Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2019)
SPORTS Saturday, December 21, 2019 East Oregonian B3 ‘Petersen Bowl’: Washington, Boise State meet in Las Vegas does it, you need to utilize that and pay attention to it and try to make it part of who you are and what you do.” By DAN GREENSPAN Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Chris Petersen brought Boise State into the national conscious- ness with trick plays and toughness. He returned Washington to the top of the Pac-12 with his kind of guys. Now, as Petersen is set to step away after six sea- sons leading the Huskies and 14 consecutive years of the “frustration and anxiety and stress” that come with being a head coach, his fi nal game for the time being will fi ttingly match the Huskies against the No. 18 Broncos in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday. Petersen initially expressed hesitation about having his Huskies (7-5) play the Broncos (12-1), who are led by his former offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin. But Washington players have embraced everything around the matchup. “There is motivation, 100%,” defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike said. “We all know the history, (Petersen) has been at Boise State and is here now. We want to win a bowl game and send him out with a win.” Petersen, 55, caught col- Moving on up The Las Vegas Bowl will relocate from Sam Boyd Sta- dium to the new Allegiant Stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip in 2020, bring- ing with it upgraded con- ference tie-ins. The game moves up the Pac-12 peck- ing order against Southeast- ern Conference or Big Ten foes on a rotating basis. The Mountain West champion will still face a Pac-12 oppo- nent but in a new bowl game to be held at the stadium the Los Angeles Rams and Char- gers will share in Inglewood, California. Musical chairs AP Photo/Chase Stevens Washington head coach Chris Petersen speaks with reporters Tuesday ahead of the Las Ve- gas Bowl in Las Vegas. lege football by surprise when Washington announced on Dec. 2 that he would step down, with defensive coor- dinator Jimmy Lake tak- ing over as the next coach of the Huskies following the bowl. It was typical Petersen, unexpected but carefully measured. Petersen has led Washing- ton to two Pac-12 titles and three New Year’s Six bowls, including a berth in the Col- lege Football Playoff in 2016. But he was feeling the need to recharge, and Washing- ton already had Lake ready to provide both continuity and a fresh perspective. The ability to identify tal- ent and build relationships has always been at the heart of Petersen’s success. Harsin has tried to emulate that model, and with fi ve seasons of at least 10 wins in his six years with the Broncos, it seems to have carried through. “If you’re smart, you want to try to fi gure out the for- mula and how do you incor- porate that into what you do,” Harsin said. “You do it your way, but when people are doing things the way that he The Broncos needed three different quarterbacks to win the Mountain West, and they will have a differ- ent play caller after offensive coordinator Zak Hill took the same position at Arizona State. Harsin will take a big- ger role but joked he will “just put it on autopilot. Yeah, it’s already prerecorded, so we’re good that way.” Ascendant Ahmed After his fi rst two seasons at Washington saw him used as a change of pace rusher capable of providing big plays, Huskies running back Salvon Ahmed showed he could handle a full workload as a junior. Ahmed had four games with at least 20 car- ries, including a career-high 25 attempts for 174 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon State, en route to rushing for 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns. Pac attack Boise State is 12-6 against the Conference of Champions since 2004, including a 4-1 record in bowl games with wins over Arizona State, Washing- ton and Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Draft departures Washington will be with- out two of its top offensive players as tight end Hunter Bryant and left tackle Trey Adams will not play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Bryant is entering the NFL draft after he led the Huskies in receiv- ing yards (825), was second in receptions (52) and tied for second in touchdown recep- tions (3) as a junior. Adams started 44 games in fi ve sea- sons with the Huskies, but he missed time in 2017-18 because of knee and back injuries. Seahawks defensive lineman Woods suspended 4 games for PEDs By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Al Woods was sus- pended for four games by the NFL on Friday for vio- lating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Woods is the second Seattle player to be sus- pended this week. Wide receiver Josh Gordon was suspended indefi nitely Mon- day for violating policies on performance-enhancers and “substances of abuse.” Woods will miss the fi nal two regular season games — beginning with Sun- day’s game against Arizona — and at least two poten- tial playoff games. He could return for either the NFC championship or the Super Bowl should Seattle make it that far, depending on the Seahawks’ playoff seed. “He’s been a great kid in the program. We’ve loved what he has done,” coach Pete Carroll said. Woods was an import- ant role player for Seattle’s defensive line. He started fi ve of 14 games but saw sig- nifi cant playing time, play- ing more than 50% of defen- sive snaps in seven games. Woods was primarily a run stopper and had 32 tack- les, one sack and two forced fumbles. His loss may not be felt much this week against the Cardinals but could be signifi cant next week with the Seahawks facing the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17. Woods is in his 10th season and fi rst with the Seahawks. Carroll said the Sea- DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP TODAY! Our new app offers access to the latest news as it happens with customizable features for mobile and tablet devices: • Scroll through the latest headlines while on-the-go. • Personalize your news feed with the stories you want. • Receive breaking news alerts on your phone. • Explore photos, videos and more. • Easily save articles for reading later. • Share articles with the tap of a finger. • Content can be viewed offline when out-of-service or in flight. • Customizable settings allow you to enlarge type and choose how often content refreshes. To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or log on to www.eastoregonian.com/subscribe-now hawks will add undrafted rookie Brian Mone off the practice squad to take Woods’ roster spot. Mone was on the active roster for the fi rst three weeks before being released and added back to Seattle’s practice squad. “He’s tough. He’s phys- ical. He’s got a great motor for chasing the ball for such a big man. ... Players are fi red up he gets a chance to help us right now,” Carroll said. Along with losing Woods, the Seahawks could be with- out defensive end Jadeveon Clowney against the Cardi- nals. Clowney missed last week’s game due to illness, but it’s his ongoing core injury that has kept him out of practice this week. Carroll indicated there haven’t been any setbacks and that Clowney was not being rested. “We’ve got to see if he can elevate that in the next couple of days and surprise us. We didn’t get much out of him practice wise,” Car- roll said. “It’s just been over time it’s been a prob- lem. He just can’t get going yet during the week. We’re looking to give him days off to see if the rest will help him by game day.” Carroll said defen- sive end Ziggy Ansah will return after missing two games with a shoul- der injury. Safety Quan- dre Diggs is not expected to play due to a high-an- kle sprain, while linebacker Mychal Kendricks and cor- nerback Shaquill Griffi n — both with hamstring inju- ries — will be game-time decisions.
