Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Monday, November 18,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
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Passing game leads UW to celebration
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Washington's Rich Alexis (24) is flipped into the end zone by Marques Binns (13) for the Huskies'first score.
Quarterback Cody Pickett
and receiver Reggie Williams
torch the Ducks in the win
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
After scoring 42 unanswered points
to win their first game at Autzen Stadi
um since 1996, the Washington
Huskies couldn’t help but celebrate.
And celebrate, and celebrate, and
then celebrate some more.
“They’ve been talking so much trash
about our coach and our program,”
Washington tailback Rich Alexis, who
had 122 yards, told The Seattle
Times. “There was a lot of hatred on
their side. You could hear the crowd
talking about our coach and that
struck me personally. I didn’t like
that at all. We came out with a great
win so we deserved (to celebrate).”
In becoming the Pacific-10 Confer
ence single-season passing record hold
er, Washington’s Cody Pickett threw for
316 yards and four touchdowns, three to
sophomore receiver Reggie Williams.
In an interview with a Seattle radio
station two weeks ago, Oregon safety
Keith Lewis called Pickett “overrated.”
Pickett said he tried to talk to Lewis
after the game, but Lewis “didn’t have
much to say.” Lewis, who has been
banned from media interviews for the
remainder of the season, had no tack
les against the Huskies, though he did
have one interception.
“To come in and play with the crowd
talking and the team talking made the
win even sweeter,” Pickett said.
Williams, meanwhile, continued
the onslaught on Oregon’s young de
fensive backs. Six-foot-4-inch, 220
pound Williams tied the Autzen
record with 14 receptions, and had
198 receiving yards.
Williams’ two fourth-quarter scores
put the game out of reach, and sent
Duck fans home in the rain.
“There was no noise, no fans, and
everyone was leaving,” Williams said.
Oregon freshman defensive back Mar
ques Binns said the Ducks weren’t con
"There was a lot of
hatred on their side "
Rich Alexis
Washington tailback
centrating their defense on Williams.
“We didn’t really look at him and
say, ‘We gotta stop him,”’ Binns said.
“We just wanted to stop their offense.”
The Huskies (6-5 overall, 3-4 Pae
10) racked up 181 yards on the ground
for a total of 479 yards. Oregon (7-4,3
4) managed 300 yards as it fell into a
four-way tie for fifth place.
“I expected less out of Washington,
to be completely honest,” Oregon
quarterback Jason Fife said.
Despite a rough season, in which the
Huskies lost three straight Pac-10
games, Washington still could be head
Turn to Huskies, page 12
O-woes: Oregon’s downfall begins with Onterrio’s injury
Seeing his team turn a 14-0 first
quarter lead into a 42-14 loss to
Washington, Onterrio Smith could
hardly take it from the sidelines.
“What’s going on? Why can’t we
get that fire
back?” the
hobbled Smith
thought to
himself Satur
day as Oregon
dropped its
fourth game in
five tries.
It had noth
ing to do with
a little rain,
as some tried
to suggest.
The answers, quite simply, rest
ed on Smith’s left knee, which he
will have surgically repaired today.
What’s going on?
The Oregon offense, obviously,
is struggling. Led by an inconsis
tent quarterback, Jason Fife —
who was replaced, then soon reaf
firmed in the third quarter — the
Ducks haven’t been able to estab
lish anything on offense. After
starting off 7-of-9 for 139 yards in
the first quarter, Fife finished 10
of-29 for 170 yards (you do the
math). His second-half replace
ment, redshirt freshman Kellen
Clemens, had his first pass inter
cepted and was gone after just
two series.
“We tried some new things, we
tried to make a statement in the
third quarter. But we didn’t do it
and we paid the price,” senior re
ceiver Jason Willis said.
Why can’t the Ducks get that
fire back?
Quite simply, there’s no Onter
rio Smith. And, quite frankly, the
Ducks are mediocre at best with
out him.
“We miss Onterrio every time he’s
not in the game,” Fife said. “He’s the
energizer of the offense. We need a
pick-me-up. I don’t know what it is,
but something’s going to happen to
give us the spark.”
It’s definitely not going to be
Smith, who rushed for 1,015 yards
prior to injuring his knee against
USG on Oct. 26. By having arthro
scopic surgery to remove torn car
tilage, he will miss this week’s Civil
War game.
“It’s really been bothering me,”
Smith said of his knee. “We’re going
to do (surgery) this early so I can be
back in time for the bowl game.”
Minus Smith, the Ducks will rely
on backups Terrence Whitehead
and Ryan Shaw, both of whom of
fensive coordinator Andy Ludwig
said he has great confidence in.
Nothing against Whitehead and
Shaw, but they’re aren’t Onterrio
Smith. They can’t get a defense to
stack the box and open the pass
ing attack, and they can’t be the
energizer.
Combined, Whitehead and Shaw
put up a respectable 80 yards on
15 carries, though they didn’t alter
the game.
But apparently, the rain did.
“The weather came and we
didn’t handle it well,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said.
“We lost our momentum when
the weather hit.”
No, the Ducks lost their momen
tum — their 6-0 start and No. 6 na
tional ranking — when Smith went
down with a minor left knee injury
Turn to Jude, page 10
Harrier men earn NCAA berth,
women wait on at-large picks
The Oregon men finish second in
the West region, while the women
finish fifth
Cross country
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
Three top-seven finishers at Satur
day’s Western Regional Championships
helped propel the Oregon men’s cross
country squad into the Nov. 25 NCAA
Championship meet.
Senior Jason Hartmann finished second
individually, running the 10,000-meter
race in 30 minutes and 18 seconds. Hart
mann’s second-place finish helped Oregon
take second as a team, automatically quali
fying the squad for the national meet.
Shortly behind Hartmann, who finished
third in last year’s regional meet, were red
shirt sophomore Ryan Andrus (sixth,
30:37) and junior Brett Holts (seventh,
30:41). Both Andrus and Holts improved
on last year’s regional finishes, moving up
from 27th and 31st, respectively.
Breaking the top-20 for the first time
in their careers, and finishing out the
scoring for Oregon, were redshirt sopho
more Eric Logsdon and redshirt junior
John Lucas. Logsdon improved on last
year’s 42nd-place finish by placing 12th,
while Lucas, who finished 55th last year,
came in 16th.
Hartmann’s second-place finish
matches his second-place finish as-a
sophomore, while he finished third indi
vidually last year in the regional meet.
In his four years coaehing at Oregon,
men’s head coach Martin Smith has had
three teams earn a spot at the national
meet. In 1999, the Oregon squad finished
sixth nationally, after being ranked 12th in
the week prior to the championship meet.
In 2001, the men finished third in the
region, and earned a national berth.
Ranked 14th nationally, the team fin
ished 13th in national meet, with six of
seven runners returning for this season.
Smith coached two national champi
onship teams in his 15-year career as
head coach at Wisconsin.
On the women’s side, redshirt senior
Carrie Zogpfos finished sixth individual
--- - Turnto Cross country, page-12
GeoffThumer Oregon Media Services
Pyan /\ndrus-(leftVand Jason Hartmann (in background, eyes closed)
led the Ducks to a berth irrthe NCAA Championships Saturday.