Sports
Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, November 8, 2004
“I just dropped it. I beat the DB really bad, so 1
was thinking about going to the end zone with
my first touchdown in a big game. ”
Keith Allen | Oregon wide receiver on his drop late in Saturday’s game against Cal
■ Duck football
Oregon drops chance to upset No. 4 Cal
Clemens'final pass to wide receiver Keith Allen goes
incomplete, leaving the Ducks with a 28-27 loss
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR STORTS REPORTER
BERKELEY, Calif. — Oregon had a
chance to upset No. 4 California Satur
day at Memorial Stadium but let the
opportunity slip through its fingers.
Literally.
With the Golden Bears leading 28
27, the Ducks faced a fourth and 11 on
the Cal 41-yard line with less than two
minutes remaining. Oregon quarter
back Kellen Clemens fired a strike to
wide receiver Keith Allen — who was
standing wide open on the Cal 2 3-yard
line — but the ball bounced off the se
nior’s hands near the Oregon sideline,
ending any hope of a Duck victory.
The one-point win propelled Cal (7-1
overall, 5-1 Pacific-10 Conference) into
sole possession of second place in the
Pac-10, while Oregon (5-4,4-2) was left
wondering what might have been.
“There are no moral victories,” Ore
gon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “It
doesn’t get us to where we want to go.”
Allen, who did not have a reception
Saturday, said he started turning his
head to look upheld before securing the
football on Oregon’s final offensive play.
“I just dropped it,” Allen said. “I
beat the DB really bad, so I was think
ing about going to the end zone with
my first touchdown in a big game. ”
Allen’s miscue was one of several by
a depleted Oregon receiving corps late
in the second half. With wide receiver
Demetrius Williams and tight end Tim
Day slowed by injury, the Ducks were
forced to rely on true freshman
Cameron Colvin, sophomore Kyle
Weatherspoon and Allen as primary
downfield weapons for the second
half. Colvin dropped a pair of passes
during the Ducks’ final drive, including
one that was nearly intercepted by Cal
comerback Harrison Smith.
The inability of Oregon receivers to
make plays spoiled an impressive day
by Clemens. The junior completed 19
of 33 passes for 218 yards and four
touchdowns and was doing everything
he could to lead the Ducks to victory
on their final drive.
“Kellen had an awesome day,”
Colvin said. “He’s a great quarterback.
We heed to help him. He’s out there
trying his hardest, so we have to help
him a lot because we’re his guys. He
needs to have confidence in his re
ceivers and all the guys he goes to.
“I think I let him down personally.”
Day caught five passes for 46 yards
and two touchdowns before leaving
the game with an ankle injury.
Williams, who has battled a turf toe in
jury for most of the season, stepped
onto the field for only one play and
dropped a pass.
After trailing 27-21 at the half, the
Golden Bears came out of the locker
room determined to run the football.
Senior JJ. Arrington’s 119 second-half
yards helped wear down the Oregon
defensive line and kept the Duck of
fense off the field. Cal limited Oregon to
only eight offensive plays in the third
quarter and held a 230-57 advantage in
total yards during the second half.
Arrington exploded for a 43-yard run
on the last play of the third quarter to set
up Cal’s go-ahead touchdown on a 19
yard pass from quarterback Aaron
Rodgers to wide receiver Geoff McArthur.
Arrington finished the game with 26
carries for 188 yards and a touchdown.
“I don’t expect us to kill everyone
we play,” Arrington said. “We knew
we’d have to be patient against these
guys. I hoped we could wear them
down if we were patient.”
Oregon came out strong early, taking
a 20-14 lead late in the first quarter on
a 16-yard touchdown pass from
Clemens to Day. It was Clemens’ third
touchdown pass of the quarter, and the
Ducks’ offense looked unstoppable.
Kicker Jared Siegel missed the ensuing
extra point, however, bouncing it off
the right upright.
Siegel’s miss — his second of the
season — proved costly as Oregon
went on to lose by a single point.
“Football is a game of inches,” Siegel
said. “If you ever had a do-over, I
would have used my college do-over
on that play. ”
Oregon’s first half was likely the best
it had played all season. The Ducks
held a nearly two to one advantage in
time of possession and were able to
run the ball at will against the vaunted
Golden Bear defense. Running back
Terrence Whitehead gained 77 yards in
11 first-half carries, despite feeling
weak and getting sick before kickoff.
The Ducks increased their lead to
27-14 with a little more than two min
utes remaining in the second quarter
when Clemens lobbed a pass to wide
receiver Marcus Maxwell in the back
left corner of the end zone for a 7-yard
touchdown. The pass culminated a 12
play, 73-yard drive that took six min
utes and 30 seconds off the clock.
Cal answered quickly, however,
moving 75 yards in six plays to cut Ore
gon’s lead to 27-21 before the half on a
21-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers
FOOTBALL, page 10
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens, seen earlier this season, threw four touchdown
passes in the Ducks' near-upset of fourth-ranked California in Berkeley on Saturday.
■ Men's basketball
Oregon overpowers Trinity
Western in exhibition game
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks (0) goes for a layin
during the Ducks’ first exhibition game against Trinity
Western Sunday at McArthur Court.
Freshman Malik Hairston awed the Mac Court
crowd Sunday with 30 points in Duck debut
BY ALEX TAM
FREELANCE SF>ORTS REPORTER
It didn’t take long for Malik
Hairston to make his impact felt
in his first game wearing an Ore
gon uniform.
Behind Hairston’s 30 points in
just 19 minutes of play, the
Ducks used a strong second-half
showing to defeat Trinity West
ern 106-79 in an exhibition game
Sunday in front of 8,918 at
McArthur Court.
Hairston missed just two shots
the entire game as he connected
on 10 of 12 field goals, including
3 of 4 from three-point range. In
the second half, Hairston scored
16 points in only eight minutes
of play.
After the game, the 17-year
old gave credit to his teammates
for getting him the ball in the
right places at the right time.
“The guys just found me
when I was open,” said Hairston,
who added nine rebounds and
three assists. “I mean, they tried
to make me look good, and I
want to return the favor in these
upcoming games. ”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
had nothing but praise for his
star freshman, who he said was
“completely at ease and com
posed” every minute he was on
the court.
“Let’s just remember he’s only
17 years old,” Kent said. “(He)
made all the right plays, all the
right decisions. What a treat to
have a player of that caliber. ”
However, Kent said that fans
should not expect Hairston to
wow the crowd with eye-pop
ping plays throughout the sea
son, as that is not the type of
player he is.
“I think people are waiting to
see Michael Jordan, with the
dunks and all that — that’s not
his game,” Kent said. “His game
is a complete, all-around game.
MEN'S, page 10
■ Women's basketball
Ducks overshadow
Western Oregon
in a 75-23 blowout
The womens basketball team shot more than
50 percent in Friday night's slaughter of the Wolves
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
The story of the women’s bas
ketball exhibition game is one of
David and Goliath — reversed.
The larger Oregon team prevailed
over Western Oregon’s undersized
squad 75-23 in front of 2,948 fans
Friday at McArthur Court.
The Ducks shot 32 of 63 (50.8
percent) from the field as they re
versed the food chain and devoured
the Wolves, a Division II team.
Junior Chelsea Wagner used the
first possession of the game to
drain a three-pointer for Oregon,
the same way she began last
week’s intra-squad scrimmage.
Wagner made two shots from long
distance in the first minute of the
contest. She finished the night
with nine points on 3 of 6 shoot
ing, all from beyond the arc.
“We took a lot of first-look shots
in the first half,” said Oregon
coach Bev Smith, whose team
made 5 of 21 from three-point
range. “We need to work on get
ting the ball inside.”
Oregon’s Andrea Bills did not
miss from the inside, nor from any
where else, but she agreed that the
Ducks needed to penetrate the
paint more often.
“Everybody was looking for
each other, but we need to be more
aggressive and just take it to the
hole,” senior center Bills said.
Bills finished 5 for 5 with a
game-high 12 points. She pulled
down seven rebounds but made
only 2 of 6 free throws.
“I felt pretty good, but I have to
get in the gym and shoot some
more free throws because that is
n’t where I wanted to be,” Bills
WOMEN'S, page 9