Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2003)
Photo by: Walt Grondona of Walt’s Photography sustain drives. OSU defensive lineman Bill Swancutt (6-4, 260) will make it difficult up front, and senior linebacker Seigler (6-3, 229) will continue to impress scouts from his future employer, the NFL. Clemens, Parker, WR Demetrius Williams and Day will ultimately need to make some big plays in order for Oregon to win. Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti will depend primarily on Igor, Long, Siavii, Robby Valenzuela and Quinn Dorsey to control the running lanes inside and keep Jackson under 100 yards. However, OSU will counter by running outside, making the play of Kevin Mitchell, Lewis and the other linebackers and safeties critical. The Ducks have been fairly successful with this strategy in other games, but it will inevitably come down to third and long, where Anderson, Newson, Hass and Euhus will test the Duck secondary. Oregon’s success or failure will depend on (1) how effective Aliotti can mix basic and blitz defenses to confuse Anderson, (2) how well the linebackers cover short and midrange pass routes, and (3) whether Lewis can continue to provide adequate help for the Duck corners as he did in the UCLA game. Currently OSU is third in the Pac-10 at 4-2 and the Ducks are fourth at 4-3, with Cal lurking close behind at 4-3. Remember the Ducks beat the Bears. If USC beats UCLA and the Beavers, and WSU and Cal beat their traditional rivals, the Ducks and Beavers will finish third and fifth (or fifth and third) depending on who wins on Saturday. No pressure. Not much at stake here. During the season both Oregon and Oregon State beat Arizona, a team that beat the Huskies, who beat both the Ducks and Beavers. And UO and OSU both beat Cal, the only team in the nation to defeat USC, currently ranked #2 in the BCS. All of this means that the Pac-10 should be renamed the Parity-10, and the Civil War may go to seven overtimes on Saturday. The team with eleven players still standing at that time will probably win. Unless there is a power failure and the lights go out. (It is an afternoon game, but this is Oregon in November, right?) Justin Phinisee would like to duplicate Keenan Howry’s Civil War punt returns. 2. Which team will maintain its resolve throughout the game? 3. Will Oregon seniors (including Dan Weaver, Parker, Siavii, Mitchell, Steven Moore and Lewis) play with distinction in their last Autzen appearances? 4. Will special teams make the plays that decide the outcome? 5. Which team will have fewer penalties? THE BOTTOM LINE The Ducks and Beavers — unpredictably predictable? The Ducks-Have-the-Last-Quack Prediction: Oregon 30, OSU 27 The Ducks-Suffer-A-Quack-Up Prediction: Beavers 35, Ducks 17 BOTTOM LINE PREDICTIONS Other Pac-10 rivalries on Saturday: Cal 31, Stanford 21 WSU 35, Washington 28 USC 37, UCLA 10 CIVIL WAR PRE-GAME PARTY! GAMETIME QUESTIONS 1. Will the weather be crappy as always? Photo by: Walt Grondona of Walt’s Photography Stanford, 43-3, last Saturday. The Cardinal had won two straight before arriving in Corn Valley, but their con- fidence was short-lived as the Beavers jumped out to a 14-3 first quarter lead, which they extended to 31-3 at the half. OSU put Stanford away in the fourth quarter with a variety pack of scores — a field goal, a touchdown and a safety. Junior running back Steven Jackson (hopefully for Duck fans an NFL rookie next year) rammed and slammed for 148 yards and a TD, while QB Derek Anderson had an impressive day through the air, with a 26-of-48 performance for 383 yards and four scores. Wide out James Newson had nine catches for 115 yards, while Mike Hass had his best day as Beaver receiver with 225 yards and two TD’s on nine receptions. Churchill High School grad Tim Euhus snagged six balls at his tight end position and scored on two of them. Oregon State has won two in a row, with 1089 yards of offense and 95 points against Arizona and Stanford. Meanwhile the Beaver defense has allowed only 365 yards of offense and 26 points. THE MATCH UP It’s going to be another physical contest between two comparable teams that don’t really like each other. A lot of macho pride is at stake and each team wants to “get into a better bowl than the other guy.” Early in the trash-talking battle, the Beavers have taken the lead, with linebacker Richard Seigler announcing immediately after their last win, “Now it’s Duck season.” There have been no Keith Lewis utterances from Eugene... yet. OSU’s Anderson seems to have found his stride and the lead in his unofficial competition with Oregon’s Kellen Clemens as the best Pac-10 quarterback recruited from the state of Oregon three years ago. With Arizona’s Nic Costa (Aloha HS) falling out of favor in Tucson, Anderson (Scappoose HS) has put up more consistent and bigger numbers in leading the Beavers to a 7-3 record this year than Clemens (Burns HS) has done with the Ducks. Saturday’s face off will be the first game in which the two will start against each other. Duck offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig knows that the offensive line has played dinged up all season and that RB Terrence Whitehead is not your prototypical power back, so he’ll have to use a lot of variation and a few tricks to All Your Favorite Sports Multiple Big Screens Including a 10x10 Projection Screen in the Stadium Club NFL • ESPN • NBA • NHL Sunday Breakfast Buffet 10am-1pm • Breakfast - Sat. & Sun. from 8am • Lunch & Dinner daily • Private Banquet Rooms 44 E 7th Ave • Downtown Eugene ( across from the Hilton ) 541-683-5160 Great kickoff returns by Kenny Washington is a key for the Ducks’ success. DucksIllustrated NOVEMBER 20, 2003 5
