Oregon’s Rashad Bauman plays with a lot of emotion every game, but said that against USC there was twice as much emotion on the field because of the tragic events of Sept. 11 on the East Coast.
In the aftermath of the intense, emotion-filled contest between Oregon and USC last Saturday, one key subject appeared to get lost in the shuffle.
Reporters were asking about the miraculous Joey Harrington-led fourth quarterback scoring drive. Fans were reveling in freshman Jared Siegel’s game-winning field goal. And others wanted to know more about that wild scuffle between the two teams during warm-ups.
But the pregame moment of silence for the Sept. 11 tragedy and the performance of the national anthem by both schools’ bands was barely mentioned among those that played or witnessed the thrilling game.
And for Oregon’s Rashad Bauman, at least that meant that his team had accomplished their mission.
“Nobody’s forgotten about it, as that was the biggest part of the game, but we wanted to give everybody a chance to be happy,” Bauman said. “We’ve been miserable for the past couple of weeks and all we’ve been seeing on T.V. lately is that 190 people died here and this many people died there.
“So we did have a tough, hard-fought victory and everyone was excited and that’s what we wanted to do as a team.”
Bauman stood out in the postgame locker room as he was sporting a dark blue sweater with the American flag on the front.
“It was a tragic thing that happened and there’s not much that we can do here on the West Coast, but I just wanted to show my appreciation for our country and show everyone that has a victim in the tragedy that I’m with them,” Bauman said. “It was an emotional game and an emotional win.
“Hopefully it brought some smiles to people’s faces and I don’t know how long that will last, but just to get that opportunity to have some fun was a good thing for us and everyone else.”
New look for a good cause
Those that have seen Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti recently and wondered what’s different, yes, he did shave his trademark mustache.
But he did so for a very good reason.
“I’m trying to support a person who’s battling cancer and she lost her hair and she asked me if I’d shave my head, and I said that I would not subject the rest of the world to that but the mustache can go in a heartbeat,” said Bellotti, who last had the mustache shaved off “two or three” years ago for his wife’s birthday. “There are some things more important than that mustache and it’ll grow back.”
Rackin’ up the stats
When the Ducks face the Utah State Aggies Saturday at 6:05 p.m., some of the players may have a chance to pad some already impressive statistics.
Oregon senior cornerback Steve Smith, who was named the Pacific-10 Conference defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Trojans, is tied for first in the nation for interceptions with three (all snagged against USC’s Carson Palmer).
Junior Allan Amundson is making his mark with his speed on kickoff returns as his return average of 35 yards ranks second in the country.
And inside the Pac-10, free safety Keith Lewis is all alone atop the league list for most tackles (35) and average tackles per game (11.7).
