G AME P REVIEW
OREGON vs.
MISSISSIPPI STATE
Saturday, August 30
6:00 p.m. (PDT)
Davis Wade Stadium
Starkville, Mississippi
Radio: Oregon Sports Network
(Jerry Allen, Mike Jorgensen)
Live TV: ESPN II
Series Record: Oregon leads, 1-0
Head Coach: Jackie Sherrill
(13th year), 73-65-2
2002 Record: 3-9, 0-8
(6th in SEC West)
LAST YEAR Oregon pummeled
the Bulldogs 36-13 in Eugene. In that
season opener for both teams the Ducks
dominated in almost every phase of
the game, rolling up 371 yards of total
offense to MSU’s meager 223, most of
which came from a desperate catch-up
passing attack after the score got out of
hand early. Oregon put 27 points on
the board in the first half, but gave
up a first-half shutout by allowing an
80-yard drive (including a 29-yard
pass reception, imagine that!) and
a touchdown 20 seconds before halftime.
Apparently satisfied with their lead,
the Ducks coasted in the second half,
missing opportunities to make the final
margin of victory a lot bigger than it
was. Lost amid the post-game celebrations
were some disturbing stats, portents of
games yet to be played: five different
Bulldog receivers caught at least one
pass of 15+ yards from a freshman backup
quarterback, and, of the 12 MSU first
downs, eight were accomplished through
the air, three by penalty.
THE DUCKS are looking for some
southern hospitality in their first visit to
Starkville, and hope to start their season
with some much needed momentum.
In last season’s second half collapse they
dropped six of their last seven games,
including a 38-17 embarrassment at the
hands of Wake Forest in the now-defunct
Seattle Bowl. Those failures left a bad taste
in everyone’s mouth, especially that of
head coach Mike Bellotti. “Losses provide
negative reinforcement for players,
but positive reinforcement for coaches.
It makes us work harder,” he said, in
referring to Oregon’s need to correct
deficiencies and forge ahead.
The defensive and offensive lines
look to be the strength at Oregon this
year, led by DE Igor Olshansky, DT
Haloti Ngata, DT Junior Siavii, center
Dan Weaver, guards Joey Forster and
Nick Steitz, and tackles Adam Snyder
and Mike DeLaGrange, all with extensive
starting experience, proven skills and
a lot of trust in each other.
The Ducks need either senior Jason
Fife or sophomore Kellen Clemens to
show marked improvement at the
quarterback position for the team to win
more than seven games. Leadership and
decision-making will be crucial. Similarly,
at tailback, sophomore Terrence
Whitehead, redshirt freshman Chris
Vincent, and juniors Ryan Shaw and
Kenny Washington will have to sort
out who’s da man to take advantage of
14 AUGUST 28, 2003
Ducks I llustrated
the holes provided by the O-line.
Swift senior Samie Parker (10.18 for
100 meters on the UO track team) has
game-breaking ability to score on the
long ball and will lead a talented, but
inexperienced receiving corps.
Hard-hitting senior linebacker
Kevin Mitchell and senior free safety
Keith Lewis (second team All Pac-10)
will be principle players behind the
D-line, while the onus is on cornerbacks
Steven Moore, Aaron Gipson and
Marques Binns (with possible help
from some talented newcomers) to
greatly improve on a pass defense that
allowed a shocking 35 TD receptions last
year and finished the season 115th in
the nation in passing yardage allowed.
THE BULLDOGS are hoping that
their hometown heat and humidity will
deflate the Ducks and produce a stark
upset. Head coach Jackie Sherrill and
his team are looking for payback for last
year’s whuppin’ by the Ducks, and are
anxious to put last year’s entire 3-9
season far back in their rearview mirror.
Since 2000 when MSU posted an 8-4
record including a bowl victory over
Texas A & M, the Bulldogs have fallen
into the SEC basement with an overall
record of 6-17, and a 2-14 mark in
conference play.
This year Mississippi State is
looking for a rededication to winning, as
exemplified by Sherrill’s major overhaul
of his coaching staff. He hired Morris
Watts from Michigan State as offensive
coordinator, Ron Cooper from Wisconsin
as defensive coordinator, as well as three
new position coaches.
The coaches will choose between
two contrasting players for their starting
QB. Now a fifth-year senior, Kevin Fant
(6-2, 207) was suspended for last year’s
Oregon game and was injured much
of the rest of the year, but still threw
for 1,918 yards, 10 touchdowns and
12 picks. He
missed the last
two weeks of
spring practice
due to personal
problems.
Sophomore
Kyle York (6-0,
205) completed
only 49% of
his attempts
last year, but
got 192 of his
693 yards against
the Ducks.
The top
tailbacks are
junior Fred Reid
(5-9, 180) and
sophomores
S EN I O R T AC KL E
T OM MY K EL L Y (6 -6 , 29 6 ),
Jerious Norwood
IS AN I M MO V A BL E O B JE C T
(6-0, 185) and
& I S C ON S I D E R ED T O BE
A L E GI T IM A TE
Nick Turner (5-10,
N FL PR O SP E C T .
182), Last year
Reid had more
rushing attempts,
but Norwood
averaged 6.0 yards
per carry. Senior
Justin Jenkins
and junior Ray
Ray Bivines are
fast and athletic
wide receivers, but will be looking for
a legitimate tight end to help relieve
defensive pressure.
The MSU defensive front will
be anchored by DE Tommy Kelly,
who will probably be playing on
Sundays next year. Look for sophomore
linebacker Marvin Birdsong to be
tough up the middle, while versatile
Jason Clark, a defensive end, may
occasionally line up as a safety in
Coach Cooper’s 4-2-5 defense.
Sophomore free safety Darren Williams
was a Parade All-American and will
lead the secondary.
GAMETIME QUESTIONS
1. Will Oregon’s quarterback find
other receivers when Samie Parker
is covered?
2. Will Mississippi State’s new
coordinators befuddle the Ducks with
alignments and plays not seen last year?
3. Will the Duck secondary’s new
schemes eliminate “explosion” plays
downfield?
4. Which team will establish the better
running game?
5. Will Oregon’s punt and punt return
teams make a positive difference?
6. Will Coach Bellotti find the player
leadership and team chemistry to put
the Ducks back on track?
THE BOTTOM LINE
Given the geographic distribution
and readership of this publication,
two predictions are in order:
The Wildly-Optimistic-Ducks-Are-
Awesome Prediction:
Ducks 42, Bulldogs 10
The Objective-Get-Real-Ducks-
Have-Questions Prediction:
UO 23, Mississippi St. 20
BOTTOM LINE BONUS
Other games of interest this week:
Thursday
Oregon State 56, Sacramento State 7
(7 PM in Corvallis)
Saturday
Southern Cal 33, Auburn 30
(3 PM in Auburn)
California 20, Southern Miss 19
(3 PM in Berkeley)
Ohio State 31, Washington 28
(5 PM in Columbus)
Nevada 35, Southern Utah 3
(7 PM in Reno)
UTEP 16, Arizona 10
(7 PM in Tucson)
Washington State 24, Idaho 14
(7:30 PM in Seattle)
Mississippi State University TWO DEEP
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
SE 8 JUSTIN JENKINS (6-1, 210, Sr.)
9 Brandon Wright (5-9, 149, So.)
DE 40 JASON CLARK (6-1, 240, Sr.)
92 Roosevelt Tate (6-4, 260, Fr.)
T
DT 93 RONALD FIELDS (6-2, 303, Jr.)
96 Markell McKinley (6-2, 294, Fr.)
77 RICHARD BURCH (6-5, 302, So.)
71 James Redmond (6-7, 319, Fr.)
G 64 BRAD WEATHERS (6-5, 323, Jr.)
74 Otis Riddley (6-1, 340, Fr.)
DT 55 TOMMY KELLY (6-6, 296, Sr.)
91 Lennie Day (6-3, 261, Sr.)
C 63 BLAKE JONES (6-2, 284, Sr.)
50 Chris McNeil (6-3, 283, So.)
DE 36 WILLIE EVANS (6-2, 263, So.)
59 Robert Spivey (6-1, 245, Jr.)
G 50 CHRIS MCNEIL (6-3, 283, So.)
68 Johnny Wadley (6-2, 349, So.)
LB 32 MARVIN BIRDSONG (6-2, 240, So.)
19 Rico Bennett (6-0, 209, So.)
T
LB 53 T.J. MAWHINNEY (6-1, 230, Sr.)
52 Lenny Kern (5-11, 230, So.)
60 DAVID STEWART (6-6, 295, Jr.)
70 Avery House (6-4, 294, So.)
TE 87 AARON LUMPKIN (6-4, 252, Sr.)
86 Blake Pettit (6-4, 238, Fr.)
LB 29 CLARENCE M C DOUGAL (6-1, 215, So.)
47 Cody Upton (6-1, 240, Jr.)
QB 16 KEVIN FANT (6-2, 207, Sr.)
17 Kyle York (6-0, 200, So.)
CB 6 ODELL BRADLEY (5-10,180, Sr.)
24 Demetric Wright (6-0, 200, Sr.)
TB 7 NICK TURNER (5-10, 182, So.)
12 Jerious Norwood (6-1, 185, So.)
SS 30 KEVIN DOCKERY (5-10, 181, So.)
26 Chris Swain (5-11, 197, Jr.)
FB 33 DARNELL JONES (5-11, 240, Jr.)
31 Nick Signaigo (6-3, 241, Jr.)
FS 22 DARREN WILLIAMS (6-2, 204, So.)
27 Gabe Wallace (5-11, 196, Jr.)
FL 10 RAY RAY BIVENS (5-11, 176, Jr.)
83 Tee Milons (5-9, 165, So.)
CB 2 QUINTON CULBERSON (6-2,210,Fr.)
25 Slovakia Griffith (5-11, 190, Jr.)