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Oregon defensive lineman Devan Long (92) combines with teammate Anthony Trucks to sack Washington quarterback Isaiah Stanback
last Saturday. Long has 4.5 sacks on the season, including 2.5 against the Huskies.
Ducks strive to
improve special
earns against'Ca
On paper the Wildcats are
inferior, hut Oregon
is prepared for a fight
BY SHAWN MILLER '
SPORTS EDITOR
Picture this: Your team has won
six straight games and 10 of the last
11 against its next opponent. The
game isn’t going to be televised live
and the opponent hasn’t held a Di
vision I foe to less than 20 points.
Better than that, they haven’t scored
more than 24 against a Division I
team this season. So what do you
focus on to get your team fired up?
“We just need to make sure that
we are not only going to match, but
we are going to exceed the intensity
and the physical aspect of the game
on the field,” Oregon head coach
Mike Bellotti said. “One of my roles
is direction, focus, philosphy, moti
vation and emotional support.”
Without looking at the stats on
paper, Oregon (6-1 overall, 3-1 con
ference) isn’t going to overlook Ari
zona (1-5, 0-3). Forget about the
past, forget about the current
records. The most important thing
is to continue a three-game winning
streak and correct the miscues.
One of those areas of minimal
success and mostly trouble has
been the special teams units.
“I think we started off so poorly
in some areas that we are still dig
ging ourselves out of a hole,” Bellot
ti said. “At this point, I am not
pleased enough with special teams
to say that it has been a positive or a
negative. We need to make sure that
we improve in that area.
“To complete this stretch run in
the way we want, we have to have
our special teams step up, to im
prove, to become more consistent,
to become a huge, positive factor in
our opportunity to win.”
So far this season, the Ducks rank
last in the Pacific-10 Conference in
kickoff coverage (net average 37.1)
and touchbacks (seven).
Meanwhile, Arizona has been
struggling. Second-year head coach
Mike Stoops brings a firery attitude
that could motivate even the most
stubborn tree hugger to climb down.
It is Arizona’s defense that has
Arizona safety Darrell Brooks currently leads the Wildcats in total tackles (51). Brooks is 12
tackles away from breaking into the top 20 on Arizona’s career list.
kept the team in each game. With
the offense ranking last in Pac-10 in
turnover margin (-17), the defense
has had to play with a short field
and is averaging giving up 26.7
points per game, good enough for
fourth in the conference.
“They are basically a zone blitz
team,” Bellotti said. “They are a
very disciplined defensive football
team. The concept of zone blitz is to
bring four guys from a side and
drop somebody into coverage... and
still play basically a two deep, three
deep or four deep zone behind that.
But create an overload to one side
or the other. ”
With a bye week looming after a
trip to the Grand Canyon State, the
Ducks are focused on taking that
seventh win into the off-week.
“We just got to stay focused and
get better this week, have a good
week of practice,” Oregon line
backer Brent Haberly said during
the week. "... 7-1 going into the bye
week would be really huge. ”
The one category in which Ari
zona does lead the Pac-10 is punting
with a 42-yard average. That should
come in handy as Arizona ranks
ninth in total offense, while the
Ducks stand third in total defense.
The first Bowl Championship Se
ries poll was released on Monday
and had Oregon at No. 13. The
Ducks also rose to 15th in The As
sociated Press and 16th in the
Coaches’ polls. Despite the current
success, the players don’t want to
look ahead or predict a possible
bowl game.
“We are taking it one game at a
time and then we will see what hap
pens at the end of the season,” Ge
off Schwartz said. “It’s fun to look
at where we are. We don’t harp on
it at all.”
With Arizona one loss away from
securing a losing season, Bellotti
knows he and the Ducks will get the
Wildcats’ best shot.
“Arizona is right now at the
brink... they are 1-5 and obviously
another loss takes them out of that
picture (for a winning season) so
I expect their best football game,”
Bellotti said. “It’s a team very capa
ble of playing at a level to win in the
Pac-10.”
smiller@ daily emerald, com