Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Offense Dominates, D Hangs In

Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti had predicted a defensive struggle.

His defense struggled, all right.

Washington State, led by tailback Michael Black and a merciless offensive line, built a 38-point lead over the 25th-ranked Ducks on Saturday, then settled for a 55-44 victory after suffering through another sloppy finish.

“We just felt really that Oregon wasn’t as good a team as everybody had them cracked up to be,” WSU defensive tackle Leon Bender said. “True enough, they were 3-0 and we were 1-1 and they were 25th in the country.

“But really, it doesn’t mean anything until after the season’s over with.”

After spotting the Ducks a 7-0 lead, the Cougars spent the next 45 minutes doing outtakes for their 1996 highlight video.

By game’s end, Black had accounted for 161 of WSU’s 234 rushing yards, and quarterback Ryan Leaf had matched a career-best with four touchdown passes.

The offensive line, which dominated Temple in its last outing two weeks ago, fared even better against the young Ducks. Leaf was sacked just once, and the Cougars averaged 5.2 yards for each of their whopping 45 carries.

Scott Sanderson, Jason McEndoo, Cory Withrow, Bryan Chiu and Ryan McShane thrived against Oregon’s new defensive scheme, in which the linemen line up a yard off the ball.

“It was real easy for us to get double-teams on their linemen and push them off because we had that yard,” said Withrow, the center.

McEndoo was quick to credit Black.

“With a back like Michael, he’s going to make things happen,” the left guard said. “He gets tackled, but somehow he still finishes the run - he falls forward, he twists, he spins.

“He does whatever it takes to get the extra yard.”

Before Black and the offense could take the field, however, Oregon was up 7-0. Ryan Perry-Smith found Dameron Ricketts for a 35-yard TD pass just 50 seconds into the game, temporarily silencing a Martin Stadium crowd of 30,124.

WSU had little to worry about, however, as the offensive line quickly restored order.

An 80-yard march, capped by Leaf’s short TD pass to Chris Jackson, tied it midway through the first quarter. Another long march, this one for 65 yards, ended with Black’s short run making it 17-7.

“I give them credit for the offensive line,” Bellotti said.

The Cougars seemed to cement the outcome late in the second quarter, scoring twice in the final 41 seconds for a 31-14 lead. Leaf scored on a keeper the first time, and defensive end Dorian Boose returned a Perry-Smith fumble 15 yards for what should have been the backbreaker.

The onslaught continued in the third quarter, starting with an 80-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard pass from Leaf to Chad Carpenter. Black carried five times for 51 yards on the drive, which included a catch-and-run by David Knuff that symbolized the Cougars’ physical dominance.

“I caught the ball, turned my head and saw a white jersey, so I just tried to lower my shoulder,” said Knuff.

In doing so, the senior tight end turned a 10-yard gain into an 18-yarder, knocking Oregon safety Brandon McLemore out of the game.

Leading 38-14, the defense could afford to gamble, and a big rush resulted in an interception for tackle Gary Holmes, who rambled 55 yards to the Oregon 30. Leaf needed just one play to capitalize, finding Bryant Thomas to make it 45-14 with 9:43 left in the third. It would become 52-14.

That’s when WSU got careless, fumbling twice on punt returns to help Oregon make it seem close.

“We gave them 30 points,” Bender lamented. “It’s kind of frustrating to me, when we’re winning 52-14 and we gotta fight and scrape at the end of the game.”

Leaf concurred.

“They could not do anything to stop us,” he said. “It’s just terrible that the score had to end up that way, because people around the nation are going to see 55-44 and think, ‘This is just a shootout. What is this, the WAC or something?”’

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo