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Sports Editor: Hank Hager hankhager@dailyemerald.com Tuesday, October 14, 2003 Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Best bet MLB playoffs: Florida at Chicago Cubs 5 p.m., FOX Adam Amato Photo Editor Cody Pickett and the Huskies have dropped two straight after Nevada upset Washington, 28-17, on Saturday in Seattle. Nevada leaves Huskies, Pickett beaten, battered A 28-17 loss to Nevada puts the Huskies in a dire situation entering a game against Oregon State By Hank Hager Sports Editor The signs were apparent that the ship was sinking, but they were only realized on Saturday. Washington lost to Nevada, 28-17, in the Wolf Pack's first win over a Pacific-10 Conference team since it began Division 1 play in 1992. The Huskies, meanwhile, lost for the second straight week and are looking like the shell of a team that was expected to compete for the Pac-10 crown before the season began. The 1 luskies aren't offering any excuses, although head coach Keith Gilbertson has said injuries have plagued the team in re cent weeks. "I'm not sure who to throw in there to compete because we've lost a lot of front-line guys (to injury and attrition), and it shows," Gilbertson told the Seattle Times. "We're one-deep on the offen sive line, we're playing our second and third tight end and fresh men at receiver." Washington quarterback Cody Pickett had an especially hard time coming through with his usual heroics in the loss. He com pleted 19 passes in 37 attempts for 337 yards, but he was sacked eight times and threw three interceptions. In Washington's last two games — a 46-16 loss to UCLA and the upset by Nevada — Pickett has turned the ball over a com bined seven times. Nevada "covered our guys pretty well," Pickett said of the recent loss. "A couple of those sacks were coverage sacks — I need to figure out a way to get the ball out of my hand. They played well today." The Huskies visit Oregon State on Saturday. The Beavers are perhaps the conference's hottest team and pose problems to the Washington defense. Oregon State running back Steven Jackson ranks second in the nation in running at 146 yards per game. The Huskies allow opponents an average of 118 yards per game on the ground. They were 2-0, but not anymore Much like Washington, Stanford has taken a turn for the worse in recent games. The Cardinals started the season 2-0, looking like they could be a surprise team in the Pac-10. But Stanford was dominated in a 44-21 loss to USC on Saturday, and in the team's previous game — on Sept. 27 — they lost 28-17 to Washington. The Cardinals have redshirt freshman Trent Edwards starting for them under center, and while he has been somewhat effective, the Trojans showed him what defenses can do to young quarterbacks. He was 8 of 19 against the Trojans, passing for 67 yards. He was pulled by head coach Buddy Teevens in the third quarter in favor of senior Chris Lewis. "1 put Chris in to give him an opportunity to get on the field Turn to PAC-10, page 8 Redshirt sophomore Nicole Garbin scored Oregon’s final goal of regulation against Oregon State on Friday to send the game to overtime. Mark McCambridge Photographer Momentum key for Oregon After defeating Oregon State this weekend, Oregon is one win away from tying its best overall record of 2001 By Jesse Thomas Sports Reporter Oregon's soccer victory over Ore gon State on Friday was more than just another win. it was the first overtime victory by either team in the history of the Civil War, and Oregon's first overtime vic tory since the Ducks defeated Arizona State on Oct. 20, 2001. "At the time it meant a lot," for ward Mele French said. "After I scored, we acted like we just won a championship game." French, of course, scored the game-winning goal against the Beavers. Oregon hadn't won its Pacific-10 Conference ___ opener since . ^ the 1998 sea son. Now, with its seventh win, Oregon is just one win away from tying its all-time record of eight wins in a season, which was achieved in 2001. "It is exciting, and I just can't wait to see how it's going to turn out," French said of the team's eight re SOCCER maining games. "I don't want to jump ahead of myself and get too cocky about it because we have so many more games. But it's exciting; I bel ieve we can do it. * As a new season begins, the Ducks are trying to remain focused and keep the momentum in what could be the team's best season in program history. "It was definitely a good way to start the Pac-10 schedule," redshirt sophomore Nicole Garbin said. "We're concentrated on getting the re sults in the games we should win, and battle it out in the other games when maybe we're not favored. We Turn to SOCCER, page 8 PaolO needs defense before title Where did the defense go over the week end in the Pacific-10 Conference? Oregon gave up 59 points to Arizona State, Stanford let LISC put 44 on the board and Washington was upset by Neva da and its 28 points. Oh, wait. Guess 1 forgot what confer ence 1 was talking about. The Pac-10 doesn't have any defense. And that's exactly why there won't be a Pac-10 team in the national championship game this year. Yeah, you heard it here. There will be no Pac-10 team playing in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl. The Pac-10 will be shut out of the BCS title game again. Really, that's not a far-out prediction, or anything that most everyone else hasn't predicted, anyway. The Pac-10 is a shallow and fickle con ference. It can't decide whether or not it wants to compete with anyone outside of its conference. If Pac-10 teams played only within the conference, then, well, we might be talking in a different manner. But until then, the conference's teams are going to have to settle for second fid dle to the Big Ten, the Big 12, and the Southeastern Conference. OK, USC is ranked fifth in the nation Hank Hager Behind the dish and Washington State sixth. But if you honestly think that either team can go the rest of the season unscathed then you haven't been watching any games. Besides, the nature of the conference suggests that one team will have to knock off another. The Cougars and Trojans meet on Nov. 1 in Pullman in the Pac- 10's game of the season. Meanwhile, 22nd-ranked Oregon State has to travel to Washington State a week before that. The Beavers also get to end the season by traveling to Los Angeles on Dec. 6 to play the Trojans. That's a tough schedule, and one that will most likely dash the hopes of any Pac 10 fan wanting to go to New Orleans. But maybe — just maybe — if any Pac 10 team learned how to play defense on a consistent basis, then national title hopes could be in the picture. USC looked as though it may have had a defense that could stop any team, but California proved otherwise. The Golden Bears put 34 points on the board in their defeat of the Trojans On Sept. 27. Washington State may be the team next in line with a defense that has any kind of talent, but it's a more inexperienced team. Besides, the Cougars allowed lowly Notre Dame 29 points in the team's only loss this season. It is those kinds of one-game lapses keeping Pac-10 defenses from achieving any kind of success, mainly because of the Pac-10's offense-first mentality that keeps > the defenses at bay. The Pac-10 is well known for its offen sive prowess, and in order for teams to keep on the up and up with other confer ence programs, recruiting efforts are spent on the next great quarterback, or the wide receivers that stand 6-foot-2 inches or taller. j Then, cornerbacks shrink to under six feet, and defensive coordinators are left to scramble to find schemes that they hope will stop the likes of Cody Pickett, Andrew Turn to HAGER, page 8
