Kicking the cliche
Siegel makes the best
of baggage that comes
with being a place kicker
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Jared Siegel has been accus
tomed to the jokes and pranks
that come with being a kicker.
But he isn’t afraid to get them back.
“One thing that teammates have to
recognize quickly is that I have far
more time than they do,” Siegel said.
“Both to plan and to execute.”
Nick Steitz learned the hard way.
Steitz had taken Siegel’s helmet and
covered it with so much athletic tape
that it wasn’t even recognizable.
Siegel planned his revenge.
“I didn’t want to be too blatant,”
Siegel said. “I would grab his helmet
and over inflate it so that the first two
minutes of practice, before he had a
chance to fix it, it would be annoying
and uncomfortable.
“I had a couple days of silent re
taliation and felt he had served
his penance.”
Siegel also told of a time “some
one” pranked punter Paul Martinez.
“I don’t know who is responsible for
it, but Paul Martinez ended up with
eye black on the inside of his helmet,
which is black (so he didn’t notice),”
Siegel said with a smile. “It’s like the
old kaleidoscope trick and the ring
around the eye.”
Martinez ended up with eye black
on his face and everyone had a laugh.
This contradicts the type of play
er Siegel is when he is on the field.
The Sacramento native is an intense
and highly competitive athlete. He is
an All-Pac-10 performer who holds
most of the kicking records at Ore
gon, including field goals, and is
also the all-time leading scorer in
Oregon football history.
“He’s a great leader and is always
the first one out at practice,” punter
David Dittman said. “He pushes
you and always wants to see the
max from you.”
Siegel also expects that from
himself.
Realizing his calling
In Siegel’s youth, he participated in
an assortment of sports, but when
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Off the field, Oregon kicker Jared Siegel graduated in three and a half years. He is working
on his MBA and is expected to finish in the fall of 2005.
high school came about Siegel had to
make some decisions.
“Eventually when you get older, you
start playing fewer sports, so I nar
rowed it down,” Siegel said.
Though he was playing football up
until high school, he had never tried
kicking.
“I kind of stumbled into it,” Siegel
said. “ A week before our first game
my freshman year my coach asked
who could kick. Playing soccer I al
ways had a strong leg so me and about
20 guys volunteered to kick. ”
The players went to try out after
practice, Siegel said, but he still wasn’t
sure exactly how to do it.
“I imitated what I had seen on tele
vision,” Siegel said. “I figured I should
probably take steps and look official.
Then I just cut it loose.”
Siegel made the kick and said every
thing just took off from there.
SIEGEL, page 5B
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Kicker Jared Siegel is the program's all-time
leading scorer with 309 points to date.
■ In my opinion
Cal's strength on both sides of the
ball may be too much for Ducks
Can Oregon beat Cal?
That has been the question burning
in my mind since they beat Washing
ton last Saturday.
Anybody in his or her right mind
has a yes or no answer to this ques
tion, but for me it’s different.
The two halves of my brain are duk
ing it out, trying to decide if Oregon
can actually pull this off or if it’s going
to get steamrolled by the Golden Bears.
One half (my objective, journalistic,
look-at-all-the-facts side) says no, Ore
gon can’t beat Cal. The two teams
aren’t in the same league.
Oregon has lost to Indiana, but it
was the first weekend of the season.
The Ducks also lost to Arizona State
at home 28-13. The same Arizona
State team was embarrassed by Cal 27
0 last week.
Cal has been dominant and, as
everybody knows, it was one play
away from beating top-ranked South
ern California. If this game was played
in Berkeley, Calif., it might have had a
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
different result.
Cal is fifth in the country in scoring
offense (39.0 points per game).
It is fourth in scoring defense (12.3
points per game). It leads the Pacific
10 Conference in both categories.
That doesn’t bode well for Oregon.
Cal is beating teams by 28 points per
game. The team hasn’t allowed a point
in its last two games.
Oregon’s offense has the potential to
be great, but it hasn’t been consistent.
Individually, Cal also stands out.
The Golden Bears have the fourth
best rusher in the nation, running back
J.J. Arrington (158.0 yards per game).
Cal also has the sixth-most efficient
passer in the nation in former Oregon
ian (went to school in Beaverton for a
few years) Aaron Rodgers (167.8).
To put it in layman’s terms, this
team is crushing the competition and
doesn’t seem to have a weakness.
Cal’s lowest rank in the major statis
tical categories in the Pac-10 is its —
and no I’m not kidding — pass offense
at No. 5 in the conference.
Oregon’s defense has been playing
well, but playing well against die bot
tom feeders of the conference. The
Ducks haven’t faced a running back of
Arrington’s caliber since Oklahoma’s
freshman sensation Adrian Peterson
flattened them for 183 yards.
Not to mention that Rodgers is com
pleting over 70 percent of his passes
and is averaging almost nine yards per
attempt, both first in the conference.
I know that Oregon’s defense ranks
in the upper half of the conference in
JONES, page 5B
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