Sports
Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look
bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can
beat every time. ”
Hall of Fame member Lou Brock, who played 19 MLB seasons
■ In my opinion
SCOTT J. ADAMS
INTENTIONAL GROUNDING
A manifesto
to improve
football's
postseason
Following the 2001 college football season, I
told my peers what eveiy sports columnist is
telling the nation today: The Bowl Champi
onship Series must be read its last rites and ex
ecuted in favor of a playoff system.
I once favored determining the national
champion by holiday season bowl games for
the sake of tradition. But just as the nostalgia
of Major League Baseball has been ham
pered by steroids, the nostalgia of bowls has
been hampered by the BCS.
One month from now, off-campus water
ing holes nationwide will be full of college
students asking what should be done with
college football in light of their teams being
snubbed out of a BCS bowl. I want them to
cry “playoffs!” and demand change.
Playoffs would have the control of decid
ing a true national champion out of the
hands of computers and biased-by-nature
humans and put it into the hands of teams
controlling their destinies on the field. The
sport needs concrete evidence in the form of
a 32-team playoff tree.
I’m aware that adding a potential five
games to the season would be grueling for
the players on the field and in the classroom,
so let’s adjust schedules. First, eliminate
non-conference play. This will leave teams
who fail to reach the playoffs with a decent
amount of games to play. This will be done
in the name of progress, which football is in
dire need of. Eventually we’re going to run
out of bandages and gauze to patch up the
BCS formula after its offseason makeover.
Remember, the match-ups in the playoffs
will feature marquee teams hailing from dif
ferent conferences.
Next, we hand the 11 conference champi
ons in Division I a ticket to the playoffs. With
21 spots left, we send invites to the remaining
teams ranked in the Associated Press Poll
leaving us with seven spots to fill. This is
where things get sticky. We look at the seven
conferences with the most teams in the AP
Poll and the best records and ask their top
teams without an invite to the playoffs to step
forward and fill the bracket. This may leave
room for controversy, but it’s less than what
the sport has dealt with in recent years.
Here’s where we teach an old dog new
tricks. We pre-rank the playoff teams and
have them play at neutral sites that change
yearly. For instance, we could have the semi
finals featuring USC playing Alabama in the
Fiesta Bowl or Texas facing Virginia Tech at
the Rose Bowl. The present BCS coordina
tors can keep their jobs and determine ven
ues for each playoff round in the off-season.
So there’s my formula with its catchy,
original name — the October Manifesto. If
you criticize it, at least do college football a
favor and think of something better than the
ever-changing BCS, which amounts to the
postseason tail wagging the BCS dog.
sadams@ daily emerald, com
■ Duck football
Ducks aim to avenge last year's loss
Courtesy
California head coach Jeff Tedford has resurrected the Bears’ program in just more
than three seasons. Tedford spent four seasons as Oregon's offensive coordinator.
This Saturday marks the inaugural start under
center for sophomore signal-caller Dennis Dixon
BY LUKE ANDREWS
SPORTS REPORTER
This week, four years ago, Ore
gon head coach Mike Bellotti and
his offensive coordinator Jeff Ted
ford were preparing to take on Ari
zona State during Oregon’s historic
drive to the Fiesta Bowl in 2001.
Fast forward to the present:
Bellotti and Tedford, current
California Golden Bears coach,
cross paths again. This time,
they are preparing to face one
other in a critical Pacific-10
Conference game Saturday at
Autzen Stadium.
Tedford, who left Oregon in
2001 after his fourth season as of
f e n s i v e
coordina
tor, has
helped
resurrect
Cal into a
perennial
P a c - 1 0
power.
The Bears (6-2 overall, 3-2 confer
ence) are ranked 23rd and sit one
spot below Oregon in the confer
ence standings.
Tedford has amassed a 31-15
record since taking the reigns
in Berkeley.
“I have great respect for Jeff and
like him a lot,” Bellotti said. “I re
spect what he’s done there at Cal.”
Tedford is renowned as a
“Marshawn Lynch, we knew
coming into the season, is going
to be one of the most explosive
mnningbacks in the nation. ”
Mike Beluotti | Oregon head coach
quarterback guru. Six current or
former NFL quarterbacks studied
under his tutelage, including
former Ducks Akili Smith and
Joey Harrington.
Trent Dilfer and David Carr at
Fresno State and Kyle Boiler and
Aaron Rodgers at California are the
other Tedford products.
Yet Cal’s saving grace this sea
son has not come from the quar
terback position, but rather a one
two punch in the backfield with
sophomores Justin Forsett and
Marshawn Lynch.
“Marshawn Lynch, we knew
coming into the season, is going to
be one of the most explosive run
ning backs
in the na
tion,” Bel
lotti said.
“Little did
we know
they
would
have two
running backs like that.”
Twice this season, Forsett and
Lynch have both gotten more
than 100 rushing yards in the
same game.
“You have to make sure you
play really good, strong gap de
fense,” said Oregon linebacker An
thony Trucks, who leads the
Pac-10 in sacks with 5.5. “You get
FOOTBALL, page 10
■ Club crew
Duck rowers place well in both divisions
Oregon's crew teams aim
for consistency with
dedicated leadership
BY WILL SEYMOUR
FREELANCE REPORTER
The University crew club start
ed its fall season smoothly at the
41st Head of the Charles Regatta
in Boston, Mass., Oct. 22-23.
Both Oregon entries in the com
petition placed in the top 10 of
the club division of the large
meet. There are two more items
on the club’s schedule before
winter training begins in prepara
tion for the main rowing season
in the spring.
The Head of the Charles Regat
ta is one of the biggest and most
prestigious two-day rowing meets
in the country. More than 1,700
boats and 7,000 athletes entered
the 49 events. The Ducks brought
two “fours” to the Regatta —
boats powered by four rowers
who are directed by a coxswain
who does not row but is responsi
ble for steering the best course.
By virtue of their performance
in last year’s event, the Oregon
women earned a fourth seed out
of 34 teams. The boat, with row
ers Jen Fuller, Emily Buck, Caitlin
Krutsinger, Rebeka Andrews and
coxswain Kristen Bennett, acquit
ted itself well, placing 10th with a
time of 19:57 on the more than
Courtesy
The Oregon men’s crew team finished ninth out of 38 teams at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass., Oct. 22-23.
They were seeded 36th heading into the final race.
2-mile long course.
The men’s four, Will Ganser,
Adam Fagan, Kennett Peterson and
Niel Brown and with coxswain Lau
ra Breedlove, started the day with a
36th seed out of 38 boats. They sur
prised the field, crossing the finish
line in ninth place at 18:06.
Oregon’s efforts were especial
ly impressive because most of the
entrants were from other parts of
the country which operate on a
semester system, meaning they
already had nearly a month’s
CREW, page 10