Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
— Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Holy Cross at Kansas
6 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday, November 19,2002
Fife to start
against OSU
in Corvallis
The junior quarterback aims to re-prove himself
in the Civil War after two poor outings recently
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
Despite a brief appearance Saturday by backup Kellen Clemens
in a 42-14 loss to Washington, Jason Fife said he expects to be Ore
gon’s starting quarterback in the Civil War diis week.
“I haven’t heard differently,” Fife said Monday. “As far as I
know, I’m going to be the starter.”
Head coach Mike Bellotti said Clemens may take a few snaps
against Oregon State, but “that’s not the plan right now.”
Fife said the Ducks (7-4 overall, 3-4 Pacific-10 Conference) are
trying to forget Saturday’s defeat — Bellotti’s worst in eight years
at Autzen Stadium — and get ready for the Beavers (7-4, 3-4),
who lead the Pac-10 in rush and pass defense.
“More than anything, I’m anxious to get started (preparing
for Oregon State),” Fife said Monday. “We didn’t even watch a
whole lot of the game (on film) because we flat out knew that
we didn’t do so well. The consensus was that we have to put
that in the past and get it out of our mind.”
Fife threw two first-quarter touchdown passes against the
Huskies, but completed just 4-of-22 passes for 31 yards in
the final three periods. Hoping to provide an offensive spark,
Bellotti started Clemens in the third quarter, but the redshirt
freshman threw an interception on his first attempt. Fife fin
ished out the game, but the Ducks totaled just 43 yards in
their final four possessions.
“It’s a chance to re-prove myself,” Fife said of his first Civil
War start. “After a couple weeks where I was less than effective,
I think that I can keep the team up and hopefully lead the of
fense to a bunch of scores.”
Bellotti said he will stick with Fife this week, despite Oregon
ranking ninth in the conference in passing offense.
“Jason has done a good job,” Bellotti said. “Overall, he has
played well at times and played very well at times. I think the
great thing is he can get better.”
In a players-only meeting prior to practice Monday, the
Ducks discussed finishing the season on a positive note.
“A lot of us thought that maybe we haven’t sold-out as much
as we thought we could as far as giving it our all and battling
throughout the game,” Fife said. “We also know that at the end
of the season we can start thinking about things like that. We
have to focus as much as we can this week on Oregon State.”
Also of note, Oregon placekicker Jared Siegel was named as
one of three finalists Monday for the Lou Groza Award, given
annually to the nation’s best kicker.
Contact the senior sports reporter at adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Adam Amato Emerald
Stanford safety Colin Branch and the Cardinal dive toward The Big
Game against the Golden Bears Saturday.
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
The Oregon Men's Crew team practices all year and finished in the middle of the pack in two regattas this fall.
The early crew
Anticipation for the men’s crew
team rises with a new coach
and new rowers
Scott Archer
Freelance Sports Reporter
It’s 4:30 a.m., and alarm clocks are
sounding.
Pride and passion are the only things
that wake these people up as they stum
ble to the door, ready to meet others at
the University Bookstore, where a
warm bus awaits them.
It’s a typical Wednesday morning, but
this sport is anything but typical. The
Oregon Men’s Grew team is getting
ready for its ritualistic team practice at
Dexter Lake. The fall season is over,
with the men finishing in the middle of
the pack in two regattas, the Head of
The Lake, held Nov. 10 in Seattle, and
the Portland Loop, on Nov. 2. But the
practice and dedication never end.
Club
STinrtc
Tuesday
With a new coach and new team
members, the Oregon crew team is
heading in a new direction.
“We had an impressive year with num
bers,” Oregon Grew head coach Chris Pe
ters said. “Last year, the men’s program
was pretty small and was really nonexist
ent, but we have a lot of potential.”
Beginning with Peters, who hails
most recently from the East Coast after
being an assistant coach with several
colleges, including Colgate, Connecti
cut College, San Diego State, Califomia
San Diego and Texas. He is back to help
build the crew team into a power in the
Pacific-10 Conference.
“I knew I wanted to come coach at
Oregon because it has the potential to
be a good rowing school,” Peters said.
“It has a lot of students, it’s a large
school and it’s in the Pac-10. So, when I
found out about an opening, I thought it
was a great opportunity.”
Peters hopes to breathe life into a
program that is constantly battling ear
ly morning rising. Despite the practice
times, Peters feels he has good rowers
who can help bring the team along.
“Based on size, strength and apti
tude, I am anticipating that we will do
well. The kids are there, the attitude is
there,” Peters said. “I would love for it to
become a scholarship sport. It would be
so good for the University. This campus
has potential exploding out of it.”
“This is an all-year sport,” club
Turn to Crew, page 6
California celebrates The Play;
Cougs won’t be happy favorites
The 2002 Big Game is the 20th
anniversary of The Play1
Pac-10 notes
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
It’s rivalry week in the Paeific-10 Con
ference, and there is perhaps no rivalry
more odd, more intense or more rollick
ing than The Big Game.
The winner of The Big Game — be
tween Stanford and California — gets an
ax and Bay Area bragging rights for an
other year. It will be the last game of the
season for both teams, as California’s ap
peal of an NCAA postseason ban was
turned down Monday.
So, it seems, the teams will be looking
more toward the past than the future.
This year’s Big Game marks the 20th
anniversary of “The Play,” California’s
four-lateral, through-the-band, game
winning kickoff return to beat Stanford
in 1982. Among other ceremonies at
Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, the San
Francisco Chronicle reported, the Cal
band will play a halftime show with a
tribute to The Play.
There was no comment from the
Stanford band.
The 1982 Big Game was typically in
tense. John Elway led the Cardinal on
a supposedly game-ending drive that
resulted in a field goal to put Stanford
ahead 20-19. But there were four sec
onds on • the clock, and Stanford
pooch-kicked a kickoff, and four later
als later — the last one by a linebacker
over his shoulder — a California ball
carrier ran into the Stanford band,
which was rushing onto the field in
premature celebration. He scored, and
Cal won the game 25-20.
This season, California is selling T
shirts honoring The Play. The T-shirt
features a diagram of how The Play un
folded, complete with musical notes to
represent Stanford band members.
How ’bout them apples
The Apple Gup between Washington
and Washington State is the rivalry game
with the highest stakes this weekend.
Washington State will be playing for a
spot in the Rose Bowl and perhaps the Fi
esta Bowl, this year’s national champi
onship game. Washington will be fighting
for one of the Pac-lO’s six bowl spots.
But in this rivalry, the Cougars may
not enjoy being favored. Washington
State — favored by eight points Monday
— has been favored six times in the 46
seasons since a line has been kept on the
game. The Cougars were favored was last
season and lost, 26-14, and have lost two
of the last four as favorites.
Apple sauce
At least one person was impressed by
Washington’s 42-14 victory over Oregon
on Saturday: Washington State head
coach Mike Price.
“I thought they really looked good, and
Turn to Pac-10, page 6