Oregon Magazine

Cover

Pigskin Pete
Pigskin Goes 4-2 as
UO, OSU Triumph

By Fred Delkin

Oregon college football fanatics are on the verge of an historic season ending as they savor last weekend's wins. Should the Ducks have a winning trip to Tucson and the Beavers win as expected in Pullman, the Civil War in Autzen Stadium Dec. 3 will have virtually unprecedented importance. The intrastate foes each have a bye week to prepare for a game that should determine a Pac10 champion and a Rose Bowl appearance. This past week, Pigskin Pete achieved a 4-2 record, missing on calls for Southern Cal and Portland State wins.

However, Oregon faces a challenge this week in a surprisingly potent Arizona team playing on its home turf. Arizona, Stanford and Oregon State each trail the league-leading Ducks with only two conference stumbles apiece versus UO's single loss. The Webfoot offense comes to the desert in full force and will be too much for the Wildcats to handle, though we expect a close game. A victory would propel the Ducks into the national top 10. OREGON by 6.

Oregon State will enjoy a cakewalk over hapless Washington State and reinforce the Cougar chorus asking for the removal of WSU coach Paul Wulff. Pullman is by far the least saleable venue for prep recruits and Wulff lacks influential contacts outside the talent-poor environs of eastern Washington. OREGON STATE by 35.

The annual "Big Game" featuring Cal and Stanford will be played in Palo Alto and home team coach Jim Harbaugh has the horses to prevail. The Bears hung a loss on Arizona last week, but can't match the run/pass combo the Cardinal feature in Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck. STANFORD by 7.

Arizona State takes its mediocre offense and excellent defense to UCLA and we believe the Bruins will eke out a win in the Rose Bowl as the combatants match 2-5 league records. However, the UCLA offense faces a very tough challenge. UCLA by 3.

Southern Cal and Washington take the week off.

Portland State administrators bit the bullet this week and obtained the resignation of showman Jerry Glanville, whose coaching credentials were badly overrated when he came to town 3 years ago, a fact that certainly prompted the resignation of his former cohort Mouse Davis on the eve of the current season...a major factor in assuring the failure of the Viking program that culminated in a season-ending loss to until-then winless Idaho State. Now PSU must hire a coach with proven credentials in both mentoring and recruiting and a good magnet for attracting assistant coaches to replace Glanville's axed staff. There is no valid excuse for a Portland-based program failing to be a Big Sky power, filling the stands at PGE Park and even growing into a Division I contestant, but that transformation must be immediate, or funding support will disappear and Viking football will be a memory for the Rose City.