Kellen Clemens to Demetrius Williams: It’s a combination that has connected 41 times for 772 yards and eight touchdowns this season. They are a pair of senior leaders who are getting the job done for the 15th-ranked Oregon Ducks.
Terrence Whitehead is another. He strikes fear in opposing defenses with his running and pass-catching abilities, deceptive mixture of strength and speed and his pure tenacious, play-to-the-whistle attitude.
Defensively, Anthony Trucks, Devan Long, Aaron Gipson and Justin Phinisee are others.
Indeed, the list of senior leadership on this year’s Oregon squad is distinguished and they’ve helped make last season’s dismal 5-6 record a distant memory.
“There are a lot of seniors and, as I’ve said before, those seniors are coming to the forefront because they are also our performers and our contributors,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “Their voice, their word, carries more weight because they are also doing it on the field.”
Their evident on-field talents aside, this group possesses the one intangible that cannot be taught – experience.
Truly, they’ve seen the best of times and the worst of times in their four years with the Ducks.
Take the 2002 season for example.
After starting the season 6-0, Jason Fife and the one-time No. 6 Ducks lost six of their last seven games, including the Seattle Bowl to Wake Forest.
Oregon is currently 6-1. The differences between the 2002 squad and this year’s team are undeniable.
The 2005 Oregon Ducks are saying the right things, doing the right things, and know what it takes to avoid a monumental slide that parallels that fateful 2002 season.
“We’ve been here when we’re really good and we’ve been here when we’ve been bad,” Long, the team’s sack leader, said. “We know what it takes to win and we know what not to do to lose.”
Clemens and company are also without the pressure of following the most successful season – and team – in Oregon history as the 2002 team was forced to do after Joey Harrington’s drive to the Fiesta Bowl and 11-1 record in 2001.
Instead, the goal entering this season was simply to restore Oregon’s bowl tradition, and that mission was accomplished last weekend with a 45-21 thrashing of the Huskies, which gave Oregon the needed six wins for bowl eligibility.
The remaining schedule also stacks more favorably for the Ducks this season. Rather than facing names such as Andrew Walter of Arizona State, Carson Palmer of USC, Reggie Williams of Washington and Steven Jackson of Oregon State, as the 2002 Ducks did, Oregon’s final four opponents this season have a combined 4-9 Pacific-10 Conference record.
They know what is at stake and know how to get what they want.
“Our past and history has given us experience so we know how to respond,” Phinisee said.
Therefore, beginning Saturday in Tucson, don’t expect to see a letdown from the Ducks.
These seniors won’t let it happen.
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