Oregon daily emerald., October 18, 2002, Page 2B, Image 10

Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, October 18,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald ——
G ame D ay
Best bet
Notre Dame at Air Force
7 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
The big box
of football
Tasty morsel No. I
Despite winning three of the
last four games against Arizona
State, the Ducks trail in the all
time series, 13-9,
Morsel No. 2
Just call Arizona State “Oregon
south.” Three members of the
Sun Devil coaching staff have
ties to the Oregon program,
including head coach Dirk
Koetter, who was the Duck /
offensive coordinator from
1996-97.
Trivia Bowl
Of Onterrio Smith’s nine
touchdowns this season, how
many have come on the ground?
Rank me
Oregon and Arizona State in the
2002 Pac-10 rankings
Rushing offense
Oregon.,.1
Arizona State.4
Passing offense
Oregon.....9
Arizona State.8
Scoring offense
Oregon.2
Arizona State.3
Total offense
Oregon..........4
Arizona State..*,.6
Rushing defense
Oregon.1
Arizona State.3
Passing defense
Oregon.......6
Arizona State....7
Scoring defense
Oregon.i
Arizona State.7
Morsel No. 3
The Ducks are streaking. They’ve
been in the Top-25 for 39 straight
weeks and have 20 consecutive
and Jason Fife Has
touchdown
Smith has crossed the goal line
all nine times from the ground,
but has otherwise caught eight
passes this season.
ASU fears trip to Autzen Stadium
Three Arizona State coaches
come back to familiar
territory, Autzen Stadium
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
The Arizona State Sun Devils are
going duck-hunting Saturday.
The 5-2, 2-0 Paeific-10 Confer
ence, Sun Devils have lost the past
four contests against the Ducks. But
Arizona State is more concerned
with proving it has a quality team
than with the past.
“This is a great opportunity to go
up to Oregon and compete for the
lead in the Pac-10,” Arizona State
head coach Dirk Koetter said. “It is a
very difficult place to play against the
sixth-ranked team in the country.”
The Sun Devils are led by sopho
more quarterback Andrew Walter
on offense.
Walter became the first Sun Devil
to throw for 400 yards in back-to
back games when Arizona State
played Stanford and North Carolina
earlier this season.
As a freshman, Walter played in all
11 games last year, starting against
Arizona and UCLA because of in
juries to then-starter Jeff Krohn.
Walter had a shaky game last
week against Oregon State, complet
ing 14 of 34 passes for 186 yards and
two interceptions. The Sun Devils
only had one touchdown, a 46-yard
Walter pass to Hakim Hill, and Wal
ter was sacked twice.
“I think Andrew will learn a lot of
lessons from what happened to us on
Saturday night,” Koetter said. “I am
excited about Andrew and his future.”
Walter is ranked fourth in the Pac
10 and 12th in the nation in passing
efficiency with a 151.6 rating. Oregon
quarterback Jason Fife leads the Pac
10, and is third in the nation, at 161.2.
Emerald
Sophomore quarterback Andrew Walter (16) was 8-of-25 for 105 yards and one interception against the Ducks last season.
With Walter’s help this season,
Arizona State will surpass its win to
tal for 2000 and 2001. The Sun Dev
ils went 6-6 in both those seasons.
On the defensive side, junior de
fensive end Terrell Suggs won’t let
the opposing quarterback forget
about him. Suggs leads the nation
with 13 sacks, four coming in the
Arizona State loss to North Carolina.
? Adding in his teammates, the Sun
Devils’ defense leads the Pac-10 with
33 sacks, including seven in their
win over Oregon State.
Arizona State beat Oregon State
in Tempe 13-9 on Saturday. The
Sun Devils held the Beavers to
three field goals arid 233 total
yards, while Arizona State scored
two field goals and a touchdown,
with 241 yards of offense.
With their win over Stanford
on Sept. 28 and the win over Oregon
State, the Sun Devils won their
first back-to-back Pac-10 games
since 1999.
The Sun Devils’ three non-confer
ence wins were against Eastern
Washington, 38-2, Central Florida,
46-13 and San Diego State, 39-28.
Arizona State’s two losses on the
season came at the hands of Nebras
ka, 48-10, and North Carolina, 38-35.
“We're not playing perfect by any
means, but our guys are competing
and believing that guys around them
are going to make plays,” Koetter said.
Three members of Arizona State’s
Turn to ASU, page 6B
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Freshman Aaron Gipson goes up for one of his two interceptions last week at UCLA
Oregon turns over
secret to winning
The Ducks are second in the
Pac-10 in turnover margin,
which they say helps them win
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Fumbles.
Interceptions.
Both mistakes are very costly and
represent the most critical aspects of
the game of football.
Both go into turnover ratio, an
important statistic that is often
overlooked but can win either team
the game.
“In any game, if you look at the
turnover ratio, you can tell who’s go
ing to win without even looking at
any other stats,” senior linebacker
David Moretti said. “The bottom line
is the more turnovers you get, the
more games you are going to win.”
UCLA gave up three turnovers to
Oregon’s one over the weekend, and
Oregon won 31-30. Bruin quarter
back Gory Paus was 17-for-31 with
three touchdowns but also threw
three interceptions.
Freshman comerback Aaron Gip
son caught two of those.
“The more takeaways we can get,
the more chances the offense has to
have the ball in their hands and
more opportunities for them to
score,” Gipson said.
Oregon ranks second in the Pacif
ic-10 Conference in turnover margin
this season. The Ducks have gained
16 turnovers and lost only five, giv
ing them a plus-11 turnover margin.
The Ducks rank only behind Gal
in that category, and Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti understands that
success in the area of turnovers has
to do with the Ducks’ defensive strat
egy and offensive conversion.
“The turnover-takeaway ratio is
the most important statistic that’s
kept,” Bellotti said. “It correlates to
winning more than anything else.
We’ve made a habit of trying to stress
ball security to our offense and take
aways to our defense, and it’s been
very productive for us, and it contin
ues to be. Last year it was most cer
tainly a factor in our 11-1 season,
and it’s been a factor in our 6-0 start.”
On average, Oregon is forcing its
opponents to turn over the ball al
most three times per game. Ari
zona State ranks sixth in the Pac
10 in turnover margin, two spots *
behind UCLA.
The Sun Devils have gained more
turnovers, 24, than Oregon but also
have lost more, with 17. Last year in
their matchup at Autzen Stadium,
Turn to Turnover, page 7B