Sports Editor
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
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Monday, October 27, 2003
Back in action: Oregon takes down Stanford
Terrence Whitehead rushed for a career-high
172 yards in the convincing win over the
Cardinal for Oregon’s fifth win of 2003
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
The Ducks flocked together with a group effort for a
35-0 win against Stanford on Saturday.
After three consecutive losses and a bye week, Oregon
(5-3 overall, 2-2 Pacific-10 Conference) shut out a Pac
10 opponent for the first time in head coach Mike Bel
lotti's tenure.
"Overall, that was a total team victory, and one we cer
tainly needed," Bellotti said. "We worked very hard the
past couple weeks and 1 think, despite several injuries,
that we played well."
DUCK
FOOTBALL
The Oregon offense made a
statement in the first drive with
five straight running plays by tail
back Terrence Whitehead.
_ "You want to be able to control
the line of scrimmage and make
sure you're getting rushing yards," quarterback Jason Fife
said. "It just opens up the offense and the passing game."
Whitehead himself made a statement in the game,
accounting for a career-high 172 rushing yards, includ
ing a nine-yard touchdown run and a 44-yard touch
down jaunt.
"I always expect to run that much and I'd like to run
even more," Whitehead said. "I'm looking to do whatev
er it takes to help get a W."
Oregon's rushing game — a 193-yard effort — over
shadowed the 265 yards that Kellen Clemens and Fife
combined to throw. The Ducks had 40 rushing attempts
compared to 27 pass attempts. All four of Oregon's of
fensive scores occurred on running plays. Three of those
came with the Ducks inside Stanford's 10-yard line.
"We had in our game plan that we were going to run
the football no matter what," fullback Dante Rosario
said. "We did just that and it worked well."
Running the ball opened passing lanes for the Ducks.
Turn to GAME, page 9
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Terrence Whitehead led the Ducks with 172 yards rushing against Stanford.
Oregon shuts out its first
Pac-10 opponent since
1992 in a dominating
defensive day at Autzen
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
It's a goal-line stand the Ducks
hope will carry them through their
final four games of the season.
It was a seven-play goal-line de
fensive series that kept the Cardinal
from scoring a single point, pro
pelling Oregon to its first Pacific-10
Conference shutout in 11 years.
It epitomized the Ducks' day
defensively. A day where Stanford
could do nothing right and Ore
gon looked like the team that
went to the Fiesta Bowl two sea
sons ago.
"The stand at the goal-line was
maybe one of the greatest things
I've ever seen," Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said.
With 11:27 to play in the fourth
quarter — and Oregon comfort
ably ahead 28-0 — safety Marley
Tucker and linebacker David Mar
tin got to Stanford quarterback
Chris Lewis for a 14-yard sack
that ended the most significant
set of defensive plays for the
Ducks this season.
With Stanford at the Oregon 1
yard line, running back J.R. Lemon
attempted a one-yard run. That did
n't work. In the next play — from
the 2 — he was stopped again.
The Ducks got to Lewis for a
Turn to SIDE, page 9
Whitehead becomes offensive key after biq day
Oregon running back Terrence Whitehead
ran for a career-high 172 yards against Stan
ford on Saturday, but perhaps his most im
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
pressive feat of the afternoon came with the
Ducks in control.
Oregon was up 21-0 in the early moments
of the third quarter when the sophomore
touched the ball for the third time of the sec
ond half.
He ran to the right side of the field but
quickly reversed to the left and found a seam
in the Stanford defense. He then went un
touched for a 44-yard touchdown that capped
an Oregon drive of just one play.
He ran 23 times against the Cardinal. That's
not a tough workload for the running back, but
shows that his 7.5 yards per cany was well spent
"Terrence ran well and the offensive line
blocked well all day, setting the tempo for
the game," Oregon quarterback Kellen
Clemens said.
Whitehead's performance against the Cardi
nal signified his emergence as the running
back the Ducks so desperately need.
When the Ducks are successful offensively,
the key is balance. Clemens and senior Jason
Fife can find any receiver when they have the
defense on its toes. But when the defense can
focus on one aspect of the Oregon offense —
as Washington State and Arizona State both
did earlier this season — Clemens and Fife be
come flustered and ineffective.
That's where Whitehead becomes a key cog.
He established himself on Saturday.
When Ontario Smith went down late in the
season, Whitehead stood up and became a ca
pable mnning back.
When Smith left after the season, doubts as
to Whitehead's ability became apparent. There
were worries he wouldn't be able to be a starter
so soon. After all, he sat out part of last season
for academic reasons, so he had yet to experi
ence Division I athletics on the full scale.
Saturday, all of that went out the window.
With Whitehead in tow against Stanford,
the Oregon offense thrived.
"Going into this week, we wanted to estab
lish the run," Whitehead said. 'To run this of
fense, we have to have a good mnning game"
The last four games of the season, however,
are where Whitehead will earn his stripes.
When the Ducks were on top of the world at
4-0, he was visible, and so were the other
Ducks' runners.
With Washington coming up and a danger
ous California team the week after that, he will
need to be the featured back who can divert the
offense's attention. He doesn't necessarily need
to produce the Oregon points, but he will need
to help Clemens and Fife lead the team into
the end zone.
His qualities as a gamebreaker showed
against the Cardinal, a team that had been
ranked fourth in the Pac-10 and 17th nation
ally in rushing defense entering the game.
Against the Huskies and Golden Bears he
will need to be that gamebreaker again. If he
can, watch out. The Ducks could be headed to
a higher bowl game than many think.
If he can't, it could be a long four games.
Bet on the former.
Contact the sports editor
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
Ducks take split with Stanford, California
Oregon suffers a 3-1 loss to
Stanford on Friday, but bounces
back to shut out California 2-0
on Sunday at Pape Field
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Oregon head coach Bill Steffen had a
reminder for his women's soccer team on
Saturday.
He told the team that they would win more
games than any other team in program history
DUCK
SOCCER
Sunday's 2-0 victory over Cal put the
Ducks one step closer to that goal. It was the
_ Ducks' eighth win of
the season, which ties
the best win total in
program history. The
Ducks finished 8-8-2
in 2001.
Oregon (8-8 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) did
what has worked all season by making the
first strike against the Golden Bears count.
The Ducks are 4-0 this season when they
have scored first.
With just 10 minutes expired, Oregon
was awarded an indirect kick. Forward
Nicole Garbin lined the shot to the left
side of the goal where forward Mele
French was waiting. French out-jumped
her defender and connected on the head
er from five yards out to give the Ducks a
1-0 lead.
"Every single game, I go into the game
thinking I want to score early so we can
kind of relax and control the game,"
French said.
French felt that it wasn't offense that
Turn to SOCCER, page 9
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Forward Cristan Higa (2) collides with Cal’s Alivia Mazura.