fouled and then hits the game
winning free throw.
The Ducks throw away the
game.
Oregon (4-2 overall) suffered its
second straight close loss Sunday
afternoon, this one a 79-78 heart
breaking defeat at the hands of the
Portland Pilots (3-2) in the Rose
City. The Ducks led for most of the
final minute, but the Pilots hit key
shots down the stretch to win the
contest.
Portland’s Casey Frandsen and
Adam Quick hit back-to-back
three pointers with less than 30
seconds in the contest to tie the
score at 78. On the Ducks’ next
possession, with 9.8 seconds left,
Oregon point
guard Luke Rid
nour dribbled up
the court, tried to
find Lever but
threw the ball to
Portland’s Coky
Rochin instead.
Rochin was then
fouled by Lever. The play was
similar to one that caused Ore
gon’s downfall at Massachusetts
on Tuesday.
Rochin missed his first free
throw, but made the back end to
put the Pilots up for good. Oregon
had one more chance, but a James
Davis three-point attempt at the
buzzer bounced off the backboard
and the rim before falling off the
side of the basket.
“They just battled their tails off
and fought us the whole game,"
Kent told KUGN radio, referring to
the play of the Pilots. “We talked
about this all week, how this was a
big game on their schedule.”
The game was close through
out. Portland went on a run to
end the first half and entered the
break with a 40-33 lead. But the
Ducks came out hot in the second
half, and went on a 13-3 run to
take the lead at 46-43 with 15
minutes left. The teams battled
from that point, often trading bas
kets and the lead as they wound
down to the exciting finish.
“They got it in the first half, and
they gained a tremendous amount
of confidence,” Kent said. “We re
captured the momentum in the sec
ond half and then gave it right back
to them with some key turnovers
and they came at us again.”
Oregon got a spectacular offen
sive effort from sophomore guard
Luke Jackson, who scored a ca
reer-high 28 points in the contest.
He added seven rebounds to his
point total. Ridnour scored 17
points, one short of his career
high, and also had seven assists.
The spectacular play of the
Ducks’ sophomores was countered
by the poor play of their seniors.
Guard Freddie Jones scored only
six points in 21 minutes of floor
time, as he was in foul trouble the
entire game. He fouled out with a
minute left. Center Chris Christof
fersen also scored six points, after a
double-double at UMass last week.
“There are some guys that I
felt, in the last couple games,
could have given better produc
tion and performance than they
did,” Kent said.
The win was the first for the
Pilots in the series since 1964.
The streak spanned 20 straight
Oregon victories.
The Ducks have a week to re
cover before they hit the road
again to play Minnesota on Mon
day. That game will be broadcast
on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. PST.
Emerald sports reporter
Peter Hockaday can be reached at
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.