Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, November 05, 2004, SECTION B, Page 9B, Image 16

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    ■ Pac-10
Huskies, Wildcats in battle of last-place teams
In other Pac-10 action, Stanford and Arizona State
look to get back on track after losing last week
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
FREELANCE SPORTS REPORTER
Pacific-10 Conference football has
reached the month of November and
the bowl picture continues to become
more and more clear as teams claw
and scratch for position in the confer
ence standings.
Arizona travels to soggy Seattle to
take on Washington in a game pitting
conference doormats against one an
other. Washington State heads south to
play UCLA at the Rose Bowl in Pasade
na, Calif., and Stanford takes on Ari
zona State in Tempe, Ariz.
Arizona
(0-5 Pac-10,1-7 overall)
at Washington (0-5,1-7)
The beleaguered Wildcats of Ari
zona are still in search of their first con
ference victory for new head coach
Mike Stoops as they battle Washing
ton. Last season, Arizona beat the
Huskies in Thscon, Ariz., to snap a
four-game winning streak that Wash
ington held over the Wildcats.
Washington head coach Keith
Gilbertson understands that his of
fense will have to play considerably
well to score on Arizona’s defense. For
Gilbertson, this will be the last time he
faces Arizona from the sideline — he
will step down as head coach of Wash
ington at the end of the season.
Gilbertson will aid Washington athletic
director Todd Tlirner in planning the
future of Husky football.
Last week, the Wildcats lost to Ore
gon State 28-14 and will need a win
this week to avoid matching the
school’s all-time longest losing streak
of eight games.
During last weekend’s game, jun
ior tailback Mike Bell climbed into
the top four in the conference in
rushing yards and is just 84 yards shy
of cracking the 2,000-yard career
mark. Freshman quarterback Richard
Kovalcheck has started the bst two
games for the Wilucats and will most
likely start this Saturday.
Washington is coming off of a 31-6
beating dealt by the hand of loathed
rival Oregon. Although the Huskies
did not put much on the scoreboard,
they moved the ball well and were
defensively sound toward the end of
the game.
Senior defensive tackle Manase
Hopoi leads the Pac-10 in sacks with
nine and makes up nearly half of the
Husky defense’s total of 19. Washing
ton’s defense continues to heat up and
will need to stay hot to contain the
meddlesome Arizona offense. Wash
ington linebackers Joe Lobendahn,
Evan Benjamin and Scott White all
rank second, fourth and fifth in the
conference in tackles, respectively.
Washington State (1-4,3-5)
at UCLA (3-2,5-3)
UCLA is riding momentum into this
game after dealing Stanford a shutout
in a 21-0 victory last weekend at the
Rose Bowl. The Bruins will face a simi
lar opponent this weekend in Wash
ington State who, like Stanford, is still
reeling in the wake of losing its starting
quarterback Josh Swogger.
Bruin head coach Karl Dorrell attrib
uted the spectacular play by his de
fense to many different factors.
“We were able to get some pressure
on the quarterback,” Dorrell said. “We
didn’t have to blitz as much and we
could stay in our coverages more. ” The
outing was a pleasant surprise for the
PAC-10, page 12B
■ In my opinion
How the Ducks could defeat
California in five easy steps
The outcome of Oregon’s battle
with No. 4 California on Saturday
will start to put the Ducks’ bowl pic
ture into perspective. While defeat
ing the Golden Bears in their own
house is a daunting task, here are
five reasons why Oregon has a
chance this weekend.
5. Confidence — If the Ducks fear
Cal, they sure did a nice job of hiding it
during practice this week. Four consec
utive wins have erased the bitter taste
of Oregon’s 1-3 start and the Ducks are
looking for more.
While there is a general respect
for Cal and its No. 4 ranking, Ore
gon believes it can beat the Golden
Bears. No Duck better exemplifies
JON ROETMAN
ROUGHING THE PASSER
this confidence than cornerback
Aaron Gipson and his urge to be
matched up against Cal’s All-Ameri
can wide receiver Geoff McArthur.
“I love the challenge,” Gipson said.
“I love when (secondary) coach
(John) Neal tells me to go cover their
best receiver so I can just go in and
lock 'em up. I don’t want to back
down from nobody.”
4. The Ducks are battle tested —
Playing a televised game against a
top-five team in its own house can be
intimidating to any squad. Oregon,
however; has the advantage of hav
ing already faced a similar situation
earlier this season against Oklahoma.
While the second-ranked Sooners
beat the Ducks 31-7, the final score
fails to indicate the fact Oregon was
able to hang with one of the best
teams in the country for three quar
ters. The Duck defense limited a
powerful Sooner attack to a mere 10
points during the first half before
wearing down late in the game.
ROETMAN, page 10B
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Quarterback Casey
Paus(15) and his
Washington
teammates have
weathered difficult
times this season.
The Huskies have
yet to record a
Pac-10 victory.
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