Television sets across Eugene tuned in to Oregon State’s game against Arizona in Tucson 7:30 p.m. Saturday, as Oregon football players and fans anticipated the possibility of an early Rose Bowl berth.
By halftime, when the score was Beavers 23, Arizona 3, many of those people were probably changing the channel.
The Beavers’ suffocated the Wildcats defensively and dismantled them offensively. They left little doubt as to who the best team was in Arizona at the moment.
“I was impressed,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said of the game, during a Sunday conference call. “The Beavers are a good football team that is peaking at the right time. They never gave Arizona a chance to get back in the game after the first quarter.”
They may have even made a case as to which was the best team in the state of Oregon, or even the whole Pacific-10 Conference.
The Las Vegas gamblers thought so, naming Oregon State a four-point favorite to win the Civil War as of Monday morning.
But even the Beavers’ total domination of an Arizona team — on its homecoming night — didn’t convince Bellotti that his team should be viewed as underdogs.
“Personally, I like being the underdog,” Bellotti said. “If we’re the favorite, awesome. We should be favored because we’re undefeated in the conference.
“If we’re the underdogs because we’re playing at their place, that’s awesome too.”
Defensive end Saul Patu watched the Wildcat massacre with his wife. Walking between television interviews in the Casanova Center’s Pittman room, he said he was disappointed with the way Arizona played.
“Being at their house on homecoming weekend, there’s a lot to play for, a lot of pride and things at stake, for them and their season,” Patu said. “I like to see things happen where they represent their institution and their team and the pride that they have.
“Also, they would be clinching a Rose Bowl for us. I didn’t depend on that in the beginning, but I think it got a little out of hand.”
On the other side of the field, Patu commended Oregon State’s poise and control throughout the game.
“I think they played great,” he said. “They did what they had to do to stay on top of the game, being a visiting team. When you’re a visiting team, you’ve got to be better than the home team, so I think they did a good job executing.”
Offensive tackle Jim Adams, who helps protect tailback Maurice Morris and quarterback Joey Harrington, was another Duck who saw Saturday night’s game.
“I watched parts of it — the bad parts, when Oregon State started scoring,” Adams said.
Like everyone else who watched the game, Adams saw Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins get sacked six times. But he doesn’t see how he or any other Oregon lineman would let the same thing happen to Harrington.
“There’s nothing much we can do to play their part of the game, all we can do is take care of our part,” Adams said. “If we can take care of all the things we do, there shouldn’t be so many sacks this weekend as there was against Arizona.”
Another Duck who watched the game was fullback Josh Line, a Springfield native.
“I thought it was an impressive display of not only Oregon State’s offense, but their defense,” he said. “However, I did feel like Arizona kind of rolled over for them early, but they rolled over because Oregon State was beating them. That’s what great teams do — they bring it to people so hard that they roll over.
“I’m not worried. I’m not worried because of watching that game or any other game.”