Fiesta or no, Ducks part of national party.Byline: Ron Bellamy "Rockin'" Ron Bellamy (born December 13, 1964) is an American professional boxer. He is the half-brother of former NBA center Walt Bellamy. Ron also started his career in basketball, playing collegiately at UNC-Charlotte and professionally in New Zealand and Europe. / The Register-Guard No matter what happens with bowl selections this weekend, Oregon can at least be proud of this: The Ducks were part of the national discussion to the end. Small consolation, if they aren't selected for the Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Tostitos tortilla chips (a Frito-Lay product), is a United States college football game played annually since 1971. Originally, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium where it remained until 2006. . But when you consider where things were for Oregon football a year ago - a losing record, no bowl game, unhappy fans - it's something. "We're hoping for the best," Oregon athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic Bill Moos said Thursday. "But if indeed it doesn't occur, having Oregon being mentioned at this time of year for a berth in a BCS (1) (The British Computer Society, Swindon, Wiltshire, England, www.bcs.org) The chartered body for information technology professionals in the U.K., founded in 1957. bowl is a compliment to what we've achieved. ... "People know about Oregon, they know our fans travel, they know we play an exciting brand of football and that we deserve to be mentioned among the elite in the country. That's the positive, even though it's nerve-wracking right now." You don't have to be an Oregon fan to agree that the Ducks, at 10-1, ranked eighth in The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. poll and seventh in the Bowl Championship Series ratings, have made a credible case to hear Oregon called for the Fiesta Bowl when the BCS bowl pairings are announced at 2 p.m. PST PST Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, see there Sunday on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. . Which isn't to suggest that it wouldn't be a wonderful stage for the Ducks to play Nebraska or Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl if things break that way. Or to ignore the possibility that UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX could defeat Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, on Saturday, rendering much of this discussion moot and potentially sending the Ducks packing to the Sun Bowl in El Paso El Paso (ĕl pă`sō), city (1990 pop. 515,342), seat of El Paso co., extreme W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Juárez, Mex.; inc. 1873. , Texas. (A USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. upset by the Bruins is more possible, I think, than a Colorado upset of Texas in the Big 12 championship game, which would also mess things up for the Ducks.) Moos will go into the weekend still believing the Ducks have a shot at the Fiesta Bowl, whether the Fiesta takes Penn State with its first pick, thereby getting the best available team, a team with a 10-1 record and a 78-year-old icon, coach Joe Paterno, or whether it picks Notre Dame. Either way, the Ducks match up as a credible opponent, given their record, their history of bringing fans and the fact that they'd offer the TV ticket a West Coast presence. "Between myself and (Pac-10 commissioner) Tom Hansen, we've hit it from every angle we can," Moos said. "I like the people at the Fiesta Bowl. I know they're looking at all their scenarios, but they're honest and they have told me there are no decisions made. They have big games on the board this weekend; I feel good that we're in their minds." Oregon's chances are better if the Fiesta Bowl picks Penn State, because that would effectively take Ohio State, ranked ahead of Oregon in the AP Poll and the BCS ratings, off the Fiesta Bowl list, to avoid matching two Big Ten teams. However, the Notre Dame vs. Ohio State matchup has legs, given the rich tradition of both schools. This week, Arizona Republic columnist Andrew Bagnato noted that Penn State's TV ratings in previous Fiesta Bowls has been significantly better than Notre Dame's, and that the Nittany Lions have been a better bowl team, too. Wrote Bagnato: "Why would the Fiesta snub a team that has been a proven postseason commodity - Penn State's 23 bowl victories rank fourth in Division I-A history - to take a team on a seven-game postseason slide? (And three of those losses have come here, with Notre Dame losing two Fiestas and an Insight by an average score of 40-18.) "Why would the Fiesta pass up a week with Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose 353 victories are second in major-college history? The answer: It's Notre Dame, stupid." Moos said he wrote a letter to Fiesta Bowl board members stating that "if you want to base your decision on 100 years of tradition and legacies of that type, we're probably not going to fill the bill. But I'll put Oregon football over the last 12 years against any program in the country." In that span, the Ducks are 99-45, with three Pac-10 titles and a ranking of No. 2 in 2001, when they reached the Fiesta Bowl and won. Impressive to think they could get there again. |
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