Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, October 11, 2004
“You only get a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity so many times. ”
Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor on starting a preseason game
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Reducing
penalities
could result
in roses
PULLMAN, WASH. — A lot of specula
tion goes into a win of this magnitude.
“Is this the one that will turn things
around?” or “Is the offense a cohesive unit
now that will consistently put the ball in
the end zone?”
While the 41 points and the 646 yards of
total offense might be impressive and the
way Oregon came together in the last quar
ter to score 27 points is a memorable feat,
one has to question the opportunities that
were missed.
I’m not trying to be a pessimist jerk be
cause this was one of the best football
games I’ve ever seen, and the way Oregon
competed and sacked up when it was
crunch time was brilliant.
But it never should have gotten to that.
The Ducks were penalized 13 times for
104 yards. That’s far from brilliant.
They lost three fumbles, but the Cougars
and quarterback Josh Swogger were gen
erous enough to throw the ball right back
to Oregon twice. Oregon could have been
dead in the water if Washington State had
capitalized on its mistakes.
Special teams issues reared their ugly
head as well when the Ducks gave up a
punt return for a touchdown. What makes
this worse is punter David Dittman punted
a ball over 60 yards, but had it called back
because of an illegal formation.
Nevertheless, this game should’ve been
a cakewalk for the Ducks.
Oregon hoarded the ball for almost two
thirds of the game, out-gained Washington
State 646 to 374 on offense, had 18 more
first downs and ran 40 more plays.
This should not have been a three-point
game.
An 11-play, three-minute and 40-second
drive in the second quarter was an exam
ple of their inability to execute.
Despite two previous penalties for Ore
gpn, they drove the ball down to the Wash
ington State 9-yard line. On first down,
Kellen Clemens found Dante Rosario for a
touchdown, but wait ... a questionable
penalty on Demetrius Williams for pass in
terference brought the ball back to the
Cougar 24-yard line. Two incomplete pass
es later it was third down and once again
the yellow hankie made an appearance for
a false start on Tim Day. Now it’s third and
goal on the 29-yard line and Clemens gets
sacked for a two yard loss making in fourth
and goal on the 31.
Kicker Jared Siegel misses a 49-yard field
goal attempt and the Ducks come away
with nada after making it to the Cougar 9
yard line. Not good.
While Washington State is no pushover,
especially at Martin Stadium, Oregon can’t
expect to continue to hurt themselves with
silly penalties that take them out of scor
ing position or give the opponent good
field position and win against quality op
ponents.
If the Cougar defense hadn’t turned into
JONES, page 8
■ Duck football
Geoff Thurner | Oregon Media Services
Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens produced 473 yards of offense against Washington State on Saturday in Pullman. It was the second-highest total in Duck history behind
Bill Musgrave’s 498-yard performance against BYU in 1989.
Clemens' stunning fourth lifts Ducks
Quarterback Kellen Clemens threw three touchdown passes and ran
for one in the final cjuarter, capping a career performance
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
PULLMAN, Wash. — One quarter of execu
tion erased an afternoon of frustration for the
Oregon football team.
The Ducks fought through a plethora of mis
takes to score 27 fourth-quarter points and
capture a stunning 41-38 victory against Wash
ington State on Saturday at Martin Stadium.
Oregon (2-3 overall, 1-1 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) overcame a 14-point deficit with just un
der 12 minutes remaining, scoring the go
ahead touchdown on a 13-yard run by
quarterback Kellen Clemens with 1:21 to go.
Washington State (3-2, 1-1) got one final pos
session, but wide receiver TYandon Harvey
dropped two passes from quarterback Josh
Swogger to stall the drive.
Clemens recorded the second-greatest offen
sive day in Oregon history, completing 36 of
55 passes for 437 yards and three touchdowns
and rushing for 36 yards and three more
scores. Clemens’ 473 yards of total offense
ranks behind only Bill Musgrave’s 498-yard
performance against BYU in 1989.
Oregon needed Clemens’ herculean effort to
make up for its sloppy play. Despite amassing
646 total yards, the Ducks trailed most of the
game, due mainly to 104 yards in penalties,
three turnovers and poor special teams play.
“I’m proud that we won the game,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I’m proud that
we came back and overcame our own mis
takes.”
The Ducks’ most precarious position came
late in the third quarter when Cougar wide re
ceiver Michael Bumpus returned a punt 52
yards for a touchdown, giving Washington
State a 27-14 lead. Oregon punter David
Dittman had pinned the Cougars deep in their
own territory with a booming 66-yard kick
seconds before, but the play was wiped out af
ter the Ducks were called for an illegal forma
tion. On the ensuing punt, Bumpus caught the
ball near the right sideline and broke several
tackles before racing into the end zone.
Oregon continued to battle, however, and
answered Washington State score-for-score
until late in the fourth quarter, when the
Ducks caught a huge break. After a 14-yard
touchdown pass to tight end Tim Day short
ened the Washington State lead to 38-34, the
Ducks recovered a fumble by Cougar defen
sive back Tyron Brackenridge on the ensuing
kickoff, giving them the ball at the Washing
ton State 23-yard line.
Oregon couldn’t cash in, however, as run
ning back Terrence Whitehead fumbled the
ball back to the Cougars on the next play.
Washington State was forced to punt four
plays later, though, giving Oregon one final
chance on its own 40-yard line with 3:13 re
maining. Clemens then led the Ducks on a
seven-play, 60-yard drive that ended on a
quarterback draw,
“(Washington State) brought some pressure
up the field, but not the direction where we
were running,” Clemens said. “The offensive
line opened up a hole, (fullback) Dante
(Rosario) made a great block on the one line
backer that was there. It was kind of scary
how open it was. I panicked at first. I took a
three-step drop and hit the hole that the offen
sive line had opened up. Dante was leading
FOOTBALL page 9
■ Women’s soccer
Ducks open Pac-10 play with two losses
Oregon went scoreless during its weekend in Los Angeles, losing its
first match at USC 2-0, followed by a 5-0 loss at UCLA
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon women’s soccer team’s two
match winning streak came to a halt during
the weekend.
The Ducks dropped their first two confer
ence matches of the year with 2-0 and 6-0
losses to Southern California and UCLA,
respectively.
Both matches were marked by Oregon’s in
ability to capitalize on its opportunities, while
watching its opponents capitalize on
advantages.
“We weren’t playing that bad,” Oregon
head coach Bill Steffen said. “We just shot
ourselves in the foot.”
UCLA's Billingsley nets hat trick
UCLA’s scoring outburst on Sunday began
in the 10th minute with a goal by senior Kim
Devine, who scored on a shot from deep in
the right corner of the field. The Bruins scored
again at the 26:37 mark when sophomore
Bristyn Davis was dragged down inside the
Oregon box. Senior Kendal Billingsley put in
her first goal of the day on the resulting penal
ty kick, giving the Bruins a 2-0 advantage.
The best opportunity for the Ducks to score
came in the 17th minute with senior defender
Christine Mintz taking a penalty kick. Howev
er, her shot hit the crossbar and bounced back
into play.
Billingsley scored her second goal of the
match in the 47th minute when she capital
ized on a loose ball in the Oregon box follow
ing a UCLA corner kick. Davis gave the Bru
ins a 5-0 lead on her second goal of the game,
a ball up the middle from junior Jill Oakes.
Billingsley completed the first hat trick of
her career at the 86:25 mark, the 16th time
that a Bruin has scored three goals in a game
during the 12-year history of the program.
For the match, the Bruins outshot the
Ducks 20-7.
“We’d get around them, or behind them,
and our shot would go wide,” Steffen said of
Oregon’s opportunities during the match.
“We’d do very good things, but we just need ,
to keep it going.”
Women of Troy capitalize
Oregon failed to secure its first-ever victory
SOCCER page 9