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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2004)
Oregon Daily Emerald Thesday, October 19, 2004 “I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi and wear Reebok. ” Shaquille O’Neal | Miami Heat center ■ Duck football Oregon’s Devan Long (92) and Robby Valenzuela (99) have a discussion with an official during their 28-14 victory over Arizona Saturday. Face time with the officials was frequent in Saturday’s game as the Ducks were penalized 11 times. ERIK R. BISHOFF Photographer Penalty accumulation sinking Ducks 'Stupid' penalties that cost Oregon several scoring opportunities top list of areas to improve before Saturday's game against the Cardinal BY CLAYTON JONES AND JON ROETMAN SPORTS EDITOR & SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER A certain issue is becoming a progressively bigger problem for the Oregon football team. The Ducks are being flagged at a dismal rate. Eleven penalties and 114 yards on Saturday didn’t keep the Ducks from losing to Arizona but did take them out of scoring drives. If it was a closer game, the penalties might have made the difference. “I think we had an opportunity to score a lot more points than we did, and that is unfor tunate,” Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens said of the penalties’ impact. “There is still plenty of work to be done.” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti’s patience is wearing thin with his players and with what he calls “stupid” penalties; those that happen before the snap, after the whistle, and penalties that don’t have to do with the play. Out of the 11 penalties against Arizona, eight could be classified in this realm. Oregon committed three false starts, a per sonal foul, an illegal block to the back (cost ing Justin Phinisee a touchdown), a kick catching interference penalty, a roughing the passer penalty and an unsportsmanlike con duct penalty for Anthony TYucks’ semi-truck honk request. The Ducks have the most penalties in Pacific-10 Conference, averaging 98.3 yards per game. The next most penalized team in the Pac-10 is Oregon State, averaging nearly 20 yards less per game at 79.5. On top of that, Oregon’s opponents are av eraging a mere 48.5 yards per game in penal ties. The Ducks are penalized almost half a football field more than their adversaries each game. Bellotti has already implemented his so called “tours of Autzen Stadium” punish ment, but he said some of the penalties are occurring because of pure selfishness. “You have to subjugate your ego for the team,” Bellotti said. Moving on up Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter continues to climb the Pac-10 career passing yardage list, moving into ninth place after throwing for 181 yards against top-ranked Southern California Saturday. PENALTIES, page 10 ■ In my opinion BRIAN SMITH LEFTY SPECIALIST The sports world has entered Fall Madness Somebody, please, I need TiVo. Desperately. It’s the only way I can keep up on all the sports going on right now. Baseball playoffs, NFL regular season and college football. It’s a good time to be a sports fan but also a bad time, because it’s hard to stay current on everything that is going on. There are so many things that 1 could write about that I can’t narrow it down to just one. Anyone watching the National League Championship series? Anyone? Anyone? 1 couldn’t very well write an entire col umn on the Blue-TUrf-BCS-Bustin” Broncos of Boise State. After all, as soon as I make a “smurf turf” reference, the column would (and should) end there. But seriously, the Broncos have no shot to ruin the computer rankings with a Bowl Championship Series average of .4309. Comparatively, the BCS number-one ranked USC has an average of .9912. Not happening, Boise State. I would write on the New England Patri- • ots’ amazing 20-game winning streak*, but I can’t because the streak is over two sea sons. Because Tiger Woods didn't win the Grand Slam of golf because his victories were over two seasons, the Patriots need that dreaded little asterisk until they go 16 0 in the regular season. Sorry, technicali ties. You understand. Daunte Culpepper and his pace for 5,651 yards and 58 touch downs? See below. So instead, I offer you a “blog” version of a column in the futile attempt to look like I understand all in the world of sports. I’m glad Oregon got rid of that Andy SMITH , page 10 ■ Club Sports Club hockey team sweeps Gonzaga out of the rink After capturing two wins at home against the Zags during the weekend, the Ducks gain confidence for their Pac-8 season opener this Friday BY KIRSTEN MCEWEN FREELANCE REPORTER Five players scored in the match, with all of the goals coming in the first and second peri ods. Forward Ted Martin scored Oregon’s fifth and final goal of the game with 3:16 to go in the second period. Oregon was held scoreless in the third period, but the Ducks held off a two-goal comeback by the Bulldogs and went on to win their first non-conference game of the season,5-4. “We definitely had some nerves the first game,” defender Whit Ackerman said. “No one knew what to expect, but we calmed down a bit in Saturday’s game.” In the second game of the series, forward Ryan Jones scored Oregon’s only two goals of the contest as the Ducks swept Gonzaga, winning 2-1. Oregon’s success during the weekend can be attributed to freshman goalie Matt Nuernberg’s play. Coordinator Justin Keeland said his team would have struggled if Nuernberg had not played as well in front of the net. “Our goaltender kept us in both games,” Kee land said. “He’s one of the best goaltenders we have had in a while.” The Ducks will compete in the American Col legiate Hockey Association’s Pac-8 League, which includes California, Stanford, UCLA, Southern California, Washington, Washington State and Western Washington. Last year, Oregon struggled during the regu lar season, winning only eight games and fin ishing with an 8-15 record. This season, the players predict a different outcome. “We are more serious, have a good group of guys and the talent level is much higher,” Ack erman said. “This year, people are coming out and playing to win. People aren’t just coming out to have a good time.” In addition to 14 new names on the roster, Oregon also welcomes a new coaching staff. According to forward Ben Winegar, head coach Scott McCallum has changed the tone of the program. “We practice twice as much and twice as hard,” Winegar said. “We do a lot more dry land training, and we make the most out of every practice. ” Ackerman said Oregon’s toughest competi tion will be Washington and defending Pac-8 champion Cal. USC will be another force in league play, but the Ducks do not face the TYo jans during regular season action. Although Oregon is content with its 2-0 non conference record, the Ducks know this week end was a mere warm-up for games to come. “If we thought this game was tough, all I have to say is wait until we start playing teams in the Pac-8,” Ackerman said. The Ducks will host their first Pac-8 season games when they take on Stanford at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Lane County Ice Are na. Stanford is the only team the Ducks swept ># last season. Kirsten McEwen is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald
