FREEDOM BOWL NOTES : Boatright Takes Businesslike Approach

Oregon’s offense starts with Scot Boatright, without whom quarterback Bill Musgrave does not get the ball. And Boatright, the Ducks’ senior center, says it is time to get down to business.

Since business happens to be his major, and he’s on track to graduate in four years with a 3.33 grade-point average, Oregon should listen up.

Until Wednesday, game preparations for Saturday’s Freedom Bowl game have been serious, but with a large measure of fun mixed in (i.e. Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and nights without curfews).

“Until now, after we were done with practice and meetings, our time was free,” said Boatright, who has spent most of his free time with his wife, Mani, and their 7 1/2-week-old daughter, Megan Anne. “When we came back from Christmas, we had to be in our rooms by midnight. Now we start curfews.”

As it should be, says Boatright, who played for the Ducks against Tulsa in last year’s Independence Bowl.

Oregon was playing its first bowl game since 1963 last year, and the Ducks might have been taken in by the hullabaloo. They trailed Tulsa, 24-10, late in the third quarter before scoring 17 points in the final 18 minutes and winning, 27-24.

“We had a pretty good halftime speech,” Boatright said. “(Coach Rich Brooks) said we didn’t come all that way to lose. We had to win that game to get any respect for this team.”

Brooks is trying to avoid having to make such a speech at halftime this year.

“I think the players have had an enjoyable time,” he said. “Now is the part where we get down to the business of trying to win the football game.

“A bowl game is a different environment because of the long time between your last game, and the different environment. Our team has enjoyed itself. The fun is over.”

Colorado State finds itself in a position similar to the Ducks’ last year. The Rams are playing their first bowl game in 42 years, and the players have been a little giddy over the whole experience.

But Colorado State Coach Earle Bruce is coaching in his 13th bowl game and says he has developed a pretty good idea of how to prepare for them.

He doesn’t, however, care to share his secrets.

Is it going well? He’s withholding judgment, and has expressed concern about preparation, including a few misgivings about the freedom he has given the players.

Boatright nodded his approval.

“From what I hear and see, Coach Bruce has taken the businesslike approach. That’s very, very important.”

Oregon’s Brooks was not pleased to see Arizona, another Pacific 10 school and a team that beat the Ducks by five points, shut out by Syracuse in the Aloha Bowl.

“To see them get handled, 28-0, put a little ache in my stomach,” Brooks said. “You just have to be ready. You’re not in your normal routine.

“I just hope we’re more ready to play this year than we were last year. If not, we’ll be in deep trouble.”

You bet: The university presidents of Oregon and Colorado State have agreed to a charitable wager on the outcome of the Freedom Bowl.

Oregon’s Myles Brand is putting up 25 pounds of fresh Pacific salmon against 25 pounds of Colorado strip steak from Colorado State’s Albert Yates.

Brand has pledged to pass on any winnings to the Lane County Food Bank in Eugene, Ore., and Yates promises to donate his to the Larimer County Food Distribution Center in Ft. Collins, Colo.