Jay, here.

This past Thursday, Sports Illustrated opened the vault on all of their content.

Explore the 54 years of Sports Illustrated history including over 150000 stories, 2800 covers, 500000 photographs, a Wiki sports encyclopedia and links to …

Covers. Articles. Ads. Everything.

That got me to thinking: how many times has the University of Oregon been represented on the cover of Sports Illustrated? The answer? Four. (Unfortunately, I can’t count Eugene resident Brian Lanker’s 1985 Swimsuit Issue cover photograph of Paulina Porizkova.)

Then I was curious as to how that stack up against the rest of the Pac-10. Pretty well. But, as you will see, USC and UCLA are in a league of their own.

This is not an exhaustive list (because of USC and UCLA). And the cover count only represents the instances where a school is the primary focus on the cover. For example, USC’s Todd Marinovich made the cover throwing against Stanford. But Stanford really isn’t the focus (Actually, they’re kind of oblique and out of focus.). So, that doesn’t count. And SI.com’s search feature is OK, but sometimes returns inconsistent results.

Here are the Pac-10 covers of Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON - 4

Cover Dates: 06.15.70, 02.25.74, 08.13.01, 09.29.03

The Ducks kind of have one more cover. Well, a lot of schools have at least one cover, sort of, with this year’s NCAA Tournament Preview edition. Kind of like “Where’s Waldo?”, where’s Malik Hairston?

Did you find him? Look right next to the “I” in “Illustrated. And, I think, that’s Malik.

UPDATE: In the comments section, Chris pointed out that Aaron Brooks was on the cover of the 2007 NCAA Tournament Preview edition (03.19.07). I kind of put this cover in the category with the above cover: it’s nice, but doesn’t count as Oregon having a cover. That’s Aaron on the basketball.

Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON STATE - 5

Cover Dates: 10.16.61, 01.07.63, 03.05.90, 03.23.81, 09.29.03

Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON - 3

Cover Dates: 10.03.60, 10.04.71

Thanks to Alex, there is one more from 11.24.06 that did not come up in SI’s search feature.

Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON STATE - 0

Washington State joins Arizona State as the only Pac-10 schools not to have a Sports Illustrated cover. Although, I think there is a WSU player (Cowgill?) on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.

Sports Illustrated Covers: CAL - 2

Cover Dates: 11.24.75, 03.29.93

Sports Illustrated Covers: STANFORD - 5

Cover Dates: 11.08.02, 03.17.97, 11.23.98, 10.07.02, 03.29.04

Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA - 4

Cover Dates: 08.29.94, 04.07.97, 04.02.01, 11.25.02

Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA STATE - 0

Like Washington State, Arizona State does not have a Sports Illustrated cover to its name. Unlike Washington State, though, I don’t even think they have a player on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.

Sports Illustrated Covers: USC - 31

Cover Dates: Too many. First: 11.26.56 Most Recent: 11.19.07

Sports Illustrated Covers: UCLA - 35

Cover Dates: Too many. First: 01.05.59 Most Recent: 03.18.08

For more, visit the Sports Illustrated Vault.

For more on the Ducks, visit DuckSportsNews.com.

By Don Smalley
DSN Contributor

With four veterans on the floor most of the time, it amazes me that Oregon still doesn’t have a leader.

That was so evident tonight when the Ducks did not make the plays in the last three minutes in a 62-54 loss at Arizona State tonight. Oregon put itself behind the 8-ball all night by not being able to hit their three-point shots and commiting 16 turnovers.

But still, the game was tied at 49-49 with three minutes left and having a true freshman at point guard killed the Ducks. Kamyron Brown made several turnovers in the last minutes that severely hurt the Ducks. When it’s crunch time, Oregon has to get the ball in Malik Hairston’s hands or even Bryce Taylor, no matter what position they play. It’s too much to ask of Brown to lead this team on the road, in the Pac-10 and pull out a critical victory. 1-0 looks a lot better than 0-1. But Oregon is 0-1.

The game would have been an easy Duck victory if the three-pointers that usually fall for Oregon go down. But they did not and again, this team needs a leader to step up and say, “We are not going to lose.” Brown can not be that guy, yet.

Now Oregon has to forget this loss and get that all-important road split everyone in the Pac-10 talks about. But they have to go to Tucson and beat the Wildcats. After watching Arizona play the Beavers, that task may not be as formidable as it once seemed.

Oregon State, easily the worst team in the conference, gave the Wildcats fits for 35 minutes of the game before Arizona’s talent finally won out.

Arizona is gifted athletically, but from what I saw, the Wildcats don’t play much as a team and they rather shoot the tough shot than the easy wide-open jumper. They seemed confused against the zone (remind you of someone) and wasn’t very active on defense. That will cost the Wildcats down the line. It could Saturday.

Ducks fans, you know how you’re feeling right now.  But do you know how the rest of the Pac 10 feels about your team?  Do they feel your pain?  Not exactly.

Here’s a sampling from around the Pac 10 blogosphere.  Mind you, this is only a compilation, a very sour sampler.  This is not a compendium of forum and message board comments.  If want to get a glimpse into a fan’s online soul, go the message boards and forums to take a look at your own risk.

Arizona - Not available.

Arizona State - “Tucson, AZ: Where BCS Dreams Go To Die”

Cal - Not available.

OSU -”Oregon Ducks Suck Against Arizona”

Stanford - Not available.

UCLA -”No Dixon”

USC - “Dixon out with a Torn ACL”

Washington - “Wow….34-24 Arizona Over Oregon”

And we saved the worst for last…

Washington State - “WHAAAAAAA! WHAAA!”

Download PDF: GameDay in a Box | Oregon vs Arizona State

Duck Sports News has learned that the Oregon-Arizona State game will be on Fox Sports Northwest with Fox Sports Arizona commentators.

The Oregon State game will be on ABC.

[UPDATE 5:38 p.m.]

Here is the press release from KEZI explaining the broadcasting situation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KEZI 9 WILL NOT TELEVISE THE ARIZONA STATE VS. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOOTBALL GAME

KEZI 9 WILL AIR THE OSU vs. USC GAME LIVE

(Eugene, OR – October 30, 2007) KEZI 9 will not carry the Arizona State University vs. University of Oregon football game on Saturday, November 3, 2007 as originally announced due to a loss of local exclusive television rights, station officials just announced.

KEZI 9 had earlier announced they would be carrying the Oregon Sports Network production of the ASU vs. Oregon football game at 3:30 p.m., adjusting normal ABC programming is order to carry this OSN telecast exclusively in its markets. KEZI 9 has been informed by the University of Oregon that Fox Sports Northwest has exercised its right with the Pac-10 Conference to televise the Fox Sports Arizona production of the ASU vs. UO game in the state of Oregon, the Pac-10 Conference has confirmed.

Due to Fox Sports Northwest exercising its right to televise the game in local markets, the University of Oregon cannot offer KEZI 9 market exclusivity for the game, which is a requirement for an OSN telecast. Therefore, KEZI 9 will not televise the ASU vs. UO game.

“It is very unfortunate we will not be able to carry the Duck game live this weekend,” said Mark Hatfield, KEZI 9 General Manager. “As the Oregon Sports Network affiliate, and the home of the Ducks, we always look for a way to bring the Oregon games to the thousands of Duck college football fans in our viewing area. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do that this week.”

KEZI 9 will instead provide coverage of the OSU vs. USC game that is scheduled to air live on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

“We recognize the significance of this game to our viewers and are extremely pleased we can provide Beaver fans in our coverage area a chance to see the OSU vs. USC game,” said Hatfield.

ABOUT CHAMBERS COMMUNICATIONS

Chambers Communications, headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, is the parent company of Oregon ABC affiliates KEZI 9 in Eugene, KDRV 12 in Medford, KDKF 31 in Klamath Falls and KOHD 51.1 in Bend; KEZI 9 has newsrooms in Corvallis, Eugene, Roseburg and Coos Bay; Chambers Sports, an Oregon-based regional sports company; Chambers Cable of Sunriver, Oregon; Chambers Productions, a full-service film and video production company based in Eugene, Oregon; and CMC.NET, an Oregon-based internet service provider. The 100,000-square-foot complex occupies 8 acres and provides creative production services for entertainment, industrial and advertising clients as well as production facilities for original specials, series and syndicated programming.

Duck Sports News has learned that the Oregon-Arizona State game on Saturday will air nationally on ESPN. However, those in Oregon and Arizona will not see the game on ESPN, but rather on the Oregon Sports Network and Fox Sports Arizona.

Game time is still 3:45pm with coverage starting at 3:30pm.

[UPDATE: 12:12PM] Rob Moseley got official confirmation on what Duck Sports News reported earlier.