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Recently, the Oregon football team has been blanketing the country like Rashad Bauman covering a UCLA wide receiver.
Two days after it was announced that Duck quarterback Joey Harrington would be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine two weeks ago, the Oregon Athletic Department confirmed that billboards of cornerback Bauman and running back Maurice Morris would be erected in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.
Bauman's billboard, which graces the road next to an entrance to the Bay Bridge, sums up the hype perfectly. The picture is of the defender with hands outstretched over Autzen Stadium, and the text reads "Covering the Country." Morris' billboard, which sits along Interstate 405 in southern California, features blurry photographs of the rusher and the word "Momentum" in white letters, with the "M" and "O" in green.
The billboards, unprecedented simply because they aren't in the team's hometown, are being funded by the same group of donors that paid for a 100-foot billboard of Harrington in downtown New York, according to Oregon Director of Media Services Dave Williford.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said he enjoyed finding out about the billboards.
"It's great that [the boosters] think those kids warrant the attention," Bellotti said. "Not that Joey doesn't deserve it; it's just nice when other kids get a shot."
Both Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine feature Harrington on their college football preview covers, and both name Harrington and Oregon State running back Ken Simonton as early candidates for college football's ultimate individual prize: the Heisman Trophy.
Sports Illustrated ranked Oregon State first in the country in its preseason poll and chose the Beavers to win the National Championship, which will be held at the Rose Bowl this year. The nation's most-read sports magazine picked Oregon seventh overall.
ESPN the Magazine picked the Ducks fifth and the Beavers 12th overall. The magazine rankings came on the heels of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, which ranked Oregon seventh, and the Pac-10 Media Poll, which put the Ducks first in the conference. The Associated Press ranked Oregon seventh and Oregon State 11th in the country.
"It's a reflection of the quality of the team," Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos said. "I'm just tickled and proud."
"It's nice to be considered one of the better teams in the nation," Bellotti said.
The Oregon schools will soon receive even more hype via the television. Harrington and Simonton have been followed by ESPN camera crews recently and will be featured Aug. 25 on "The Life," a show that chronicles the lives of athletes.
Bellotti has also been occupying the airwaves, as he chatted publicly online with ABC analyst Terry Bowden recently. Bauman and Harrington have also been featured online, as they chatted with fans on ESPN.com Monday.
Bellotti noted that all this attention won't matter come January.
"It's much more important where we stand later in the season," Bellotti said. "It's the postseason poll that really counts."
But for now, the Ducks will just drink up all the hype and hope it doesn't stop until February.
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