Quote:Oregon, Bellotti eyeing rebound
Coming off 5-6 season,
By DALE ROBERTSON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

When Oregon's football team last visited the neighborhood 43 years ago, Bob Berry was the Ducks' accomplished quarterback, and Mel Renfro was their star on defense. It was October 1962, and the venue was Rice Stadium.

Oregon trounced Jess Neely's Owls 31-12, and that was that. Nary a quack has been heard in these parts since.

Because the Ducks' primary talent pipeline runs due south to the fertile fields of California, they don't pay bountiful Texas much mind for reasons that are strictly geographical. Nonetheless, Mike Bellotti brings Oregon back to town tonight to open the season against the Houston Cougars in what would have been called an "intersectional tussle" in the sportswriting vernacular of the early '60s.

When Indiana, UNLV and UTEP begged out of scheduling commitments to Oregon, a national TV appearance (ESPN2) and the opulence of Reliant Stadium for a backdrop proved enough of an alternate lure for Bellotti, who is confronting a different kind of challenge in his 11th autumn as the head coach in Eugene.

'Victim of success'
"I'm a victim of our success," he said. "We've built expectations very high."

First as a Rich Brooks assistant, then as his own boss, Bellotti has been front and center throughout what has become the golden age of Ducks football. But the green and gold-clad fowl descending on Houston seem an unsettled lot, immensely talented in theory yet haunted by the memories of a 2004 most foul by their 21st-century standards.

"It's been a heavy burden to carry around," Bellotti said, referring to last season's 5-6 record that ended Oregon's run of 10 consecutive winning seasons and seven consecutive bowl appearances.

Bellotti claims his teams "have had complacency for three years" following the Joey Harrington-led 11-1 Fiesta Bowl season of 2001, when the Ducks finished No. 2 in the national rankings to Miami. Oregon has gone only 4-9 in November since, and 2004 ended with three desultory losses, the final one a particularly galling 50-21 thumping from archrival Oregon State in what the two schools call the Civil War.

Staff shakeup
Because the off-kilter year also began with a seven-turnover travesty at home against Indiana, Bellotti has been demanding of the Ducks in their preseason practices.They'll lay more eggs against the Cougars at their own peril.

Bellotti also shook up his offensive coaching staff, bringing in the deposed Brigham Young head coach, Gary Crowton, to rejuvenate a stagnant attack with a fancy spread attack.

Whether fifth-year quarterback Kellen Clemens, considered a possible Heisman Trophy candidate pending his showing against Southern Cal in late September, has processed all of the scheme's bells and whistles remains to be seen.

Bellotti always has been a proponent of wide-open football, making him an attractive coach for sprightly youngsters wishing to make themselves known to NFL scouts. One such budding star is sophomore wide receiver Cameron Colvin, who came to Oregon ranked among the most prized prospects in the country.

But he arrived with an attitude, too, telling folks he was "majoring in the NFL," then catching just 14 passes for the season.

A chastened Colvin admits: "Last year, it was all hype. I was a good player, yeah, but I wasn't ready for the big crunch time, and I learned from that."

Respect for Cougars
Bellotti calls the Cougars "scary with all the things they do," but he insists he's delighted to be making the lengthy trek to Texas, where maybe a future Duck or two lurks. He likes the Thursday date, the impressive site and the national TV exposure, calling the entire package awesome. And this year he's confident his players will stay in the moment.

"The kids didn't hear me very well last year when I told them they couldn't afford to be looking ahead to Oklahoma (in the third game)," Bellotti said. "But we learned from it. They've been listening a lot better this year. They have great respect for Houston."

Am I crazy or are we getting way more love from the Chron than in past years?

There have been a lot of articles about UH in there this season. I remember telling a marketing guy that I did not want a subscription to the Chron because they do not cover my Coogs. Some other people must have said that as well.

uhmump95 Wrote:There have been a lot of articles about UH in there this season. I remember telling a marketing guy that I did not want a subscription to the Chron because they do not cover my Coogs. Some other people must have said that as well.

Yeah, I remember you posting something about telling the Chron guy to take a hike. That kicked a$$. :laugh:

Anyway -- didn't that Texans guy, David Carr or whoever, cut his hair recently? They must've thrown in some Coog stories to fill up the space formerly allocated for "Mullet Watch" ™.

:D