Analyze
That!
STEVE TANNEN
Feature Writer
DUCK ILLUSTRATED
addr: stevetannen@
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DUCK
ILLUSTRATED
Carpe Diem Time
for 2003 Ducks
Rare Opportunity:
Seize the day, carpe diem. If there was
an alignment of the planets that affected
Pac-10 football it is now, and now is the
time for the Ducks to make the most of
a great opportunity with its plethora of
coaching changes and teams still in the
building stages. In the Northwest “Slick
Rick”, “the Price is Wrong” and “Dennis
the Menace” are gone. Keith Gilbertson has
been hired to restore order and Mike Riley
is the prodigal come home to Corvallis.
Gilbertson and Riley have this is common:
they have both been head coaches in the
Pac10 before and never produced a team
with a .500 or better record. Price’s successor,
defensive coordinator (Bill Doba) could fall
victim to the Jim Lambright peter principle.
UCLA always has talent, but they have
a rookie head coach (Karl Dorrell) who
brings a lot of enthusiasm, but they have
no proven quarterback and often it takes
a team some time for the new system to jell.
On top of the new coaches, Stanford and
Cal’s programs are rebuilding as they are led
by second year coaches with few lettermen
returning. Arizona’s head coach is John
Mackovic, a man who talks to his players
like Mr. Rogers did to kindergartners is on
the hot seat with a probable 1-11 season.
That leaves USC, who lost their Heisman
QB and who the Ducks don’t play for the
next two years, and Arizona State. Dirk
Koetter has the Sun Devils on a roll as they
return most of their team which almost
beat Kansas State in the Holiday Bowl.
Their schedule is favorable as they do not
face the Huskies with arguably the best
quarterback-receiver combination in the
country (Cody Pickett to Reggie Williams)
and tackle Oregon and USC at home.
The October 4th game against the Trojans
could well decide the conference champion.
If coaching experience means anything,
the Ducks should have an advantage over
the rest of the Pac-10 with Mike Bellotti
entering his 9th season. He is the dean of
the Pac-10 coaches by far with Koetter and
Mackovic entering only their 3rd seasons
boasting the next longest tenures.
Burying 2002:
A Strange Duck Season
As magical as the 2001 football season
was with the Ducks finishing #2 in the
nation, the Ducks in the 2002 seemed to
have been put under a spell and the reverse
magic carried over into recruiting and to the
end of the spring. Here’s a list of the weird
events that put a damper on the football
program. I suggest after reading the list we
all cut it out and burn it as a sort of funeral
or exorcism!
1. Rent for pay scandal that resulted in
Quinn Dorsey being suspended for
the first 4 games this year.
2. Second half collapse during last part of
the season as Ducks start 6-0 and
finish 1-6.
3. The strange Lynell Hamilton recruiting
story where he wanted to be a Duck
but his parents wouldn’t let him.
4. The Rodney Woods recruitment
controversy that had many debating
whether he should be offered
a scholarship.
5. The cruel beating of Devan Long and
subsequent suicide by his attacker.
6. The Keith Lewis-Brandon Holliday
incident where Lewis broke Holliday’s
nose with a punch.
7. The revealing by Nike of the proposed
all-white road uniform that looks like
a high school team’s practice uniform.
Seinfeld was a show “about nothing”.
By the same token could it have been
George Kastanza who designed this
“nothing” uniform?
Reasons for Optimism:
The 2003 team has the potential of
being very good and instead of listening
to my often too negative inclinations, I’ve
reconsidered my initial 5th place choice.
I’m counting on the Ducks to upset
a couple of teams and finish 3rd in the
Pac-10. The main reason for picking the
Ducks near the top is that the strength of
the team is both lines, see pages 6 and 7.
Sure, a skilled veteran quarterback is a big
factor in a team’s success, as Steve Tannen
aptly points out in the adjacent column,
but I’m going with “the game is won in
the trenches” philosophy. Both sides of the
ball are talented, enormous, and focused.
I think Fife or Clemens will come of age
and lead the team, and as long as there are
enough healthy receivers and linebackers,
the Ducks should outscore their opponents.
I have noticed a greater intensity this
fall in practice by both coaches and players
and I think the team has the type of
chemistry they need. There are no real big
egos or stars on this team. They just want to
win. All the players I have talked with have
said that the team attitude is much better
and the players are more close-knit group
on and off the field than last year. New sec-
ondary coach John Neal is a positive person
and a “player’s coach” who is a breath of
fresh air. In addition, Andy Ludwig appears
more intense as well as comfortable leading
the offense. He has added some new wrin-
kles which of course I cannot divulge now,
but I am definitely looking forward to see-
ing a more creative and productive offense
than last year. A season can turn on a play
or two but that’s the fun of it. I just hope
that 2003 will show that 2002 was an
anomaly and 2003 will be a return to those
“big fun” days when we upset a top-10
team at home on ABC (a la BYU in 1990 —
this year: Michigan),we go to Seattle and
whip the Huskies, and we send the Beavers
home at the end of the season without
bragging rights. It all starts Saturday in a
hostile environment at Mississippi State in
what amounts to a must win for Oregon.
A game where the offense is productive all
four quarters and where the defense does
not allow the Bulldogs to have their best
passing game of the year as last year’s
opponents did is what the doctor has
ordered. That will help all fans forget 2002
and have a new sense of optimism as bright
as those “thunder green” and “lightning
yellow” uniforms. Go Ducks!
Decisions,
Decisions
Mallard
Musings
No question the rule in the
Pac 10 recently has been “best
quarterbacking wins”. I trace it
to Jake Plummer with the ‘96
conference champion Sun Devils.
Follow the line with me from
1997 through Carson Palmer last
season. Big Baby Leaf, Cade McNown,
Stanford's Todd Husak in 99, Marques
Tuiasosopo, then of course Joey
2 seasons ago. Look at the damage
Jason Gesser did in leading Wazzou
to the Rose Bowl during 2002.
It’s why I think them darn Dawgs
are going to win the league this
autumn. Cody Pickett is the best
QB out here and possibly from sea
to shining sea. If you're Mike Bellotti
or Andy Ludwig, what does your
gut tell you about Jason Fife or
Kellen Clemens? Throw out Jason’s
numbers from 2002. They don’t
tell the story. He repeatedly
struggled to convert 3rd downs
when things got tough from the
USC loss on. You can lay a lot on
the defense, but the quarterback
needs to sustain drives and give
those guys a chance to regroup.
Fife ended the season with 24
touchdown passes. Over those final
5 league games and the Seattle Bowl
defeat against Wake, he had one
TD throw in the second half. It
came to Keenan Howry against the
Trojans with just over a minute
left and was meaningless. In his
defense, he was a first year starter,
showed a major league arm and
we've seen guys make monumental
leaps in production between their
junior and senior seasons. Check
out the aforementioned Palmer!
Looked like a bust until he dominated
on his way to the 2002 Heisman.
In Clemens, we have a blue chipper,
rated among the Top-10 high
school quarterbacks in the nation!
He was thrown into some difficult
situations and did not go to pieces.
The upside to his talent is through
the roof, but I’m not hearing raves
about either guy as show time
approaches. I’m filled with concerns
about this season. The linebackers
are the walking wounded and now
we've got academic concerns
regarding senior David Martin who
was supposed to be in the starting
mix on the strong side. Kevin Mitchell
is the constant in a sea of variables
as Jerry Matson and Ramone Reed
battle dings. With an unproven
secondary beyond Keith Lewis
my first thought is the defensive
line best play like a combination
of the Steel Curtain and Fearsome
Foursome! The schedule is a double-
edged sword. It’s a good season
to miss USC but the road games
in Seattle and Tempe are killers.
The opener at Mississippi State
will not be a walk on the beach.
We’re talking about a pretty good
SEC program and having to deal
with that miserable deep-south
humidity. As an East Coast guy,
trust me, aside from Florida native
Ryan Gilliam, none of the players
has witnessed this. Let’s end with
some positive stuff. I look for Chris
Vincent to emerge as the stud back.
The recruiting brain trust created
competition among talented
players in key areas and the
coaching staff is excellent. ESPN’s
Kirk Herbstreit referred to Mike
Bellotti as one of the 4 best offensive
minds in the country. This team
could win 8 games.
Steve hosts SportsTalk on
KPNW Radio AM1120, Eugene,
Monday-Friday, 5-7 p.m.
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2004
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Ducks I llustrated
AUGUST 28, 2003 5