Oregon fans have always known the Ducks have a good football team.
Now, 15 million more people know how good Oregon is.
Two days after it was announced that Duck quarterback Joey Harrington would be featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine, the Oregon Athletic Department confirmed that billboards of cornerback Rashad Bauman and running back Maurice Morris will be erected this weekend in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.
The billboards, unprecedented simply because they aren’t in the team’s hometown, are being funded by the same group of donors that paid for a 100-foot billboard of Harrington in downtown New York, according to Oregon Director of Media Services Dave Williford.
“They’re basically the same style as the ones around [Eugene],” Williford said, referring to advertisements featuring Justin Peele and other Duck football players.
Bauman’s billboard sits next to an entrance to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, while Morris’ image will grace the side of Highway 405 in Los Angeles.

“It’s great that [the boosters] think those kids warrant the attention,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “Not that Joey doesn’t deserve it; it’s just nice when other kids get a shot.”
But Harrington has been the one receiving all the national attention recently. He poses on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s college football preview issue — which should hit stands today — with Oregon State running back Ken Simonton, and on the cover of ESPN Magazine all by himself. The ESPN cover was one of four regional covers and was distributed across the West Coast.
Both magazines name Harrington and Simonton as early candidates for the Heisman Trophy, given annually to the top college football player in the nation.
Sports Illustrated ranked Oregon State first in the country in its preseason poll and chose the Beavers to win the National Championship, which will be held at the Rose Bowl this year. The nation’s most-read sports magazine picked Oregon seventh overall.
ESPN Magazine picked the Ducks fifth and the Beavers 12th overall. The magazine rankings came on the heels of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll, which ranked Oregon seventh, and the Pac-10 Media Poll, which put the Ducks first in the Pacific-10 Conference.

“It’s a reflection of the quality of the team,” Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos said. “I’m just tickled and proud.”
“It’s nice to be considered one of the better teams in the nation,” Bellotti said.
The Oregon schools will soon receive even more hype via television. Harrington and Simonton have been followed by ESPN camera crews recently, and they will be featured on “The Life,” a show that chronicles the lives of athletes, on Aug. 25.
Bellotti has also been occupying the airwaves, as he chatted publicly online with ABC analyst Terry Bowden Wednesday morning.
After practice Wednesday, Bellotti noted that all this attention won’t matter come January.
“It’s much more important where we stand later in the season,” Bellotti said. “It’s the postseason poll that really counts.”
But for now, the Ducks will just drink up all the hype and hope it doesn’t stop until February.