Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2002)
Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Monday, October 28,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports NFL: N.Y. Giants at Best bet Philadelphia 6 p.m., ABC Jeremy Forrest Emerald Oregon's Jason Fife is sacked by USC's Omar Nazel and Darrell Rideaux in the Trojans'44-33 victory Saturday. Oregon suffers second sting as USC rolls to win Oregon loses its second in a now as the Trojans dominate the second half in front of a record number of fens in Autzen Oregon 33 USC 44 Peter Hockaday Sports Editor Oregon running back Onterrio Smith got a call from former Duck Rashad Bauman on Saturday morning, and Bauman, as he is prone to do, said ex aedy what was on his mind. He also said what was on all the Ducks’ minds. “You better not lose your second in a row, because that hasn’t hap pened around here in a long time,” Bauman told the junior running back. On Saturday, Smith and the Ducks defied Bauman’s advice and lost their second straight contest, this one a 44-33 defeat at the hands of the No. 15 Southern California Trojans. Oregon led 19-14 at halftime, but USC stormed back in front of a record 56,754 fans at Autzen Stadium. “You can’t expect to win if you only play a half of football,” Oregon linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. The Ducks moved to 6-2 on the season, 2-2 in the Pacific-10 Confer ence, but didn’t drop far in the polls; Oregon was 16th in the USA To day/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and 19th in the Associated Press poll, both re leased Sunday. USC improved its record to 4-1 in the Pac-10 and jumped to 11th in both polls. The Ducks said they came out of halftime fired up, but the Trojans were the ones who made all the plays. USC senior quarterback Carson Palmer threw two touchdowns in the third quarter and one early in the fourth, and running back Justin Fargas ran for another score as the Tro Turn to Football, page 10A Autzen Stadium turns into house of horrors for Oregon Suddenly, Autzen Stadium is a haunted house for the Ducks — and everybody else in the Pacific-10 Conference wants to get in for free. Maybe the Oregon evil came out of the egg shell with the scari er-than-hell new mascot prior to USC’s 44-33 spank ing of the Out in left field Ducks on Saturday. Maybe the ghost was around all along, but we were too blind to see the imperfections. At this point, the shock of the Ducks’ two-straight losses is irrele vant. What matters is that, lately, their blemishes have outweighed their good qualities. In their biggest challenge of the season, the Ducks showed their true colors, which is apparently more yellow than green. Don’t let the final score fool you. USG manhandled Oregon. The only reason the game appeared close in the end is because the Trojans put in their bench warmers, who would probably start for Oregon’s second ary. In the pass-happy Pacific-10 Con ference, Oregon’s comers have shown to be too young, too short and too slow to keep pace. In their de fense, though, Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said USC’s offense would’ve burned the Ducks no mat ter what defensive scheme was called. But the list goes on. The defensive line, as big as it is and as good as it is against the run, has been closer to scoring with Brit ney Spears than hitting opposing quarterbacks in the last two games. “If we don’t get better, (losing) is something we’re going to have to get used to,” Oregon linebacker David Moretti said. It’s not entirely fair to pick on the defense, though. In a team game, Bellotti said, the burden falls on the entire team. The Oregon offense, playing against the best defense it’s seen this year, proved fallible Saturday. Onterrio Smith was brought back down from heaven and held to un der 100 rushing yards for the first time this season. Jason Fife, while hard to fault effort, has yet to win a big game. After running through a weak preseason schedule that posed few problems for the defense, the Ducks have hit the reality wall. And like a fly on the windshield, it’s not pret m ty Gome December, it’s probably not going to seem any better. With two losses, the thought of a national championship is long past. The Rose Bowl? Ha. The Holiday Turn to Jude, page 10A Ducks get rain and shine, split with desert schools Oregon beats Arizona on Friday night but gets burned by Arizona State on Sunday Soccer Jesse Thomas Sports Reporter Not only did the rain fall for 90 minutes Sunday at Pape Field, but Arizona State rained on Ore gon’s parade as the Ducks took their fourth Pacific-10 Confer ence loss. The Sun Devils dominated on offense for the first 45 minutes, but Oregon’s defense stood its ground en route to a 0-0 tie at the half. It wasn’t until the 49th minute that freshman Manya Makoski found the back of the net from 17 yards out to give ASU the lead. * Just - severr ' minutes later, Makoski set up freshmen Eliza beth Bogus, who went for a 20 yard run and took a shot from 19 yards out. The shot hit the right post and bounced in. For the Ducks, it was too little, too late when freshman Katie Abrahamson scored Oregon’s only goal in the 81st minute. Abrahamson found the right side of the net with a header from five yards out, a play made possible by sophomore Christine Mintz. Oregon’s 2-1 loss to Arizona State came after the Ducks found magic on Friday night in a 3-2 win over Arizona, after being down 2 0 with only 25 minutes left. “One of the nice things we got from Friday is that we can come back, and we got a little too casu al,” Oregon head coach Bill Stef fen said. “They need to be a little more aggressive, and we respect ed (ASU) too much, and we let them play — and if you let them play, they are going to do danger ous things.” Both desert schools posed dan gerous threats to Oregon, but Fri day night the Ducks didn’t get scared on the way to their first Pac-10 win. Oregon’s matchup with the Wildcats began similarly to Sun day’s game as both teams re mained scoreless through the first half. It wasn’t the 56-minute mark that the Ducks found themselves down 2-0 after freshman Lisa Kosena and senior Naomi Ghu scored for Arizona. Senior forward Sarah Denner was the spark Oregon needed, as she notched the Ducks’ first score with 24 minutes left, off a header into the right side of the goal. With Denner giving Oregon the Turn to Soccer, page 9A Jeremy Forrest Emerald Arlene Tuttle scored two goals in the final minutes of Friday's game to propel Oregon to a win.
