It’s so hard for the Ducks not to think about last season, yet so easy for them to notice the parallels.
A 4-0 team heads into Pacific-10 Conference play with a solid team but rampant questions about “the little things.” That 4-0 team meets the closest thing to a Pac-10 patsy — Arizona. Said 4-0 team blows out the Wildcats en route to a repeat conference title and satisfactorily answers all those questions.
The last part hasn’t happened yet in 2002, but that doesn’t mean the Ducks aren’t thinking about it.
“We’re always looking to get the ‘w,’ but it’s good to know that we did that last year,” Oregon free safety Keith Lewis said. “We’ll go down there and try to put up as many points as we can, hopefully we can put up more points than we did last year.”
Arizona has essentially the same team as the one the Ducks faced last season. Jason Johnson is still starting at quarterback. Clarence Farmer is still the man at running back. Michael Jolivette is still busting chops at cornerback.
Except that, wait, those latter two won’t be in action Saturday. The Arizona team is more busted than a Eugene rioter, with Farmer and Jolivette as two players on the Wildcats’ long list of infirmed.
But the injury bug hasn’t stopped Arizona so far this season. The Wildcats are 4-1 this year, their only loss coming at the hands of No. 19 Wisconsin in the second week of the season. Arizona is 3-0 at home so far this season.
The Ducks, of course, won’t be overlooking any conference foe this year.
“Certainly, you gotta win on the road,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “By being the defending conference champion, and being in the top-10, we have a bull’s-eye on our backs and we have to defend that on the road.”
That bull’s-eye seems to follow the Ducks wherever they go. Well, actually, this is the first time Oregon’s gone anywhere. The Ducks are 4-0 this season, and all four wins came in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium.
But if any team in the conference can handle road games, it’s Oregon. The Ducks have a league-leading five-straight road victories and have won eight of the last nine away from Eugene. Oregon is also working on another streak, the nation’s second-longest overall winning streak, at nine games. Only Miami, at 26-straight wins, has a longer streak.
“They definitely aren’t ready to give up their (conference) throne,” Arizona head coach John Mackovic said of the Ducks. “When Joey Harrington graduated, a lot of people thought they would struggle, but their offense has not missed a beat.”
For Oregon, defense of its Pac-10 crown will have to come on the road. After the game at Arizona, the Ducks will face three more road tests this season that could mean the difference between a third-straight Pac-10 title or a trip back to the middle of the pack. The Ducks play at UCLA, at Washington State and at Oregon State, with only two conference contenders — Southern California and Washington — coming to Autzen Stadium.
“The Pac-10 is another league,” Oregon star tailback Onterrio Smith said. “Those non-league games didn’t mean much. This is for all the marbles. We can’t lose a game in the Pac-10.”
There are all sorts of statistics surrounding this game, but perhaps the most telling statistic is the tried-and-true, record-in-games-after-a-bye-week statistic. Oregon dominates that category; the Ducks have won seven-straight such contests.
“It was nice to have a weekend off,” Lewis said.
The bye week gave Oregon a chance to rest some of its dinged-up players, and the Ducks will enter the game with Arizona relatively healthy from the preseason. The only notable injury for the Ducks is defensive end Ed Wangler.
The same can’t be said for the Arizona Wildcats, who will enter the contest dinged up. Which only heightens the Ducks’ chances to repeat last season’s patterns.
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