Joey Harrington finished Monday’s practice and then reflected on his recent honor as Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week for his performance against Southern California.
What he said was hardly self-indulgent.
“We won,” said the junior quarterback, who had the best game of his career. “That’s how I think about it. We won a football game, and we’ve got to win this week.”
Until the showdown with the Trojans, Harrington had completed just 47 percent of his passes this season. In Los Angeles, he connected 67 percent of his passes for a career-high 382 yards. He also set a career high with four touchdown passes.
“I felt comfortable out there, and things finally started to click,” Harrington said. “But I played well because of the fact that I had such great protection up front. I felt very comfortable from the start of the game, and the receivers were making some great catches out there.
“I did play better than I had been, but I had a lot of help out there.”
The important question is this: Can Harrington repeat his performance against Arizona on Saturday? If stats are any indication, the answer would be yes. Arizona is No. 1 in the Pac-10 in defending the run, but it is ninth in stopping the pass.
“I said all along that I thought he was capable of playing better than he had,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said.
“Part of that was related to his passing accuracy. He did a great job in that game of throwing the ball with great accuracy, great touch, great zip when he needed it. It was probably one of his best games. I hope he has many more like that in his future.”
“I come out to play every week. That’s what I do,” Harrington said.

Frankel power
Oregon place kicker Josh Frankel made all four of his extra point attempts
last Saturday against the Trojans, but he stops short of saying he redeemed himself.
Frankel left a sour taste in the mouths of 45,000-plus fans three weeks ago at Autzen Stadium when he missed three field goal attempts and an extra point against Washington.
In the following bye week, Bellotti and Frankel spent time watching game film. They spotted some things that he was doing wrong in his approach and spent the next week correcting them.

Frankel believes that whatever happened against the Huskies was a one-time thing. Now, he has to prove it.
“That was a bad day,” Frankel said. “It’s going to happen to even the best of ’em; there are no excuses about it. It was flat-out awful, but you can’t dwell on it. You have to move on and keep working hard.”
While the Ducks rested a week-and-a-half ago, Frankel was paying close attention to the college football scene. He watched Florida State’s Matt Munyon send a field goal right of the uprights, giving Miami an upset win and possibly costing FSU a national title. He also watched Oregon State kicker Ryan Cesca launch a wide-right kick, costing the Beavers a win over the Huskies that what would have been the biggest win in their recent history.
Both situations inspired him to better his skills.
“I felt bad for those kids, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Frankel said. “That’s the life of a kicker. Sometimes you’ll be put in a position where you have an opportunity to win the game. Sometimes you make it, and other times, unfortunately, you won’t.
“They say that you win as a team and lose as a team unless you’re a kicker, but that’s all part of the job.”

The Autzen advantage
The Ducks play at home for the first time in three weeks in this Saturday’s homecoming game against the Arizona Wildcats.
It should be noted that in Oregon’s two road games, opponents were allowed a combined total of 531 yards rushing offense.
Opponents in the Ducks’ four home games were held to a combined 218 yards.

Hackett can’t hack it
The Daily Trojan, Southern California’s equivalent of the Oregon Daily Emerald, has been running an interesting poll about Trojan football coach Paul Hackett, who is gaining unwanted notoriety from his team’s horrendous 0-3 conference record.
The poll, titled the “Paul Poll,” asks USC students if Hackett should remain the team’s head coach.
The result as of Sunday was 46-5, and guess which side had the 46 votes.
Things aren’t looking good for poor Hackett.