Ducks Ready For Showdown in The Desert With Arizona State

Oregon, Arizona State pre-game notes.

Photo goducks.com

EUGENE - Get ready for Game four - The Oregon at Arizona State game happens at 12:30 PM, they play at SunDevil Stadium. The University of Oregon football team (3-0, 1-0 Pacific-10 Conference) hits the road this week to face Arizona State in Tempe.

It marks the second time in as many seasons (and third time in the last four years) that Oregon has played at Sun Devil Stadium, with the Ducks winning 31-17 in week six of the 2005 season.

Oregon already has one conference victory under its belt after defeating Stanford in week one. Oregon is coming off a bye while the Sun Devils fell 49-21 at California last week.

TELEVISION/RADIO INFORMATION

ESPN on ABC: Regional Telecast: Dan Fouts (play-by-play), Tim Brant (analyst), Jack Arute (sideline)

LOCAL BROADCAST: Oregon Sports Network, 11:30 AM: Jerry Allen, Mike Jorgensen, Jay Allen

DELAYED TELECAST: Oregon Sports Network, 11:30 PM: Joe Giansante, Anthony Newman

QUICKLY

• Oregon has posted an 11-1 record on Saturdays following a bye week during the regular season under Mike Bellotti.

• The Ducks have won their last 10 such contests since suffering a 33-14 loss to Washington in 1996.

• Oregon did not enjoy the luxury of a bye in 2004, but did not start the season until Sept. 11. However, the extra week of preparation did little to help Oregon’s cause as itsuffered its only non-conference home loss ever under Bellotti, a 30-24 setback to Indiana.

THE SERIES VS. ARIZONA STATE

The Sun Devils hold the advantage in the overall series, 16-10, and have won the last three of the last four meetings. The Ducks snapped a three-game win streak by ASU, winning 31-17 in Tempe last season. Arizona State’s three straight wins (dating back to the 2002-2004) snapped a four-game win-streak by the Ducks. Prior to last season, the Ducks last won at Sun Devil Stadium in 2000 when quarterback Joey Harrington led the Ducks to a thrilling 56-55 double-overtime victory.

OREGON VS. ARIZONA STATE - THE LAST SIX MEETINGS

10/28/00: at ASU - Oregon 56, ASU 55 (2ot)

11/3/01: at Oregon - Oregon 42, ASU 24

10/19/02: at Oregon - ASU 45, Oregon 42

10/11/03: at ASU - ASU 59, Oregon 14

10/2/04: at Oregon - ASU 28, Oregon 14

10/8/05: at ASU - Oregon 31, ASU 17

WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR - OREGON IN THE FIRST THREE GAMES

• Jonathan Stewart has 426 yards of all purpose yards...He had over 200 total yards in his two starts (Stanford, Oklahoma) and rushed for over 100 yards in both of those games. Has at least one TD in all three games this season and 13 career scores in 13 games.

• Oregon is 22-of-39 on third down conversions (56.4%) while opponents are just 16-of-45 (35.6%). The Ducks are also 2-of-3 on fourth down conversions.

• The Ducks have been in the red zone 16 times this season and have scored 14 times (87.5%).

• Receiver Jaison Williams has had 100-plus receiving yards in two of Oregon’s three games (Fresno State, Oklahoma) and is third in the nation in receiving yards per game (108.3).

• Derrick Jones became the first true freshman to play this year when he took the field against Oklahoma.

• Oregon has had more than 500 yards of total offense in two of three games (Stanford, Oklahoma)

• The Ducks are racking up wins and have more than 1,400 yards of total offense despite opponents winning the time of possession battle by more than 23 minutes (101:49-78:11).

HEAD COACH MIKE BELLOTTI - 12TH SEASON

When Mike Bellotti was elevated to head football coach at the University of Oregon on Feb. 13, 1995, few people could have envisioned the impact the former UC Davis honors student would have on a university, as well as a community, which was coming off its first conference championship in 37 years. In the 11 seasons that followed, all he accomplished would be the navigation of a program through its most successful era in school history.

With a win over Fresno State in week two of the 2006 season, Bellotti became the Ducks’ all-time winningest coach and is now 93-42. He has guided Oregon to the No. 2 ranking in the country and a Fiesta Bowl win following the 2001 season.

Bellotti has led the school to nine bowl appearances in his 11 years at the helm, tallied eight or more wins in a single season seven times, accumulated the second-most victories (93) of any program in the league during his tenure and has overseen a team that has finished among the nation’s Top-20 four times in the past seven seasons. None of his 29 Oregon predecessors can match his timetable for success as well as few in the Pacific-10 Conference.

The “dean of the Pac-10” is ninth all time in conference wins (57-32) while only four former league mentors (John Robinson, Don James, Terry Donahue and Larry Smith) were able to post more conference triumphs than Bellotti in their first 10 years in the Pac-10.

He Began the 2006 campaign only one victory shy of Rich Brooks (1977-94) as the winningest football coach in school history and his winning percentage of 68.8 percent trails only Hugo Bezdek (72.7%—1906, 1913-17) among Oregon’s all-time mentors who coached the Ducks a minimum of three seasons.

Guiding the Ducks to an unprecedented seventh-consecutive bowl appearance in 2003, the Northern California native has played a vital role in assembling more than 24 percent (132 wins) of the University’s all-time triumphs (535) since assuming the role as the school’s offensive coordinator prior to the 1989 season.

In addition, only six active Division I coaches in the country have guided their current schools to more postseason appearances than Bellotti has at Oregon while he began the year ranked 16th on the list of winningest active Division I-A coaches in the country.

SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE

• The Sun Devils enter the game 3-1, 0-1 Pacific-10 Conference. They opened the season 3-0 before falling 49-21 at California last week.

• ASU has yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season and has given up only 14 points in the second half, outscoring opponents 56-14 in the second half.

• Quarterback Rudy Carpenter is 7-2 as the starter and leads the conference in TD passes (11).

• Tailback Ryan Torain rushed for 191 yards and a TD last week vs. Cal

• Head Coach Dirk Koetter has guided ASU to three bowl games in his first five seasons.

• Koetter is 36-29 overall, 17-24 in the Pac-10 in his tenure at Arizona State.

TIES WITH THE SUN DEVILS

• Head Coach Dirk Koetter served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti in 1996-97.

• ASU assistant head coach Tom Osborne was the special teams and tight ends coach at Oregon from 1995-2000.

• Oregon defensive line coach Michael Gray and Arizona State cornerbacks coach Al Simmons coached together at Oregon State (2001-02).

• Oregon wide receivers coach Robin Pflugrad spent six seasons (1995-2000) as the receivers coach/recruiting coordinator at Arizona State.

• The Sun Devils have one player on their roster from the state of Oregon -- linebacker Garrett Judah (Beaverton, Ore.).

NORTHWESTERN EXPOSURE

With this week’s game being picked up by ESPN on ABC, the Ducks’ first five games of the 2006 season will be televised and dating back to last season, Oregon has had its last nine games televised regionally. That’s the longest such streak since the Ducks had eight straight games televised from the end of the 2001 season to the beginning of the 2002 season.

ROCKIN’ AUTZEN

The crowd of 59,269 to watch the Oregon vs. Oklahoma game is the largest ever to watch a college football game at Autzen Stadium, as well as within the State of Oregon. In the season-opener vs. Stanford, the fourth-largest crowd (58,450) ever filled the stadium as Oregon’s first two home games of the season rank in the top 5 all-time.

ONE FOR THE AGES

Despite a controversial call late in Oregon’s win over Oklahoma two weeks ago, the Ducks staged a remarkable comeback to win 34-33. After driving 65 yards to score and pull within six points of Oklahoma, the Ducks recovered the onside kick with 1:12 remaining. After a lengthy review, Oregon was awarded the ball and capped an impressive comeback when Dennis Dixon hit Brian Paysinger on a 23-yard pass with 46 seconds remaining.

Oregon rallied with 14 points over the final 3:12 to overcome a 33-20 deficit. But the Sooners still had a chance to walk away with the victory when an attempted a 43-yard field goal was blocked by Oregon linebacker Blair Phillips. Sooner placekicker Garrett Hartley had kicked four successful field goals in the game prior to Phillips’ block.

BELLOTTI VS.THE TOP-25

With the win over Oklahoma, Oregon is now 21-19 record vs. opponents ranked among the nation’s Top 25 in Mike Bellotti’s 12th season at the Ducks’ helm, including a 10-7 record in Autzen Stadium. A year ago, Bellotti’s teams tallied a 3-1 ledger against the nation’s elite, with the lone setback coming at the hands of national runner-up USC.

The Ducks have played 22 games under Bellotti where both Oregon and its opponent where ranked among the Top 25, with the Ducks accumulating a 14-8 mark on those occasions. In those 22 appearances between two ranked foes, Oregon was able to pull the “upset” six times as the lower-ranked participant.

Prior to defeating the Sooners this season, the latest instance was a year ago when the 25th-ranked Ducks upset No. 20 Arizona State in Tempe.

PROTECTING THE PASSER

The Ducks’ offensive line unit is an experienced group and so far this season has allowed just one sack -- which didn’t come until the third game of the season. After allowing 41 sacks in 2004, Oregon trimmed that number to 20 last season. They kept the improvement going as they did not allow a sack against Stanford or Fresno State, and are currently second in the nation in sacks allowed (1-7yds.). On the other hand, Arizona State is tied for the nation’s lead in QB sacks (19-114 yds).

SEPTEMBER UNDER BELLOTTI

Oregon is 36-10 in the month of September under Head Coach Mike Bellotti. The Ducks have gone perfect in September three times under the 12th-year coach (1998, 2001, 2002). The Ducks were 3-0 in the month last season before dropping a 45-13 decision to the top-ranked USC Trojans on Sept. 24 at Autzen Stadium.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

In Oregon’s latest outing, Oklahoma held the advantage in time of possession (34:28 to Oregon’s 24:67), but the Ducks had seven more plays (74-67) in the game and had seven more first downs than the Sooners.

In the second week of the season, Fresno State had the ball more than double the time Oregon did in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs scored just one touchdown and Oregon quickly matched with a five-yard TD by Jeremiah Johnson later in the quarter. On the season, Oregon has had the ball 23 minutes less than its opponents, but has 75 first down to opponents’ 49 and has more offensive plays (215 to opponents’ 210).

Despite ranking 114th in the nation in time of possession, Oregon has 1,414 yards of total offense compared to opponents’ 1,061.

U KON

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