Preview
continued from page 1B
this week who has the highest pass-ef
ficiency rating in the league.
Lewis said he isn’t afraid of Gesser
— in fact, he said he didn’t “see any
thing special about him” — but ac
knowledged that the Ducks will
need to be defensive Saturday.
“We can’t give up explosion plays,”
Lewis said. “We know they’re going
to try to throw early.”
That challenge, the Ducks said,
coupled with the challenge of play
ing on the road, will motivate them
for Saturday. The last time Oregon
faced a higher-ranked team was late
last season at UCLA. The Ducks
won that game, and have the confer
ence’s longest road winning streak,
at seven games. That streak is nine
if you include Oregon’s bowl wins of
the past two postseasons.
“It’s definitely a different mindset
going on the road,” Bellotti said.
“And our kids have fared well. We’re
not exactly knocking people dead in
those situations, but we’re getting
the job done.
“We’ve done a good job of han
dling adversity on the road, and I
like that.”
This road trip won’t be a vacation
to the beach — more like a trip to
Alaska. The forecast is for cold rain
Saturday, and the Ducks say that
won’t affect them at all.
“It would feel weird to play them
here,” Moretti said. “The Palouse is
kind of a home away from home
for us.”
But perhaps the Oregon players
don’t want to think of this as a road
game. Perhaps they want to play up
the fact that it’s on the road, in a cold
place against a very good team. They
think those things play into their favor.
Even if most other teams would
think the opposite.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemeraId.com.
Cesser
continued from page 2B
passing list in the Cougars’ win over
Arizona State last week.
“There couldn’t be a better per
son to break Jack Thompson’s
records than Jason Gesser,” Price
said. “He’s a true winner and he rep
resents all of us.
“When Jack (Thompson) walks
into a room, every Cougar knows who
he is. That’s how it’ll be for Gesser.”
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti
said pressuring and containing
Gesser, also a dangerous runner, will
be key for the Oregon defense,
which was burned for big plays in
losses to Arizona State and USC.
“He’s very dangerous because
his eyes always stay down field,”
Bellotti said. “The bottom line is
winning, and he’s done that in the
last couple years.”
Oregon safety Keith Lewis, always
a good trash talker, was not quite as
eloquent when talking about the
WSU captain. Lewis said the Ducks
have faced better quarterbacks than
Gesser this season.
“I don’t see anything special
about him,” Lewis said.
Lewis also told a Seattle radio sta
tion on Tuesday that the Ducks
“look at Washington State’s field as
our back yard.”
Gesser will try to prove Lewis
wrong Saturday at Martin Stadium.
Like recent matchups, Saturday’s
game should come down to the wire.
Who will win is anyone’s Gess.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Bowling
continued from page 3B
we are trying to be.”
In the bowl race, heading to Pull
man is something different for the
Ducks. Oregon has become accus
tomed to playing teams ranked low
er than they are, but Washington
State is sitting fifth in both national
polls and the Cougars sit atop the
Pac-10 as the only undefeated team.
“They’re sitting on cloud nine
right about now and they feel like
they have nothing to lose in these
games coming up,” Howry said.
“They probably feel like they are go
ing to the Rose Bowl but we have got
to let them know they have one
more game at least, and that’s us.”
With the Cougars leading the race
to the Rose Bowl, it will be battle for
both squads. But if the Ducks are vic
torious and some other upsets occur,
then Oregon could have a chance for
the Rose Bowl or the Holiday Bowl.
For the Ducks to be in one of the
top two bowls in the Pac-10, they
must win against the Cougars, then
defeat Washington and ride the mo
mentum train all the way through
Corvallis. Arizona State needs to
lose twice, WSU needs to lose one
other game if the Ducks defeat the
Cougars, which would then place
Oregon second to USC. But if USC
loses twice, including to Arizona
State, then the Ducks would finish
second behind the Sun Devils.
But the players said it comes
down to Oregon taking care of its
business and winning the rest of its
games, and then hoping for other
possibilities.
“Honestly, there’s no way to tell
right now because there’s a lot of
football left to be played,” junior
tight end George Wrighster said.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
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