By
Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Ducks, Wildcats jockey for Pac-10 lead
Every war has its decisive battle. World War II had Normandy. The Civil War had Gettysburg.
The UA football team will face No. 7 Oregon Saturday in a game that could have massive implications in the Pacific 10 Conference and the national balance of power in the NCAA.
Should the No. 21 Wildcats win, they would be in the driver's seat for the Pac-10 title and their first-ever Rose Bowl berth. If the Ducks prevail, they could likely crack the nation's top-five rankings.
Either way, Saturday night's game in Eugene, Ore. will likely be the turning point of the season for both teams.
"It's the kind of game that you always dream of having," UA quarterback Ortege Jenkins said. "It's a game where there's a lot on the line and its going to determine who's on top in the Pac-10."
UA head coach Dick Tomey knows that each game from now until the end of the season will be a battle of its own. The Wildcats face No. 23 UCLA, No. 9 Washington, No. 19 Oregon State and Arizona State after Saturday's game against the Ducks.
"You have to assume in our conference, that any game you play is for the championship," Tomey said. "We try to tell our guys that every play is for the championship. It's an important game because we're tied for first place."
Saturday's battleground will be UO's Autzen Stadium, a facility that although small - the stadium holds just over 41,000 people - is regarded as the toughest place to play in the Pac-10.
The noise generated by the capacity crowd can often confuse opposing offenses, often forcing quarterbacks to implement silent counts and limit their audibles.
"We've got to work on silent counts, of course," Jenkins said. "The offensive line has really got to communicate to each other because we really can't communicate out there."
Tomey is more worried about the team playing inside Autzen than the facility itself. The Ducks have an 18-game home winning streak and have won five of the last six decisions against Arizona.
"The problem is Oregon's team, as I see it," Tomey said. "There's a lot of noise that takes some time to adjust to, but the team is the main problem. If they had a bad team and the crowd was so loud that you couldn't hear, that wouldn't be much of a challenge."
UO head coach Mike Bellotti agrees.
"It's a symbiotic relationship," Bellotti said. "The streak is a byproduct of good football and good kids. The noise level has been awesome - it's something that is definitely a factor. In those confines, 40 or 45 thousand sounds like 85 or 90 thousand (people)."
The Ducks (5-1 overall, 3-0 Pac-10) are led on offense by junior quarterback Joey Harrington, who scored three touchdowns and threw for 144 yards in last season's 44-41 victory against the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium.
Harrington relieved senior quarterback A.J. Feeley at the half last season.
"Harrington is a good player," Tomey said. "They have tremendous balance. They can run it and they can throw it."
So far this season, Harrington has been inconsistent at home, a problem Bellotti is hard-pressed to remedy.
"His two best games throwing have been on the road," he said. "I don't know - it might have something to do with Autzen. It has to do more with the defenses we play."
On defense, the Ducks are loud. Or maybe it's just junior cornerback Rashad Bauman.
Bauman, a Phoenix native, is the leader of the Ducks secondary.
"They stop the run and then they play the best pass defense in the league because they have really good cover people," Tomey said. "They're really good in the back."
As the UO defense attempts to stop the Wildcats' running game, the play of the vociferous Bauman in stopping the pass will likely be the key to Oregon's success.
"With Rashad, it's all about pride," Bellotti said. "He's a tremendous competitor (and) athlete. He's one of the quickest out there. He's got a great (vertical leap) and body strength. He doesn't want to let somebody else win."
The 5-foot-8 Bauman - who prepped at South Mountain High School - is widely regarded as one of the Pac-10's most colorful characters.
"He's got great speed," Jenkins said. "But he's a jibber-jabber - he talks a lot, but he plays well. If you can talk and play well at the same time, you have a few things going."
Jenkins stressed that while the Wildcats may respect the junior, they're not about to throw away from him.
"If he's in man-to-man coverage, we're going to have to go after him," Jenkins said.
Those are fighting words.
