| Oregon Magazine |
| Fearless Football Forecast
Precedes Pac 10 Season By Pigskin Pete We stand by our crystal ball gazing reported at the conclusion of Pac 10 spring grid drills. Barring serious injuries as mid-August drills prep for the upcoming collegiate season, we forecast that September 24 will determine the eventual conference titleist as Oregon hosts USC, winners of the Trojans' last 22 games and a unanimous 2004 national championship. This bold prediction is not shared by any prognosticators we have perused. Our journalistic compatriots seem unaware of Duck coach Mike Bellotti's remodeling of his program and are too conscious of his 5-6 losing season last go-round (the first losing mark during the head Duck's 10-year reign). Sure, the SC champions return a large group of veterans, including starting QB Matt Leinart. Yet Oregon has the league's only other proven QB, Kellen Clemens, and the Oregon offense is retooled by new assistant coach Gary Crowton, who proved his worth at Brigham Young before succumbing to Bellotti's blandishments. The wide open, run & shoot Crowton system is ideal for Clemens, who was a prep all-American running a similar scheme at little Burns, Oregon. Our faith in Oregon's resurgence is bolstered by the presence of freshman Jonathan Stewart, considered the nation's best prep running back last year, and offering an exciting solution to the Ducks' failures last year in this department. The Lemon & Green returns a pair of 2004 all-American stalwarts in defending frontmen Haloti Ngata and Devan Long, plus an experienced secondary. The Duck offensive receiving corps also has returning strength. Schedule is a potent factor in determining the probable outcome of the Pac 10 2005 wars. Oregon shines here, with SC at Autzen. We call the conference as follows: 1. Oregon 2. USC 3. Arizona State 4. Washington State 5. California 6. UCLA 7. Washington 8. Stanford 9. Oregon State 10. Arizona We place great emphasis on the quarterback factor, and only the front-runners excel here. Oregon State graduated its star tosser and has one of the nation's toughest opening schedules (Boise State & Louisville). Stanford has three experienced QB's, but none earned coaching confidence last year and new coach Walt Harris is putting in a changed offensive scheme. No proven signal callers exist at other Pac 10 campuses. We'll be back with an assessment of our seer qualities come September. Roses & Raspberries...roses to the Portland Trailblazers finally taking some correct steps in renovating the disaster this once-proud NBA franchise became due to the inept ministrations of ex-general manager Bob Whitsitt (and posies also to owner Paul Allen, who also tied the can to Whitsitt as a major domo with the NFL Seattle Seahawks), yet winning success is at least two years in the Blazers' future...raspberries, again, to the ineptitude of ex-mayor Vera and compatriots who underlined Portland's minor league sports status with their PGE Park project...roses to Portland State's determination to be a successful Divison I basketball squad and we believe the new coach and his recruits will make another successful bid to qualify for the NCAA BigDance...no plaudits for the Viking grid program, however, which is again unlikely to fill enough seats this fall to justify continuing the administration of coach Tim Walsh, an inadequate follower of what had come before...blossoms are warranted for a turnaround in the University of Oregon's track & field program, though measures taken were somewhat brutal and dictated by ex-Duck andcurrent footwear impresrio Phil Knight of Nike fame. © 2005 Oregon Magazine |