FREAKIN' STANFORD: Why…Why Must it always be freakin’ Stanford?

FREAKIN' STANFORD: Why…Why Must it always be freakin’ Stanford?

Originally posted on CampusAttic.com on November 1st, 2013

    With next Thursday night’s big football matchup between Oregon and Stanford, a game that has been highly anticipated for a solid year now, it is difficult not to dwell on the past and ponder…why is it always freakin’ Stanford?

    Long before Stanford was considered one of the top football powerhouses in the country, before the days of Harbaugh and Luck and Shaw, the Cardinal continued to be the thorn in the Duck’s webfoot, the fly in the ointment, the pain in the…part of a duck that is considered to be water tight. Damn you, freakin’ Stanford…

    Even when the Stanford Cardinal have been at their lowest point, even when Duck fans outnumbered Cardinal fans in their own stadium, even when Oregon manages to come out with the W, somehow it’s always freakin’ Stanford that makes life miserable for Oregon.

    It is difficult not to be worried about the pending matchup, even as Stanford has looked less than stellar on the year considering their lofty incoming expectations coming off a Pac-12 Championship year in 2012, losing earlier this year to Utah and having difficulty getting past UCLA and Oregon State.

    Yet no team on the schedules seems to bring out the stomach butterflies for Oregon fans more than the team named after a color (they were the Stanford Indians until it was decided to switch to a more P.C. name of simply “cardinal”), and there is historic precedent to completely validate those concerns over next Thursday night’s primetime battle in Palo Alto, CA.

    There is no team in the Pac that has done a better job of playing spoiler for Oregon’s plans over the years than Stanford. Washington and Oregon State may get the blood boiling more than any other team, but a glimpse through the past reveals that perhaps it should be Stanford that draws our ire.

    When expectations are raised, Stanford plays the role of the roadblock providing the biggest challenger and pooper of parties, nobody plays the role of Oregon’s arch-villain better than the Stanford Cardinal.

    It is one of Oregon’s oldest rivals, the first game between the two schools held in 1900, the first game Oregon ever played against an out-of-state opponent. Stanford won that game 34-0, and for over a century have found a way to create Duck tears ever since, but their ability to bully Oregon around has reached a new level of frustration over the past three decades, starting in 1980.

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1980 – Stanford 35 Oregon 25

An Ogburn-Elway showdown never came to be, and the Cardinal have been terrorizing Oregon ever since. (courtesy: CBSsports.com)

    In 1979 Oregon had shown signs of life, after a decade of mediocrity. The team had won six games behind the showstopping play of JC transfer quarterback Reggie Ogburn, and with Ogburn returning for his senior year in 1980 the Ducks were thinking the long bowl drought since 1963 would finally be over…the opening game of the year was hyped up as a matchup between Oregon’s Ogburn and Stanford’s John Elway, but an off-season NCAA probe revealed that four schools including Oregon violated rules. Coaches were fined, players were suspended, scholarships were docked, and the great matchup of Ogburn and Elway never came to be.

    Stanford won the game 35-25 to open the year at Autzen Stadium, while Ogburn had to watch from the stands. Once Reggie returned, Oregon was off and running, winning six games including a 34-10 victory over Washington in Seattle (Oregon’s wouldn’t win in Seattle again until 1997), but that opening season Stanford loss prevented Oregon from reaching a bowl.

    With Ogburn’s graduation following the 1980 season Oregon’s winning ways dissipated, slipping back to seasons of two and three wins, Oregon wouldn’t make it to a bowl game for almost a decade until the 1989 Independence Bowl.

1987 – Stanford 13 Oregon 10

Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave had a great career, but Stanford proved a problem.

    With Bill Musgrave at quarterback, there was energy and excitement back in Oregon football. The Ducks were on the rise in the Pac-10 with a group of young players making a big impact, but a 13-10 loss to Stanford would once again be the hindrance from Oregon finally breaking its bowl curse.

    Oregon had led the game 10-0 at halftime, but a 3rd quarter safety and field goal had given the Cardinal hope. Stanford took the lead on a touchdown with 39 seconds left in the game, but Oregon quickly drove back in position to score, reaching Stanford’s 21 yard line. Rather than attempt a field goal for the tie, Coach Rich Brooks gambled and elected to go for the win, but Musgrave’s pass intended for Terry Obee was knocked down as time expired.

    Just like in 1980, Oregon would finish with six wins, lamenting the Stanford loss as the roadblock to reaching a bowl.

1989 – Stanford 18 Oregon 17

    In 1989 Oregon had cracked the top-25 rankings, but Stanford still managed to spoil the party. Just like in 1987, Oregon had led the game at halftime, holding a seemingly commanding 17-0 lead late in the game, but with seven minutes left on the clock in Palo Alto, Stanford quarterback Brian Johnson found Gary Taylor for a 21-yard touchdown. Johnson would be knocked out of the game, but after Oregon was forced to punt, Johnson’s backup led a touchdown drive and two-point conversion to bring the Cardinal within striking distance at 17-15.

Stanford quarterback Brian Johnson (courtesy: Fanbase.com)

    Stanford executed a perfect onside kick, recovered by Corey Booker, setting up what would be the game-winning field goal as time expired, 18-17.

    Oregon would recover from the loss and finish the year with seven victories, enough to be bowl eligible. But with fewer bowls in this era, it wasn’t guaranteed the Ducks would have a postseason game. Having to buy-in with a promise of ticket allotment sales, Oregon was finally able to reach a bowl game, the first since the 1963 Sun Bowl, reaching the 1989 Independence Bowl.

    Oregon beat Tulsa 27-24 in Shreveport, LA at the Independence Bowl, on a night memorable for the freezing weather as much as the on-field play, and for its importance in establishing the trend of Oregon’s changing uniforms that have come to largely define the program on a national perspective. Despite yet another painful Stanford loss, Oregon had finally made it over the hump. Unfortunately there would be Stanford heartbreak to come.

1992 – Stanford 21 Oregon 7

Glyn Milburn led the nation in yards in 1991. (courtesy: Fanbase.com)

    Oregon entered Stanford the underdog coming off an opening season loss to Hawaii, but the Duck defense came prepared, forcing four turnovers. Oregon led 7-0, but after two years of stymieing Stanford’s superstar Glyn Milburn (the 1991 all-purpose yardage leader in the country) for two years, Milburn finally broke loose against the Ducks. Stanford racked up three scores on a record-setting day for Milburn and quarterback Steve Stenstrom, while Oregon’s offense was anemic, the lose score being the result of two penalties.

    By the 4th quarter Oregon coaches had seen enough, benching quarterback Danny O’neil in favor of backup Doug Musgrave, but the Musgrave pedigree couldn’t muster the same magic as his older brother, and the Ducks lost 21-7.

    It was the first 0-2 start for Oregon since 1983, but the Ducks would win five of the next seven to salvage a year filled with much promise, finishing with six wins and an invite to return to the Independence Bowl. The Ducks lost to Wake Forest in the return trip to Shreveport, 39-35.

1993 – Stanford 38 Oregon 34

    Again, a year of promise proved disappointing, and Stanford twisted the knife deeper. The Cardinal weren’t the ones to inflict the initial damage, that happened when Oregon (3-0) gave up a 30-0 halftime lead at Cal to lose 42-41, the largest deficit ever overcome in NCAA history.

Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom was a repeat offender in breaking Oregon’s heart. (courtesy: Bleacherreport.com)

    The season spiraled out of control from there, losing four of the next six games leading to the November 13th, 1993 Stanford game at Autzen Stadium. With a win, Oregon would still be bowl eligible, and Oregon looked motivated to salvage to the season, walking right into the Stanford buzz saw.

    Once again Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom broke the record books, surpassing marks set by Stanford quarterback John Elway a decade earlier. Stanford at one point led by as many as 22 in Autzen Stadium while holding Oregon to only a field goal at the half, then kept the Ducks at bay during a late surge, Stanford again spoiling Oregon’s chances with a 38-34 victory.

    The loss to Stanford eliminated Oregon’s chances for a bowl game in 1993, further cemented by the lackluster loss in the Civil War game the following week. After two disappointing years in a row, little was expected of Oregon in the 1994 season, picked to finish 9th in the conference, thankfully for one year at least Stanford wouldn’t prevent Oregon’s dreams.

1995 – Stanford 28 Oregon 21

Safety Jaiya Figueras broke his leg on a day Oregon would like to forget.

    After the Rose Bowl run of 1994, expectations were through the roof for Oregon in 1995, and rightfully so, returning a team arguably more talented than the 1994 Pac-10 champion team. Three big wins to open the season, the last two being last-minute victories over Illinois and UCLA in back-to-back weeks thanks to herculean efforts by safety Jaiya Figueras had the Ducks rolling, but a somber wake-up call came the next week vs. Stanford. Not only did the Ducks lose to Stanford, but Figueras suffered a devastating leg injury that would take until the 1997 season to fully recover from.

    The 28-21 loss to Stanford on September 23rd, 1995, grounded the 12th-ranked Ducks, once again in heartbreaking fashion. Oregon had rallied to tie the game 14-14 as the third quarter ticked down, but on the ensuing kickoff following Oregon’s score Stanford’s Marlon Evans returned it 96 yards for the go-ahead score. Three interceptions thrown by Oregon quarterback Tony Graziani didn’t help the cause, setting up Stanford for another score, which proved the game-winner.

    The loss proved to be extra bitter, in not only losing a rising star in Figueras, but the loss would prove to be the deciding factor in Oregon not repeating as Pac-10 conference champions. Resigned to the Cotton Bowl vs. Colorado, the Ducks would get throttled by the Buffaloes 38-6, noted and definitely not forgotten for Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel’s decision to fake a punt late in the game while ahead by nearly 30 points. It spawned the start of the “neweasel” catchphrase and hatred of ‘Slick Rick’ that has never subsided among Duck fans during Neuheisel’s follow-up coaching stops at Washington and UCLA.

1996 – Stanford 27 Oregon 24

    Oregon’s 1996 season derailed halfway through following an injury to quarterback Tony Graziani, but there was still a chance for redemption…until Stanford.

Kailee Wong beating Oregon was extra painful knowing he grew up in Eugene a Duck fan. (courtesy: Bleacherreport.com)

    The Ducks had opened the year with the first regular season overtime game in NCAA history, defeating Fresno State 30-27, but the overtime rule would come back to bite hard, as Stanford took down the Ducks in Palo Alto on a field goal in overtime, 27-24. It was Stanford’s fifth win in the last six matchups, Oregon’s lone victory coming in the 1994 Pac-10 championship season.

    Oregon seemed assured of victory following Patrick Johnson’s 95-yard kickoff return to give the Ducks a 24-14 lead, the return sparking vindictive memories of Marlon Evans’ return the year prior at Autzen sinking Oregon’s chances. Then came the 4th quarter, where Stanford scored on two of their last three possessions while Oregon couldn’t muster a single first down, sending the game to overtime.

    The Stanford late defensive effort was led by Kailee Wong, a North Eugene High School graduate. In the first overtime, it was Wong who tracked down Graziani from behind as the quarterback scrambled, causing a fumble that Stanford recovered. A short field goal later, and it was all over.

    The 1996 loss was the fourth in a row for Oregon, and would be followed by a bad loss to Washington before Oregon rallied to finish off the year with three straight wins. However the mid-season stretch was too much to overcome, the Ducks finishing 6-5, and left out of a bowl game when Cal (6-5) was picked to represent the Pac-10 in the Aloha Bowl over Oregon, despite Oregon beating Cal 40-23 that year. It was one of only two years that Oregon would not go bowling during head coach Mike Bellotti’s tenure.

1997 – Stanford 58 Oregon 49

    In a season where defense was optional for Oregon, the 1997 matchup against Stanford proved a microcosm of the whole year–at times invigorating, other times frustrating. At one point in the game Oregon scored two touchdowns in seven seconds, in a back-and-forth battle of two offenses showcasing their firepower.

    In the end though, Oregon’s offense blinked, while Stanford continued to roll over the Ducks D in a whoever-scores-last-wins matchup more akin to a basketball game. Stanford’s 58 points was the most scored against an Oregon team since Oklahoma racked up 62 on the Ducks in 1975, while Oregon’s 49 were the most at the time ever scored by a losing team in a regulation Pac-10 game.

    Jason Maas threw for five touchdowns and wide receiver Patrick Johnson had the best game of his career, pulling in 13 receptions for 179 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as Stanford scored its highest ever total vs. Oregon.

     The game was capped off with a safety by Stanford’s Kailee Wong, the local Eugene, OR product who had forced a fumble in overtime setting up Stanford’s victory the year prior.

2001 – Stanford 49 Oregon 42

    The Oregon-Stanford series thankfully took a scheduling respite for a few years following the tumultuous 90s, but the Cardinal came back in a big way with arguably the most devastating, heartbreaking, jaw-dropping victory in history between the two teams.

Oregon had no answer for Teyo Johnson’s size. (courtesy: AP/DonRyan)

    2001 had #5 Oregon rolling on a rampage through the Pac-10 seemingly destined for the Pac-10 title and a shot at the national championship. Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington was a legitimate Heisman trophy candidate, and Oregon touted the longest-active home winning streak in the country at 23…they would hold the record for only one week.

    Oregon was handling Stanford cruising to a hard-fought but apparent victory…then the 4th quarter happened. In a mind-boggling display of WTF and disbelief with Oregon ahead 42-28, Stanford blocked two punts and intercepted a pass leading to 21 points, taking full advantage of a height advantage of over a foot between Stanford’s Teyo Johnson and Oregon’s Rashad Bauman, repeatedly throwing up jump balls that Johnson brought down like an easy rebound in the paint over a point guard.

    A last second hail mary pass fell flat, and Stanford walked away with a shocking 49-42 victory, ending Oregon’s home winning streak and undefeated season. The Ducks wouldn’t lose again that year, capturing the Pac-10 title, but the loss to Stanford would prevent Oregon from playing in the BCS national championship, a 10-1 Nebraska team that finished 3rd in the Big-12 getting the nod over the Ducks.

    Oregon would destroy Colorado, the Big-12 champions, in the Fiesta Bowl 38-16, forever leaving a what-if and shoulda-been hypothetical matchup lingering in people’s minds, would Oregon have put up a better fight against the 2001 Miami Hurricanes than the pathetic showing of Nebraska? Yeah, probably, but we’ll never know. Thanks Stanford.

2004 – Oregon 16 Stanford 13

    For as painful as Stanford had made the 1980s and 1990s, the 2000s were Oregon’s chance for revenge, 2001 not withstanding. While Oregon walked away with the victory in 2004, it wasn’t without a lot of wrecked nerves. In pouring rain at Stanford Stadium Oregon had ground out a tough victory behind the legs of Terrence Whitehead, but a Whitehead fumble late in the game set up Stanford with a chance.

    A dubious catch that appeared to be out of bounds and after the clock had expired was ruled in-bounds and with one second left on the clock, giving Stanford a chance for a field goal to send the game to overtime. For once karma actually swung back Oregon’s way, as the bad call on the catch didn’t matter once Stanford’s kick went wide.

    Oregon escaped with a W, but the luck in the bay area went the other way two weeks later, when Oregon receiver Keith Allen dropped a pass on 4th down that hit him in the hands, which would have likely led to a game-winning score over Cal in Berkeley. The Cal loss gave the Ducks a 5-6 mark on the year, it would be the only losing season in Mike Bellotti’s head coaching career at Oregon.

2009 – Stanford 51 Oregon 42

    The coming out party for then freshman Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and the start of the short-but-memorable Jim Harbaugh era at Stanford, Oregon and Stanford battled on the farm in a back-and-forth affair with Jeremiah Masoli and Andrew Luck both having career days.

Toby Gerheart set a school rushing record vs. Oregon in 2009. (sfgate.com)

    Oregon had its chances to come back, but a dropped pass on a wheel route by LaMichael James that would have scored proved too costly to overcome, while Heisman Trophy candidate Toby Gerheart repeatedly moved the chains on Oregon’s defense grinding out yards between the tackles, racking up a school-record 223 yards rushing.

     Jeremiah Masoli threw for 334 yards and 3 TDs, while LaMichael James rushed for 125 yards a touchdown plus 89 more through the air, but it wasn’t enough as time simply ran out on Oregon’s comeback against an unrelenting Stanford attack. Whether on the ground behind Gerheart or Luck’s precision passing, the Ducks defense simply couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down.

    The Stanford loss was the only in-conference defeat of the season, as Oregon captured the Pac-10 title and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl, but the game signaled a changing of the guard. Both Stanford and Oregon defeated USC that year in back-to-back weeks, giving the Trojans the two worst defeats in school history, marking a transition in the traditional powers. For the foreseeable future, all roads to the Pac-10/12 championship would go through either Eugene or Palo Alto.

2012 – Stanford 17 Oregon 14

    If the 2001 loss wasn’t devastating enough in hindsight preventing Oregon from a shot at the national championship, Stanford’s BCS-blocking ways came back with a vengeance 11 years later. Oregon had beaten Stanford two years in a row, but the wins hadn’t come easy, in high scoring affairs.

    The 2012 game was a shockingly defensive battle. Oregon was plagued with self-inflicted wounds, repeatedly dropping passes, and quarterback Marcus Mariota looking uncomfortable for the first time all season amidst a relentless Stanford pass rush.

    Two ominous signs early in the game showed that it might not be Oregon’s day, as a long run by Mariota was stopped short of a touchdown when De’Anthony Thomas outpaced Mariota for the endzone rather than blocking the lone defender capable of tackling him. Oregon would be stopped on 4th down, followed not long after by a missed easy field goal by Alejandro Maldenaldo. The two plays would come back to bite Oregon badly.

…and Zach Ertz is STILL out of bounds! (courtesy: nwsportsbeat.com)

    A highly controversial call swung the game in Stanford’s favor late in the game, when an apparent touchdown catch by Stanford tight end Zach Ertz showed on replay to be out of bounds, yet was upheld by the referees as a touchdown, tying the game 14-14. The replay proved that Ertz had bobbled the ball, not retaining possession until his shoulder and head both were clearly out of bounds.

    In overtime, Oregon kicker Alejandro Maldenaldo missed wide on a field goal again, giving Stanford a chance to once again break Oregon’s heart. Still, Oregon had a chance to push it to double OT, as linebacker Michael Clay stripped Stanford QB Kevin Hogan of the ball, but was unable to reel it in, and Stanford kicked a game-winning field goal to take it 17-14.

    Just like in 2001, Stanford’s win ended Oregon’s chances at playing for the national championship, and ended a winning streak for the Ducks, coming into it with a 13-game streak, the longest active streak in the country.

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     Then of course there is 1954, 1964, 1972, 1976…Dammit, Stanford. Why, why does it always have to be freakin’ Stanford?

    With Oregon and Stanford still atop the Pac-12 conference as the two premier football powerhouses west of the Mississippi, the battles are destined to be tense, nerve-wracking experiences…and chances are Stanford will at some point again in the future break Oregon’s heart. As history has proven, they are quite adept at playing the role of spoiler when it comes to Duck dreams of grandeur. Hopefully come Thursday night, it will be a game that won’t be added to this list of painful memories.

Sweet Revenge: Oregon upsets BYU, Detmer in 1990.

 Sweet Revenge: Oregon upsets BYU, Detmer in 1990.

Originally posted on October 19th, 2011
 
 It was a momentous day in Autzen Stadium history.  Televisions nationwide tuned in to see the carnage ensue, expecting #4 BYU to showcase their dominance over the up-and-comers Oregon in sleepy Eugene, OR.  But what they got was something far different, as what should have been a celebratory time in the spotlight for BYU’s superstar quarterback Ty Detmer instead became a giant blemish on his Heisman campaign and a vivid beating the Cougars would not forget for a long time. 

Detmer would be awarded the Heisman Trophy at the end of the season regardless, but on September 29th, 1990, BYU walked into a buzzsaw, an angry Oregon Ducks team out for vengeance, and a packed house fervently cheering on the destruction of one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

To understand the events that transpired that fall day at Autzen Stadium in 1990, it is necessary to first look back one year prior, to Oregon’s trip to Provo to play BYU at Cougar Stadium.  The Brigham Young Cougars were considered a national power, but no matter who was playing there was a pride level for Pac-10 teams when playing WAC schools.

“No matter how mediocre of a school you may be in the Pac-10, no matter what you do not lose to a WAC school,” said Peter Brantly, a linebacker for Oregon that was named All-Pac-10 in 1990 as a senior.  “It didn’t matter how good a WAC team may be or how bad the Pac-10 team is, there was a conference pride there that no matter what the Pac-10 should always prevail.

The 1989 game between the schools should have been a great victory for Oregon, who at one point in the third quarter led BYU 33-16.  BYU was 6-2 and in the driver seat for the WAC title, while the 5-3 Oregon Ducks were seeking to be bowl eligible for the first time in decades.

The Ducks dominated the game at first, but in the 3^rd quarter after Oregon began pulling away, a series of horrendously bad referee calls going against Oregon and a long kickoff return got BYU back into the game.
 
Call it home cooking from the WAC officials perhaps, but with some key assistance from the men in black & white stripes, what had been a blowout somehow very quickly turned into a shootout.
 
 
 
 
 
The duel between Oregon’s Bill Musgrave and BYU’s Ty Detmer became one for the ages that day.  By the time the dust settled together they would combine for the most passing yards in a single game in NCAA history, 959 yards in all.  Both QBs threw for career marks that day, but with the help of some very odd penalties and bad calls BYU would emerge the victor in the final minute 45-41 in an amazing comeback.

“From the bus ride and whole flight home to Eugene after the game in Provo, all the way back we could not believe we lost that game,” said Brantley.  “We felt like we should have won that game, but with the penalties and bad calls and people not getting called down, we felt like the game had been stolen from us.”

The Ducks couldn’t put 100% blame on referees though, Oregon hadn’t capitalized on all of their chances, in the first half the Ducks had been stopped on 4^th & goal on the 1-yard line, and had a field goal blocked.  Still, the Ducks left Provo with a feeling of being cheated.
 
 
The Ducks would rally and earn their first bowl game berth in 25 years, where they defeated Tulsa in the 1989 Independence Bowl, but the bitterness left behind by the collapse in Provo to BYU was still very evident.  The game in Provo in 1989 had been stolen from Oregon, the coaches and players circled the 1990 rematch at Autzen Stadium and started plotting their revenge.

“In the five years I went through spring ball at Oregon, I don’t recall us ever game-planning for a specific team until 1990,” Brantley recalls.  “In spring ball we worked on the BYU game plan, fall camp we worked on the BYU game plan, we wanted revenge bad.  There were several days where we specifically worked on stuff BYU ran.  I remember they ran a draw play that was very similar to a counter, our offense took that play from their playbook and added it to ours and ran it to death preparing us for that game.  I remember one day in spring ball walking by Coach Schuler’s office and the coaches were watching BYU film, everybody wanted to win that one.”

“I was redshirting in 1989, so I wasn’t able to make the trip to Provo,” said cornerback Daryle Smith.  “I listened on the radio, and when the team got back and we watched the film it really felt like we gave the game away, we made a lot of mistakes.  Ultimately you give BYU credit for winning, but we made so many mistakes.  The following year we had a really good week of practice, we were very excited for the game and still upset about the results from the year before.  BYU had said some things in the paper about how they should have beaten us by more the year before that we took a little personal, we were ready to get after them.”

The Ducks would start off well in the path towards the BYU rematch winning the first two games of the season, but a last-minute loss to Arizona the week prior to the BYU game added an extra dash of anger to Oregon’s fury.  BYU was 4-0, ranked #4 in the country, and expected to possibly contend for the national championship led by Detmer, now a senior and the consensus leader for the Heisman Trophy.

Oregon was very focused in the week leading up to the September 29^th,1990 rematch at Autzen Stadium.  There was a determination, a crispness to the practices as the Ducks went through their routines.

“I had suffered a concussion in the 1989 game, and their receiver Matt Bellini had a field day on me,” remembers safety Rory Dairy.  “Someone kneed me in the helmet, and the next thing I remember was loud cheering because they scored on me.  I asked Chris Oldham what happened and he waved for the trainers to come get me because I had no idea what had been going on for the past six or seven plays.  For the 1990 game I had a little added incentive to get after them, make sure that didn’t happen to me again.”

There was also a family connection.  Redshirt freshman linebacker John Taumoepeau had family on the opposite sideline, BYU runningback Peter Tuipulotu, and had almost attended BYU himself before ultimately deciding to be a Duck.  “Secretly I hoped that Peter would have a good game, just as long as we still crushed them,” said Taumoepeau.

“We felt like as long as we could keep Bill (Musgrave) healthy, that nobody should ever beat us,” said Brantley.  “We were very focused, we had been preparing for BYU since the day we lost to them the year before.  That game had been circled on the calendar, we wanted revenge for the game that had been stolen from us.  The intensity was very high in the week leading up to the rematch, we practiced that draw play a lot, and a lot of passing situations, we were so familiar with the BYU offense by that point since we had been practicing against it since spring ball.”

It was a perfect day for football in Eugene when gameday finally arrived.  A national TV audience tuned in on ABC to witness a packed, frenzied house at Autzen Stadium with Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil calling the game, the third largest crowd to have ever witnessed a game in Eugene at the time.  There was good cause for the excitement, the bad calls leading to BYU’s improbable comeback the year before was still fresh, and there would be no greater revenge for the travesties of that game than to ruin the championship and Heisman plans for Detmer and BYU.

“Over the years the stadium had started filling up more and more, I remember the first game I played in 1987 vs. Colorado and the corners of the stadium were completely empty,” said Brantley.  “But the support we got that day was enormous.  I remember being really ready to play, wanting to get back at those guys.  We didn’t think they were very good, I mean they had talent but they didn’t deserve to be #1 in the country, we thought we were a much better team.  Detmer was tough, a very good QB, but we were going to be on him all day and show what kind of team we were.  There was just something special in the air that day, that feeling that came on gamedays against the Huskies or Beavers, that same energy was evident that day.”

The confidence was high for Oregon, and ABC was happy to oblige the Ducks sentiments, airing a song two teammates had been working on for the game.
 
It wouldn’t take long for Oregon to showcase their grit and determination to make up for the previous year’s loss.  In the opening drive Oregon’s pass rush was relentless, sacking and pressuring Detmer into a 3-and-out.
 
Oregon’s defense was confusing BYU, utilizing a technique rarely used at the time but more commonly used today, the zone blitz scheme.

“We lined up LB Andy Connor at defensive tackle and would drop him into coverage.  We practiced that a lot in preparation for BYU, it seemed to give Detmer a lot of problems all day trying to figure it out, and we got lots of pressure on him because of it,” said Brantley.

“We were playing a lot of man-to-man in the secondary, and what we called Chief coverage, where we kept a guy in the middle waiting for them to throw a cross because we were worried about their crossing routes,” said Daryle Smith.  “The defensive line did a great job of attacking and shutting down their run game (BYU would finish with -32 total yards rushing in the game), so they had to pass a lot and tried to attack us deep, but we were ready for them.”
 
BYU was having more problems beyond recognizing Oregon’s tricky 3-4 defense.  BYU players had difficulty with Autzen Stadium’s slippery astroturf, which would get watered down before every game.  Oregon players were used to the slick turf, but BYU was unprepared having brought improper footwear for the conditions, leading to lots of slips.

Following a punt, it took only a couple plays for Oregon to capitalize, with Bill Musgrave finding runningback Sean Burwell over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown pass.  The already raucous crowd at Autzen was now at a fever pitch, every play ramping up the noise level even higher.
 
Following the kickoff with BYU pinned deep on their own 9-yard line, nosetackle Marcus Woods would show just how much Oregon meant business on this day.  Pushing his way past a double team, Woods relentlessly pursued Ty Detmer into the endzone and dropped Detmer to the ground with a sumo-wrestler-esque belly bounce for a safety.  The noise from the Autzen crowd could have measured on the richter scale in the aftermath as the Ducks celebrated.  Oregon had come to play, and BYU quickly realized they would have to play the game of their lives just to keep pace.
 
“Marcus Woods, Matt LaBounty, Steve Kemp…It was a maximum defensive effort from so many guys,” said Smith.  “We were where we were supposed to be and we made plays the whole game.  I couldn’t believe how loud it got when Woods belly-flopped Detmer into the endzone.”
“Matt LaBounty and Marcus Woods both had a huge impact on the game pressuring Detmer,” Taumoepeau recalls.  “They wanted to prove they could put some heat on Detmer.  There was so much hype about BYU and Detmer, it was the first game I remember seeing what big-time college football looked like up close.”

Getting the ball back, Oregon tried to step on the Cougars’ throat early, but a throw into a crowded endzone by Musgrave resulted in a BYU interception.

BYU tried to mount a comeback, putting together a long drive, but Oregon’s defense was stout continuing the pressure, including a sack by Oregon LB Andy Conner.
 
Detmer got greedy going deep for the endzone, lofting a pass that floated allowing cornerback Daryle Smith to leap at the goal line to snag an interception.
 
“They tried to run a post on me, and being a taller guy who could jump I just leaped up and snagged it at the goal line,” Smith remembers.

With the ball moved out to the 20 on a touchback, Oregon would get a taste of the home cooking that BYU had benefited from the year prior, as on the first play a clear fumble by Sean Burwell was inexplicably ruled down.  The Ducks mounted a drive that resulted in a field goal, making the game 12-0.
 
BYU wouldn’t go away quietly though, despite Oregon defenders in Detmer’s face on every play somehow the Cougars were able to move the chains resulting in a short Detmer touchdown pass, making it 12-7.  BYU was back in it, but Detmer was taking a pounding.  There was a reason why Oregon was able to get into the backfield, like any good poker player, linebacker Peter Brantley had recognized that his opponent had a tell.

“In the 1989 game I noticed halfway through it that Ty Detmer gave away the snap-count,” Brantley remembers.  “He would give away the snapcount, because his fingers would flex right before the ball would be snapped.  I remembered that in the 1990 game and let the guys know, if we could see Detmer’s fingers under center then we knew exactly when the snap was coming.”

Football is a game of inches, and to have an extra step, an additional split-second knowing the snap for a strong defense can be lethal to opposing quarterbacks, the difference between a completed pass and a sack.  The Ducks took full advantage of that extra step.  On the day Oregon’s defense would sack Detmer five times, but if not for Detmer’s quick release and ability to somehow evade attacking defenders with his feet that total could have been far higher, as nearly every pass play resulted in Detmer taking a big hit.  BYU’s offensive line was simply no match for Oregon’s attacking 3-4 defense.
 
What had started as an offensive explosion settled down into a defensive struggle.  Oregon slowly moved the chains using Musgrave’s passes dissecting BYU’s defense, while BYU got pass happy all but abandoning the run in the face of Oregon’s defensive line.  BYU would try to win with their best player, but would Detmer be able to survive the whole game while running for his life on nearly every play?

Detmer managed to mount a drive that threatened to lead to a score before halftime, but a pass was intercepted in the endzone by Oregon safety Steve Kemp.
 
It was 12-7 at halftime, but momentum was clearly on Oregon’s side, and in front of a raucous crowd that five-point difference felt much bigger.

In the third quarter BYU would get a field goal on their first drive, but Oregon QB Bill Musgrave would kick things into high gear.  On Oregon’s opening drive of the 2^nd half Musgrave led a drive ending in a 12-yard touchdown pass to Michael McLellan.
 
Next drive Musgrave surpassed 152 yards on the game, making him the all-time career passing leader for the Ducks above Chris Miller, then the starting QB for the Atlanta Falcons, who had made his way back to Eugene to witness the festivities.
 
Shortly after breaking the record, Musgrave and company would break open the scoreboard again, mounting their second straight touchdown drive, this time finding a wide-open Jeff Thomason over the middle for a 30-yard touchdown pass.  A two-point conversion failed, but Oregon was now putting the game away, leading 25-10.
 
BYU was in full pass mode now, but the Oregon secondary was swarming.  Great defense would force a BYU punt, and Oregon would mount their third straight touchdown drive of the 2^nd half, highlighted by a long Sean Burwell run and screen pass and finished off with a Bill Musgrave sneak, 32-10.
 
 
 
It was a long methodical drive highlighted with big runs by Burwell and crisp passes by Musgrave, the type of dominating performance that sends a message to the opponent and everyone watching.  The message was simple, BYU was not the better team, at least not on this day, and maybe not the previous year either.

“The defensive line just dominated them all day,” Daryle Smith recalls.  “They had to throw a lot, but it worked in our favor because our secondary was really up for the task.  We were very confident, all year we were confident but we didn’t quite have the depth that the team does these days, if we had that kind of depth who knows how far we could have gone.  Still, they were looking to go deep on almost every play feeling the pressure like they had to get back into it.  It worked out well for me being a tall corner who could jump, Detmer started throwing deep and we took advantage.”
 
 
The #4 team in the country was getting embarrassed, Detmer’s Heisman chances withering away with a national audience finding out just how serious these Oregon Ducks were.  On offense, on defense, and special teams Oregon had been unstoppable.

BYU was desperate, and started taking chances.  Detmer kept testing the secondary, who had done a terrific job all day bracketing receivers.  But on one play the BYU offense finally connected, an out-and-up move by Micah Matsuzaki burned the cornerback and Detmer hit him in stride down the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown.  A two-point conversion failed, making it 32-16.
 
Oregon was now in ball control mode, choosing to burn off the clock rather than keeping up the pressure.  Musgrave led the Ducks on clock-killing drives but would stall before reaching the endzone, giving the ball back to BYU who again kept trying to go downfield with the big play.  The Ducks would make them pay, as cornerback Daryle Smith would again intercept a Ty Detmer pass, his 2^nd on the day.
 
BYU’s defense again stopped Oregon, sensing that if they had any chance to comeback they couldn’t give up any more big plays.  It almost backfired, as Musgrave had tight end Jeff Thomason open for a huge gain, but Thomason dropped the ball, forcing another punt.  BYU would be forced to give the ball back to Oregon, intent to once more bleed the clock.

It was time for Sean Burwell to go to work.  Oregon pounded the rock with their senior runningback, who gashed BYU for repeated first down runs keeping the clock moving.  Oregon had a chance to tack on more points, but a Greg McCallum field goal attempt sailed wide.
 
On BYU’s first play following the field goal attempt , Oregon safety Steve Kemp intercepted a pass along the sidelines, but a penalty gave the ball back to BYU.  Needing a big play, Detmer found a receiver over the middle for a big gain while backed up near their own endzone, moving it out to midfield.  Detmer kept slinging it, picking up first downs.  But the same BYU attack would result in the same result, as Daryle Smith once more intercepted Detmer, picking up the hat trick against the Heisman front-runner.
 
“For the third interception, the receiver could tell I was going to get the ball and he gave up on the play, just tried to push me out of the way,” Smith laughed.  “I could hear the crowd cheering before I even got the ball because they could tell I had it all the way.  Three interceptions in one game, it was a good day.”

It was the fourth interception of the day on Detmer, and with the clock under three minutes the Oregon crowd began chanting the familiar “na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey hey hey, gooooo-oood bye!” while the broadcasters praised the crowd and performance by Oregon.

“Detmer took a beating, but he kept getting up, I give him credit for that, somehow he’d get the ball off at the last second,” said Brantley.  “I remember hitting him once convinced I had a sack, I couldn’t believe he got the ball off.”
 
In the final minute with BYU putting together a too-little too-late drive, a Ty Detmer pass near the goal line would again be picked off, with Steve Kemp getting his second of the day.  The Ducks had intercepted Detmer five times, sacked him five times, and harassed him on every play.  It hadn’t been without a herculean effort by Detmer though, who despite taking a pummeling from the defense managed to throw for 447 yards on 57 pass attempts.
 
As Oregon knelt on the ball and the final seconds ticked off, Oregon students stormed the field to celebrate with their beloved Ducks.  Oregon had never defeated a team ranked so high in their own house, and to do so in such a fashion was eye-opening to the rest of the country.  Oregon was for real, and the media took notice.

“It was so loud that game,” Daryle Smith reminisced.  “I thought we might go deaf, just the roar of the crowd, especially when Marcus Woods got the safety the place went crazy.  BYU had no shot, they couldn’t audible because of the crowd noise, they couldn’t get on the same page because the crowd was so loud.  The fans in Eugene I wouldn’t trade for anything, we could only pack in about 45,000 but Autzen was as loud as any stadium I had ever been in.”
 
“It was a day where everything went right,” said Peter Brantley.  “We planned so much of our whole season around that one game, spent so much time preparing for BYU, it was a wonderful feeling to avenge the loss the previous year and do so in such a dominating way.  It was probably the most satisfying win we had during my time there, everybody was just getting back to campus and classes starting, so it was really cool to start off the school year avenging a loss we felt like we really shouldn’t have had.”

“Since I had almost chosen to play at BYU myself to play alongside my cousin, to have beaten BYU as soundly as we did was tremendous justification that I had made the right decision to be a Duck,” said Taumoepeau.

A banner was paraded around Autzen Stadium that summed up the day perfectly, ‘Ty-died in Eugene.’

BYU would rebound from the loss, not losing another one for the rest of the year until their final regular season game vs. Hawaii, finishing the year 10-2 before a loss in the Holiday Bowl to Texas A&M.  Ty Detmer would be awarded the Heisman Trophy, the highest individual honor in college football, but with a huge asterisk and a lot of bruises left behind from his day at Autzen Stadium against the Ducks.

Oregon meanwhile earned a trip to the 1990 Freedom Bowl, where they tragically lost in the closing minutes to Colorado State, but being able to go to two bowl games in a row after decades of losing still gave a great sense of accomplishment, that things were changing for the better in Eugene.
BYU’s loss to Oregon would be remembered well, as Peter Brantley found out when he was invited to the Shrine Game after the season, a game where Oregon and BYU head coaches Rich Brooks and LaVell Edwards would ironically be on the coaching staffs.

“BYU’s tight end Chris Smith was also invited to play in the Shrine Bowl with me that year, and he made a point to talk to me about the game we’d played earlier in the season,” Brantley remembers. 

“What kind of buzzsaw did you guys have out for us that day?’ Smith asked me, ‘What the hell got into you guys when we played you, you guys were so tough!?!.’ I just told him, ‘Well, I didn’t think we should have lost to you last year!’” 

1989 Independence Bowl: How Oregon Overcame Years Of Losing Thanks To An Old Pair Of Shoes

1989 Independence Bowl: How Oregon Overcame Years Of Losing Thanks To An Old Pair Of Shoes

Originally published on FishDuck.com on August 17th, 2011
 
It had been a time of great suffering, 26 years to be exact, since Oregon had last played in a bowl game. There had been opportunities, but the heartbreaking trend known as “Duck-Luck” repeatedly reared its ugly head preventing Oregon from elevating itself above the mire; unfortunate injures or odd circumstance always getting in the way. For a time Oregon had been so bad that there was talk of kicking the Ducks out of the Pac-10 conference entirely.

Yet by the mid-80s things looked to be slowly improving, Oregon had talented players that would go on to fruitful NFL careers, particularly the 1986 recruiting class that included names like Derek Loville, Terry Obee, Tony Hargain, Chris Oldham, and a lanky quarterback from Colorado named Bill Musgrave. ‘Duck-Luck’ would continue to haunt Oregon though, as in 1988 a then 6-1 Oregon team failed to win another game in the regular season after Musgrave broke his collarbone vs. ASU, leaving the Ducks once more just out of reach of a bowl game.


Quarterback Bill Musgrave (left), Head Coach Rich Brooks (center), and safety Rory Dairy (right) spearheaded Oregon’s return to prominence in the late 1980’s.
 
For the players, it was agreed that it was time to put the bickering and me-first attitudes aside and overcome the long-standing adversity as a team. They did so in 1989, becoming bowl eligible and defeating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Independence Bowl in one of the coldest games any of the participants can ever recall.

In the context of the 1989 football season there was little reason for the public to pay much attention to the two small schools playing in some minor bowl game, but the game would set in motion a transformation of one program to national title contender, while the other would continue its toil in obscurity. At first, despite being bowl eligible, Oregon wasn’t even going to be included, until the University guaranteed to purchase a certain amount of tickets for the game in advance to entice the bowl committee to agree on an Oregon invite. It ensured that the school would likely lose money on the venture, but the pride involved in Oregon finally after long last returning to a bowl game was far more important than any measured dollar amount.

At the time, the Oregon and Tulsa programs were practically mirror images of each other. Both had spent years out of sight out of mind entrenched in a long bowl drought, both struggled to recruit in nearby fertile recruiting grounds having to largely settle for the leftover scraps not consumed by the major conference teams nearby, both had geographic and financial disadvantages. Most of all both programs had a sensation of being perennially snake-bitten, Tulsa also owning a share of the so-called ‘Duck-Luck’ that everyone could sense looming just over the horizon whenever it seemed like things might finally be turning around.

If there was an advantage, it was Oregon’s connection with the Pac-10 conference while Tulsa was an independent, Oregon’s slightly larger enrollment, and Oregon’s coaching staff longevity, while head men at Tulsa viewed their positions as a stepping stone leaving for bigger jobs at the first offer causing almost annual turnover in their staff.

Oregon finished the 1989 regular season with a 7-4 record, Tulsa 6-5; both teams had finally made it over the hump to a bowl game, both hungry to change their losing traditions.

But would you believe that the thing that led Oregon to victory that chilly night in Shreveport, LA in the 1989 Independence Bowl was a pair of hand-me-down black shoes?

To the victor went the spoils, as in the time since Oregon’s narrow 27-24 victory that night, the Ducks have elevated step-by-step to more bowl games, improved facilities and recruiting, national prominence, and a shot at the national championship; while Tulsa descended into a long string of losing seasons until their own recent still-in-progress rise to redemption. Could it be that the difference between one program’s meteoric rise to glory and the other’s downfall was sparked by a pair of cleats? At a school now commonly referred to as “Nike U,” perhaps it is fitting that something as simple as footwear could indeed start a revolution.

Was Nike inspired to make its iconic early 90s “It’s Gotta Be Da Shoes” ad campaign because of the 1989 Oregon Ducks football team? Only Uncle Phil knows for sure…


 The Tulsa Golden Hurricane was a team led by a superstar destined for greatness, wide receiver Dan Bitson. Bitson led the nation in receiving yardage, an unstoppable force putting up gaudy stats every game, it was easy to predict a long NFL career was in his future. He was a Parade All-American and projected early NFL draft choice if he chose to come out early.

“Dan could do anything, so much of our offense was built on just getting the ball in his hands and figuring things out from there,” said Gary Treat, in 1989 the starting senior tight end and co-captain for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. “When he was on the field nobody could catch him, he couldn’t be tackled, just a great open field runner. He single-handedly won games for us that year, we had a good team but everything was built around him first.”


Tulsa wide receiver Dan Bitson was a Parade All-American, leading the nation in receiving, but a tragic car accident would cut his career short.
 
Bitson jumped off the film when Oregon prepped for the matchup against Tulsa in the Independence Bowl. “We saw the film on Bitson and he was an absolute beast, the whole defensive gameplan was built around stopping him,” Rory Dairy recalls, then a junior strong safety for Oregon. “We were going to have Chris (Oldham) shadow him all game and I was going to play over the top in a robber technique, everything was built on just trying to cover that guy.”

However, 12 days before the big game both teams would have to scrap their entire game plans, as Dan Bitson’s life would be forever changed in a car accident just a few blocks away from Tulsa’s Skelly Stadium, shattering his body so severely he spent 49 days in the hospital recovering and for a time wondering if he would ever walk again, his shot at an NFL career destroyed.

Information of Dan Bitson’s horrific car accident is detailed here: http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-27/sports/sp-1068_1_play-football
 
“Our entire game plan had been built on stopping their wide receiver, so going into the bowl game now we had no clue what Tulsa would do,” Dairy recalls. “We couldn’t notice anything on film because their offense was all about that guy, so we went into the bowl game blind and just had to feel them out.”

“As a fellow receiver, I felt so bad for him that Bitson got hurt that badly right before the ball game,” Tony Hargain remembers, a starting junior wide receiver for Oregon in 1989 who would go on to an NFL career with the 49ers and Chiefs.


Oregon wide receiver Tony Hargain was a versatile weapon for Oregon, even playing quarterback for a couple games in 1987 due to attrition at the position.
 
“We had to change our whole game plan, we were totally behind the 8-ball and mentally devastated,” said Gary Treat, reflecting on Bitson’s accident. “We decided to instead concentrate on the running game and underneath passes to attack with Bitson out. Coaches came up with a great game plan to be more balanced than we had all season long, control the ball and the clock. I don’t know if the game would have turned out differently if Dan hadn’t had his car accident, but everyone knew our team was built around Dan, losing him was a huge blow.”


Gary Treat (#86) was a co-team captain his senior year in 1989 as the starting tight end for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
 
Oregon had turned the tide of losing seasons to reach the bowl game, and during preparation for it in practice the players decided they wanted to start their own traditions to keep the good times coming.
“Everyone was so excited just to be a part of the festivities; the pep rally, and being able to practice more after the season was such a big deal,” said Dairy. “We were having so much fun practicing getting prepped for that bowl game, we decided that we should start our own tradition. ‘From now on let’s go to bowl games every year, let’s get family and friends to come to Oregon, let’s make this real. Let’s do anything we can to make sure this happens again and again.’ We all collectively agreed.”


Oregon players, including Rory Dairy (#3-middle), had big aspirations for the Ducks.
 
Tony Hargain also remembers the preparation for the Independence Bowl, “The main thing was we hadn’t been in a bowl game in almost 30 years, we were all so excited to be the ones that did that. Before that 1986 class the team wasn’t usually winning more than 2 or 3 games a year, it was a big deal for us that we were the ones changing things in Eugene.”


Oregon wide receiver Tony Hargain became a reliable target for Bill Musgrave, and would be a key weapon in the 1989 Independence Bowl.
 
Part of starting that tradition meant changing the look of Oregon. Head Coach Rich Brooks was a stickler for team unity, no dancing or showboating, nothing to draw attention to yourself, a team game requires a total team effort to win.

“You are a spoke in the wheel,” Coach Brooks would repeatedly tell his players, preaching to know your role and do your job, trusting that those around you will do theirs. This team unity concept heralded by Brooks was a top-to-bottom ideology, which included a very specific look for uniforms. Every player was to dress the same, including wearing white cleats. Starters were given two pairs of white shoes, reserves would receive only one pair. Odd to think that at the school where Nike was founded footwear for athletes was both scarce and bland.

“Part of our pact of starting our own tradition was getting our own gear, we decided enough was enough,” Dairy recalls. “My godfather Robin Cole had played in the NFL with the Steelers, and his brother Dennis gave me a pair of his old cleats from when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 1979. I took those black cleats with me to Oregon, but I never wore them until the Independence Bowl. I decided I was going to break them out for that game. All the guys saw them and wanted black cleats too, so everybody spray-painted their white cleats black the night before the game.

Some of the guys painted their shoes green, Derek (Loville) and Daryl Reed made theirs green, but most went black. Coach Brooks was so conservative about such things he never would have approved it, so we hid them from him. But a few of us put on our cleats for pregame warm-ups and he saw them, so when we all headed back into the locker room he was livid.”

“If this wasn’t a bowl game all of you wearing black shoes would be [expletive] benched!’ coach Brooks screamed.

“Can you imagine a game where Derek Loville, Terry Obee, Latin Berry, Eric Castle, Chris Oldham…half the starting roster for Oregon wouldn’t be playing in the first bowl game in 27 years just because we wore black shoes?” Dairy remembers, laughing hysterically.

Dairy continued, “Coach was furious. He chewed us out so bad I could see guys hearts beating out their chests through their shoulder pads, he was that mad.”

Then Coach Brooks paused, and asked the team ‘ok, how many of you guys painted your shoes black?’ About 2/3s of the team sheepishly raised their hands.

Enraged, Brooks asked the equipment managers if they had enough white cleats for the whole team, they responded no. Growing even more frustrated, Brooks realized he couldn’t bench almost the entire team for the bowl game, so he compromised.

“Ok, you can wear the black shoes, but you better win or there will be hell to pay!” Coach Brooks shouted as he started to storm out of the locker room. The players knew he meant it too, and they would do anything to avoid the ultimate wrath of their head coach, a strict disciplinarian with a reputation for severe punishments if players messed up.

They knew they had to win at all cost. As Coach Brooks was leaving to regain his composure, one of the underclassmen offensive linemen raised his hand again and asked, “Coach, if we win, can we have black shoes next year?”

The team’s lifted spirits from their personalized footwear was somewhat dashed by the poor weather conditions that worsened at game time. Freezing cold, heavy rain, and strong winds made the game a miserable experience for everyone in attendance.


Players and fans tried anything to keep warm during the 1989 Independence Bowl, but little helped to quell the freezing rain and wind. Notice the Oregon Ducks various shoe colors, and Tulsa TE Gary Treat #86 winning the coin toss.
 
“In Tulsa by late November we’d get a lot of snow, so we had played in cold games before, but I have never been as cold in my life as I was during that entire game,” Gary Treat recalls. “It rained a lot that game, and it was freezing, the wind was blowing. Everyone was wet the whole time, and when you’re soaking wet with the wind blowing it just made for a miserable experience. Everybody huddled around the heaters, but it didn’t help much.”

“Man, some guys actually melted their cleats getting too close to the heaters,” Dairy laughed. “Our motto back in those days on defense was 3-and-done, but that was the only game I ever recall hearing our guys saying that they hoped they would have long drives and score on us just so that we could stay out there running around as it was the only way to stay remotely warm.”
“I actually wasn’t that cold, or maybe I was just so focused on the game I didn’t notice it,” Tony Hargain boasted, “but after the game, yeah I was pretty cold.”


Oregon fans kept their spirits high through freezing conditions at the 1989 Independence Bowl.
 
Rory Dairy continued, “I can’t imagine how terrible it must have been in the stands, the fans that came out to support us were fantastic, the ones who stayed at the game and hounded it out in that miserable weather and tasted victory at the end with us, I give them the utmost praise and thanks. We were so thankful for them hammering it out with us, but I never wanted to play in a game like that again.”


Despite the frigid conditions, Oregon fans came to Shreveport, LA in droves to cheer on the Ducks with the tongue-in-cheek humor, passion, and boisterous spirit that has made Duck fans world-renowned.
 
Much of the first half was controlled by Tulsa, dinking and dunking their way down the field moving the chains on Oregon’s defense a couple yards per play.

“They dominated us at the start,” Dairy recalled. “We didn’t get a chance to shine much because our defense was on the field for most of the first half. At key times we made plays, but we never really got our offense going. They outflanked us a couple times, but our D never broke, we never even bent, it was all short plays moving the chains.”

Tulsa looked to take the early lead on their opening drive, but Oregon all-american cornerback Chris Oldham intercepted a pass in the endzone from Tulsa QB T.J. Rubley to give the ball back to the Duck offense.


Oregon cornerback Chris Oldham intercepts a pass in the endzone on Tulsa’s opening drive, a play that would set the tone of the game; Oregon taking advantage of Tulsa mistakes at key moments.
 
“That play by Chris (Oldham) was huge, it was such a relief,” said Dairy. “When Chris made that pick it felt like the Duck-Luck had perhaps finally been broken, that gave us a lot of confidence.”
Oregon got a couple big plays but couldn’t find consistency to string together drives in the cold conditions, giving the ball back to Tulsa to once again slowly drive down the field.

It wasn’t until late in the first quarter when Oregon got the ball moving, when Musgrave found Tony Hargain on a deep curl for a big gain.

“Tulsa wasn’t doing anything special to shut us down, we just started off the game kind of slow,” said Hargain. “There were a couple dropped passes and we just weren’t moving the ball. That curl pass I caught really loosened things up, it broke the ice. That got us into the flow of the game.”


Oregon wide receiver Tony Hargain catches a pass from Bill Musgrave and is a step away from breaking it for a touchdown during the first half vs. Tulsa.
 
Shortly afterward wide receiver Terry Obee made a big play on a reverse, setting up Oregon for a field goal.


Oregon wide receiver Terry Obee picks up a big gain on a reverse.
 
By the second quarter Tulsa maintained a 7-3 lead with their slow-crawl offensive game plan, but the Oregon defense was making it tough.


Oregon safety Rory Dairy was a key cog in the Oregon defense, here tackling Tulsa RB Brett Adams for a 4-yard loss.
 
Oregon cornerback Chris Oldham was almost single-handedly keeping Oregon in the game, again intercepting a pass when Tulsa tried to strike over the top into the windy conditions.


Oregon cornerback Chris Oldham gets his second interception of the game vs. Tulsa.
 
Oregon immediately capitalized on the turnover, playing with the wind in the 2nd quarter Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave threw deep to reliable receiver Joe Reitzug for a huge gain setting up the Ducks with their first realistic redzone scoring opportunity.



Oregon wide receiver Joe Reitzug had a flare for the dramatic, his whole career making spectacular acrobatic catches like this one vs. Tulsa.
 
Oregon quickly hit paydirt, with wide receiver Tony Hargain spinning out of a tackle and sprinting for the goal line, giving Oregon the lead for the first time in the game, 10-7.


Oregon wide receiver Tony Hargain makes a great spin move and sprints for the goal line for Oregon’s first touchdown of the game.
 
A blocked punt by Tulsa returned for a touchdown would give the Golden Hurricane the halftime edge 17-10, with both teams sprinting for shelter to the locker rooms to thaw out from the cold and wet conditions.

“At halftime coaches made the adjustment to come up and attack more, knowing Tulsa was trying to beat us with short plays,” Dairy remembers. “We knew if we could force 2nd and long or 3rd and long we could get our offense the ball, but if we let them cut us up with these short plays setting up short yardage they were going to beat us.”

“We wanted to be more aggressive in the second half,” said Hargain. “Joe (Reitzug) came up with some big catches, and Bill (Musgrave) was getting into a good rhythm moving us down the field. We just wanted to attack more than we had, get the ball in the air.”

“We really had every opportunity to win the game,” Gary Treat groaned. “At the time I had a gut feeling that Oregon was somehow going to steal it from us, because we didn’t have the firepower. We were moving the ball and controlling the clock, but a couple turnovers were going to come back to bite us. I knew we hadn’t executed right, we gave up the ball too many times. I give credit to Oregon stepping up and taking it away, but I remember being up by 14 late in the game and feeling like we were going to lose.”


Tulsa TE Gary Treat was expected to be a big part of the game plan with superstar WR Dan Bitson out of the game with major injuries suffered in a car accident.
 
Tulsa continued their game plan in the 2nd half, adding an additional touchdown to make it 24-10 in the 3rd quarter until Oregon finally started coming alive. In a six minute span stretching into the 4th quarter the Ducks tacked on two touchdowns, first a 9-yard throw to WR Joe Reitzug and then a QB sneak by Bill Musgrave, his first rushing touchdown of his career, to tie the game 24-24.


QB Bill Musgrave throws to WR Joe Reitzug for a 9-yard touchdown to make the score 24-17 late in the third quarter vs. Tulsa.
 

Oregon QB Bill Musgrave runs for a touchdown to tie the score 24-24 in the Independence Bowl.
 
It was now up to the Oregon defense to find a way to hold Tulsa. The Ducks had managed to force several turnovers, but Tulsa had moved the ball well all game long.

The game-changing moment would come at midfield, as Tulsa decided to go for it on 4th and short running behind big Gary Treat with tailback Brett Adams, but Oregon LB Mark Kearns came flying into the hole to hold him at the line of scrimmage. The referees measured, and it was just short, Oregon ball.


A couple links of the chain swung the momentum decidedly in Oregon’s favor on this 4th down stop.
 
Oregon drove down the field to the 1 yard line, but were stopped twice setting up 3rd and goal. Controversy ensued when Musgrave’s foot got caught in the turf as he moved backwards to hand it off, fumbling the ball with a Tulsa defender quickly recovering it. The referees ruled that Musgrave’s knee was down before the fumble, Oregon maintained possession and kicked a field goal to take the lead 27-24.


Did Bill Musgrave fumble, or was his knee down before the ball came out? The Ducks’ would score the game-winning field goal on the next play, capping Oregon’s remarkable comeback in the 1989 Independence Bowl, a win that catapulted Oregon on a path to national prominence while dropping Tulsa back down into the category of also-ran’s.
 
“He absolutely fumbled, Musgrave absolutely fumbled!” Treat emphatically stated. “It was a horrible call, it’s maybe not what cost us the game, but yeah it hurt. Oregon got the ball back to take the lead, we still had our chance but that fumble call didn’t help.”

Tulsa would get the ball back to try to win it in one final drive, but without their all-world wide receiver Dan Bitson, driving the field with little time left was a tall order.

“We had turned the ball over and missed chances, definitely hadn’t played our best game,” said Treat. “We knew we had to put up some points because Oregon had an explosive offense, and if we let them hang around it would bite us.”

A series of big defensive plays set up a 4th and long, Tulsa needing to convert to keep their chance of victory alive. Tulsa QB T.J. Rubley dropped back, then inexplicably started running backwards some 20-30 yards eluding pursuing defenders before eventually being taken down.


Tulsa QB T.J. Rubley’s last-gasp effort was an odd one, ending in a sack on 4th down giving Oregon the 27-24 victory in the 1989 Independence Bowl.
 
“Heh, we called that the Rubley Shuffle,” said Treat, chuckling about the strange play that ended Tulsa’s chances of a comeback. “T.J. actually did that a lot during the season, he’d run backwards a ways and make so many guys miss eventually he’d somehow turn it into a gain or usually throw it away. Whenever it happened coaches preached to come back to the ball, but usually I’d start running deep because T.J. had such a cannon for an arm, he could chuck it 75 yards easy. I remember sometimes he’d do his shuffle going backwards, I’d release deep, and he’d overthrow me out the back of the endzone. He wasn’t a fast quarterback, but somehow when he started doing the Rubley Shuffle nobody could catch him.”

But Rubley was caught, eventually, and following an Oregon kneel down the Ducks victory was complete. The players celebrated with the fans that had stuck through the horrible weather, then rushed into the locker rooms to escape the bitter cold.

“Knowing that we not only made it to a bowl game but won was huge for us,” said Hargain. “Looking back to that 1989 team and 1986 class knowing that we had finally turned things around was a great source of pride.”

“When we won we were all back in the locker room jumping around chanting ‘We’re gonna get black shoes next year! We’re gonna get black shoes next year!’ For us that was a huge deal,” laughed Dairy.
Perhaps in the corner taking notes was then first-year offensive coordinator Mike Bellotti, recognizing that something as trivial as a little originality in uniforms could loosen up players and motivate them. Changing uniforms would become a trademark for Oregon on an almost annual basis starting in 1995 when Bellotti became head coach, a trend that has continued to this day in sharp contrast to the strict uniform specifications demanded under Rich Brooks.

“I do remember that my senior year (1990) for the first time we were issued black cleats,” said Tony Hargain. Coach Brooks may have been strict, but he was fair, and a man of his word.

The shoes would stay, as would other small changes. Something as simple as one hand-me-down pair of old black shoes had inspired others to follow the trend, to find an identity for Oregon and start their own traditions. In the coming years coaches would relax a bit, trusting players more for their own accountability, originality, and listening to their ideas. Players would form tight family bonds that remain today, and convince others to come to Oregon, establishing the talent pool that propelled the Ducks to its success in the coming seasons. Not a bad legacy to leave behind for an old long-forgotten pair of black NFL Super Bowl cleats.

As for Tulsa, they would get a small taste of redemption, winning the 1991 Freedom Bowl, but the revolving door of coaches and difficulty in recruiting would catch up to the program as the 90s would spawn 11 consecutive losing seasons.

“That was tough, losing in my last game,” reflected Gary Treat, who never got a chance to play in the professional ranks following the Independence Bowl. “But I’m proud of that team, we didn’t have Bitson but we fought hard, things just didn’t roll our way. I got to be a team captain on the first Tulsa team to go to a bowl game in 13 years though, and that’s pretty cool.”


Gary Treat (#86) never got a shot to play in the pros, but did earn a role as co-captain of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane his senior year.
 
Eventually Tulsa would start to turn it around in the early 2000’s, running a new spread attack offense long before it became the popular trend in college football. Led by then head coach Steve Kragthorpe (who later went on to become Louisville’s head coach, and would have been LSU’s offensive coordinator in Oregon’s matchup with the Tigers September 3rd if not for a recent diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease that has forced Kragthorpe to step down), Tulsa led the nation in total offense in 2003 and 2004. They repeated this feat again in 2008 and 2009, becoming the first school in NCAA history to lead the nation in total offense in successive years on two separate occasions. Tulsa was playing in bowl games again and making its mark, including last season’s shocking victory over Notre Dame and the dismantling of Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, 62-35.

Yet Tulsa remains a program unable to take the next step above that of mid-major juggernaut into the primetime the way that Oregon has in the years since the 1989 Independence Bowl. It is easy to ponder the what-ifs though…had Bitson not been injured, had Oregon not stopped Tulsa on 4th down, had Musgrave’s fumble been ruled a fumble–had any of these circumstances that swung the game in Oregon’s favor instead gone Tulsa’s way, would it be Tulsa that followed the path Oregon has ascended for the past 20+ seasons while the Ducks assumed Tulsa’s role of a stepping stone?
These are questions that Tulsa players and fans will be left to ponder forever while their program continues to struggle to break into the mainstream, but thanks in part to an old pair of black cleats Oregon’s long-standing Duck-Luck foe had been vanquished, raising the program to heights never before achieved.

“After that bowl game we started getting TV attention, we had almost never been shown on television before that,” Tony Hargain remembered. “The program just started building from there, that bowl game is what changed everything.”

Oregon fans can now dream of very realistic Pac-12 titles and national championship trophies for the foreseeable future, thanks to Robin Cole’s grungy old Super Bowl cleats and the student-athletes who decided to buck the old ways to create their own winning traditions.