Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, November 15, 2004
“It’s the Civil War. Right now,
it is win or go home. ”
Oregon Quarterback Kellen Clemens on Saturday’s game against Oregon State
■ In my opinion
JON ROETMAN
ROUGHING THE PASSER
Ducks' lack
of hunger
in defeat
inexplicable
Oregon had plenty of reasons to be fired
up for Saturday’s contest against UCLA.
It was a chance for the Ducks to secure
their 11th consecutive winning season.
It was an opportunity to assure the team
an eighth-straight bowl appearance.
And for Oregon seniors, it was the last
chance to suit up for a game at Autzen Stadium.
With all the motivation Oregon had to
shine on a cloudy Saturday in Eugene,
UCLA came out as the hungrier team and
downed the Ducks 34-26.
UCLA ran the ball early and often, and
dominated an Oregon defense that sat back
on its heels from the opening kickoff.
The Bruins were without the services of
starting tailback Maurice Drew, who sat out
with an ankle injury. It didn’t matter. Third
string running back Chris Markey rushed 23
times for 131 yards, and second-stringer
Manuel White added 82 yards and two
touchdowns on 21 carries.
The Bruin offensive line blocked with atti
tude. The Ducks couldn’t tackle. UCLA
made plays. Oregon played hesitant.
“This game was all about who was the
hungriest,” Oregon safety Justin Phinisee
said. “It seemed like UCLA came out hungri
er than we did. We got hungry toward the
end, but it was too late.”
With Drew out of the game, Oregon de
fenders said they expected a heavy dose of
the Bruin passing game. What they got was
a steady diet of blue-and-gold ball carriers
running between the tackles.
“They just kept running the ball and kept
with it,” defensive tackle Robby Valenzuela
said. “We were preparing for more pass.
They just came out running it all the time,
and it surprised us.”
Adjustments can be made, and the ele
ment of surprise can be neutralized. After
UCLA rushed for 141 yards in the first half,
Oregon should have figured the Bruins were
going to stay with the run. While UCLA did
n’t match its halftime total in the second
half, the Bruins still managed to grind out 86
more yards and control the clock.
Throughout the game, Bruin running
backs could be seen running full speed five
yards downfield before being touched. And
when Oregon defenders managed to track
down a ball carrier, it appeared UCLA backs
were covered in a thick coating of Vaseline.
Sloppy tackling led to an abundance of ex
tra yardage for the Bruins, who took advan
tage of every given opportunity.
“We had chances and a lot of missed tack
les,” defensive end Chris Solomona said.
“That probably gave them more confidence
in their running game. They just kept pound
ing it and pounding it and pounding it.”
With only one regular season game re
maining, it would be hard to attribute
missed tackles to a lack of practice and fun
damental ability. Phinisee credited them to
a lack of desire.
“When it comes down to it, it’s that
hunger factor,” he said. “If you want it bad
enough, (a ball carrier) isn’t going to slip out
ROETMAN, page 10
■ Duck football
Not - so -
CivtfWar
a-Bruin
Erik R. BlSHOFF I PHOTOGRAPHER
UCLA’s third-string running back Chris Markey ran for 131 yards in the Bruins’ victory over the Ducks at Autzen
Stadium. The freshman also led his team in receiving with five receptions for 84 yards.
Saturday's 34-26 loss to UCLA
leaves the Ducks in a must-win
situation heading into Corvallis
for the 108 th Civil War game
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Oregon’s hopes of a winning season and a
bowl game will now be determined at the Civil
War. The Ducks couldn’t slow down UCLA’s
rushing attack and lost to the Bruins 34-26 Sat
urday at Autzen Stadium.
The Bruins (6-4 overall, 4-3 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) pounded the ball on the ground against
the Ducks (5-5,4-3), accumulating 227 rushing
yards on 56 carries without starting tailback
Maurice Drew.
UCLA’s rushing attack was led by third-string
tailback Chris Markey. The freshman from Lul
ing, La., ran the ball for 131 yards and led the
Bruins in receiving with five catches for 84
yards.
“We knew they would run the ball and that
they have a good offensive line, which is
healthy for the first time in a couple weeks,”
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We
knew Maurice Drew is a great running back,
but also knew they had two great running
backs behind him.”
The Ducks had a final shot at the end of the
game after UCLA’s Justin Medlock kicked his
second field goal from at least 50 yards away to
give the Bruins a 34-26 lead.
FOOTBALL, page 9
■ Men's basketball
Brooks helps Ducks slip
by Western Oregon 66-58
Despite being outrebounded,
Oregon held on with the help of
the sophomore guard's 21 points
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
The youthful Oregon men’s basketball team
received a lesson in staying focused Sunday.
The Ducks squeaked past a feisty Western
Oregon team 66-58 during their final exhibition
game at McArthur Court.
The Wolves — a Division II team — grabbed
a 58-57 lead on a rebound basket by Ryan Fiegi
with 3 minutes and 45 seconds remaining. Ore
gon answered with a 9-0 run to close the game,
including seven consecutive points from point
guard Aaron Brooks.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent attributed the
closeness of the game to the Ducks’ inability to
remain focused from possession to possession.
He added, however, that Oregon will benefit
from having played in a close game.
“It was a great game for us to play,” Kent
said. “It was a tight ball game. We had not
drilled a lot on late-game situations. Obviously,
we better do quite a bit of that because that’s
what this team (will look like) through the
course of a year, as opposed to blowing people
out by 20 or 30 points.
“This team is really going to have to grind
out wins.”
Western Oregon slowed the tempo of the
game to a grinding pace with a ball-control style
of offense. The Wolves let the shot clock tick
under 10 seconds during the majority of their
possessions in order to hinder Oregon’s up-tem
po style of play.
Western Oregon took the lead for the first
time at the 3:46 mark of the first half when a
three-pointer from Fiegi put the Wolves up 25
22. Brooks answered seconds later with a three
pointer from the left wing to tie it.
Forward Evan Kieling put Western Oregon
back on top 27-25 during its following posses
sion with a jump shot from the left corner, but
Brooks answered once again by sprinting back
to the left wing and drilling another three-point
er to give Oregon a 28-27 lead.
The teams ended the first half in a 32-32 tie.
“We came out kind of flat on offense,” said
Brooks, who finished with a game-high 21
points in 35 minutes. “They took the air out of
the ball, ran a lot of half-court sets and we did
n’t get a lot of transition buckets. (The game)
was definitely more challenging than we would
have liked.”
Despite not having a player listed taller than
6-foot--7, Western Oregon battled inside and
outrebounded the Ducks 29-26. The Ducks
were limited to 18 points in the paint and were
hounded by a pack of scrappy Wolves every
time they touched the ball.
Freshman guard Malik Hairston finished
with 15 points and five rebounds, while junior
forward Ian Crosswhite added 11 points and
grabbed six boards.
Junior point guard Kevin Tyner led the
Wolves with 18 points, connecting on 5 of 10
field goals.
“Our coaches always talk about playing with
poise,” Tyner said. “We just wanted to compete.
We had fun.”
jonroetman@dailyemerald.com
Tim Bobosky j Photographer
Oregon’s Aaron Brooks led the team with 21 points and
five assists in the Ducks’ close 66-58 victory over
Division II Western Oregon on Sunday at Mac Court.