Cold Ducks on Cougars' menu.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

PULLMAN, Wash. - What's really the difference here?

Washington State won its three nonleague games, just as Oregon did. The Cougars led their Pac-10 opener at halftime before faltering in the second half, as did the Ducks.

But since then, the Cougars still haven't won and the Ducks haven't lost again, bringing them together here tonight at 7:15 for what should be a frigid matchup for the cameras of FSN and the brave and hardy souls who show up at Martin Stadium.

What's really the difference between the Cougars and Ducks?

`They've been able to do the things we haven't been able to do,' WSU coach Bill Doba said with the resignation of a coach facing a second consecutive losing season.

The Ducks are on the positive side of turnovers, by plus-seven this season. The Cougars are at a deficit in turnovers, minus-five. Oregon has been able to build leads and hold them while WSU has dropped four games it led into the fourth quarter.

Thus, it puts 11th-ranked Oregon (8-1 overall, 5-1 in the Pac-10) still chasing a premier bowl game while the Cougars (3-6, 0-6) are left with nothing but tonight's game and the Apple Cup with a Washington team knowing futility as well as its rival.

In other words, look out Ducks.

`I have a feeling they will cut it loose,' Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. `They have nothing to lose and it can certainly improve their outlook on this season if they were to win these last two games.

`We have to be the same way. We have to go in not feeling comfortable but feeling very hungry and like we have something to prove.'

Expect the Cougars to do anything they can to cross up the Ducks. They'll blitz those Oregon quarterbacks, inexperienced as Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf are with Pac-10 defenses. They may onside kick. They'll certainly go for it on fourth down a time or two, considering they've done that in situations where it didn't seem likely, or wise.

What's the risk now?

`It's hard for me to ever envision playing a game where you don't have something to play for, and they do,' Bellotti insisted. `I look at them on film and I don't see any quit in them. They're playing hard and they want to win. They just have had some tough breaks.'

Doba said the Cougars aren't far from being 8-1, just like Oregon. One fewer interception at Oregon State might have resulted in a win for WSU. Another first down might have run out the clock on UCLA. Rethink that fake punt attempt at Cal ...

Doba even grumbled that last weekend, with warm-weather team Arizona State in the Palouse, a storm held off until after the Sun Devils had completed their 27-24 victory.

`We've had a run of unusual luck, I'll put it that way,' Doba said.

So does all that turn tonight? The weather forecast hints at temperatures hovering near freezing and the possibility of precipitation.

How will the Ducks, particularly those sophomore quarterbacks, deal with that?

`Both have handled the weather in Eugene very well,' Bellotti said. `Brady has played in snow more than Dennis ever thought of, but Dennis has very large hands and handles the football very well. I think both will be fine and I don't see a difference in that.'

Dixon, the Californian, will start and had about 60 percent of the practice snaps, Bellotti said. Leaf will get a series in each half, the coach said, `and we'll sort of go from there.'

Doba figures it's to WSU's advantage to be playing defense against the two young Oregon quarterbacks instead of the injured Kellen Clemens, who passed the Cougars into defeat here last season.

`They were really good with Clemens, and they'll be good with one of these guys eventually,' Doba said.

Might Leaf, the Montana native, have an edge tonight in the possibly adverse conditions? He said he wasn't affected playing in snow and with the thermometer at zero in high school.

`I've always thought it was more a mental thing,' Leaf said of weather's impact. `You can't think to yourself, `Oh, God, it's so cold.' It's just another game, the temperature is just a little lower.'

And remember last Saturday when the Ducks beat California at Autzen Stadium?

`That was one of the worst weather games I've played in,' Leaf said. `The rain was coming sideways, the ball was constantly wet ...'

And if it snowed tonight?

`When it snows, it usually only lasts 15 minutes and it's not as wet as rain,' Leaf said. `It comes down and sticks ... the ball isn't as wet.'

Dixon, however, doesn't have that cold weather experience.

`I'll help him on how to keep his hands warm,' Leaf said. `It's not as difficult as people think. A lot of people haven't played in (cold weather or snowy conditions) and they get nervous about it.'

The Ducks have enough to be wary of with the Cougars.