Not enough stewing
on the loss, too much
stewing on last year
When the media stormed the
Casanova Center like a herd of bi
son last Saturday after Oregon’s
woolly loss to Arizona State, they
may as well have slowly turned on
a dimmer switch as they entered
the interview room.
Because as the interviews went
on, the ratio of references-to-2001
per question shot up like a 70-yard
Andrew Walter touchdown pass.
Right, the Ducks seemed to be
thinking as the media spun their
questions, this is exactly like 2001.
Sure, we were
6-0. Yeah, we
lost a woolly
game to Stan
ford. Uh-huh,
we won out.
Great, it’s back
to the Fiesta
Bowl for us.
Well, maybe
not exactly
like that.
There were
some near
tears. There
were some
tough answers. But in general, the
scene didn’t come close to the bit
terness of 2001, when the expecta
tions were high and the loss to
Stanford was a seemingly season
crippling injury, one the Ducks
couldn’t fathom getting over until
they beat Washington State. When
Joey Harrington answered the me
dia almost exclusively with one
word answers.
The point is, this season’s squad
is different. Much different. But
good teams that lose should deal
with losing the same way: They
should be devastated. Heart-bro
ken. Kicking walls and chairs and
such. Or they will lose again. Once
you rationalize losing, it becomes
easier to handle.
The Ducks will never be losers
with Mike Bellotti at the helm. He
is too much of a winner, too much
of a bridge-builder. He is perhaps
the best coach in the country —
other that Bob Stoops at Okla
homa — at culling talent. He runs
his squad like an Oregon dairy
farm, raising the cattle to replace
the fallen cows.
But he’s in a fix with this comer
Peter
Hockaday
Two minutes for
crosschecking
back issue. Unlike, say, the tight
end position, where George Wrigh
ster stepped nicely into Justin
Peele’s cleats, or the defensive
line, where Eee-gor Olshansky and
others stepped up, he was unpre
pared for the departure of senior
stars from the secondary. When
Rashad Bauman and Steve Smith
were drafted into the NFL — hint
No. 1 that they might, possibly, be
good at what they did — he was
left with a 1960s rock band:
Steven Moore and the Freshmen.
Unfortunately, that band was
rocked by UCLA and saved by Bob
Toledo’s truly inept play-calling,
and Arizona State did what the
Bruins should have done: passed
downfield and upheld and midfield
and all over the field.
But'there is a silver lining to this
cloud. And please spare me one
more reference to 2001. The silver
lining has nothing to do with 2001.
This silver lining has everything
to do with how the secondary han
dled Saturday’s loss. Some of the
comers didn’t even come out of the
locker room. Others gave the Har
rington-esque one-word answers.
All were devastated.
And this week in practice, the
corners faced the hard facts: im
prove or stay home for New Year’s,
especially with Pac-10 gunslingers
like Cody “Can’t” Pickett, Jason
“Keep ’em Gessing” Gesser and
Carson “Won’t get your Palm on
my ball” Palmer licking their
chops at the thought of Oregon’s
defense.
Bellotti, true to form, handled it
perfectly. Said flat-out that after
Saturday’s debacle, no secondary
position was secure. He’s pulling
out all the stops, hoping that gives
the young guys a chance to go.
It will be interesting to see how
the secondary responds to the
trail by Sun Devil fire. To see how
they get back up when they’re
knocked down.
And if it’s anything like that
2001 season we’re all sick of hear
ing about, the Ducks will come
out swinging.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
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