Sports Editor
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Friday, November 7,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
College football:
California at Oregon
7 p.m. Saturday, TBS
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Tedford
is central
to Bears'
outlook
The Pacific-10 Conference is a fickle
world for college football coaches.
Oregon's Mike Bellotti is the dean
of the conference, this being his ninth
season with the Ducks. After that,
only Arizona State's Dirk Koetter and
USC's Pete Carroll can attest to being
in their third season with their respec
tive programs.
In other words, the conference tends
to chew coaches up and spit them out
with regularity.
Yet it's a former Oregon coach that
may be making the biggest waves this
season. California head coach Jeff Ted
ford led the Golden Bears to a 7-5
record last season in his first season at
the helm in Berkeley.
Granted, he's led the team to a .500
record — 5-5 — so far this season, but
that's a remarkable feat considering the
Golden Bears haven't had back-to-back
winning seasons since 1990 and 1991
. That's when Bruce Snyder patrolled
the sidelines, and since then, California
has had Keith Gilbertson, Steve Mari
ucci and Tom Holmoe cycle through
the system.
Only Mariucci led the team to a
non-losing record, and that was a 6-6
year in 1996.
Tedford's teams have played with en
thusiasm, intensity and focus since he
arrived last season. His players have
Turn to HAGER, page 12A
Final two games to tell all for Oregon
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Redshirt junior Erin Engelhardt has given Oregon a spark on offense as of late, scoring her first
career goal with the Ducks against Stanford. UO’s tournament hopes rest on this weekend.
Oregon searches for its first-ever NCAA
tournament berth with two games at Pape Field
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
It has come down to the wire.
It's the final two regular season games for the Oregon women's
soccer team, and the final chance to prove it is worthy for a bid to
the NCAA tournament. It's seniors Lindsey Werdell and Mary Et
ter's final chances to play at Pape Field.
In Oregon's final homestand against l ISC and UCLA this week
end, the Ducks will wrap up what has perhaps been the best sea
son in the program's history with a 9-9 overall record and 3-4
ledger in conference.
DUOK
SOCCER
"It definitely means a lot, not only for
the tournament but also for Lindsey and
for the seniors," junior defender Christine
Mintz said. "(It's the) end of a year that has
basically been about turning the program
around and developing a new attitude on
the team."
Oregon's position isn't easy. The goal all year has been to ad
vance to the postseason for the first time in the program's history.
The Ducks are right on the cusp for a bid; two wins this weekend
would give them a solid chance, whereas one win would leave
them questionable.
USC (7-7-4, 3-3-1) and No. 2 UCLA (14-1-3, 6-0-1) will give
Oregon a hefty challenge to obtain its goal. But the Ducks are
used to defying the odds.
"For us to be in this position, it's challenging, but that's OK,"
Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. "We faced challenges all year
so we're OK with it. It's not easy to say we got to win two games
against two teams that are nationally ranked and tournament
teams year in and year out."
Oregon hosts USC on Friday at 7 p.m. and UCLA on Sunday
at 1 p.m. at Pape Field. Both teams have advanced to the NCAA
tournament for the past three years and both teams have defeated
nationally ranked squads this season.
The Ducks have nothing to lose when they face the Trojans,
since they have yet to defeat USC in seven tries. In last year's
Turn to SOCCER, page 12A
Quarterback finds success in first season at Cal
Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers is
the next in line for success under
head coach Jeff Tedford’s guidance
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
California head coach JeffTedford has taught a
few well-known quarterbacks in his coaching career.
Five top 20, first-round NFL draft picks have
come from Tedford's guidance, including the
No. 1 and No. 3 picks — David Carr of Fresno
State and Oregon's Joey Harrington — in the
2002 draft.
In his second season as head coach of the Gold
en Bears, Tedford may have a future top draft pick
in transfer sophomore Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers spent his first collegiate season at Butte
College in Chico, Calif., where he garnered Divi
sion I attention while leading his junior college to
a No. 2 national ranking.
"He certainly is a great find," Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said. "He's really the first guy
that Jeffs recruited in a long time. He picked a
good one."
The Chico native threw for 2,408 yards and 28
touchdowns in his sole season at Butte, where the
team went 10-1.
"I told my junior college coach that if l had a
Turn to CAL, page 10A
Ducks roll into first game with injuries, work to do
The Ducks start their 2003-04 season
with a young lineup due to injuries
to key players during practices
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
It's that time of year again for the Oregon men's
basketball team.
A time wrought with challenges from the op
posing team...
Oh wait, that's the regular season. On Sunday,
the Ducks will participate in their first exhibition
game of the season against the Basketball Travel
ers at McArthur Court. The
game starts at 6 p.m.
"I want to caution peo
ple that a lot of people are
- talking about basketball
season and we've got a
football season to complete yet," Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent said. "We've got to get ready yet
and we're not ready yet. We're going to open up
the season probably with a freshman point guard,
and a freshmen four-man out there on the floor.
But they don't play like freshmen. Understand
there's going to be some growing pains and there's
MEN'S
BASKETBALL
work to be done."
That freshman point guard is Seattle native
Aaron Brooks, one of the top recruits in the West
Coast this season. He has shown flashes of bril
liance in practice and will share time with sopho
more Brandon Lincoln early in the season.
"It's kind of the same thing we ran in high
school, Brooks said. It s just
a little faster and with more
talented people."
The rest of the starting five
for Sunday should include:
• Center Ian Crosswhite:
The Australian averaged 9.3
points per game with the
Ducks last season. In Ore
gon's scrimmage Wednesday,
he pounced on rebounds and
sank shots from inside.
"It's kind of the same
thing we ran in high
school. It's just a
little faster and with
more talented people."
Aaron Brooks
Freshman point guard
I challenged him to play
better," Kent said. "I thought he didn't show what
he was capable of in our first scrimmage that we
had. He stepped up and answered the bell. He did
a wonderful job today."
• Forward Mitch Platt: The freshman is expected
to see extended time against the Travelers, espe
cially with Matt Short still injured and Luke Jack
son questionable for the game. At the team's
scrimmage Wednesday, Platt posted 14 points in
20 minutes.
Platt said he doesn't think he'll be too nervous
in his first game at McArthur Court.
"I'm just anxious to see what the place is like
when it's loud," Platt said. "I don't think it's going
to be too much different as long as we stick with
the system."
• Guard Andre Joseph: The
senior was a key threat on the
outside for the Ducks last sea
son and has shown the same
hot hand this season in prac
tice. With James Davis possibly
favoring an ankle — he landed
on a teammate at the scrim
mage — Joseph could get a
nice amount of shots in Ore
, gon's run-and-gun offense.
The game will be a good in
dication of Joseph's offensive presence.
• Davis: The guard is a long-range threat, but
like a number of his teammates, he may see limit
ed — if any — action against the Basketball Travel
ers. After draining a three-pointer in the scrim
mage, he went down clutching his ankle.
Turn to MEN, page 10A
Adam Amato Photo Editor
James Davis may see limited action due to a
possible ankle injury he suffered this week.