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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2004)
■ In my opinion Ducks must find pride in Corvallis JON ROETMAN ROUGHING THE PASSER Hey Ducks, listen up! It’s time to play with some pride. As a team, you have underachieved this year. Most of you would admit to that. With all the talent this team has, there’s absolutely no way you should be 5-5. At this point, you should be no worse than 7-3. Heck, 8-2 doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Oh, well. The past is the past, and it can’t be changed. But you do have something to play for. You have one more chance to salvage your season. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Civil War week, and there’s a group of guys dressed in orange and black up north who want to rip your heads off. They pay homage to an oversized rodent and reside in a town that reeks of cattle. You’ll have to go into their house Saturday and believe me, they want you bad. You see, they too sport a 5 5 record. How they got to that mark, on the other hand, is impressive in and of itself. Those Beavers started the season 1-4, including a one-point video game-style overtime loss in their opener to then- No. 3 Louisiana State, when their freakin’ kicker missed three extra points. Those resurgent rodents managed to right the ship, though, and have won four of their last five. In fact, all five of their losses have come against nationally ranked teams. Now there’s only one thing stand ing between them and a bowl bid. You. That alone should fire you up. But if you’re not excited yet, let me point out some other incentives: A win Saturday means the Ducks go to their eighth consecutive bowl game and gives the seniors one more game in an Oregon uniform. A win breaks the streak of seven consecutive Civil Wars won by the home team. And a win gives Duck fans around the state of Oregon brag ging rights for another year. But you can’t just half-ass it in Reser Stadium and expect to win. You tried that half-ass deal last week against UCLA, and it didn’t work. You’re better than that. I know you’ve had to battle in juries all season. Not having Demetrius Williams and Tim Day at full strength, if at all, cripples a pass ing offense something fierce. But in most of your losses, you were one play away from winning. All you needed was one person to step up and make a play. It’s time for someone to step up and make that play. Which leads me back to my first point: Play with some pride. You’re an extremely talented group of ath letes. Go out and play like the nation ally ranked team that everyone be lieved you were before the season started, and you’ll be on your way to a bowl game. Sure, Oregon State has talented ath letes as well. The Beavers have one of the best passing attacks in the country. But one of their biggest allies is also one ROETMAN, page 10B Cougars and Huskies play for Apple Cup Washington, Washington State face final chance to play this weekend; both are ineligible for bowls BY scorn. ADAMS DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER The Washington schools of the Pacific-10 Conference square off against each other in the Apple Cup this Saturday in Pullman, Wash. Washington and Washington State are meeting for the 97th time in their heated rivalry, which dates back to 1900. For both schools, this is it — there will be no postseason, regardless of outcome, thus making this game the quintessential finale to two disappointing seasons. - Washington (1-9 overall, 0-7 Pac 10 Conference) has one final chance to salvage its season this weekend as it heads to Martin Stadium to play for pride and bragging rights. A win over Washington State (4-6, 2-5) just might crack a smile on the faces of Husky fans who may already be set ting their sights on next season. “Once both teams step on the field, they will go after each other and play hard with good competi tion,” Washington head coach Kei th Gilbertson said. The nuorues have taken home the Apple Cup the past six years, but as the indisputable underdog, they face an incredible challenge in adding a seventh straight win. In juries have crippled Washington, leaving inexperienced underclass men to take over starting positions on both offense and defense. For the Huskies to pull off an upset, they will need to have a tremendous outing from junior quarterback Casey Paus. Gilbertson said Paus had a decent game last week in Washington’s 42-12 loss to Cal. Sophomore tailback Kenny James will also need to perform well to establish a running game. James sits in ninth place in the con ference in rushing yards and has had solid games as of late. “He is going to have to make some big plays for us and hold on to the ball,” Gilbertson said. All week in practice, Washington State head coach Bill Doha focused on run defense and stopping James. The Husky defense has not al lowed a fourth-down conversion all season and has quietly become one of the best units in the Pac-10. The strength of the defense lies in line backers Joe Lobendahn, Evan Ben jamin and Scott White, who rank three, four and six in the conference in tackles, respectively. Washington State quarterback Alex Brink, from Sheldon High School in Eugene, probably never thought he would be starting in his first Apple Cup as a freshman, but he will be taking snaps this Saturday for the Cougars. Accompanying Brink will be 13 seniors playing in their fi nal games for Washington State. 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