Sports Editor:
Peter Hockaday
petertiockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, August 30,2002
Best bet
Washington at Michigan
9 a.m. Saturday, ABC
THE BIG BOX
OF FOOTBALL
Tasty morsel No. 1
Mississippi State head
coach Jackie Sherrill, the
unofficial “dean of SEC
coaches,” is the fourth
win ningest active coach in
Division i football. He has
175 career wins, behind
only Penn State’s joe
Paterno (327 wins),
Florida State’s Bobby
) Bowden (324) and South
Carolina’s Lou Holtz (233).
Trivia Bowl
Oregon has t he second
best (ecord in the country
over its last 30 games, at
27-3. Can you name the
team with the best record
over that span? Answer
below, but make sure to
read the rest of the paper
first.
Morsel No. 2
Mississippi State hasn’t
been to the West Coast in
more than 24 years. The
Bulldogs last played out
west in 1977, when they
faced Washington in
Seattle. It is their only
previous game against a
Pac-10 opponent.
Rank me
Here’s where Oregon and
MSU finished in the final
NCAA standings in 2001.
Rushing offense
Oregon...,25
MSU........79
Passing offense
Oregon....50
MSU....62
Total offense
Oregon....2 2
MSU.........85
Rushing defense
Oregon....28
MSU...64
Passing defense
MSU.50
Oregon...! 10
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Total defense
MSU...*..v,.59
Oregon.81
Morsel No. 3
The Ducks have a chance
to win a third-straight Pac
10 title this year. The last
team to win three straight
was Washington from
1990’92.
Trivia answer
. t t «■» . . i /»'. i < . iV: i t i . , i
Moos, Ducks
find uses for
‘excess’cash
The best feeling not related to
sports? Digging your hand in your
pocket and finding forgotten money. It’s
better than gold. It’s free money, no
strings attached.
And the best part of the best non
sports-related feeling is figuring out how
to spend it. You can’t just throw the
money in your wallet, even if it’s just
a dollar or two. You have to spend it.
Immediately.
I imagine Bill
Moos digging deep
in his pocket re
cently, perhaps
searching for an
old photo of his
playing days with
Washington State
(to show the band
wagon fans that the
Gougs weren’t al
ways the preseason
Pac-10 favorite), a
hard hat or maybe
just his Palm Pilot. It doesn’t really mat
ter what he was looking for. What mat
ters is the #50,000 dollars he dug up.
Gan you see the look on his face? Ko
dak would’ve been proud.
Then came the hard part. Spend.
Now. How?
A brief look at the athletic director’s
history of spending—half a million dol
lars for two New York billboards, #15
million for an indoor practice facility
and another #90 million for a stadium
renovation — and you know that
#50,000 was expendable. No need to
save it for a rainy day.
Moos had to get really creative with
the cash this time. He wanted to outdo
the “Joey Heisman” poster in Manhat
tan, the Moshofsky Center and the
12,000 extra seats at Autzen Stadium.
With a Nike-like mentality, Moos and
Oregon’s savvy marketing department
aimed for the world — and got the next
best thing: New York. And all it cost
them was the equivalent of a few pairs
of Nike shoes.
Adam
Jude
Out in left field
Turn to Jude, Page 8
Courtesy Mississippi State Media Services
Jackie Sherrill, the dean of SEC coaches," trails only Joe Ratemo, Bobby Bowden and Lou Holtz in career wins among active coaches.
Mississippi State down
but never out with Sherrill
The Bulldogs stumbled last
season, but head coach Jackie
Sherrill is still the fourth
winningest active coach today
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
In 24 seasons as a head coach at
the collegiate level, Mississippi
State’s Jackie Sherrill has had to suf
fer through consecutive losing sea
sons just once, when the Bulldogs
went 3-8 in 1995 and 5-6 in ’96.
A 3-8 showing in 2001 doomed
the Bulldogs to the cellar of the
Southeastern Conference. They
finished the season just 2-6 in
conference play.
With the teams in the SEC as
strong as they ever have been, an
other tough year for Sherrill and
the Bulldogs may be just around
the comer.
But there is a new sense of opti
mism down South. Mississippi State
is just two years removed from an 8
4 season in 2000 and a 10-2 showing
in 1999. Both seasons produced bowl
victories, at the Independence Bowl
in 2000 and the Peach Bowl in ’99.
The Bulldog optimism stems from
the return of seven starters on the
offensive side of the ball and anoth
er six on defense. But the one player
who isn’t considered a returning
starter could hold the key to the
Bulldogs’ season.
Junior Kevin Fant will take the
snaps full-time for the first time in
his career. The Moss Point, Miss., na
tive played in nine games for the
Bulldogs in 2001, starting three. He
completed 55 percent of his passes
and threw eight touchdowns. But he
was also picked off three times.
“At the end of the year last year,
we were a very good, competitive
team,” Sherrill said. “Kevin Fant was
one of the best quarterbacks in the
league last year over the last two
games. He is a young man who end
ed the season very strong and should
help this football team.” *
Fant does come with a warning la
bel, though. He underwent elbow
surgery during the off-season and
wasn’t a hundred percent during the
spring. If he falters, so goes the
Bulldogs. Fant is backed up by
untested freshman Kyle York, who
redshirted the 2001 season.
The Bulldogs return both start
ing wide receivers in senior Ter
rell Grindle and junior Justin
Jenkins, both of whom have a ton
of speed but are somewhat small
ish in stature.
While Fant may ultimately hold
the key to the team’s success, it is
the team’s receivers that could push
Turn to MSI), Page 9
Adam Jones Emerald
The south entrance to Autzen Stadium has a grand look after the renovation.
New Autzen bigger,
better than before
The renovated Autzen Stadium
bowl has. 12,000 more seats and
an abundance of new amenities
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
For those freshmen heading over
the Autzen footbridge this fall, an en
tirely different sight will greet them
than the one familiar to those fresh
men that came before.
Instead of a crater that doubled as
a football stadium, these freshmen
will see a flying saucer. Instead of a
hole in the ground, they’ll see a pow
erful statement of just how far Oregon
football has come in recent years.
The renovated stadium is near
completion, and the new Willamette
River side — which is now the official
“front entrance” of Autzen — is a
stunning “hello” from the stadium.
The addition of 12,000 extra seats is
also stunning, considering that the
original shape of Autzen was pre
served in the renovation.
Does it need to be said that the
Ducks themselves are chomping at
the proverbial bit to get inside?
“As it started to go up, as it took the
form and shape you saw in the com
puter renderings, the magnitude is
tremendously impressive,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I think
our players are really excited, more so
than I would have believed.”
Two nights before they officially
started fall camp, the Ducks got a
surprise from Bellotti — a trip into
the stadium in the dark, to watch a
Turn to Autzen, Page 8