UO History: Keenan Howry

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Revisiting the Wisconsin series: 2000-2001

<a href="http://fishduck.com/2011/12/revisiting-wisconsin-series-2000-2001/" target="_blank">Originally posted on FishDuck.com on December 14th, 2011</a>


The upcoming Rose Bowl pitting Big-10 champion Wisconsin vs. Pac-12 champion Oregon is not the first time the two teams have met.  A decade ago the Badgers and Ducks played in a home-and-home grudge match that was as bitterly fought of a series as had occurred in recent memory. With the Rose Bowl looming and the recent series tied 1-1, let’s take a look back at the two games when the Badgers and Ducks left it all on the field, the 2000 and 2001 Wisconsin-Oregon series.


The Wisconsin Badgers were the cream of the crop in the Big-10, one of the most storied and elite conferences steeped in tradition and stuck in the mindset of 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football. In 1999 they had finished 4th in the country at 10-2, defeating Stanford in the Rose Bowl led by Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ron Dayne, their 2nd Rose Bowl victory in a row after defeating UCLA the year prior. Dayne had broken the NCAA rushing record that year, edging out Ricky Williams of Texas for the title with his 1,834 yard senior campaign netting him 6,397 yards total over a four-year span. He was a big back, running behind a big offensive line, in the Big-10, it all seemed so kismet.


The 2000 version of Wisconsin had lost Dayne to the NFL, but were still stacked and prepped for a repeat trip to the Rose Bowl. The team featured cornerback Jamar Fletcher, who would win the Jim Thorpe Award that year, as well as punter Kevin Stemke, who would win the Ray Guy Award, All Big-10 1st team defensive tackle Wendell Bryant, and quarterback Brooks Bollinger had been named the Big-10 freshman of the year in 1999. They had a pair of future NFL superstar wide receivers in Lee Evans and Chris Chambers, and the Big-10 sprint champion Michael Bennett was their new running back set to replace Dayne…in other words, the Badgers were stacked with talent.


Wisconsin was ranked #4 going into the 2000 campaign with big aspirations, but before the season started there was a setback. An NCAA rules violation was revealed where 26 Wisconsin players had received unadvertised discounts on shoes, an illegal benefit by NCAA standards, the scandal being coined <a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78887494.html">SHOEGATE</a>.  Eventually the scandal would result in the football and basketball programs being placed on five-year probation periods and a loss of scholarships.


Among those facing suspension were Wisconsin’s big stars; Chris Chambers, Michael Bennett, Jamar Fletcher, Mike Echols, and Nick Davis among others. The suspensions ranged from one to three games, but the NCAA permitted their suspensions to be staggered over the first four games of the season. This meant head coach Barry Alvarez could pick and choose who was to be suspended during their first few games. Facing a schedule of Western Michigan, Oregon, Cincinnati, and Northwestern in their first four games, it is little surprise that when it came time to play Oregon barely anybody was left off the roster.


Oregon meanwhile was a program on the rise. The Ducks didn’t have Wisconsin’s tradition, didn’t possess a freshly polished Heisman Trophy in the athletic center, didn’t pack a stadium with nearly 80,000 a game all clad in red going crazy when <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Q0jPyrja0">House of Pain’s “Jump Around”</a> is played <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMLmRNt12xI">between the 3rd and 4th quarter</a>…still, the Ducks were now a force to be reckoned with on the national level, even if the old guard weren’t ready yet to accept their brand of west coast football quite yet.


What the Ducks did have was a talented young team coming off a last-minute Sun Bowl victory over Wisconsin’s arch-rival Minnesota, led by quarterback Joey Harrington, a small but fanatical fan base that made for one of the rowdiest settings in the country, a home winning streak that was among the longest in the nation, and a panache for finding a way to somehow always come up with a win down the stretch.


The Ducks had played at Michigan State the year before and nearly pulled off the upset, so a Midwest trip to the hallowed grounds of Big-10 country wasn’t completely unfamiliar, still this was a matchup of the big boys vs. the upstart new kids on the block. Also the Michigan State trip was a night game, this would be during the day in the humid hot setting of a Midwest summer.


Both teams handled their opening game with relative ease, Wisconsin beating Western Michigan 19-7 in a lethargic victory where they were content to simply grind it out on the ground with Michael Bennett running for 128 yards behind Wisconsin’s massive offensive line. Oregon meanwhile had beaten up Nevada 36-7 in a tune-up game at Autzen Stadium. Wisconsin sat 11 of their players facing suspension against Western Michigan, but for Oregon they would not provide the same shortened roster.


 


September 9th, 2000 – Oregon visits Camp Randall


 


Only three Wisconsin players would be on suspension in the Oregon matchup, of those Chris Chambers was injured anyway and wouldn’t have played, and the only starter missing would be cornerback Mike Echols. Wisconsin would be at essentially full strength, assuming they could survive with a drastically reduced roster for their following week’s matchup against Cincinnati. For many of Wisconsin’s starters, the Oregon game would be the only time they would play in the first month of the season before serving out their suspensions.


“Wisconsin had just come off back-to-back Rose Bowl wins and still had a lot of those guys on that team,” remembers Chris Tetterton, a local Eugene product from Sheldon High School who had walked on at Oregon as a defensive tackle in 1997 and slowly worked his way into the rotation. “We were going on the road to Wisconsin. Going to places like MSU, Michigan, the intensity is unbelievable. Autzen Stadium is loud and big, but we weren’t used to a place that big. Only UCLA and Washington had the capacity where we saw crowds like that, and Wisconsin lives & breathes football. It’s Packer country, and Wisconsin is the only college team they’ve got, so they really support their team all out.”


“Wisconsin was one of the toughest settings I can recall ever facing,” said Jason Willis, a walk-on wide receiver who had earned a scholarship before the start of the 2000 season and had become a steady piece of the rotation thanks to his devastating blocking abilities. “It was like we were playing against one of our rivals, there were constant boos from the second we came out on the field for warm-ups, it was a hostile crowd. They had to have a net over the tunnel, because fans were throwing bottles and garbage at us. I remember too there was a beehive underneath one of our benches, we had to clear the benches during warm-ups because there were bees everywhere.  They got rid of the nest but by the 2nd quarter the bees all came back again. That day also it was really hot and humid, in Oregon we’re used to hot but not humid. Camp Randall had that turf that gave out heat, so on the field it was horrible, we had to drink pickle juice before the game to prevent cramping but still guys were having problems.”

<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_4819" style="width: 530px">
<a href="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Willis-e1323842976865.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-4819" height="352" src="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Willis-e1323842976865.jpg" title="Jason Willis" width="530" /></a>

 Oregon WR Jason Willis went from walk-on to starter, considered by many the greatest blocking receiver in Oregon Ducks football history

</div>

“I remember all the talk in the locker room before the game was about their running back Michael Bennett,” said Tetterton. “The big saying was that you had to wrap up, you couldn’t let him run to the corner, linebackers had to finish him because if he got three steps he was gone.”


The game began and both teams tried to establish the line of scrimmage with the run game. Wisconsin easily won this matchup, led by defensive tackle Wendell Bryant in the middle plugging run gaps, and Wisconsin’ massive offensive line simply overpowering the undersized but agile Oregon defenders. While no scoring took place in the first quarter, the tone of the game was clearly established: Wisconsin was going to run and run and run some more daring Oregon to stop it, while the Ducks would implement screens and quick passes to torch Wisconsin through the air. Occasionally Oregon found some yards on the ground on the feet of junior college transfer Maurice Morris, but outside of a couple gashing runs the yards between the tackles were few and far between.


 


 


Both teams moved the ball effectively up and down the field, but when nearing scoring range the defenses tightened.


“They were definitely dominating us up front, so we had to do a lot of screens and short passes to move the ball, we couldn’t go head-to-head with that defensive line,” Willis remembers.


“It was so nerve-racking on the sidelines because both teams could move the ball but can’t score, so it’s a matter of who makes a mistake first,” Tetterton recalls. “Being a backup on the sidelines I got to be the best spectator, ease-dropping on what’s going on with the offense and defense, I remember that game was really hard-fought.”


In the 2nd quarter the Ducks got the first break, when backup running back Allan Amundson caught a short screen pass and found a crease sprinting down the field for a 27 yard gain putting Oregon near field goal range.


 


Shortly thereafter Harrington threw a dart downfield to Jason Willis, who had found an open hole in the secondary and reeled it in for a 20 yard gain. Oregon was now set up well within striking distance.


 


But the drive would sputter out from there, and Oregon would be forced to kick a field goal, Josh Frankel knocking through a chip shot to give the Ducks the early 3-0 lead. Wisconsin took the ball back and continued feeding Michael Bennett, gouging away 3-4 yards at a time simply leaning on Oregon’s undersized line pushing them backwards nearly every play. However the defense was able to hold, forcing Wisconsin to once again punt, however with eventual Ray Guy Award winner Kevin Stemke blasting the punts, Oregon was getting pinned deep with each possession.


“Our defense was giving up big drives, but in the redzone our linebackers filled the holes really well,” said Willis. “(Garrett) Sabol was hitting hard, Matt Smith had an unbelievable game, he was everywhere that day. I guess they needed that wake-up call that it was within scoring range now and it’s time to make sure we don’t give up anymore because they can’t get in.”


With time ticking down before halftime Oregon got the ball back, still clinging to their 3-0 lead. It was then that they found an advantage that was exploited for the rest of the game.


“We knew (Jamar) Fletcher was really good, he was touted as one of the best corners in the country and he definitely lived up to the hype,” Willis remembers. “But with the other corner (Mike Echols) suspended Wisconsin was playing a freshman out there. So we started throwing to Marshaun (Tucker) knowing that he could burn the freshman. Also their safeties weren’t built for our speed, they were Big-10 safeties, they were used to playing up at the line in run support not chasing us fast guys around, so we did a lot of crossing routes and went deep.”


Joey Harrington connected with Marshaun Tucker downfield, who juked the freshman corner and sprinted for a 60-yard gain.


 


It would not be the last time that Tucker would exploit the young corner B.J. Tucker for a huge gain. The Ducks were again in striking range pushing it all the way to the goal line, but for the second time they could not finish the deal due in part to an unfortunate dropped pass by Tucker, and were forced to kick another field goal, 6-0 Ducks. The game would go to halftime with Oregon leading, but an unease existed knowing they had not capitalized on scoring chances, and Wisconsin’s run game was too good to keep bottled up forever. Oregon had its chances, but dropped passes were killing the Ducks. Fullback Josh Line had been open for a big gain but let it go off his fingertips, and Marshaun Tucker had dropped an easy touchdown catch where he had once again badly burned the young cornerback Tucker.


Early in the third quarter, Michael Bennett finally broke loose. A quick step at the line of scrimmage, one missed tackle, and Bennett was off to the races for a 59 yard touchdown. In an instant, Wisconsin was on top 7-6.


Oregon tried to strike back, Maurice Morris broke free for a 23-yard run, but the Ducks were stopped when Joey Harrington threw in the vicinity of Wisconsin’s All-American corner Jamar Fletcher, whose interception set up Wisconsin for another possible score.


 


However following the turnover Oregon’s defense held firm, and Wisconsin was forced to punt. The All-American punter Kevin Stemke pinned the Ducks back by the goal line, and the Wisconsin defensive line held forcing Oregon to punt out of their own endzone. At the snap Wisconsin’s Ryan Marks got a great jump and took the ball right off of the punter’s foot, recovering it in the endzone for a touchdown, giving Wisconsin a 14-6 lead.


Oregon couldn’t mount a response, and Wisconsin immediately responded, as Michael Bennett flashed his world-class speed sprinting past Oregon’s linebackers for a 75-yard touchdown. Wisconsin had barely even attempted to throw all game, Bollinger would only complete 5 of 13 pass attempts for 65 yards on the day, but with Wisconsin’s bruising offensive line and Bennett’s quicks it didn’t matter much.  Nearing the end of the third quarter again it was Harrington throwing deep to Tucker picking on the young corner B.J. Tucker that paid dividends for Oregon.


 


“Marshaun had dropped a couple passes in the first half, so we kept feeding him the ball to keep his confidence up,” said Willis. “We knew that the freshman corner couldn’t cover him, so if Marshaun hung onto it he could make some big plays.”


Tucker’s 72-yard reception had Oregon threatening once more, and finally the Ducks were able to finish off a drive, when Harrington found tight end LaCorey Collins for a 17-yard touchdown. Bellotti was thinking of going for two to try to cut the lead to 3, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Collins celebrating a bit too excessively forced the long extra point kick instead.


 


As the 3rd quarter ended, the floodgates had opened, Wisconsin scoring 20 points in the quarter to take a 20-16 lead. The stadium shook as fans bounced to “Jump Around,” a Camp Randall Stadium tradition.


“That was the first time I ever heard songs played over the P.A. system,” Tetterton recalls. “Nobody in the Pac-10 does that, everyone just has the bands playing ‘Louie, Louie’ or whatever. To see the student section screaming to the songs, the stadium shaking as everyone jumped, even the Duck fans were getting into it, and some of the guys on the field were getting pumped up by it jumping around. Saul Patu, if he had hair on his head he would’ve been trying to yank it out he was so jacked up.”


 


Coming down from the energy boost of ‘Jump Around’, the 4th quarter played out much like the first half. Both teams settled in, Oregon had yet another unfortunate dropped pass that would have moved the chains and were forced to punt while Wisconsin continued to grind out the yards on the ground.


With time ticking down to only six minutes remaining though, the game took a dramatic turn. On a 3rd & 3, Wisconsin surprisingly chose to throw, one of their few pass attempts all game. As Bollinger dropped back, he threw into double coverage right at linebacker Matt Smith, who picked it off and immediately sprinted in the other direction, picking up blockers and returning it for a 49-yard touchdown.


The Duck defense had been pushed around all day, but when Wisconsin went away from their gameplan, Oregon made them pay. The 3rd quarter had been a disaster for Oregon with Bennett repeatedly scorching them, but in a moment of redemption it was the defense that put the Ducks back on top. Oregon led 23-20 with six minutes left to go, and Wisconsin had no luck in throwing the ball all game, but with Michael Bennett would they need to?


It didn’t take very long to find out. On the very first play from scrimmage by Wisconsin following the kickoff, Michael Bennett juked Oregon’s Gary Barker at the line of scrimmage and in an instant was gone, sprinting 83 yards until cornerback Rashad Bauman caught him at the 1-yard line. Quarterback Brooks Bollinger would dive in for a short touchdown, and just like that Wisconsin had regained the lead 27-23.


 


Oregon’s response drive failed abruptly with Harrington’s second interception of the game, again Jamar Fletcher picking it off, but the defense held and Stemke’s punt went into the endzone for a touchback, Oregon was once again in business for one of their now-trademark 4th quarter comebacks. Two minutes were left on the clock needing to go the length of the field for a touchdown, a field goal would do no good thanks to Collins’ unsportsmanlike conduct penalty eliminating the chance of going for two following the third quarter touchdown, so it was endzone or bust for the Ducks.


The Joey Harrington era was defined by last-minute heroics. It started with his first extensive action in 1999 against Arizona State leading a last-second comeback at Autzen Stadium, and of course the triple overtime victory over USC the previous year as well. By the time the 2001 season ended, finishing Harrington’s career, he had earned the nickname “Captain Comeback” for leading so many 4th quarter comebacks. While this legacy still somewhat had yet to be written, the track record was already there for an expectation that with two minutes left Oregon could drive the field 80 yards and score to win this game.


The Ducks almost got it on the very first play…Harrington threw deep to Marshaun Tucker, who had yet again beaten the corner into open territory, but Tucker once more dropped the pass. Tucker had 196 receiving yards on the day, but unfortunately it was the passes he didn’t catch that defined this otherwise career day for Tucker.


 


A sack and incompletion set up a 4th & 13 play from the 17, all or nothing. Harrington again flashed his 4th quarter brilliance, connecting with Keenan Howry for a 30-yard gain keeping Oregon’s hopes alive.


 


“We had that mentality like we knew we were going to drive and score, but we weren’t totally confident in ourselves just yet,” Jason Willis recalls. “We’d had a couple wins at the end of games but didn’t quite have that swagger yet, the full confidence. We were fatigued running receivers in and out in those humid conditions, but we knew we could win but lacked that total confidence that we always would win like we had in 2001.”


Reaching midfield, it looked like Oregon was going to find a way to once again pull off the upset with a little Harrington last-minute magic, but just when it seemed like Oregon had the momentum things went haywire.


Harrington’s first down pass attempt was incomplete. 2nd down defensive tackle Wendell Bryant collapsed the pocket and an onslaught of Wisconsin Badgers brought down Harrington for a sack, loss of 7 yards. This set up a 3rd & 17 from midfield, where Harrington found an open Jason Willis near the first down marker, but Willis dropped the ball.


 


“I was still a young guy at the time, and I was thinking more about the hit that was coming than the actual ball. I was coming across the middle, knew their guy was close, and didn’t snag it,” Willis lamented.


4th & 17, and again Oregon was backed into a corner. Harrington again looked for Willis, but overthrew him right into the waiting arms of Jamar Fletcher for his third interception of the game. Harrington had thrown for 362 yards, but it could have been well over 400 if not for all the dropped passes, and in the end Fletcher appeared to be Harrington’s favorite target.


 
As Wisconsin knelt on the ball to seal the 27-23 victory with Harrington visibly crying on the bee-infested bench, the Ducks were left to ponder the self-inflicted mistakes that led to the loss.


“It hurts more losing a game that you know you could have won as opposed to being blown out,” said Willis. “Coach (Mike) Bellotti said after the game we couldn’t blame anybody but ourselves for this loss. All that week in practice Coach Peterson (wide receivers coach Chris Peterson, now the head coach at Boise State) had us doing extra catching drills to make sure that we never had a day like that again dropping all those passes.”


“After Marshaun dropped that pass and then the pick and we realized we can’t win, we just had to sit there and take it,” Chris Tetterton recalls. “I remember guys back in the locker room crying because we were so close to getting Oregon to that next step, that was always our goal, to be Pac-10 champs and Rose Bowl champions and we had just gone toe-to-toe with the two-time Rose Bowl champs and should have won. That’s all Joey ever talked about was being Rose Bowl champs.”


Wisconsin had barely escaped with a win needing every player facing suspension to edge the Oregon Ducks, but the victory would prove costly for the Badgers as they were forced to sit much of their starting roster going forward due to Shoegate. Michael Bennett had rushed for 290 yards against the Ducks, while Bollinger only completed five passes. Harrington had thrown for 362 yards on 44 pass attempts, but the three interceptions by Jamar Fletcher proved too costly.

<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_4820" style="width: 206px">
<a href="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/jamar-fletcher-mage-e1323853631779.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-4820" height="292" src="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/jamar-fletcher-mage-206x292.jpg" title="jamar fletcher mage" width="206" /></a>

 Wisconsin All-American cornerback Jamar Fletcher was awarded the Jim Thorpe Award in 2001 as the nation's top defensive back, despite missing three of the first four games due to suspension

</div>

With many of their starters suspended for the next two games against Cincinnati and Northwestern, Wisconsin barely beat Cincinnati in overtime 28-25 then were shocked by a resilient Northwestern team, losing in double overtime 44-41. The Badgers went on a 3-game losing streak, albeit somewhat understandable facing #9 Michigan and #8 Ohio State in back-to-back weeks then losing again in OT two weeks later to #17 Purdue, finishing the year 9-4 with a victory in the Sun Bowl over UCLA. Jamar Fletcher would be a 1st round draft choice, taken 26th overall by the Miami Dolphins.


Oregon meanwhile would rally from the heartbreaking loss in Madison, WI, winning eight games in a row setting up the Civil War game with a chance for the Pac-10 title and the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately Oregon lost to Oregon State thanks to five interceptions thrown by Harrington, and a 3-way tie resulted at the top of the Pac-10 with Washington, Oregon, and Oregon State. Washington held the tie-breakers and got to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl, while OSU received an at-large bid to the Fiesta Bowl where they destroyed Notre Dame, and Oregon received an invite to the Holiday Bowl, defeating the Texas Longhorns in an unbelievable game 35-30. The year was filled with great finishes and last-minute heroics that made the nation pay attention to Oregon and turned Harrington into a star, but it was the Wisconsin loss that lingered in the offseason. What if Oregon had finished the deal on that last drive? As things played out, the Ducks would have achieved their dream of the Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl berth rather than settling for the Holiday Bowl while bitter rivals Washington and OSU played in the BCS.


 


A Chance For Redemption – Wisconsin at Oregon
 
September 1st, 2001


 


The Ducks were out for revenge for the previous year’s game when Wisconsin came to Eugene in 2001. The Badgers had graduated many of their top players from 2000, and Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez was quoted as saying he was “bringing a bunch of babies with him to Eugene.” Kevin Stemke had been awarded the Ray Guy Award, Fletcher the Jim Thorpe Award, and Michael Bennett was now carrying the ball for the Minnesota Vikings. But the cupboards were not bare for Wisconsin, they still had a massive offensive line, Brooks Bollinger returned for his junior year at quarterback, All-Big-10 defensive tackle Wendell Bryant was back, and the Badgers still had wide receiver Lee Evans. There was one other major advantage Wisconsin had, they participated in the kickoff classic, the opening game of the year defeating Virginia in the last week of August giving them a warm-up game before arriving in Eugene to face the Ducks for Oregon’s first game of the season.


“It was a huge advantage for Wisconsin getting to play a game before us,” Willis emphatically stated. “No matter what you do in practice, you can’t simulate game speed. In games the hits are harder, the speed is faster, and then there’s the fitness factor. It takes a couple games to get into game shape, those first few it’s easy to get winded, having a game under your belt is a huge advantage. But even though they played a game before us, we had just come off the Holiday Bowl win, so our confidence was good going in to the rematch. We had that home winning streak (2nd longest in the nation behind only Florida State) and so much was on the table, it was a get-back game. Stanford ended up being the spoiler for us in 2001, but Wisconsin was the spoiler in 2000, we had revenge on our minds.”


There was no Shoegate in 2001 to limit Wisconsin’s potential, but leading into the season there was a setback of other sorts, as quarterback Brooks Bollinger suffered a bruised liver and was forced to sit out a few games, leaving the quarterback duties to backup Jim Sorgi. Sorgi was a tall quarterback with a big arm and quick feet, capable of getting outside the pocket and running if need be.


The Ducks meanwhile had the nation’s eyes squarely upon it. Following their victory over Texas in the 2000 Holiday Bowl, Oregon was no longer the up-and-comers, they had arrived on the national scene. Oregon had taken unprecedented steps to hype the program and the team leader, now senior quarterback Joey Harrington. A massive billboard was placed near Times Square with the text “Joey <del>Harrington</del> Heisman,” no program had ever gone to such great lengths to promote a player in the preseason for the prestigious award. While there was much backlash against the program for the expenditures of billboards in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as well as for the outlandish uniforms, the nation was abuzz to see what all the hype was about with the Oregon Ducks.


 


“The main consensus was that we got so close in their house, we wanted to make sure it wasn’t close in Autzen,” said Tetterton. “Let’s show them what real Oregon football is like, we worked so hard, we’d bust our asses preparing for Wisconsin because we knew it was going to be such a physical game. They were huge, especially up front all corn-fed midwest big boys.”


For Tetterton the preparation for the 2001 rematch was particularly poignant. On the travel squad but not participating as a third-string backup in 2000, he had been forced to watch the game from the sidelines. Now a senior in 2001, his hard work had finally paid off, earning a starting position at defensive tackle. Tetterton had grown up in Eugene, attended Sheldon High School, fought through the scout team paying his way through school working multiple jobs at a local furniture store and as a bartender at Taylor’s while earning the respect of teammates and coaches for his work ethic. Now he would be getting his first career start on opening day against the team that had prevented Oregon from reaching their dream of a Rose Bowl the previous season, playing in front of family and friends and a national television audience.


“It was my first start, I was still green, still a walk-on,” Tetterton remembers. “Coaches said Igor (Olshanksy) was going to rotate in, so I didn’t know how much I was going to play, I was a ball of nerves. I had worked five years for this, all I wanted to do was go out and play the game, I was trying to hide my nerves by amping myself up but I’m sure it was obvious. When I did get to play Coach (Steve) Greatwood used to get so mad at me because I never wanted to come off the field, I’d worked so hard to get to that point I didn’t want to give it up, our defense wasn’t designed for the defensive line to make many plays as it was a gap-control scheme, so with every snap and every play I made it felt like I had just won the lottery.”

<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_4818" style="width: 512px">
<a href="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tetterton.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-4818" height="719" src="http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tetterton.jpg" title="tetterton" width="512" /></a>

 Chris Tetterton was a fan favorite, a local Eugene kid who went from scout team to starter on Oregon's defensive line, known for his blue collar work ethic and positive fun-loving attitude

</div>

When the defense took the field for the first series, Tetterton had another issue to deal with beyond just nervousness.


“I had a couple concussions over the years, and in camp I had my bell rung a bit, so the day before the game they gave me a new mouthpiece. It didn’t fit right, and actually caused a gag reflex when I put it in. So I ran out onto the field and suddenly started gagging. I can’t hear anything (Tetterton is deaf in one ear) because of the crowd noise but I see these massive guys that Wisconsin has and they’re all staring and laughing at me. These guys where huge, all like 6’5” 330, and me I’m barely six feet and around 300. I got into a ball of rage while I was dry heaving from the mouthpiece crouched down because I knew they were staring at me, they probably thought I was so green and dry-heaving like I was going to puke on the field before the first play. On the first snap as soon as the ball was hiked I immediately punched the guard right in the throat. From then on I was ok, and he sure wasn’t laughing at me anymore, because that guy was so pissed off.”


Wisconsin took the ball first and tried the exact same gameplan that had worked the previous year, pounding away at Oregon’s defense between the tackles, this time with yet another Big-10 sprint champion in running back Anthony Davis, the replacement for the graduated Michael Bennett. However, this time Oregon’s defense was up to the task, filling the gaps giving zero lanes to run.


 


 


The Autzen crowd noise was also greatly affecting the Badgers. In the first half alone Wisconsin would have to use all three timeouts in the first quarter and suffer multiple false starts and broken plays due to miscommunication, resembling the keystone cops more than a football team as they stumbled over themselves.


“A big portion of that game plan was going all out to stop the run,” Tetterton remembers. “We had to stop the run, we knew that (cornerbacks) Steve (Smith) and Rashad (Bauman) were totally confident in what they could do, so we had to put 7-8 guys in the box and stop them from running on us all day. It was a real physical game, they were such big guys. In the Big-10 they play big-on-big and try to push around their weight, while we were more quick. The athleticism was night and day. We had bigger linebackers who were fast, (Dave) Moretti and (Wesly) Mallard, they weren’t expecting it because it’s not their style, so our athleticism really bothered them. I was like a little bowling ball consuming two guys, I was about six inches shorter than all of their lineman, and in football low man wins.”


Tetterton continued, “People don’t realize the crowd plays a huge role in the tempo. In the first quarter the crowd noise was amazing. I’m deaf in one ear and couldn’t hear anything, so they sure as hell couldn’t communicate. Everything we did on defense was hand-signals. Sorgi was trying to make their checks at the line and they couldn’t hear each other, it caused them a lot of confusion.”


While Wisconsin struggled to find any rhythm, Oregon had no problem moving the ball in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium. The Ducks first drive was all Keenan Howry, Joey Harrington zoning in on the talented wide receiver on play after play both catching the ball and even running a reverse, moving the ball down the field in big chunks.


 


 


 


However just like in the 2000 matchup, Oregon couldn’t finish in the redzone and had to settle for a field goal. But if the start had the makings of a repeat of the previous year’s game, things would sharply veer from the storyline.


On Wisconsin’s next possession, the Badgers came out throwing, recognizing that the Ducks’ front seven were stout against the run not permitting Anthony Davis any room to run. Sorgi had a great downfield threat in Lee Evans to throw to, but the Badgers couldn’t find a rhythm and had to punt. Gone was Ray Guy Award winner Kevin Stemke, and the replacement punter had nowhere near the talent of Stemke, shanking the kick setting up Oregon in good field position. But the opportunity would be squandered, as Mike Echols (the cornerback who had been suspended for the 2000 game) intercepted a Harrington pass.


 


The crowd was at full-throat as Wisconsin picked up nine yards on the first two plays setting up a 3rd & 1. Sorgi play-actioned and looked deep to throw, but Oregon defensive end Quinn Dorsey blasted Sorgi, dislodging the ball. The other defensive end Darrell Wright plucked it from the sky and sprinted down the field moving it near field goal range before eventually being brought down. It would not be the only time in the game that Sorgi and Dorsey met.


 


“Quinn was so talented,” said Tetterton, “he was so fast getting off the ball. We’d always run a stunt when he was in to try to free him up because he could get into the backfield so quickly.”


On the Ducks first play from scrimmage following the turnover they tried a trick play that had worked to perfection in the Holiday Bowl nine months earlier, but Wisconsin recognized it and covered Harrington running out of the backfield and Keenan Howry rather than throwing back to the QB had to run to pick up whatever yards he could.


It worked in the Holiday Bowl…


 


Not so much against Wisconsin…


 


The trick play may have gone awry, but it did not matter as on the next play Harrington threw a pass to tight end Justin Peelle for a 22 yard touchdown, as the Ducks jumped out quickly to a 10-0 lead.


 


Wisconsin continued to be completely inept on offense, and another quick 3-and-out set up Oregon to extend the lead further. Wide receiver Jason Willis got things rolling with a big gain on a fly sweep run.


 


The Ducks couldn’t move into scoring range however and gave the ball back to Wisconsin, but a Wesly Mallard sack on third down appeared to end Wisconsin’ drive. Backed up deep into their own territory, Wisconsin would have to punt out of their own endzone.


 


But a dumb error would occur on the punt, breathing life into a Wisconsin team that throughout the first quarter had looked completely lost. As Wisconsin’s punter stood at the goal line, Oregon freshman wide receiver Keith Allen rushed to block the kick. Allen got great penetration with a chance to get his hands up, but misjudged the contact point and fell directly into the punter garnering a 15-yard personal foul roughing the kicker penalty.


 
“Keith felt so bad about that,” said Jason Willis. “His hands were the wrong way, he could have easily blocked it but just didn’t judge it right. That for them was their 2nd chance, and they took advantage. Wisconsin really woke up after that penalty.”


Wisconsin, feeling energized by the roughing the kicker penalty, drove the length of the field, doing so through the air with multiple long passes to receivers Lee Evans and Nick Davis. The line was still holding strong against the run, but for the first time Sorgi was connecting with his receivers, the Badgers choosing to abandon their traditional Big-10 attack and go airborne to gash the Oregon secondary.


 


The drive was capped with a touchdown pass to Nick Davis, and just like that with one penalty it had gone from a 10-0 lead and getting the ball at midfield to now a 3-point game with momentum squarely on Wisconsin’s side. Oregon suddenly looked skittish on offense, as the Wisconsin defense took control of the line of scrimmage led by big man Wendell Bryant collapsing the pocket. Surprisingly Oregon had only given the ball to running back Maurice Morris two times in the first half, choosing instead to attack with a heavy dose of receiver Keenan Howry as the primary battery, but waiting in the wings was a new weapon for the Ducks. Running back Onterrio Smith had transferred to Oregon in 2000 after a season at Tennessee, one of the most talented but troubled backs in the country, there was great anticipation when Smith might finally take the field allowing the ineffective Morris to rest. Smith’s carries late in the 2nd quarter were as inept as Morris’ as neither back could get past the line of scrimmage, and the ball was punted back to Wisconsin.


As time ticked down on the half, Wisconsin tried a page out of the Oregon playbook from the 2000 game, sending Lee Evans deep, beating cornerback Steve Smith for what would have been a long touchdown if Evans didn’t let the ball slip past his fingers.


 


It was eery how similar the game was progressing in the context of the previous matchup, the roles had been reversed. Wisconsin was now the team incapable of running and forced to attack through deep passes but suffering heartbreaking drops, while Oregon dictating the pace of the game controlling the line of scrimmage on defense.


Right before the half, fans got their first glimpse of the talent Onterrio Smith had when he broke free for an 11 yard run, but time expired before the Ducks could put some points on the board.


 


Smith’s introduction to fans was just the start of things to come. At halftime, Oregon led Wisconsin 10-7.


 


Just as had occurred in the 2000 game, it was the third quarter when Wisconsin finally flexed their muscles in the run game. It started with a 30 yard scamper by Anthony Davis early in the 3rd, setting up Wisconsin in field goal range.


 


The drive would be finished off with a 13-yard touchdown pass, giving Wisconsin their first lead of the game 14-10, as everyone was experiencing flashbacks to the previous year with this de ja vu storyline playing out in Oregon’s house.


As former Oregon quarterback turned broadcaster Dan Fouts joined Keith Jackson in the booth, the Ducks put together a lengthy drive, their best of the day, as Fouts unabashedly cheered them on. Fouts was a part of the ABC Monday Night Football team, but the sequence became an interesting preview as starting in 2002 Fouts would join Jackson as his broadcasting partner for the remainder of Jackson’s career until his retirement.


The Ducks marched down the field with strong throws by Harrington dispersing the ball to his talented wide receiver group. As Jackson and Fouts exchanged banter while promoting the upcoming Monday Night Football game to the national television audience, Harrington capped the long drive with a beautiful throwback pass to tight end Justin Peelle for a touchdown, giving the Ducks the lead 17-14.


 


Again the game would evolve eerily similar to the previous affair. In 2000 just when the Ducks had struck back to take the lead, Wisconsin’s run game came back with a back-breaking long touchdown run. This time it was Anthony Davis, who on the first play from scrimmage found a seam through the heart of the line and sprinted for a 69 yard touchdown.


 


Oregon had an answer though, their newest weapon Onterrio Smith. With Maurice Morris taking a breather, the ball-carrying duties fell to Smith and he took full advantage, picking up 52-yards on one run setting up the Ducks inside the 10 yard line.


 


The drive was quickly finished off with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Harrington to Morris, as the Ducks refused to back down following a Wisconsin strike like they had the year before.


Leading 24-21, Oregon’s defense held their ground as Wisconsin threatened to get into scoring range once more. As the final seconds ticked down in the third quarter, Oregon forced Wisconsin into a long field goal attempt. In 2000 Wisconsin had arguably the best pairing of kicker and punter in the nation, but both had graduated and their replacements lacked the legs of their predecessors. Oregon freshman defensive lineman Igor Olshansky got a great push in the middle and got one of his enormous paws up blocking the ball, which was then grabbed in the air by David Moretti and returned for a good gain before being forced out of bounds.


 


“I used to get blinded with excitement, even if I wasn’t in for the play,” said Tetterton. “Especially if it was somebody on the D-line that made the play, it was almost like I made the play too, it was my brother, a fellow D-lineman. That was awesome seeing Igor block the kick.”


Oregon did not take advantage of the favorable turn of events. On the next possession Joey Harrington threw a pass directly to Wisconsin cornerback Scott Starks, now wearing the #2 jersey that Jamar Fletcher had adorned the year before when picking off Joey three times.


 


What at first seemed impossible now came easy for the Badgers, a team too talented to be kept down forever. Sorgi was torching the Ducks, targeting his favorite receiver Lee Evans for big gains. The Sorgi-to-Evans combo connected again shortly after the turnover, this time for a 48 yard gain to the goal line that set up a touchdown, giving the lead back to the Badgers 28-24.


 


Time ticked down in the 4th quarter when Oregon got the ball back, still down 4 points. Oregon fans had seen this before, Oregon players had seen this before, it was time for the Ducks to display that 4th quarter magic that had become their trademark. But the Badgers had seen this before, and successfully stopped Oregon, the rare stumble in an otherwise now legendary career for Harrington of late 4th quarter comebacks.


The Ducks got things rolling with a big pass to Jason Willis for a 23 yard gain.


 


“I was out there to prove a point,” said Willis. “I knew I was going up against one of the top corners in (Mike) Echols. We wanted to open the season with a win so badly, to set the tone for the rest of the year, and make amends for the loss the year before. We were at home, we were more comfortable, our confidence was so high at home we knew what we were doing even when we were down. By then we had earned that mindset that we didn’t have in 2000, more of a killer instinct that no matter what if it’s close in the 4th quarter nobody can beat us.”


Harrington immediately came out firing once more, connecting with tight end Justin Peelle for a 25 yard gain, as everyone in attendance and watching on television could sense the moment when Joey Heisman lived up to his earned moniker.


 


An Onterrio Smith run moved Oregon inside the 20, with Wisconsin’s defense reeling seemingly unable to stop the Ducks no matter what they did. But the Ducks had moved the ball downfield too quickly, with five minutes still left on the clock if they scored there was plenty of time for Wisconsin to come back. Three runs set up a 4th & inches at the 1-yard line. A field goal did them no good, down 4 points Oregon had to have the touchdown. All or nothing, Oregon chose to keep it in the hands of their leader, as Harrington leaped over the line diving into the endzone for a touchdown, reaching into skyward in celebration while on his back, a true Heisman moment.


 


So much was on the line. A mere inch separated the difference between Oregon’s hope of a national championship and defeat. The demons remaining from the tragedy and heartbreak of the 2000 failure were clearly exorcised in shining moment…but unlike all of Oregon’s previous last-minute comebacks, there was still time on the clock. Captain Comeback had been known for leading drives in the final minute, but with four minutes remaining on the clock it was up to the Oregon defense this time to come through in the clutch.


“After we scored a lot of the guys were laughing and talking like we got this, but Joey roamed the sideline reminding us that there was a lot of time still left on the clock,” said Willis. “We told the defensive guys it was in their hands now, we knew they would come through because they had played tough all game.”


“At that time they were throwing the ball pretty well on us and making headway, so we knew we had to play in our gaps and play smart, not give up any cheap stuff,” said Tetterton. “Just don’t let them get the first down, 3-and-out was all we were thinking about. Because of my size I wasn’t the best pass rusher so Igor went in. It felt like an eternity still on the clock, but if they drove and scored we were screwed.”


The defense wouldn’t have to wait for the third down, as on the second play from scrimmage Quinn Dorsey shook his blocker and chased down Jim Sorgi from behind knocking the ball loose, with linebacker Kevin Mitchell picking up the loose fumble.


 


Oregon could now burn away the clock sealing the game, but of course the Ducks never liked to make it easy. Wisconsin stuffed two run plays, then inexplicably Oregon threw the ball, the pass falling incomplete stopping the clock saving Wisconsin precious seconds. Wisconsin would get the ball back once more, this time with two minutes still left on the clock. The Oregon defense twice would have to come up with big stops to preserve the victory.


“As an offense, we really didn’t do our part killing the clock, but we had confidence in the defense to hold their own,” said Willis.


Wisconsin wasted no time in making it another gut-wrenching last second game, as Sorgi bought time with his feet before finding his reliable target Lee Evans who shook a tackler and picked up big yards on a 36 yard catch-and-run bringing the ball to midfield.


 


But again the Oregon defense stiffened. The Oregon pass rush got into Sorgi face on the first two downs forcing incompletions. On third down Sorgi tested the Ducks deep, throwing to Evans in man coverage, but cornerback Rashad Bauman made a terrific play leaping to barely knock the ball away at the last second.


 


This set up 4th & 10, now it was Wisconsin’s turn to play the role of the underdog trying to make a last minute comeback. A year prior the roles were reversed, the Ducks having to convert on a long 4th down against the Badger defense to keep their hopes alive for a big season. In that drive it had been dropped passes by Tucker and Willis that had dashed Oregon’s chances, and in a cruel but perhaps appropriate twist of fate it was a Wisconsin receiver making the fatal error that cost the game. Sorgi dropped back and fired a dart to wide receiver Nick Davis well beyond the first down marker, but Davis took his eyes off the ball to see where the hit would be coming from just as Willis had the year before, and let the ball bounce off his hands. The ball hit the ground incomplete, and the celebration began.


 


A quick kneel down and the party had begun, fans stormed the field to celebrate with their Ducks, while Wisconsin players walked away pondering the what-ifs of their self-inflicted wounds that had cost them the game. Everything Oregon had done wrong in 2000 was committed by Wisconsin. They were two separate games, yet in many ways it was the identical story, the home team personifying poise under pressure while the visitors cracked under the strain.


For the Badgers, the season would turn worse. Wisconsin would drop the following week’s game at home to Fresno State, and an embarrassing loss at home being blown out by Indiana 63-32 personified Wisconsin’s slide from conference elite back to mid-tier status. The Badgers finished the season 5-7 with a loss to Minnesota in the battle for Paul Bunyon’s Axe, leaving them ineligible for a bowl game.


Oregon meanwhile soared to heights only imagined previously. Despite a stunning upset loss to Stanford at home that ended Oregon’s home winning streak, which for one week was the longest in the nation, the Ducks achieved their goal of a Pac-10 title through the leadership of Harrington and the first thousand yard rushing tandem in the history of the school, Morris and Smith. Through a fluke in the BCS system the Ducks would be held out of the national championship game in favor of a Nebraska team that finished third in their own conference, which prevented Oregon from playing in the Rose Bowl game that they had coveted so dearly. Instead the season ended with a high note, stomping Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and finishing the year ranked #2 in all of the polls. Despite the slight disappointment in not getting a shot at the national title, it remains to this day Oregon’s only BCS victory and arguably greatest achievement, a season forever remembered more for its ending, but propelled by its beginning exorcising the demons that had haunted the team in their first matchup against the Badgers of Wisconsin.


Now ten years later, the two programs get to relive the memories of the epic battles that played out on the turf of Camp Randall and Autzen in 2000 and 2001 as preparations commence for the final deciding game…who will win the 2012 Rose Bowl. For the Oregon players who worked so hard for the chance to play in a Rose Bowl game, only to have that hope dashed by Wisconsin in 2000 and snubbed by BCS computers in 2001, it seems fitting to hope that Oregon can come away with a Rose Bowl victory come January 2nd, 2012, earning the rings that the team from a decade prior had fought so hard to earn and did so much to build the foundation for the current team’s success.


 


 


 


 


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Chris Tetterton walked on at Oregon as a local Eugene native, and worked his way into the starting lineup by his senior year of 2001. After the 2001 season and receiving his degree, Tetterton moved to California to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Known as a gearhead in college who rebuilt a car and would earn money on the side fixing teammate’s vehicles, he now works on special FX in Hollywood, currently designing and operating pneumatic obstacles for the ABC TV show Wipe Out. Chris Tetterton still gets to hit people, only now he does it through his mechanical knowledge and pressing buttons rather than in the trenches of a football field.
 
Some of Chris Tetterton’s handiwork:


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Jason Willis continues to play professional football. After his time in Eugene Willis joined the Seattle Seahawks and the Miami Dolphins before proceeding to the Arena Football League. Next season Willis will be playing for the San Antonio Talons, while he aspires to someday return to the NFL.


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Miracle in the Desert: Oregon beats ASU in double overtime (2000)

Miracle in the Desert: Oregon beats ASU in double overtime (2000)

Originally posted on FishDuck.com on October 12th, 2011

It was one of those days where by the end the masses can do little more than shrug and lament, “what else could possibly happen?” A game where the improbable and unfathomable becomes commonplace, where those who walked out early would regret it for a lifetime. A game that would be talked about for years to come, and for those who witnessed it or were lucky enough to play in it would wear their participation as a badge of honor.

The bizarre, the unlikely, the confusing and the downright wacky; one day in 2000 an unassuming game between Oregon and Arizona State exhibited everything imaginable that can take place on a football field. Through multiple fluke plays, odd decisions, a little luck, and an undying spirit, somehow Oregon would find a way to win in a game that has come to be known as “The Miracle in the Desert.”

On a personal level, it was one of the few games I was able to attend during the 2000 season, sitting in the endzone with a friend from Phoenix, an ASU fan. We had hoped for a good game to cheer on our collective teams, instead what we witnessed would become the stuff of legend, a story we would re-tell often for years to come, one that regardless of the victor we were thankful to have been able to witness it.

The big game on the slate October 28, 2000 was the matchup between #1 Nebraska and #3 Oklahoma, but by the end of the day the upset of the top-ranked team would take a backseat to the improbable events that occurred in Tempe, AZ.

There was much talk about the up-and-coming 6-1 Oregon Ducks, ranked #7 in the country, tying the highest ranking in school history (1964), taking on the 5-2 Arizona State Sun Devils. Media and fans were still abuzz about Oregon’s victory the previous week at home vs. Arizona, as much for the hard-fought 14-10 win as for the huge hit made by Oregon linebacker Wesly Mallard that shattered the jaw of Arizona cornerback Michael Jolivette.

Arizona State was still trying to find a proper replacement at runningback for superstar J.R. Redmond, who was in his first season in the NFL, but still featured a lethal starting lineup of multiple future NFL players like Todd Heap, Levi Jones, Shaun McDonald, Terrell Suggs, and the leading tackler in the Pac-10, linebacker Adam Archuleta. The Sun Devils were led by a former Duck, Head Coach Bruce Snyder, who always seemed to give his former team fits any time they played.
“My freshman year they blew us out, 52-31” Jason Nikolao remembers, a senior starting defensive tackle in 2000, now retired from football living in Tennessee. “Next year we beat them badly, my junior year we beat them on a last-minute touchdown, but ASU always seemed to play us so tough. They always wanted to run us into the ground.”

Oregon was confident coming into the game, boasting the 10^th ranked defense in the country, #1 in nearly every defensive category across the board in the Pac-10 conference. Add to it that Arizona State was starting a walk-on runningback, a pool man from the Phoenix area named Tom Pace, and the Ducks felt they could shut down ASU’s run game and force them to be one-dimensional. The events that transpired would drastically contrast Oregon’s expectations, yet somehow through intense adversity the Ducks would find a way to persevere.

Just arriving proved difficult, as thunderstorms the night before the game in Phoenix delayed Oregon’s charter flight.

“We were stuck on the runway for two hours, we watched an entire movie while just sitting there waiting to takeoff, then we deboarded and hung out in the terminal for a while until the weather cleared,” said Jason Willis, a redshirt sophomore safety-turned-wide receiver for Oregon, who was getting his first career start in the game vs. ASU due to a hip injury to Keenan Howry. “It was a long day, we had school and meetings and then on the plane, we didn’t end up leaving Eugene until almost 10pm. When we touched down in Phoenix it was well after midnight, Coach (Mike Bellotti) said all meetings were canceled and to get some sleep, since it was a day game (12:30 kickoff) the next day we had to be up by 7:30 so it was straight to bed for essentially a power nap.”

For a team that emphasized routine down to the tiniest detail doing everything the same way for game preparation every week, the delayed flight wreaked havoc.

“We weren’t able to go through the normal routine, missed our morning meetings,” Nikolao recalls. “It absolutely had an effect on the way the team played early on. When you’re used to doing things a certain way, keeping things routine, we had it timed down to a T from two days out leading up to kickoff. Meetings at this time, meals at this time, sleep at this time, it was clockwork. But when the flight was delayed suddenly our game prep was completely different.”

“You could tell everybody wasn’t there,” said Willis. “The flight took our whole flow out, our chemistry was off, everybody was so out of it. It showed, it was a factor, we were just out of it mentally early on. It was hot that day too, so (Wide Receivers) Coach (Chris) Peterson—now head coach at Boise State—had us shorten up our pregame stuff to save energy. The defense got fatigued, on offense we had a lot of mental breakdowns, we could never get going, especially early.”
The crowd packed into Sun Devil Stadium seeking any respite from the heat bearing down in the valley of the sun. The heat and sunshine would cause problems for the players all day, the combination of lost sleep, added fatigue, and bright sunlight making life difficult for receivers to keep track of the ball.

Oregon misfired early, picking up a few yards but it was clear things were out of sync for the Ducks.

“It was my first time starting, replacing Keenan (Howry),” said Jason Willis. “Joey had such a strong connection with Keenan, it took some time for him to adjust to Marshaun (Tucker) and I being the starters out there instead of his usual receivers.”

“The previous week I was blocking and took a knee to the hip,” said Keenan Howry. “I had a bad hip pointer, I didn’t practice all week, so with Jason having a good week of practice they decided to start him. I didn’t play the whole first quarter, they gave me a shot to numb it up and eventually we decided I’d give it a go. I was able to play with only a slight hitch in my giddy-up.”

Things would turn worse in the opening minutes of the game, as Jason Nikolao would suffer a MCL sprain, removing one of the team’s key senior leaders from the lineup for the rest of the day.

“It was a freak thing how I got hurt, after the play the offensive lineman threw a guy on my knee. I felt a pop, heard a pop, knew it was bad,” Nikolao recalls. “I tried to lie my way back onto the field, but it didn’t work. It was tough to spend all week preparing to play and then only get one series and have to sit out the rest of the game. Just sitting there knowing I couldn’t play, my heart was broken. Tears were streaming down, the fans were laughing at me letting me have it. I went in before halftime and changed clothes and for the rest of the day I was the biggest cheerleader out there. All I could do was encourage the guys, and for a game like that to occur where I couldn’t contribute, it really bothered me, I was so frustrated. The way ASU was playing I kept thinking ‘if only I could be out there maybe I could have made that play,’ seeing how tired they were it killed me not being able to contribute. Sometimes injuries happen, freak stuff. But it can eat at you, destroy you emotionally, it’s such a rollercoaster ride being forced to watch your team struggle knowing you should be playing.”

If being unable to participate is mentally and emotionally draining, to have to stand by watching one of the most epic struggles in Oregon history occur while being unable to participate would be beyond measure. Nikolao’s replacement along the line was Zach Freiter, a blue collar beast who immediately made his presence felt, sacking ASU quarterback Jeff Krohn on his second snap on the field.

With the Oregon offense struggling, Arizona State would strike first. On 3^rd & 16 Jeff Krohn rolled right under duress, dumping the pass off to runningback Tom Pace who found himself in the open field and sprinted for a 70-yard touchdown.

The stunned Oregon defense couldn’t believe they gave up a touchdown like that, and to a walk-on. The defense knew very little about Tom Pace aside from him being an undersized walk-on, but the Ducks were in for a big surprise, as were the ASU fan base who also knew little of Pace prior to the game, as questions of “who was that? Tom who? Who is Tom Pace?” echoed throughout the stands following the big play.

“I was a walk-on too, so I know the mentality,” said Jason Willis of the trouble Oregon had in stopping the diminutive walk-on unknown runningback for ASU, Tom Pace. “Walk-ons and undrafted free agents in the pros will always be the hardest workers on a team, because they have to do so much more to prove themselves. Tom Pace may have been a walk-on, but just would not go down, the defensive guys said he was slippery. Pace had a lot of long runs that day, there really weren’t a lot of long drives by either team, just one big play after another.”

Oregon responded, finally finding some rhythm behind the hard-running of tailback Maurice Morris, who capped a drive with a 17-yard touchdown run. The score/immediate response back-and-forth action would become the theme for the day.

Arizona State put together a long drive that ended with a 28 yard touchdown pass to Donny O’Neal, to retake the lead 14-7. Two very good defenses seemed to be no-shows, having little response for the two offenses. While Oregon had started slow, there was a feeling in the air that it could quickly turn into a shootout.

Team leader Joey Harrington, in his second year as starter, was more vocal than usual roaming the sidelines, perhaps sensing the fatigue in the team due to the heat, late arrival, and shock of ASU’s ability to move the ball on the ground with a no-name walk-on.

“Joey sat us all down and said ‘let’s do this one play at a time, I know it’s hot and we’re tired,’” Jason Willis remembers. “Once we started going we knew it was going to be a shootout, we just had to re-focus.”

Yet Harrington seemed to be the one struggling most of all the Oregon players. After one quarter, Harrington was 4/11 for 40 yards, while for ASU Jeff Krohn had already thrown for 178 yards and two TDs.

Into the 2^nd quarter Oregon still wasn’t in sync, but ASU was starting to gouge the Duck defense. With Oregon pinned back on the 1 yard line, ASU linebacker Adam Archuleta blitzed and hit Joey Harrington in the endzone causing a fumble recovered by ASU for a touchdown. It appeared that Harrington’s arm was clearly going forward which should have been ruled an incomplete pass, but this was before the day of instant replay so the bad call stood, ASU now led 21-7 with Oregon appearing to be going nowhere.

ASU forced a punt and got the ball back and were driving for yet another score, but a fumbled handoff the result of Krohn’s foot being stepped on by a lineman gave Oregon a slight respite.

With time ticking down to halftime, Oregon’s passing game finally came alive. On a 2^nd and 13 from the 26 yard line Harrington fired his first accurate downfield pass of the day, finding Keenan Howry for a touchdown. It was questioned how much Howry could play if at all due to the hip injury, and if it would affect his ability to contribute, but with the Ducks struggling Howry knew he had to fight through the pain to help out the team.

“It was still painful for me to move, but after they numbed it up I was able to go out there and move and run, with just a little limp,” said Howry. “I was still able to give it my all.”

Feeding off the energy of the offense finally starting to click, the Oregon defense started showing signs of life as well. Oregon linebacker Matt Smith was able to eventually sack the elusive Jeff Krohn forcing a punt, and Oregon would quickly capitalize.

For as bad as Joey Harrington had looked in the first quarter, Harrington now appeared to have finally shrugged off the rust from the change in routine, firing passes downfield with lethal precision despite taking big hits after almost every throw. A 29-yard catch by Marshaun Tucker set up Oregon near the goal line with less than a minute before halftime, which was finished off by Tucker with a 5-yard touchdown catch.

ASU had dominated the total yardage, and Tom Pace was out-rushing the powerful Maurice Morris on the ground, but Harrington was getting into a groove, which spelled trouble for the Sun Devils. The Ducks had tied it up at 21-21 before the half, and Head Coach Mike Bellotti was proud of the way his team had battled back.

At the half each team had turned the ball over twice, resulting in 7 points each. Neither team had found much success on 3^rd downs or sustaining drives, but the hard running of Tom Pace and the big play ability of Jeff Krohn clearly had the momentum on Arizona State’s side. In the 2^nd half ASU continued where they left off, driving the field with huge gashing runs by Tom Pace and helped with an incredible one-handed catch by tight end Todd Heap.

Finding a crease, the pool man Tom Pace would again break off a big run, scoring on a 36-yarder to again give ASU the lead 28-21.

But Oregon would not give up. In spite of the pain, WR Keenan Howry gutted it out continuing to play, and mere seconds later Howry found a gap behind the coverage as Harrington lofted a perfect pass to him for a 66-yard touchdown, again tying the score, now 28-28.

The fatigue and injuries were both racking up, as ASU was exploiting the depleted Oregon defensive line attacking the spot vacated by Nikolao, while the Harrington to Howry combo was a direct response to a knee injury suffered by starting ASU cornerback Kenny Williams following the Marshaun Tucker touchdown in the first half. Even with the bad hip, Williams’ replacement was simply no match for the hobbled Howry.

“That was something Marshaun and I worked on all season,” Howry remembers. “We knew that nobody could guard us, and if teams did a double press on us we’d run a scissor and one of us would be open. Joey lofted a perfect pass and I just ran as fast as I could.”

But it wasn’t all good news for Oregon. They were matching ASU tit for tat, but the running game was almost non-existent, as Maurice Morris suffered bruised ribs that had him wheezing on the sidelines unable to play. Allan Amundson stepped into the role, but Oregon all but abandoned the run game. It didn’t matter much though, as Harrington after starting so bad was in a zone like teammates had never witnessed before. Harrington would stand in the pocket unafraid of the relentless pressure administered by Archuleta and Terrell Suggs, taking huge blow after blow and delivering the ball downfield with pinpoint precision.

The sun was making life difficult for receivers to see the ball, but with the way their leader was delivering it nobody wanted to let him down. On the sidelines, Harrington was as fiery as he had ever been seen, screaming like a mad man pushing his teammates demanding more effort, to keep fighting, to not give up.

In the 4^th quarter ASU would continue the onslaught, as a blown coverage in the secondary with ASU pinned deep resulted in an easy 91-yard touchdown pass from Krohn to Richard Williams, giving ASU a two-touchdown lead. Oregon kept answering, but couldn’t keep going blow-for-blow unless the #1 ranked defense in the Pac-10 conference could muster some way to stop ASU.

Joey had no quit on this day. Knowing a response was needed to give the Oregon defense a chance to rest, Harrington led a methodical drive with accurate downfield passes to Keenan Howry and tight end LaCorey Collins to move the chains.

Oregon was in all-pass mode, and why not with the way Harrington was slinging the ball, but with Morris still hurt the Ducks caught ASU off-guard with a run by Allan Amundson that set up the Ducks near the goal line.

Harrington would quickly finish off the drive, once again finding Marshaun Tucker for a touchdown. It was Harrington’s fourth touchdown pass of the game, now well over 300 yards, he was in a zone, as if in a trance, that mindset where everything is working.

He had already earned the nickname “Captain Comeback” for his last-minute heroics, but on this day the unstoppable late game focus that led Harrington to last minute victories in the past had been with him since the 2^nd quarter, nobody had seen Harrington play like this before consistently throughout an entire game.

“First and foremost it requires some luck, but luck breeds confidence,” said Joey Harrington, in an interview last year with Fishduck.com writer Brian Libby. “In games we would get a couple things and they would build on each other. I wouldn’t walk into that situation and automatically have that confidence, it was something that we had over time…we’d get a couple breaks along the way, which made us think, ‘You know what? We can do it!” You’re not worried about forcing the issue, or having to make the play, because you know it’s going to happen. I would be scared to death, but you’d never get me to admit it. Part of playing that role, part of being the quarterback, is convincing the ten other guys that you know what’s going on, even if you have no clue. If they don’t look at you and see complete confidence, they will doubt themselves, the only way to get anything done is for them to believe in you.”

Down a touchdown 42-35 with time now the enemy of the Oregon Ducks, Arizona State got the ball back and went right back to attacking Oregon running up the gut where Nikolao would have been. A minute after Oregon’s touchdown, ASU administered a back-breaker, a 60 yard touchdown run by freshman runningback Mike Williams to again make it a two touchdown deficit, 49-35. With six minutes left to play and the defense coming up with no answer to stop the ASU offense, the task seemed overwhelming. Yet Harrington would not cave, and more heroics were yet to come…

The Ducks would not go away quietly, and Harrington’s arm could not be stopped. Short passes kept the chains moving for Oregon’s response drive, but on 4^th & 1 the Ducks took a chance, throwing deep to Marshaun Tucker who beat the cornerback playing close in run support, burning the defense for a 31-yard touchdown, Tucker’s third TD catch of the game, Harrington’s 5^th touchdown pass on the day.

Still down a touchdown, Oregon’s defense needed to come up with a stop. Arizona State had effectively run the ball all game long, and all the Sun Devils now had to do was burn off the clock. Yet the Devils seemed unwilling to go the smart route, after the way the series between the two teams had been so bitterly fought the past few years they wanted to show their dominance over the highly-ranked Oregon Ducks. Over a thousand yards of total offense had been racked up between the two teams, ASU getting the better of it with over 600 yards tallied, and with under 3-minutes to go it seemed likely that they could exact their will upon the exhausted Oregon defense once again…but Bruce Snyder dialed up something different.

In an odd moment, on 2^nd down Arizona State chose to pass, but the throw from Krohn was errant resulting in an incompletion, stopping the clock.

The crowd booed, ASU fans perplexed over the gift that had just been given to the Ducks. A chant of “Fiiiii-iiiire Snyyyyyy-ddderrr” started up in the ASU student section, and my friend and I laughed watching the ASU players turning around yelling at the students to shut up. The students had been randomly tossing tortillas in Snyder’s general direction for much of the 2nd half. One student threw a grapefruit that pegged Snyder in the back of the head.

On 3^rd down, a Tom Pace run was stuffed. Just outside of field goal range, rather than punt to pin the Ducks deep Arizona State made an odd choice, choosing to throw deep, a pass that was tipped away by cornerback Steve Smith again preserving valuable seconds for Oregon.

“When ASU decided to pass when they could have run out the clock, we thought it was disrespectful,” said Jason Willis. “But at the same time the clock was our biggest enemy, so it was good for us. It was amazing to us that they would be that arrogant.”

“I couldn’t believe that ASU did that,” said Jason Nikolao. “ASU messed up bad, the guys were going crazy when they did that, we couldn’t believe their arrogance in trying to pass in that situation, we took it personal that they would do that. They had the game won, all they had to do was sit on it. Some of the decisions they made down the stretch we thought were disrespectful, they could have run out the clock and won the game but instead they tried to still move the ball. But we also thought any time you want to disrespect us again that’s fine, you’ll make a mistake and we’ll capitalize.”

Harrington and company would immediately make ASU pay for their mistake. On 2^nd down after the change of possession Harrington would find tight end Justin Peelle. Splitting the safeties, Peelle made a great catch looking back at the sun and rumbled down the field for a 59-yard gain all the way to the 9-yard line.

“That was a great catch by Justin, for much of the quarter we could only throw to the sidelines where the sun wasn’t a factor, it was blinding us, we couldn’t see the ball coming towards us,” Jason Willis remembers.

Set up within scoring range to send the game to overtime, the crowd was going nuts. Sitting in the endzone where Oregon was driving with the teams right in front of us, my friend was practically punching me repeatedly out of anxiety and frustration wondering how it was possible that ASU hadn’t closed this game out already. I had no response, I was as stunned as he was, as was everyone else inside the stadium or watching on television.

An Allan Amundson run moved the ball to the 4 yard line, but a momentary lapse of composure resulted in a false start penalty pushing Oregon back to the 9. An incomplete pass set up 3^rd down. With a little over a minute left, Harrington fired a laser to Justin Peelle, hitting him in the chest as he fell to the ground in the endzone for the apparent game-tying touchdown, but Peelle couldn’t hang onto the rocket ball, letting it hit the ground.

Oregon was down to its last chance. The game rested on one more play. My friend and I stood silently, too overcome with anxiety to speak or cheer, we could only watch, our hearts beating out of our chests. I couldn’t imagine the pressure that the players must have been feeling, one play would make or break the entire season for either team.

“We drove the length of the field with whatever it was, a minute and a half or two minutes left,” said Harrington. “I threw Justin (Peelle) a little stick route from the 6-yard line going in. I was expecting to get single coverage on the backside receiver, but they played a cover-two, which dictated that I go to Justin. He ran a great route and got open and I put the ball there. But as he turned, the linebacker clipped his back heel, and Justin stumbled just enough where he didn’t have enough power to get to the goal line. The safety met him at the one. We were walking off the field and I’m thinking, ‘How did that just happen? We just lost the game.’ All that ranting and raving on the sidelines, and we were going to lose.”

“When we got stopped, it was a feeling of frustration,” said Howry. “It was 4th down and all or nothing, Justin was the only one who had the chance to get into the endzone and came up a little short. Everyone was frustrated, we had an opportunity to tie it up and we failed.”

ASU had scored relentlessly and racked up huge yardage all game. Oregon had responded time and again to the ASU onslaught, everyone assumed Captain Comeback would find a way to win, he always did. But the Ducks had failed. For a game that had seen over a thousand yards of offense, the Ducks had come up a foot short. With a minute left in the game, all ASU had to do was run a QB sneak or two and run out the clock.

My friend began pulling on my shirt for us to leave. “C’mon dude, the game’s over!” he said again and again wanting to beat the crowd out of the stadium and get some food down on Mill Ave. He had friends in the student section he wanted to meet up with, but I was stubborn. “I’ve sat through enough Oregon games to know you NEVER leave a Duck game until the clock hits zeroes,” I emphatically responded, refusing to leave.

On the sidelines the Oregon bench looked devastated. They had fought so hard, overcome so much, and had lost by a foot…The Ducks were the team that always came through in the clutch, how could they lose by that little?

Tom Pace was on the sidelines nursing a shoulder injury, so it was freshman runningback Mike Williams in the backfield behind Jeff Krohn. Rather than run a simple QB sneak to burn off the clock, Krohn handed it off to Williams for a small gain. The clock ticked down, the stands were quickly being vacated, my friend kept tugging at my shirt to get me to leave while I stubbornly held out hope for a miracle.

A miracle is exactly what happened.

Another short run set up 3^rd & 5, plenty of room to simply kneel down and let the clock expire. ASU students were in full throat with the standard antagonistic ‘Over-rated!’ chant while the teams lined up to go through the motions for the final snap of the game.

Rather than kneel on the ball, ASU again showed their arrogance, their want to rub it in against the Ducks. Krohn handed it off to Williams again, who found a seam and ran for a first down, but rather than fall to the ground to end it when he was wrapped up by linebacker Matt Smith, Williams chose to keep churning the legs and left the ball exposed. Linebacker Michael Callier struck Williams from behind, knocking the ball loose, and cornerback Jermaine Hanspard fell on the fumble.

My friend let go of my shirt finally and slumped in his seat, stunned. I was speechless. The crowd that had rapidly been vacating the stands stopped in the aisles to turn and look. The Oregon sidelines erupted. That just doesn’t happen in a game, those types of miracles are often requested, never answered.

“The game was over,” Howry remembers. “That’s why we do all the preparation in practice, to know the situation. That’s the difference between high school and college, having that freshman back in he didn’t know any better but to do what he’d done in high school keep on churning the legs rather than go down, he’s never gone through that situation before, he may make a mistake. He did, and we made them pay for it.”

Oregon’s offense sprinted onto the field, and in one play made ASU pay for their greed. Harrington fired a ball towards Justin Peelle in the corner of the endzone staring directly back at the blinding sun, who caught it and got a foot down for a touchdown. Through the miracle fumble, Oregon had tied the game 49-49 with only seconds left on the clock. Oregon had lost, but thanks to ASU bravado, Oregon had been given another chance.

“We thought it was karma, if they’re going to try to run the score up and embarrass us, the fumble was karma,” said Jason Willis. “I’ve never seen the eyes of people in the huddle so big when we got the play-call in, but the focus was intense. We knew somebody upstairs liked us that day, we’d been given a second life and were going to take advantage. Joey threw the ball to Peelle and he caught it with the sun in his eyes, Justin said he barely saw the ball.”

The touchdown was the sixth of the game for Joey Harrington, tying an Oregon school record set six years prior by Danny O’Neil vs. Stanford in 1994. This record has only been matched once since, by Darron Thomas a few weeks ago vs. Nevada.

While Arizona State sat on the ball to prep for overtime, Joey Harrington roamed the sideline as fiery as ever. “We’re NOT losing! We are NOT going to lose this game!” Joey shouted at every single player, going to each teammate one-by-one with a look in his eyes like a man possessed. It could be heard on the TV broadcast, and from the stands where my friend and I sat in complete bewilderment over the events that had just transpired in front of us.

“’We’re not gonna lose!’ I remember shouting that repeatedly,” Harrington recalls. “It was honestly how I felt. I don’t know what else to say except that it was exactly how I felt at that moment, and people on the sideline needed to hear it.”

“That was the biggest difference with Joey between his junior and senior year,” laughed Keenan Howry. “He was so high-strung as a junior. He would get so fired up and sometimes it would backfire. Senior year he rarely got like that, he was much more calm, he learned that all that jumping up and down and screaming wasn’t helping too much.”

The teams were exhausted. It had been a hot day, a long struggle. As the teams neared totaling 100 points for the game, and well over a thousand yards of offense, both teams rallied for the overtime. Both had fought too hard to give in, but ASU had let Oregon back into it and the Ducks weren’t going to slip up now.

“In OT we were thinking like what else could possibly go wrong…” said Jason Willis. “At that point we were so tired, but so were they. I think all the conditioning work we did worked for us, all the gassers that (strength and conditioning coach Jim) Radcliffe put us through all year really paid off because we had more energy than they did. Coach Rad would beat us up all summer, in camp, and during the season, it was rough but at the end of games a big reason why we made so many comebacks was because we were better conditioned than our opponents.”

Oregon won the coin toss and chose to defer, giving ASU the ball first. On the 2^nd play of overtime, the game got downright wacky, leaving those witnessing it left to ponder, ‘what else?’ Krohn dropped back and threw the ball directly to Oregon cornerback Steve Smith, who intercepted it with a clear path to return it for a touchdown. Smith need only run a straight line down the sideline and the game would be over, Oregon would have pulled off the incredible comeback in dramatic fashion. But Smith held the ball loosely in his left arm, and in a bizarre twist of fate Jermaine Hanspard, the hero who had minutes prior recovered the miracle fumble, accidentally swatted the ball out of Smith’s hand causing a fumble. Players fell on the ball, the interception stopped ASU’s chances, but it didn’t end the game as it should have.

“We were excited by Steve’s pick, knowing that we had stopped them, now all we had to do was take care of business,” said Howry.

Now all Oregon had to do was score any points and the game would be over. The Ducks went ultra-conservative, running the ball directly into the line three times with Allan Amundson, not wanting to risk a mistake. This set up Oregon kicker Josh Frankel for a game-winning 42 yard attempt, but his kick sailed just barely left of the post. Oregon had their chance, twice, to win easily, and had screwed up both chances. Double overtime awaited.

In the stands my friend and I pitied those who had left the game early, particularly ASU fans content with the victory they thought they had, probably already off at the bars on Mill and Ash Ave. celebrating ASU’s triumph. We could barely breathe, hyperventilating, feeling as if we had suffered three heart attacks apiece over the course of that day. Just as my friend had thought ASU had won before the miracle fumble, I too was yelling ‘game over, let’s go!’ as Smith returned the interception until Hanspard inadvertently stripped his own teammate and the ensuing missed field goal. The second overtime would be played out in the endzone in which we sat, just like at the end of the 4^th quarter, the events would occur in front of us at point blank range.

“Since we were getting the ball first, the mentality changed,” said Howry. “We HAD to score a touchdown, just had to. With the way that game had been going back and forth it was no question that we had to score a touchdown. We would have gone for it on 4th down, I know Coach Bellotti wouldn’t have left it up to the kicker again.”

Oregon got the ball first for the second overtime, and immediately went to work with a look like they wanted these shenanigans to end right here, right now. On the first play Harrington threw a pass to Keenan Howry for an 18-yard gain moving the Ducks down to the 7-yard line.

Following an incomplete pass, Harrington then ran an option keeper getting the ball down to the goal line. On 3^rd down Harrington pitched the ball to the fastest player on the team, Allan Amundson, who sprinted as fast as he could on a student body left pitch play and outran all defenders to the pylon for the go-ahead touchdown. Following the extra point Oregon led 56-49, the first time during the entire afternoon that the Ducks had led.

Arizona State now had the opportunity to tie it to go to triple overtime, but they had to score a touchdown first. Tom Pace had sat out the end of the 4^th quarter because of a shoulder injury that led to Williams being in for the miracle fumble, but for overtime Pace returned to the field to grit out the pain. The game was more important than pain.

On first down Tom Pace ran for a 5 yard gain, the next play Pace was given the ball again but was stuffed by linebacker Michael Callier for a loss, the same player that had forced the fumble late that led to overtime. This set up a long 3^rd down with Oregon’s defense smelling victory, but ASU was not to be denied. Jeff Krohn threw a perfect pass to the endzone while he simultaneously took a huge hit, finding Richard Williams for a 22-yard touchdown. Those who had remained to watch could barely muster a cheer, everyone witnessing in a state of shock, adrenaline searing through the veins, causing a temporary paralysis of all thought or emotion. It was simply too intense, a game like this had never been seen before.

All that was left was to kick the extra point and this game was headed to triple overtime, but something seemed odd when Arizona State lined up for the kick. Quarterback Jeff Krohn was not the normal holder for ASU, but he was back there kneeling while ASU kicker Mike Barth, who had missed a field goal earlier in the game and appeared to be struggling with cramping issues, awkwardly lined up.

Upon the snap Krohn faked the hold, then stood up and began rolling out. Tight end Todd Heap was open in the back of the endzone, and the Oregon defense panicked to cover the play. The kicker laid a block to give Krohn room to throw and he lobbed a pass to the back of the endzone towards Heap, but safety Rasuli Webster had a grip on Heap’s right arm preventing him from being able to reach for the ball with both hands.

Heap was the best tight end in the nation by far, and had already proven earlier in the game that one hand was all he needed to haul in a pass. But not this time, as Heap could only get a fingertip on the ball as it fell to the ground, as the onlookers gasped. ASU had faked an extra point to go for two rather than send the game to triple overtime, and just like with passing it rather than running out the clock or running instead of kneeling on the ball, ASU’s brash decision-making had backfired. ASU had lost, 56-55.

“We were already going over what we were going to do on the 2-point conversion after we score a touchdown in the next overtime,” said Howry. “We weren’t even really watching the extra point, we knew they had scored and so we expected triple overtime. Then again, they were desperate. We had stopped them in the first OT, we had all the momentum and they looked exhausted. They had to do something, so I can see why they’d want to end the game now. Not sure if I would have gone for two like that, but If it had gone to triple OT I know we would have scored, not sure if they would have.”
“It was a freaking miracle, how did we just win that game?” Jason Nikolao remembers.

“It was as much about them losing the game as it was us winning it, they really had to go out of their way to lose that game. If Oregon had lost, it would have devastated me, killed me, eaten at me forever. Knowing that maybe Oregon would have won if only I could have played, all the what-ifs that add up in your mind. If they hadn’t fumbled I don’t know if I would have ever forgiven myself.”
“We were so stunned when they faked it, like did that really just happen?” Jason Willis recalls.

“I didn’t see Heap drop it, I just saw Rasuli Webster running around the field afterward going crazy…We were all on the sideline prepping for triple overtime, I didn’t see it, so we’re all looking around like what just happened. I sat down on the bench for a minute to just breathe, like I can’t believe what just happened. It was so draining, what an unbelievable game. I was so glad to be a part of it, it was one I will never forget.”

Considering the moment, Oregon’s celebration on the field was actually somewhat subdued, the result of part shock and part total exhaustion. As for my friend and I having just witnessed Heap drop the ball in front of us, we sat there for a few minutes not speaking just staring at the field, except for the occasional soft muttering, “did that really just happen?”

Once back in the locker room, with a chance to catch their breath, Oregon players and coaches finally assessed the improbable miracle in the desert that had just occurred.

“The locker room experience after the game was amazing,” said Nikolao. “We were a really tight group, we took it seriously as being a family. Bellotti was usually very composed, didn’t show too much emotion, but he couldn’t withhold it after that game, he felt it that day. To hear our coach talk about how proud of us he was and how much he loved us, it was special. Guys were hugging each other, jumping around in celebration, we couldn’t believe what happened. We had so much love for each other, the perseverence, the struggle, and the sense of accomplishment for it all to play out that way. To share that moment with guys that you really love, we’d put in so much work over the years and built this brotherhood and to have just won in that fashion, it was beyond description.”

“Bellotti is a very charismatic guy, but he doesn’t want to show emotion,” said Willis. “End of this game for the first time ever that we could remember all of us were running around screaming and jumping and Bellotti was ear-to-ear, everybody was partying, he couldn’t help himself but be excited about it. It was such a long game, everybody stood back and just let it all go and celebrated.”

While the party was taking place in the locker room, there was an aura of confusion outside the stadium. As my friend and I slowly made our way out of the stands surrounded by ASU fans, the chants of ‘FIIIII-IIIIIIRRRREEEE SNYYYYYYY-DDDDEEERRRR” eminated between perplexed looks on everyone as they asked each other aloud, “how did we lose that game? I don’t understand…we lost? How? What just happened?”

We made our way down to Mill Ave to get some hotwings and beers at a sports bar, where we met up with my friend’s buddies from the ASU student section and claimed the last table available. Five minutes later the line was around the block of depressed ASU fans wanting to drown their sorrows. After ordering a pitcher and bucket of wings, Sportscenter came on the TVs inside. I was the only Duck fan in the entire bar, and the place took an odd silence as everyone watched the screens. The top story wasn’t Oklahoma’s upset victory of #1 Nebraska that day, the lead story was the unbelievable finish that had just occurred down in Arizona.

“You are not going to believe what we are about to show you, call it the miracle in the desert!” the ESPN announcer enthusiastically shouted as the program immediately started replaying the highlights of the game we had all just witnessed. Grumbles could be heard throughout the restaurant as each highlight was shown and the announcers questioned Bruce Snyder’s odd decisions…why did they pass in this situation? Why did they run when they could have knelt on it? Why did they go for two?

When the final score flashed on the screen, 56-55, I pumped my fist and shouted out “YEAH! GO DUCKS!” The entire restaurant fell silent, every eye on me with the look of a lynch mob, as my friend and his buddies slumped down in their seats pretending like they weren’t with me. The waitress walked up and sternly said, “I think you should leave now.” We jetted out the door, never getting our food or drinks.

A party awaited the team upon return to Eugene. When the charter flight arrived back at the Eugene airport, a massive assembly of Oregon fans applaud their efforts down in the desert as they made their way through the terminal to the team bus.

“Getting back to the airport, that was one of the first times I remember a lot of people awaiting our arrival,” said Willis. “It was late, but as we walked through the terminal we could hear them screaming and hollering and there were so many out there. As we got on the bus people were honking their horns and flashing their lights at us in celebration, at one point coach (Bellotti) had the driver stop the bus so we could all wave. All around campus everyone was so happy, coach gave us Monday off from practice because it was such a long game, and I remember in class teachers stopped lectures to single us out and congratulate us on the great game on Saturday.”

“The injury I had didn’t take anything away from the celebration,” said Nikolao. “My leg was in a cast but I was on cloud nine, and seeing the love we got from people waiting for us back at the airport was amazing. It was the Oregon family, everyone was a part of that victory, every player, every coach, every fan, every staff member. You could see how proud everyone was of the win.”

“That was one of those games where once it’s over everybody is so exhausted all they want is to just get back on the bus and get out of there,” Howry recalls. “Around campus afterward people were great, but then again that’s just Eugene, Duck fans were always so great in showing their support.”

The win was more than just a W in the column, though there was still much football left to be played, it indicated that Oregon was a team of destiny. The momentum earned through the miracle in the desert propelled the Ducks to beat WSU and Cal the next two weeks, though a loss in the Civil War game vs. Oregon State prevented the Ducks from an all-out Pac-10 title. Still, the 9-2 finish had exceeded expectations, the legend of Harrington as Captain Comeback had grown from rumored to full-blown trademark, and a berth in the Holiday Bowl awaited with a matchup against Texas.

“The ASU game was a real turning point for us,” said Howry. “Up to that point in the year we had let teams stay with us, the scores were close but we had really shot ourselves in the foot, we kept other teams in the game. The ASU game was the first where we really had to fight through adversity and jetlag and fatigue and everything and we still overcame. It gave us a lot of momentum for the rest of the year.”

Few gave Oregon much of a chance in the Holiday Bowl against the storied tradition of the Texas Longhorns, but the Ducks would not be denied, and showed much of the flair and never-say-die attitude that had come to define the team through victories like the desert miracle. The Ducks would win that night in dramatic fashion, beating Texas 35-30, earning the program national respect. Oregon wasn’t a flash in the pan, they were more than just flashy uniforms, they were a team that found a way to overcome no matter the odds.

“The win over Arizona State taught us that we could play with anybody, that we could definitely overcome. That propelled us towards the Holiday Bowl and all the success that came afterward,” Willis reflects. “That started it all.”

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Jason Nikolao: Following his senior year with Oregon (2000), Jason Nikolao joined the Jacksonville Jaguars. After tearing his rotator cuff, he returned to Eugene to assist the Oregon coaching staff for the 2001 season and to finish school. He signed with the Houston Texans for the 2002 season, but with his shoulder never properly healing he chose to retire from football. He has worked in student ministry, and currently lives in Nashville, TN with his wife and three month old son.

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Jason Willis: Walk-on Jason Willis became a key contributor for the Oregon Ducks, known as one of the best blocking wide receivers in program history. Following his senior year (2002) he ran for the Oregon track team in 2003 on the 4×100 relay and 200m. He joined the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent, but broke his thumb the first game and spent the season on the IR. 2004 he returned with the Seahawks and competed with Jerry Rice for a position on the team. 2005 he was part of the final cuts from the Seahawks. Willis was signed by the Miami Dolphins and played throughout the 2006 season. In 2007 he was briefly in the Arena Football League until being signed by the Washington Redskins. 2008 to present day he has continued his career playing in the Arena Football League, with aspirations to return to the NFL for one more chance, showcasing the never-say-die attitude earned through being a walk-on with the Oregon Ducks, surviving all the close games and last-minute victories that defined Oregon during his playing years.

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Joey Harrington: Considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in Oregon history and one of the most beloved to ever play in the state, Joey became the first legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate at the school, finishing 4^th in voting in 2001. Known as “Captain Comeback” for his amazing ability to lead the team to last minute victories, he accumulated a 25-3 record as a starter and was selected third overall in the 2002 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. After playing for Detroit, Miami, and New Orleans Harrington retired from football and now resides in Portland, OR as a broadcaster for the Longhorn Network after spending last year in broadcasting with the Oregon Sports Network.

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Keenan Howry: Keenan Howry finished his career at Oregon as one of the most prolific receivers and returners in school history, Joey Harrington’s favorite passing target. In 2003 Howry was selected in the 7^th round of the NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He spent four years in the NFL playing for the Vikings and Seahawks before retiring after the 2006 season. Howry returned to Eugene to complete his degree in 2010, and is now the wide receivers coach at his alma mater, Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, CA.
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