By Pigskin Pete

 As we pen this, we are secure in our prediction that the Oregon Ducks will win their second straight Pac 10 title, start the New Year in a major bowl spotlight and attain the highest final season poll ranking in school history.  But can the Quackers sustain the pace next season that has made them their league’s winningest program for seven straight years?  Most probably.  Schedule, talent and a dramatic upgrade of the region’s finest stadium all point to continued Webfoot gridiron success.

Oregon has added a twelfth match to next year’s slate and celebrates an Autzen Stadium expansion to 53,800 seats by scheduling no less than eight home games, including the first four on the schedule.  Here’s the rundown:

 Aug. 31--Mississippi State in an interesting intersectional TV match
 Sept. 7--  Fresno State in a respectable challenge
 Sept. 14--Idaho in what should be a laugher
 Sept. 21--Portland State for a definite gimme
 Oct. 5--   at Arizona in what looks like an even match
 Oct. 12-- at UCLA with the Bruin program undoubtedly on the rebound
 Oct. 19--  Arizona State with Autzen the winning difference
 Oct. 26-- USC and a recovering Trojan program may take revenge
 Nov. 2--  Stanford and theDucks out to revenge last year’s home upset
 Nov. 9--  at Washington State and looking like an even match 
 Nov. 16--Washington as the rivalry resumes and Ducks defend the nest
 Nov. 23--at Oregon State and too tough to call a year in advance

Talent assessment

Yes, the legend of Joey Harrington moves on to the NFL, but only a few of the other key pieces of 2001 Duck success will be absent next season.  A total of just 12 regulars, 6 each on offense and defense, will lose their eligibility.  The quarterback cupboard is not exactly bare, with 6’4”, 215 lb. junior Jason Fife thoroughly familiar with a winning system, and backed by nationally-recruited redshirt freshman phenom Kellen Clemens (from Burns, OR!). 

Running star Maurice Morris heads for the pros, but his starring sidekick Onterrio Smith returns at tailback, backed by speedster and talented kick returner Allan Amundson and a gifted junior Ryan Shaw, who rode the pine this year in deference to the depth at this position.  Only tight end Justin Peele leaves a receiving corps that will again feature all-American Keenan Howry and standouts Jason Willis and Samie Parker…and junior-to-be George Wrightster has already shown the capability to replace Peele’s considerable skills.

Two positions, defensive tackle and cornerback, will lose a pair of veterans each, but overall, this season’s stop corps was characterized as “young and developing.”  Duck fans should gleefully remember that the 2001 freshman class was rated the talent equal of any in Oregon history, yet only three members saw any game action this season, and two of those were kickers.

Webfoot head mentor Mike Bellotti could probably name his price right now to take up the reins at any school (or pro team) in the land.  However, he won’t be leaving before taking his current dynasty another step with resources and scheduling crafted for more national notoriety.

A return to the sidelines?

Remember Rich Brooks…the guy who coached Oregon to 18 largely losing seasons before taking the Ducks to the ’94 Rose Bowl and getting the current Autzen playing surface named “Rich Brooks Field?”  Rich left Eugene to take on NFL coaching challenges in St. Louis and Atlanta before supposedly retiring at age 60 this season.

Apparently sitting in the stands or before a TV screen was no match for working on an ulcer while strolling the sideline in front of a benchful of juveniles holding your future in their tenuous grasp.  Brooks has filed for consideration to take on head coaching duties at either the University of California Berkley or San Diego State.  Neither school offers a recent history of winning nor an army of returning talent.  Yet, if you suffered almost two decades to finally drag the Ducks back to gridiron respectability, perhaps no challenge is too great and any alternatives to college coaching seem boring.

Roses and Raspberries…posies to Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson, who keeps on insisting he’s found a home and will be back to erase this season’s losing memories (aided by another freshman quarterback phenom, Derek Anderson, from, for godssake, Scappoose OR!)…the bums’ rush to Washington’s Huskies for giving eastern sportswriters renewed faith that the Pac 10 is overrated…Roses to the Oregon Ducks’ new basketball edition, with a winning start that promises an NCAA post-season contender…Raspberries to the Blazers’ Bob Whitsitt and Harry Hutt, a pair of management numbskulls to rival any NBA team’s worst public relations nightmares…Roses to every criticism of the BCS football rankings that perpetuate a corrupt bowl system and prevent the field of play from determining who’s really the best Division I team in the land…there’s no such mystery in the other three, smaller NCAA divisions,
each of them supporting a nationwide playoff program.