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40 °F 5 Day Forecast Tuesday, December 9, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 27, 2003 Seigler beginning to think every Saturday is Flag Day Beaver Notes By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune While bright yellow might work at that other Oregon campus, those affiliated with Oregon State have grown tired of that particular color rearing its ugly head Saturday afternoons. The Beavers entered last Saturday’s Civil War as the most penalized team in the Pacific-10 Conference, and didn’t have much go their way to dissuade that trend against the Ducks. Oregon State was penalized nine times for 86 yards, compared to only two for 30 yards by the Ducks. In the 10 games prior, the Beavers were flagged for 116 penalties for 1,152 yards. "The flag was flying in only one direction, and that was toward the Beavers," OSU senior linebacker Richard Seigler said following Saturday’s 34-20 loss. "For some reason it’s been like that my whole career at Oregon State; it’s just something you can’t change. It seems like the refs are out for us." Seigler’s statement came minutes after praising Oregon for playing the better game Saturday and assuring that nothing should take away from the Ducks’ victory. Advertisement It even came after he vowed not to comment on the officiating, although his silence was quickly broken in the next stream of thought. Some things rub you the wrong way so much, you can’t bear to not vent your frustrations. Consider Oregon’s second scoring drive, which went 64 yards. Forty of those yards came via OSU penalties, including a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Beavers as the two teams huddled for a second-and-eight play on the OSU 42. "I don’t know what happened there," said Seigler. "The ref just felt like he needed to throw a flag. We didn’t feel like it was a legit flag, especially in a tight game in that situation with a frustrated referee who can’t control the situation." From that point on, Seigler said he felt like the Beavers were facing an uphill battle against two foes — the Ducks and the referees. Oregon picked up the game’s first penalty with 3:11 to go in the first quarter on a 15-yard personal foul after a late hit on OSU punter Carl Tobey following a botched field-goal attempt. The Ducks’ only other penalty was a pass-interference flag against sophomore cornerback Justin Phinisee midway through the third quarter. "If you really want to know, we’re definitely upset with our play, but the officiating was horrible tonight," said Seigler. "It was by far the worst we’ve ever seen in the history of the Civil War." "It’s really hard to make a play," added the senior, "when every time on a drive you feel like you made a play and all of a sudden the flag comes in late from behind you from an official who’s not even supposed to be making a call or even looking at that play." OSU HEAD COACH Mike Riley spent the better part of a week trying to find a solution to Oregon’s recent special-teams success, most notably the kickoff-return skills of Duck junior Kenny Washington. Riley deliberated before finally settling on squib kicks during OSU kickoffs, hoping that would disrupt the Ducks and Washington, who entered the game as the top-ranked kick returner in the Pac-10 with a 25.4-yard average. "I hated to have to do that with the kicking game today, but I thought it was the best thing to do," said Riley, whose squad was limited on special teams with injuries to the likes of linebackers Seth Lacey, Jason Lowe and Jonathan Pollard. "We had hoped our kickoffs would be able to keep them a little off-balance from their timing because they have a very timed-up kick-return game. But that wasn’t the case." Instead, Oregon’s average field position following five kickoffs was its own 39 — or 4 yards more than if OSU had simply kicked the ball out of bounds every time. DESPITE SATURDAY’S LOSS , OSU still came out of Autzen Stadium with some positives. Junior quarterback Derek Anderson, who completed 21 of 45 passes for 271 yards with one TD and two late interceptions, now owns the top two places on OSU’s list of single-season passing and total-offense leaders. Anderson enters the Dec. 6 finale at USC with 3,250 yards passing this season after setting the school standard with 3,313 last year. His 3,154 yards of total offense this season has already surpassed the school record he set last season of 3,082 yards. With five receptions for 86 yards against the Ducks, senior wide receiver James Newson moved up to fourth on OSU’s list of single-season reception leaders at 68. Dave Montagne holds the record with 78 receptions for 862 yards in 1986, while Newson stands second (74 in 2002), fourth (68 in 2003) and ninth (57 in 2001) in that area. Newson has also caught a pass in 35 straight games, and he is only padding his lead as OSU’s career receptions and yardage leader among receivers with 200 catches for 3,411 yards and 19 TDs from 2000-03. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times