Ducks-Huskies Rivalry Heats Up Over ‘Hatred’

Perhaps Mike Bellotti and Jim Lambright should squeeze into a couple of those inflatable sumo suits and settle this thing in the ring.

Not that their current form of jousting isn’t entertaining in itself.

Oregon’s 31-28 upset of Washington in Seattle last weekend touched off a storm of accusations and denials. In the green corner is Bellotti, the Oregon coach.

Over in the purple corner is Washington’s Lambright.

Oregon players threw the first low blow after Saturday’s game by saying they “hate” the Huskies.

“I have a hard time with hatred in a rivalry game,” Lambright answered Monday. “I will never get into it and I know it’s being coached.”

Them’s fightin’ words, Jimbo. “I don’t coach or teach hatred,” Bellotti fired back Tuesday, speaking during a conference call of Pac-10 coaches. “It’s a shame that those kind of comments come out after losing a game like that. I don’t like it very much personally if that inference is directed at me. “I don’t coach that. We coach emotion.”

All right, all right. Lighten up, Mikey.

“I didn’t direct those comments at anybody,” Lambright retreated, when informed of Bellotti’s response. “Those are just my thoughts about rivalry games, and any time I read a player quote that mentions hatred, that bothers me because the game isn’t supposed to be that way.”

The Huskies and Ducks are scheduled to play next Nov. 7 in Eugene. Oregon has been installed as a three-quote favorite.

Bellotti said Wednesday that Akili Smith, who engineered the Ducks’ upset of Washington, is the team’s No. 1 quarterback.

Smith and Jason Maas have alternated at the position all season, but Bellotti said Smith has pulled away by his performance the past two games and will start Saturday when the Ducks play 15th-ranked Arizona State in Tempe.

UCLA defense stiffens

After yielding 67 points in losses to Washington State and Tennessee, the UCLA defense was seen as the Bruins’ greatest weakness. But not anymore.

The Bruins are third in the Pac-10 in scoring defense at 19.1 points per game - 10 points fewer than they allowed last year. The turnaround started with a 66-0 victory at Texas, which was ranked 10th at the time. Prior to shutting out Texas, many questioned the gimmicky scheme of defensive coordinator Rocky Long, who previously worked at Oregon State.

When Long used the scheme in Corvallis, it was seen as a way to cover for having less talent - something that shouldn’t be a problem at UCLA.

But the Bruins have bought into the system, which relies heavily upon disguising frequent blitzes. “When we beat Texas we saw that, ‘Man, this defense works. We can make plays,”’ linebacker Brian Willmer said. “The guys began to believe not only in their ability but also in the system. It was a matter of time before it took off.”

Stanford secondary ailing

As if Ryan Leaf and WSU’s Fab Five receivers weren’t enough to worry about, the Stanford secondary must also contend with debilitating injuries.

The Cardinal will probably be without cornerbacks Corey Hill and Mark Sanders when they visit Pullman for Saturday’s 2 p.m. game. Stanford was already missing standout free safety Tim Smith, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Cardinal’s opener against North Carolina.

“This makes us thinner than bone-thin,” Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham said.

Hill sprained the big toe on his left foot during last week’s 45-21 loss at USC. Sanders, who replaced Hill, dislocated his left shoulder.

Evan Herring, a walk-on, will start at cornerback. The nickel secondary also will include Frank Primus and Chris Johnson at cornerback and Than Merrill and Alistair White at the safeties.

Around the conference

How seriously is UCLA taking Saturday’s big game against Washington? The Bruins borrowed 48 pairs of purple football pants from Northwestern and had dozens of gold helmets painted purple, just so its scout team would more closely resemble the Huskies. The helmets were also marked with Washington’s ‘W’ insignia.

USC quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst will miss the remainder of the regular season with a severe right ankle sprain. That means John Fox is again the starter… . USC defensive backs Daylon McCutcheon and Chad Morton will continue to play offense, too. Until Morton’s 69-yard run last week, USC running backs had failed to break a run longer than 20 yards since last season, a span of 481 carries.

Oregon surrendered 413 yards against Washington last week - and moved up from 100th to 98th nationally in total defense… . This from Arizona coach Dick Tomey, when asked about new long-snapper Nate Campbell, a freshman: “Only the laundry man will know how nervous he is.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

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