A Long Way From Fiesta Bowl for Oregon

In October, Oregon was 6-0, ranked No. 6, and dreaming of playing for the national title.

Things sure changed quickly.

Starting with a 45-42 loss to Arizona State, the Ducks lost five of their last six games and fell out of the top 25.

Instead of the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon (7-5) will play Wake Forest (6-6) today in the Seattle Bowl.

“I’m appreciative of the fact that we get another game,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said. “We get another opportunity to finish the season right.”

Oregon should get a boost with the return of Onterrio Smith, who rushed for 1,079 yards and 12 touchdowns in eight games before a left knee injury sidelined him for three of the last four games.

“He’s an electrifying running back,” Oregon quarterback Jason Fife said. “Since he’s been back, just practicing with us, the offense has been uplifted.”

Bellotti plans to alternate Fife and freshman Kellen Clemens tonight.

“We have a plan in mind on how that’s going to be accomplished,” Bellotti said, refusing to say who will start. “There is no mystery about it, but they’ll both play.”

Coach Jim Grobe said stopping Smith is a greater concern than trying to prepare for two quarterbacks.

“If he’s healthy, their thoughts may be to run the ball more than they’ve been running it,” Grobe said. “We know if we can’t slow them down running the football, we’ve got problems.”

The Demon Deacons are hoping Calvin Pace can play. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound defensive tackle broke his left leg Nov. 23 against Navy, then sat out the last game of the regular season and didn’t practice until Thursday.

Pace has 29 sacks in his career, one short of Wake Forest’s career record, held by former Seattle Seahawk standout Mike McCrary. Pace is the school’s leader in tackles for loss, with 53.

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Kentucky will introduce its new coach today, amid reports that former Oregon and St. Louis Ram coach Rich Brooks has been hired.

Greg Byrne, associate athletic director at Kentucky, said the school will make an announcement, but he would not confirm Brooks has the job. Byrne said Brooks was in Lexington, Ky., Sunday.

Brooks did not immediately return messages left at his Oregon home and on his cell phone. His wife told the Courier-Journal of Louisville on Saturday that her husband was taking the job. CBS Sports reported Saturday Brooks would join Kentucky.

Guy Morriss resigned Dec. 9 to become coach at Baylor.

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No. 25-ranked Arkansas (9-4) will make its 33rd postseason appearance when it plays Minnesota in the Music City Bowl at Nashville today.

Not as impressive is Arkansas’ record in those bowl games. The Razorbacks are 1-9 in their last 10 (the victory coming against Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl), and are 10-19-3 overall.

“We want to get in the tradition of winning bowls, and we’ve got to start now,” senior tailback Fred Talley said.