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| Wednesday, October 18 Cats know they still have plenty of work left By Dan Rosen Special to ESPN.com | |||||
The words come out of Dick Tomey's mouth after each win: "We've given ourselves a chance to be a good team."
The Arizona head football coach knows what his team has done this year is impressive, but he also knows there is a long way to go.
"If we're going to get any personal satisfaction, we'll get it later," Tomey said. "Nothing has happened yet. There are victories, but we're trying to finish the season feeling good about ourselves. What has happened right now is of little significance, it's going to be what happens from here on out."
Arizona With the emergence of sophomore RB Leo Mills this past Saturday, it again looks as if the Wildcats have a dual attack in the running game with Mills and true freshman Clarence Farmer. Mills rushed for 129 yards and two TDs on 19 carries against the Cougars, including 70 yards and both his scores on 12 carries in the fourth quarter and three overtime periods. "It's not complicated," UA coach Tomey said. "Leo needs to be a bigger part of the equation and he's going to be." Farmer carried the ball 21 times but only managed 59 yards for an average of 2.4 yards per rush, far off his 6.4 ypg average heading into the contest. ... Tomey said that while he isn't shocked with the Cats' record through the midway point this season, he is surprised with the play of his makeshift offensive line without its two most experienced players. Senior center Bruce Wiggins hasn't played in the past three games and junior OG Steven Grace has been sidelined basically all season with a shoulder injury and won't play until the spring as he recovers from surgery. But, true freshman Reggie Sampay, sophomore Darren Safranek, senior Marques McFadden and juniors Makai Freitas and Kevin Barry have filled in nicely. "If you told me that we were going to play without Wiggins and Grace and be at this point, I would have gone on a mission, or something," Tomey said. Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder said QB Jeff Krohn will receive a lot of reps in practice this week in hopes that he can return to his early season form. But, no matter what happens in practice, Krohn will get the start over Griffin Goodman this Saturday at Washington State. "I want the best player playing and right now we've decided that it's Jeff," Snyder said. "In this case I would want Jeff to start every game for the remainder of the season." ... Senior TE Todd Heap now holds the distinction of being the all-time receiving yardage leader for Sun Devil tight ends. He needs just one more catch to lead all ASU tight ends in receptions. ... The Sun Devil defense has certainly improved by leaps and bounds from a year ago. They have already forced 18 fumbles, seven more than last year's total of 11. The defense has also not allowed a first quarter touchdown in the last five games and has recorded 22 sacks, just three away from the 25 they managed last year. Cal It may not have been a defensive battle in the Bears 46-38 triple overtime win over UCLA last Saturday, but don't tell that to sophomore FS Nnamdi Asomugha, who won two awards for his play against the Bruins. Asomugha was named the Bronco Nagurski defensive player of the week by the Football Writers Association of America and also earned defensive player of the week honors by the Pac-10. The sophomore was credited with seven tackles, four unassisted and made two huge defensive plays. He intercepted a pass and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown and later in the game came up with a pass deflection in the end zone, which saved a Bruin touchdown on a fourth and goal play. ... Overall, the Bears defense held the Bruin rushing attack, minus injured star junior RB DeShaun Foster, to 45 rushing yards on 45 attempts. Oregon The Ducks have the longest current conference winning streak going with eight straight victories to go along with the second longest home winning streak in the nation at 18 games. And, for the first time since 1957 the Ducks are 3-0 in the conference. ... Junior QB Joey Harrington has been impressive this season, throwing for 1,340 yards and 10 touchdowns on 98-of-190 passing. But he has also had plenty of time to release the ball from the pocket as the Ducks offensive line has only allowed him to be sacked five times in six games, the fewest in the Pac-10. However, he has thrown five interceptions. ... Harrington continued his success this past Saturday in Oregon's 28-17 win at USC, finishing the game with a career-high 382 yards passing, completing 27-of-42 attempts and four touchdowns to four different receivers. For his work, the junior was named the Pac-10 offensive player of the week. Oregon State The Beavers 5-1 start is their best since 1964, when they opened the season 7-1 en route to a Rose Bowl berth. They travel to UCLA this weekend, but it's doubtful the game will be as easy as last year's 55-7 win over the Bruins in Corvallis, Ore. "Obviously we are still in the thick of the Rose Bowl race right now and we must continue to play like we have been playing," OSU coach Dennis Erickson said. "UCLA is a great football team. You don't beat Alabama and Michigan without being very good. They slipped against California and we know that we will be running into a buzz saw going down to play them in the Rose Bowl." ... Junior QB Jonathan Smith's 97-yard TD pass to senior SE Chad Johnson in the Beavers 38-6 victory over Stanford this past Saturday was the longest pass play in OSU history and tied for the second-longest in Pac-10 history. ... The Beavers have committed just eight turnovers this season, including only two interceptions and has a plus 12 turnover margin on opponents. ... Erickson said that junior RB Ken Simonton's groin injury is not an issue and that he is just a little sore. Stanford The Cardinal, who has lost three straight games for the first time since 1998, will host another reeling Pac-10 team, the USC Trojans this week. In Stanford's three losses, they have a combined 23 points. ... Senior QB Randy Fasani, who started the first three games of the season before going down with a left knee injury in a win over Texas, has been cleared to practice by the medical staff. Freshman Chris Lewis did a solid job considering replacing Fasani. He's thrown for 824 yards on 64-of-144 passing and five touchdowns with five interceptions. The team, however, is 0-3 with Lewis starting and 2-1 with Fasani. "I thought Chris improved each week," said coach Tyrone Willingham. "He was able to begin to expand his game, and I'm excited about him gaining that experience. But as always, our measuring stick for our football team is to win the football game. So, as pleased as I am with his improvement, we still did not reach the goal." ... Of Stanford's 12 touchdowns this season, only one has come on the ground. Sophomore Kerry Carter has the most rushing yards on the team with 345, junior Brian Allen is second to him with 288 on 34 less carries. And, as a team they are averaging only 3.4 yards per rush and 129.5 yards per game compared to their 248.0 passing yards per game. ... Willingham said that freshman backup QB Teyo Johnson may redshirt this year and has expressed interest in joining the Cardinal basketball squad, with him possibly practicing with the hoops team this week. UCLA The 24th-ranked Bruins, who were handed a shocking 46-38 triple overtime loss by Cal last Saturday, will welcome No. 18 Oregon State this weekend into the Rose Bowl in a game that, for the first time in history, both teams will be ranked when playing each other. "They have a lot of speed on defense and 68 of their players are from California, so I know they are going to want to come down here and play well against us," coach Bob Toledo said. "My concern at this point is more us than them. We are our own worst enemy." ... Junior WR Freddie Mitchell leads the nation in receiving yards with a 122.7 average. He also ranked No. 1 nationally among players on the NCAA's top 30 receptions per game list with a 19.37 yards per catch average. Mitchell caught eight passes for a career high 167 yards at Cal. ... The triple overtime game at Cal was the longest game ever in the storied history of UCLA football. Prior to that, the longest game was in 1996 against USC when the Bruins won in two overtimes. USC Coach Paul Hackett called the biggest disappointment this year for his USC Trojans is their ineptitude in the fourth quarter. During their current three game losing streak, the Trojans are being outscored 27-17 in the final quarter, including a 17-7 spurt against Oregon State. "In the fourth quarter of the last few games, we were not able to come through with the plays we needed to win," Hackett said. "The improvement in the running game, the improvement in stopping the run, the improvement in kickoff returns and the field goal kicker, all those things, unfortunately, get brushed to the side." ... Hackett's thoughts on the improved running game are certainly respectable, as sophomore RB Sultan McCullough rushed for a career high 152 yards on 23 carries against Oregon last week, including a 59-yard TD burst. ... While other defenses around the league have seemed to improve from last year, the Trojans are on a downward spiral. After leading the nation with 39 takeaways last year, they have managed only 10 this year. But, LBs Markus Steele and Zeke Moreno rank 1-2 in the Pac-10 in tackles for loss with 14 and 11, respectively. Washington Freshman RB Rich Alexis has come on strong, rushing for 127 yards and two TDs at Arizona State this past Saturday and 107 yards and two more TDs against Oregon State the week before. "Rich has a tremendous upside because he is a great combination of size, speed, power and vision," coach Rick Neuheisel said. "He has got all those things that you look for when you go out and try to recruit tailbacks." Sophomore Paul Arnold and senior QB Marques Tuiasosopo have also been running the ball well. Tuiasosopo has rushed for 352 yards and four touchdowns this season, while Arnold has 298 yards and a touchdown. ... Neuheisel said that junior LB Jafar Williams is "banged up" and is unlikely to play this week against Cal at Husky Stadium. Williams, who is out with a shoulder injury, has 17 tackles, two for a loss and one sack this season. ... Neuheisel compared Cal running back Joe Igber to Oregon State's Ken Simonton because "they both have great vision, great quickness and great explosiveness." Washington State Sophomore QB Jason Gesser set a WSU record with his six touchdown passes in the Cougars' triple overtime loss to Arizona. Making it more impressive is the fact the Wildcat defense had allowed only five touchdowns in their previous five games. The sophomore also threw for a career-high 348 yards on 19-of-36 passing. Gesser, however, did throw two interceptions, breaking a streak of 130 consecutive passes without an interception. ... Junior WR Nakoa McElrath tied a Cougar record with three TD receptions from Gesser in the game at Arizona. Six other Cougars have hauled in three touchdowns in a game, the last being Nian Taylor in 1998 against Idaho. ... Senior OG Ryan Raymond, who left Saturday's game with a neck stinger, is listed as probable for this week's contest at home against Arizona State. His twin brother, Reed, also an offensive lineman, is already out for the season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The Raymond's are one of two sets of twins on the 2000 Cougars. Senior LBs Brandon and Ryan Pickering make up the other pair. | |||||
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