Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, October 14, 2005, SECTION B, Page 13B, Image 24

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    IN BRIEF
Marice Drew appers as
Heisman contender
In a town where the names
Leinart and Bush have dominated
Heisman TYophy speculation, along
comes Maurice Drew.
The fleet-footed tailback raised his
profile considerably in the No. 12
Bruins’ 47-40 victory over California
last weekend in Los Angeles. He
scored on a long punt return, rushed
for three touchdowns and caught a
pass for the go-ahead TD in the
closing moments.
“He’s just one of those guys that
when the ball is in his hands, he
makes plays. His team believes in
him, and he believes in his team
mates,” UCLA head coach Karl Dor
rell said. “He just wants to perform
for them. He has incredible ability.”
Drew leads the nation in punt re
turn average at 33.8 yards, and has
returned three punts for scores.
He ranks eighth nationally for all
purpose yards with an average of
172.4, and he’s in a three-way tie for
first in scoring with an average of
14.4 points a game (with Louisville’s
Michael Bush and Northwestern’s
Tyrell Sutton).
Drew’s five touchdowns against
Cal matched his own career-high:
He had five against Washington
last year.
“In open space, with people
spread out, the guy is very, very diffi
cult to tackle,” Cal head coach Jeff
Tedford said. “He was very impres
sive, no question about it.”
With the loss, Cal dropped eight
spots in the AP poll to No. 18. UCLA
jumped eight places to its highest
ranking since the Bruins reached No.
9 in 2001.
Drew has grabbed attention and
respect in a conference (and a city)
dominated by No. 1-ranked Southern
California and its high-profile stars,
Matt Leinart, the reigning Heisman
winner, and teammate Reggie Bush.
Dorrell said he was impressed
with Drew the first time he saw him
back in high school.
“He’s been doing those things for
a while — that’s just God-given
talent,” Dorrell said.
Both the Bruins and the Trojans
are 5-0 overall. Up next for UCLA is
Washington State, where the
Cougars are coming off a loss to
Stanford.
Southern California plays at No. 9
Notre Dame.
Senior moment
Stanford coach Walt Harris sat
down with his seniors last week and
told them it was time to play up to
their grade level.
The result? The Cardinal
beat Washington State 24-21 in Pull
man. It was the Cougars’ second
straight loss.
“I did talk to the seniors so they
would understand how important
they were to the team and to me,”
Harris said.
The victory rescued a Stanford
team that had been horribly embar
rassed from a loss to Division I-AA
UC Davis earlier in the season. Be
fore their team got beat, Cougars
fans chanted “UC Davis, UC Davis”
for the Stanford players.
“It’s been a hard road. We’ve
played — not very good, quite hon
estly,” Harris said. “And been very
disappointed in ourselves.”
Harris took over at Stanford this
year for Buddy Teevens, who was
fired after three losing seasons.
Harris led Pittsburgh to a bowl
game in each of the last five sea
sons, including a berth in the Fiesta
Bowl last year.
With the victory over the
Cougars, Stanford moves to 2-2
overall. Interestingly, their two wins
have come on the road, with two
losses on The Farm.
“It’s the best we have played in
any game, (or) scrimmage since
we’ve been here,” Harris said.
“They did an excellent job.”
Washington State coach Bill Doba
said about Stanford: “Doggone, they
finally got it put together.”
The Stanford Cardinal visits Ari
zona (1-4) in Thcson on Saturday.
Chasing the championship
It’s known as the Northwest
Championship, a mythical honor
going to the Pacific-10 Conference
team in the Northwest corner of the
country that can defeat each of
its neighbors.
Last year Oregon State claimed
the fictitious honor created by for
mer Washington coach Rick
Neuheisel a few years back to in
spire the Huskies.
The Beavers had not defeated all
three conference rivals — Oregon,
Washington and Washington State
—- since 1973.
As No. 20 Oregon (5-1) prepares to
host Washington (1-4) this weekend,
there was a lot of chatter about how
the competition between all four of
the Northwest teams has grown
throughout the years.
“There are a lot of fans who’d like
me to say Washington is a bigger ri
valry than Oregon State,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “All
three of our Pac-10 Northwest neigh
bors are huge rivalries.”
Washington and Oregon are each
playing the first game of the season
against a Northwest rival. Oregon
State knocked Washington State out
of the race with a 44-33 victory
on Oct. 1, in the first game between
the four teams.
“There is a certain segment of our
fans who believe that this (Satur
day’s game) is the most important ri
valry that we have There is another
group that believe Washington State
is the most important rivalry that we
have. So, I have kind of split myself
accordingly. This week, this is the
most important rivalry that we
have,” Washington head coach
Tyrone Willingham said.
The Associated Press
Pac-10: Well-matched Stanford, Arizona meet
Continued from page 11B
coaches when the Cardinal and
Wildcats met last in 2002. Now
Stanford has Walt Harris and
Arizona has Mike Stoops in the
head positions.
The winner of this weekend’s
game will be determined by who
wants it more. These teams are
evenly matched, regardless of what
the record says. Arizona had the
misfortune of taking on Cal and
USC back-to-back early in the sea
son, giving them a losing record
right away.
Stanford surprised just about
everyone when they defeated Wash
ington State last weekend 24-21.
This marks the first Pac-10 victory
for the Cardinal in nearly a year.
The remaining games left on the
Cardinal schedule include No. 1
USC, No. 12 UCLA, No. 18 Cal and
No. 9 Notre Dame.
“Arizona has good personnel on
defense,” Harris said. “They make
you drive it; they don’t give up
hardly any big plays. Even as explo
sive of a team that USC is, they
made them drive it (in last week
end’s game). They did a really good
job keeping it to 28-21 into the
fourth quarter. They look like a very
talented football team with a lot of
athletes. Their quarterback (Richard
Kovalcheck) has some good size
with experience under his belt. De
fensively, they are very impressive
with their speed at safety and up
front. They also have an outstand
ing punter (Danny Baugher) that’s
leading the nation in punting.”
In a battle of unranked teams, running back Anthony Kimble and Stanford travel to
Arizona Saturday. Arizona is the worst in the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring offense
(20.0 points per game), while Stanford is ninth in scoring defense (30.8).
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