Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, September 20,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
GameDav
Best bet
Florida at Tennessee
12:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS
The big box
of football
Tasty morsel No. 1
Saturday’s game is the 200th
game to ever be played in
Autzen Stadium, it is also the
20th~straight sellout and will
be the largest crowd to ever;
witness Portland State play.
Morsel No. 2
Wondering why the Ducks
scheduled a Division l-AA team
this year? They were originally
slated to play Michigan, which
backed out and asked that the
home-and-home series be
played starting In 2007, Oregon
compromised and will head to
Ann Arbor next year,
Hrivia Bowl
The Ducks and Vikings last met
in 1994. Can you name
Oregon’s starting quarterback in
that game?
Answer at bottom of box.
Rank me
Oregon and Portland State in
the 2002 national rankles
(PSU rankings are D l-AA)
Rushing offense
Portland State..,..32
Oregon.....51
•
Passing offense
Oregon.42
Portland State....82
■ •• ■ . ■ f
Scoring offense
Oregon...16
Portland State....45
Rushing defense
Oregon..17
Portland State....51
Passing defense
Oregon.,78
Portland State,.. 102
Scoring defense
Oregon........33
Portland State..,.48
Turnover margin
Oregon......12
Portland State,...83
In Oregon's game against Idaho
last week, the Vandals had the?
ball for 17 more minutes of
game time than the Ducks.
Trivia answer
Danny O’Neil.
Vikings rely on offensive stars
Portland State running back
Ryan Fuqua and quarterback
Juston Wood guide the Vikings
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
As Ryan Fuqua goes, so go the
Portland State Vikings.
The sophomore tailback leads
NCAA Division I-AA with 174.5
yards per game and has accounted
for 59 percent of Portland State’s to
tal offense through two games this
season, despite being slowed by a
sore ankle.
In a 23-20 overtime win over
North Carolina A&T last week,
Fuqua rushed 42 times for 207 yards
and a touchdown. Of the 17 plays in
the Vikings’ game-tying fourth-quar
ter drive, he took 16 handoffs and
rushed for 68 yards.
North Carolina A&T had held
Portland State to just 51 total yards
in the first half.
“We went back to our base run
game, ran the football and let Ryan
do his thing,” Portland State head
coach Tim Walsh said.
Fuqua will have to do his thing
and more if the Vikings (2-0),
ranked No. 8 in Division I-AA, hope
to upset No. 9 Oregon on Saturday
at Autzen Stadium. The teams meet
for just the second time, the first
since Oregon defeated Portland
State, 58-16, in 1994.
“We will play this game like all the
others,” Walsh said. “We can't look at
it any differently than any other Sat
urday. We prepare to play at the same
high level in every game we play.”
Fuqua is not the Vikings’ only of
fensive weapon, just their best. Se
nior quarterback Juston Wood has
thrown three touchdown passes this
season, but has five interceptions.
Senior running back Hashim Hall is
third in the nation in kickoff returns,
averaging 36.8 yards per return.
“The key to success is to be dom
Courtesy Portland State Media Services
Portland State running back Ryan Fuqua (20) leads Division l-AA in rushing. He averages more than 170 yards per game.
inant on both sides of the ball,”
Walsh said of facing the Ducks.
“They have those ingredients.
They are a top-10 program with
outstanding talent at every posi
tion. They have All-American re
ceivers and arguably the best tail
back in the country.”
Defensively, Portland State has
allowed 21.5 points per game this
season (including a 31-23 win over
Stephen F. Austin to start the sea
son). Sophomore linebacker Tolo
Tuitele made his first start of the
season last week and led the
Vikings with 12 tackles. He also re
turned an interception for a score
en route to being named the Big
Sky Conference Defensive Player of
the Week.
Turnovers have been a problem
for Portland State. Fuqua lost the
first fumble of his career last week as
the Vikings coughed up the ball four
times. In two games, they have sev
en turnovers.
Portland State moved to Divi
sion I-AA in 1995. Walsh is 1-6
against I-A teams, his only win
over Hawaii in 2000.
“Maybe 25 years from now we will
be a 1-A program, but in order for us
to become what we want to be, we
must build the best program we can
and play the best programs we can,”
Walsh said.
If Fuqua is leading the way, the
Vikings may just get to where they
want to be.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
■
Adam Amato Emerald
Jared Siegel has already kicked more field goals this year than he did all of last season.
Siegel, Arroyo kick
towards success
The Oregon kicking game has
picked up as the two kickers
have settled into the UO system
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
The kicking game in collegiate
football is about as sexy as an offen
sive lineman in a Speedo.
When analysts discuss some of the
nation’s best teams, quarterbacks,
running backs and wide receivers
get the recognition, attention and
Heisman talk.
Punters and place-kickers are nor
mally left aside, anonymously stand
ing on the sidelines waiting for their
chance. While most quarterbacks
throw the ball 30 times a game and
runners dance through holes no big
ger than a credit card, the kickers
get very few chances.
But as is becoming the norm in col
lege football, those few chances can
mean a win or a loss, and in some cas
es, a national championship.
Case in point: Michigan’s come
from-behind victory over Washing
ton to start the season was earned af
ter its kicker,split the, uprights with
just a few ticks left on the clock.
At Oregon, the mentality that
the punter and place-kicker can be
a team’s most valuable weapon is
no different.
The Ducks have already found
that out the hard way.
“I think you can look at it when
we played the Fresno State game
and averaged 20 yards per punt,”
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “That
changes the whole complexion of a
game. When you average 42 yards
per punt, it is truly something differ
ent that can keep people at bay, and
give them a long field. Obviously
with us returning about 18 yards per
punt return, if we can do 42, there’s
a tremendous amount of field posi
tion over the course of time that’s go
ing to come our way.”
After two sub-par performances,
in which he averaged a combined
34.6 yards per punt against Missis
sippi State and Fresno State, punter
Jose Arroyo impressed the Oregon
fans with a 45.5 yard average against
Idaho last weekend.
The senior was not terribly
. Turn.to Kick, page 12,