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SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, December 16, 2017
College Football
Cristobal leads Ducks against Broncos in Vegas Bowl
By DAN GREENSPAN
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Oregon
players made it known they wanted
Mario Cristobal to be their next
head coach, with left tackle Tyrell
Crosby circulating a petition that
was signed by more than 70 team-
mates.
The Ducks will get their first
chance to show why they believed
in him when Cristobal leads them
in his Oregon debut against No. 25
Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl
on Saturday.
“We definitely feed the need to
go in there and show the admin-
istration, as well as everybody all
around the country, that they made
the right decision in picking coach
Cristobal to be the head coach,”
Ducks center Jake Hanson said.
Cristobal was hired Dec. 8,
three days after Willie Taggart
left to become the head coach at
Florida State. The former Florida
International head coach and
assistant to Nick Saban at Alabama
had been the offensive line coach
at Oregon (7-5) for less than one
year, but Cristobal earned the trust
of players in such a manner that
they went public in an effort to
boost his chances of landing the
job permanently. As the program’s
third coach in 13 months, Cristobal
now wants to repay the players’
belief in him.
“It’s the most humbling thing
in the world,” Cristobal said.
“Every ounce is always going to be
squeezed out of myself and the staff
for these guys, and now we just got
to find a way to squeeze out even
more. They deserve that and they
Las Vegas Bowl
Oregon
Boise State
Ducks
Broncos
(7-5)
(10-3)
• Sat., 12:30 p.m. (TV: ABC)
• at Sam Boyd Stadium
AP Photo/Matt York, File
Oregon (7-5) will be playing for new coach Mario Cristobal, left,
when it faces No. 25 Boise State (10-3) and coach Bryan Harsin,
right, in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday.
are going to get that every day.”
The Ducks’ spin on the coaching
carousel has overshadowed Boise
State (10-3), which won eight of
its last nine games after getting
walloped 42-23 by Virginia at
home on Sept. 22. That’s just fine
by the Mountain West champions.
“It’s something that Boise
always has done,” Broncos
cornerback DeAndre Pierce said.
“Nobody believed in us when we
played against Oklahoma, TCU,
Arizona, none of those teams. It all
comes down to us.”
Here are some things to watch
for as the Broncos and Ducks meet
for the third time:
HERE’S
HERBERT:
In
another banner season for Pac-12
quarterbacks, Justin Herbert made
a strong argument that he is the
most indispensable signal-caller in
the conference despite throwing for
a modest 13 touchdowns against
three interceptions in seven starts.
Oregon averaged 52.1 points per
game with Herbert in action but
only scored a total of 75 points
in the five games he missed with
a broken collarbone. Herbert is
already being touted as a Heisman
Trophy candidate in 2018, when he
will be a junior. “I think the best
part about him is that he’s hungry,”
Cristobal said. “He is not content.
He wants to be better at everything
he does.”
ROH A GO? Boise State
redshirt senior tight end Jake Roh
missed the regular season finale
and the Mountain West champi-
onship game with a left leg injury
but still leads the team with nine
touchdown receptions and has
been doing everything possible
to make sure he can play in his
last game for the Broncos. The
status of sophomore running back
Alexander Mattison, who has 1,074
yards rushing and 12 touchdowns,
is also uncertain after he was hurt in
the fourth quarter of the 17-14 win
over Fresno State that gave Boise
State its second conference title in
four seasons.
POWER PLAYERS: The
Broncos built their brand with wins
over big-time programs, but have
lost three straight games against
Power 5 opposition, including a
31-12 no-show against Baylor
in the Cactus Bowl last season.
“This trip, it’s felt more like a
business trip than a bowl game, to
be honest,” Broncos defensive end
Durrant Miles said.
NO ROLLS ROYCE: Oregon
senior running back Royce
Freeman will not play in the Las
Vegas Bowl, becoming the latest
prominent player to sit out a lower-
tier bowl with an eye towards the
NFL draft. Freeman rushed for
5,621 yards in his career, which
ranks second in Pac-12 history and
sixth among FBS players, and is
one of four college players with at
least 5,000 yards rushing and 800
yards receiving.
College Football
Several teams taking advantage of playing home bowl games
Miami
coach Mark
Richt, left,
helps Or-
ange Bowl
mascot
Obie make
the Miami
“U” symbol
as they
pose after a
news con-
ference, in
Hollywood,
Fla.
By TIM REYNOLDS
Associated Press
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Some-
time late Friday afternoon, Florida
Atlantic will load up its luggage
and head south to the hotel that
will house the Conference USA
champions for their bowl-game
preparations.
It’ll be a 4-mile drive.
The comforts of home await the
Owls this weekend as they get ready
to play in the Boca Raton Bowl,
and they’re hardly the only team
in America that won’t be seeing a
new part of the country as part of
the postseason perk package. FAU,
Miami, Navy and Memphis are
playing bowl games on their home
fields, and five other teams — six
if Georgia makes the College Foot-
ball Playoff title game — will play
bowls in their home states.
“A chance to stay home is really
special, basically to have another
home game,” said FAU coach Lane
Kiffin, whose Owls will essentially
“host” Akron in the Boca Raton
Bowl. “From that advantage, it’s
really neat. Our players obviously
at first were like, ‘Well, we don’t
get to go anywhere.’ But then when
they really looked at it, they realize,
‘Hey, we’re honored because we’re
going to the best bowl that there is
for our conference.’”
The Boca Raton Bowl is
Tuesday, the first of the four de facto
home games for some teams in this
postseason. Navy is remaining in
Annapolis, Maryland, for its bowl,
the Dec. 28 Military Bowl against
Virginia. Miami is headed to the
AP Photo/Wilfre-
do Lee, File
Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, where
Wisconsin awaits. And Memphis is
off to the Liberty Bowl, set to meet
Iowa State on Dec. 30.
Memphis had hopes of getting
into a New Year’s Six bowl. When
that didn’t happen after a loss to
UCF in the American Athletic
Conference title game, wide
receiver Anthony Miller said going
to the Liberty Bowl “was the next-
best thing.”
“I don’t mind,” Miller said. “I
just love the energy of being at
the Liberty Bowl. I love being in
Memphis. I love the fans. It’s my
senior year. It’s my last year. I don’t
think there’s a better way that I
could end it.”
FAU hasn’t been to a bowl game
since 2008, so its upperclassmen
all will attest that being home for a
bowl obviously is better than being
at home with no games left to play.
Navy had prearranged many of its
bowl sites for the last decade or
so, though now falls into the AAC
mix — and the Military Bowl was
thrilled to pit the Midshipmen
against the Cavaliers, given how
the campuses are roughly 150 miles
apart.
Miami ended a decade-long
bowl-victory drought last season,
rose to No. 2 in the national rank-
ings this season before dropping its
final two games and has reveled in
how that success re-energized the
fan base. The Hurricanes fell out
of CFP contention with losses to
Pittsburgh and Clemson, but one
last night at Hard Rock Stadium is
more than a consolation prize for
their seniors.
“It’s going to be somewhat of
a home game for us,” coach Mark
Richt said. “It is our home stadium.
Our fans have been phenomenal all
year long. It’s been one of the best
turnouts of fans, probably in the
history of Hard Rock Stadium. ...
Even though we are home, in our
home city, we know we’re going
to get a chance to do some things
we don’t normally get to do that the
bowl will provide for us.”
Florida International, SMU,
Texas, TCU and Wake Forest are
also playing in-state bowls. SMU
is going only 28 miles to Frisco,
Texas, for its game, Wake Forest
is going 80 miles to Charlotte, and
Texas coach Tom Herman is going
back to Houston — his former
home.
“I think it’s neat,” Herman
said. “It’s a city that my family
and myself have called home on
a couple of different occasions,
at Rice (and) at the University of
Houston. ... It is a city that I have
a lot of friends and people that I
know back there, and I’m excited
to bring our team out to Houston to
play in front of them.”
The last time Wake Forest went
to Charlotte for a bowl game, the
Demon Deacons brought 30,000
fans.
“We expect that number to
increase,” athletic director Ron
Wellman said.
Miami isn’t staying at “home,”
per se. The Hurricanes are moving
to a resort in Broward County on
Christmas night for bowl week,
part of the Orange Bowl’s contrac-
tual obligations. And even though
Wisconsin and Akron both know
they’re playing road games, leaving
winter behind for a few days seems
like a fair trade-off.
Kiffin doesn’t see a downside
for his team, either.
“Miami used to want to do
what? Go to the Orange Bowl,”
Kiffin said. “USC and UCLA want
to do what? Go to the Rose Bowl.
So it can be really special when it’s
a premier bowl like this.”
Pro Football
NFC West lead at stake as Seahawks host first-place Rams
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Perhaps it’s a
strange quirk in the way the schedule
falls. For each of the past eight
seasons when December or early
January arrived, the Rams make a
visit to Seattle.
None of those chilly December
trips to the Northwest carried the
amount of significance as Sunday’s
meeting between the Rams and
Seahawks.
There have been games of
importance with playoff implica-
tions, including a 2010 pillow fight
between below-.500 teams in Week
17 that decided the NFC West title.
But Sunday’s meeting represents
one of the few opportunities over
those eight seasons when the Rams
can gain the advantage and knock
Seattle from its pedestal on top of
the division.
“It’s obviously going to be a big
one,” Rams QB Jared Goff said. “A
big one for us, a big one for them.”
If Seattle wins, the Seahawks
(8-5) would be in first place in
the division thanks to holding the
tiebreaker over the Rams after
winning in Los Angeles earlier this
season. Seattle would still need to
beat Dallas and Arizona to claim its
fourth division title in the past five
NFL
Los Angeles
Seattle
Rams
Seahawks
(9-4)
(8-5)
• Sunday, 1:05 p.m. (TV: FOX)
• at Century Link Stadium
seasons. The Rams (9-4) would
need Seattle to stumble in the final
two weeks, or avoid any loses them-
selves to have hopes of a wild-card
berth.
If Los Angeles wins, the divi-
sion race would likely be over and
Russell Wilson’s unblemished run
of making the playoffs every season
would be in serious jeopardy after
two straight losses.
“Hopefully, here we are in a great
finish mode with all of this stuff
that’s out there to be had,” Seattle
coach Pete Carroll said. “We’re
going to rely on what’s brought us
and see if we can pull it off.”
There’s a good chance this won’t
be another 16-10 score as in Week
5 in Los Angeles. The Rams remain
one of the top offenses in the NFL
with Goff’s continued maturity, the
top running back in the NFC in Todd
Gurley, and a talented receiving
corps that’ll get better with the return
of Robert Woods. Seattle’s defense
is far different than two months ago,
potentially down as many as five
starters due to injuries.
That puts a huge responsibility on
Wilson to rediscover his MVP form
that slipped last week. Wilson was
again great in the fourth quarter with
two late TD passes, but threw three
interceptions earlier in the game
that helped contribute to the loss to
Jacksonville.
Here’s what else to watch in the
NFC West showdown:
OFFENSIVE
OUTBURST:
Twice this season Seattle has faced
the No. 1 offense in the league at that
time. Both times the Seahawks held
that opponent to 10 points, including
the first matchup with the Rams.
It’s one of the few times this season
the LA offense was stymied. Los
Angeles has scored at least 20 points
in 12 of 14 games, with Seattle and
Minnesota the only two teams to
hold down the Rams, both losses.
The biggest issue for Los Angeles
in the first game was a season-high
five turnovers.
“Anytime that you have one-pos-
session game at the end, other than
points there’s no greater indicator.
We lost the turnover battle five to
two, and those are things that we
can’t afford to do,” Rams coach
Sean McVay said.
WHO ARE YOU? Seattle has
had a month to get used to being
without a trio of stars on defense:
Cliff Avril, Kam Chancellor and
Richard Sherman. The Seahawks
could be without two more standouts
this week.
K.J. Wright suffered a concussion
last Sunday against Jacksonville, but
the bigger blow would be the poten-
tial loss of middle linebacker Bobby
Wagner. After being bothered by a
hamstring injury for weeks, Wagner
aggravated it early in the third
quarter. While not a direct correla-
tion, it was notable that the Jaguars
scored 27 points after Wagner went
to the sideline and never returned.
If Wagner can’t go, veteran
Michael Wilhoite would start at
middle linebacker.
STABILIZED LINE: The
arrival of Duane Brown and return
of Luke Joeckel have stabilized
Seattle’s shaky offensive line. It’s
far from perfect, but the amount
of pressures being allowed against
Wilson, and Seattle’s uptick in
running the football, are clear signs
of improvement.
The toughest challenge the
improving line has faced comes
this week with the Rams’ defensive
front, including Robert Quinn and
nemesis Aaron Donald. In seven
career games against Seattle, Donald
has four sacks and 35 total tackles.
Oregon
lineman
excited to
be home
for bowl
By RYAN THORBURN
The Register-Guard
LAS VEGAS — Oregon has
a personal tour guide in Tyrell
Crosby.
But the standout left tackle
from Henderson, Nevada, wasn’t
prepared
for
what awaited the
Ducks upon the
team’s arrival
Monday night to
begin prepara-
tions for the Las
Vegas Bowl.
O r e g o n
Crosby
is staying at
Mandalay Bay
Resort and Casino, where a
gunman opened fire on a crowd
of concertgoers on Oct. 1, which
left 58 people dead and 546
injured.
“When we first got into the
hotel it just kind of felt eerie to
me. It felt strange,” Crosby said
Tuesday. “Driving to the hotel,
passing where the concert was
… when we were driving past, I
just stared at it.
“It just kind of hit me: This is
where it happened.”
Several of Crosby’s friends
attended the Route 91 Harvest
musical festival, which was the
target of the mass shooting that
horrible night.
Needless to say, it was a help-
less feeling when Crosby woke
up to the news in Eugene.
“Just nervousness,” Crosby
said of his initial emotions.
“Because I had a lot of friends
who attended it. And the feeling
of just not knowing if the people
you care about are OK. …
“Physically, they were fine,
but still to this day a lot of people
are having flashbacks to that and
emotionally are not fully healed
from it.”
Crosby, who put the NFL
draft on hold to return to Oregon,
is having quite an impact on the
team and the program this year.
According to Pro Football
Focus, Crosby has not given up
a sack all season. The 6-foot-5,
320-pound senior was selected
to the all-Pac-12 first team and
was awarded the Morris Trophy
as the conference’s top offensive
lineman.
“How valuable is not
allowing a sack? I don’t know,
probably as valuable as grading
out at 92 percent with about
100-some-odd knockdowns and
winning the Morris Trophy for
being the best lineman in the
Pac-12,” coach Mario Cristobal
said when asked about his star
pupil. “And I’ll say it without
reservation: the best lineman in
the country. I have the film to
prove it as well.”
Three years after playing in
the College Football Playoff title
game as a true freshman, Crosby
believes the program is back on
the championship climb.
A victory over No. 25 Boise
State on Saturday at Sam Boyd
Stadium would double the
Ducks’ (7-5) win total from last
season’s 4-8 finish.
“I definitely want to leave
here with a win,” Crosby said.
“Since I’ve been here we haven’t
finished a season with a win.
That’s just something I’m really
hoping to get achieved.”
Cristobal and Crosby were
joined at a Tuesday night news
conference by redshirt junior
defensive end Jalen Jelks, who
said he will return to Oregon in
2018 instead of entering the NFL
draft.
“I’m back for sure,” said Jelks,
who has 6 ½ sacks and 15 tackles
for loss in Jim Leavitt’s 3-4
defense. “I talked to my parents
and my family and everything.
… Probably the best decision for
me is to make the best out of next
season and make a lot more plays
than I did this season.”
Cristobal said Crosby may
not have been able to avoid
giving up a sack if he had to go
against Jelks in a game.
The three Oregon represen-
tatives at the first Las Vegas
Bowl media obligation took a
helicopter ride together over the
Las Vegas Strip afterward.
“It’s awesome,” Crosby said
of finishing his collegiate career
in his home city. “I haven’t been
back since before our fall camp,
late July. So everything that has
happened since then, it being my
first time back here since what
happened at the Mandalay Bay
and the concert, it’s awesome to
finally be back.
“Especially for this reason,
I’m just looking forward to the
game.”