Oregon daily emerald., October 18, 2004, Image 7

Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, October 18, 2004
“Hawaii doesn’t win many
games in the United States.”
Lee Corso j Football analyst
■ In my opinion
JON ROETMAN
ROUGHING THE PASSER
Oregon's D
eliminates
early season
red zone ills
The Oregon defense had been there before.
Arizona had possession at the Ducks’ 3-yard
line on Saturday, poised to punch the ball into
the end zone. Despite facing a fourth-and-two,
six points seemed inevitable for the Wildcats,
who had little trouble traveling the previous 73
yards of the drive.
In weeks past, Oregon would have folded.
Duck opponents had made a habit of scoring
touchdowns after penetrating the red zone.
Saturday, however, was different.
Arizona quarterback Kris Heavner rolled to
his right and fired a pass intended for tight end
Clarence McRae.
Earlier in the season, Heavner’s pass would
have found a way into McRae’s mitts no
matter how many Oregon defenders were in
the way.
But Saturday was a new day, and this wasn’t
the same old Duck defense.
Middle linebacker Jerry Matson stepped in
front of Heavner’s pass, knocking it to the
Autzen Stadium FieldTUrf and preserving a 7-0
Oregon lead.
Matson’s play set the tone early for an Ore
gon defense that did not allow a point until sev
eral of the starters were pulled late in the fourth
quarter. Oregon’s 28-14 win has the Ducks at
.500 (3-3) for the first time this season and 2-1
in Pacific-10 Conference play.
“It’s good to be on the other side of the coin,”
Matson said. “We’ve had our fair share of bad
bounces, and hopefully we can get back on the
lucky side.”
Oregon’s red-zone defense was tested a second
time late in the first half, when Arizona had the
ball first-and-goal on the Ducks’ 5-yard line.
Heavner again rolled to his right and again had
his pass tipped by an Oregon defender. This time
it was outside linebacker Anthony Thicks who
tipped the pass into the air. A hustling Aaron Gip
son sprinted over from his comerback position to
snag the loose ball out of the air with his left
hand, halting the Wildcat drive at the 1-yard line.
A joking Gipson alluded to his days as a prep
receiver after the game when asked how he was
able to snag the interception.
“I was just showing off the one-hand grab,”
Gipson said. “Running to the ball was key.
If I wasn’t running to the ball and I
was just slacking, I wouldn’t have gotten
the interception.”
Another Oregon corner who played a major
role in shutting down the Arizona passing at
tack was true freshman Jackie Bates, who made
his first collegiate start on Saturday. The De La
Salle High School product intercepted a pass
and exuded confidence from the game’s open
ing kickoff.
“It was good experience,” Bates said. “I just
wanted to go out there and compete and show
everyone what I could do.”
Bates’ interception came in the fourth quar
ter on a deep pass from Arizona backup quar
terback Richard Kovalcheck near the Oregon
sideline.
“We wanted to bait the quarterback,” Bates
said. “I acted like I was guarding the inside re
ceiver, and then I dropped back and the next
thing I knew, the ball was in the air and I just
ROLTMAN page 9
Oregon's
Demetrius
Williams
catches a
55-yard pass
from Kellen
Clemens in the
Ducks' 28-14
victory over
Arizona. Williams
led the Ducks
with nine
receptions for
153 yards.
Erik R. Bismoff
Photographer
Ducks declaw 'Cats, improve to 3-3
With early offensive momentum and a strong defensive effort,
Oregon defeats Arizona 28-14, despite 114 yards in penalties
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Oregon’s fortunes may have been fore
shadowed during the initial drive of its 28
14 victory over Arizona on Saturday at
Autzen Stadium.
The Ducks drove the ball down the field
methodically and had it on the Arizona two
yard line when it appeared that Oregon
quarterback Kellen Clemens fumbled the
ball while trying to scramble toward the
end zone.
Fortunately for Oregon, the officials said
Clemens was down and Arizona head
coach Mike Stoops was on the field
showing his displeasure for the
call, resulting in an unsportsmanlike
conduct penalty.
“It was a fumble, and they missed it,”
Stoops said. “When things aren’t going
right, it seems like you don’t get those
calls.”
After the play, Clemens said he spoke with
the official.
“I shared my opinion with the ref that my
—iii » i—
knee was down,” Clemens said.
But when asked if his knee was down,
Clemens smiled and said, “Uh, I don’t know.”
Running back Terrence Whitehead leaped
into the end zone for the first of his three
touchdowns on the next play and gave the
Ducks a 7-0 lead.
That’s the type of game it would be for the
Wildcats.
Oregon would eventually build a 28-0
lead with the help of its stingy defense,
which held the worst offense in the Pacific
10 Conference to a mere 266 yards. Most of
those yards came in the final quarter when
Oregon had second and third-string players
in the game on defense.
“The defense played a bend-but-don’t
break defense in the first half,” Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said, “then was domi
nant in the second half except for those last
two drives.”
Oregon cornerback Aaron Gipson,
who picked off two passes in the game,
said he wanted to stay in to preserve
the shutout.
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Members of Arizona's coaching staff attempt to restrain head coach Mike Stoops from a referee after
a controversial fumble was ruled in favor of Oregon.
wuii nve iiimuies 10 go, coacn came up 10
us and said he wanted to put the backups in
and see how they played in a pressure situa
tion,” Gipson said. “1 wanted to be on the
field for the shutout. I started it off, and I
wanted to end it.”
Another massive force for the Ducks on de
fense was the 6-foot-5, 345-pound Haloti Nga
ta. He was blowing through Arizona linemen
and creating havoc while tallying eight total
tackles, three tackles for losses, two quarter
back hurries and half a sack.
“1 felt more active than I have all season,”
Ngata said. “With our defensive line being so
good, I was able to be single-blocked and make
some plays. ”
While the Oregon defense was stuffing Ari
zona, the offense kept its momentum from last
Saturday’s win against Washington State and
totaled 492 yards.
“Our offense as a group carried over the
confidence built in the fourth quarter of the
Washington State game,” Bellotti said.
Clemens appeared confident in the pocket for
the second consecutive week and completed 21
of 30 passes for 336 yards and one touchdown.
Clemens has now thrown a touchdown pass in
11 straight games.
“I thought Kellen was very sharp today,” Bel
lotti said. “His comfort zone in the pocket and
his touch on the ball was excellent. He gave the
guys a chance to catch the football.”
Clemens’ favorite target Saturday was
Demetrius Williams, who pulled in nine passes
for 153 yards.
“He’s getting one-on-one situations,”
Clemens said. “Demetrius will kill a guy one
one-one. I’m just throwing it out there, and he
gets them.”
As sharp as the offense was, it did sputter a
couple of times, turning the ball over twice on
broken fourth-down plays.
The first was a fumbled snap between
Clemens and center Enoka Lucas.
On the other fourth-down miscue, Clemens
was stepped on by his own offensive lineman
and stumbled back and fell for a 7-yard loss.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Bellotti
said. “Those things are hard to handle as a
coach when you take the risk of going for it
on fourth down and not even getting the
play off.”
Clemens said he is to blame for the second
miscue.
“I should have kept my feet if I was any sort
of an athlete,” Clemens said.
Oregon’s penalty woes didn’t disappear
after a week of practice concentrated on
FOOTBALL, page 8