The one that got away from UCLA
Bruin Diowout
became Ducks’
big comeback
By DONALD COULTER
Ol th* Emerald
Imagine this:
It's a Saturday night and
you're attending a college foot
ball game The home team, a
heavy favorite going into the
contest, just scored a
touchdown to put them up by 19
points Less than five minutes
remain in the fourth quarter
No need to stick around and
watch the end of this rout, is
there? So you leave the stadium,
go have a few beers, and read
about the outcome in the Sun
day paper the next morning —
only to discover that the home
team blew the game!
No, this isn’t fiction It really
happened And it marks what
has to be the greatest
comeback in Oregon football
history
Oregon's 1970 matchup with
UCLA, this Saturday's opponent
at Autzen Stadium, was
developing into a blowout The
13th-ranked Bruins had just
scored their third straight
touchdown to put them ahead
40-21 With 4:38 to go. and the
game seemingly wrapped up.
fans started heading for the ex
its of Los Angeles' Memorial
Coliseum
And that's when the fun start
ed
Oregon head coach Jerry Frei
yanked his starting quarterback
— a sophomore named Dan
Fouts — in favor of senior Tom
Blanchard Frei's move payed
quick dividends as Blanchard
drove the Ducks 49 yards in 23
seconds for a touchdown
Oregon running back Bobby
Moore — better known today as
Minnesota Viking wide receiver
Ahmad Rashad — caught a
20-yard TD pass for the score
But the Ducks still trailed by
12 points with 4:05 remaining,
Photo courtesy Oregon Athletic Dept
Bobby Moore — now Ahmad Rashad for the Minnesota Vikings —
scored two touchdowns during Oregon's dramatic comeback.
and most people in the stands
that night considered the
touchdown to be meaningless
So did both of the coaches, who
were substituting freely
Then the Ducks got a break
On UCLA's third play from
scrimmage, Oregon linebacker
Delton Lewis pounced an an
errant pitchout The Ducks had
the ball on the UCLA 40
Two plays later, lightning
stuck again Newland hit Moore
with a sideline pass, and Bobby
raced past the Bruin secondary
and into the endzone All of a
sudden, the blowout had
become a baligame
With 2:05 showing on the
scoreboard, and UCLA hanging
precariously to a five point lead,
Oregon went for the onside
kick And it worked — Oregon's
Don Frease leaped on the ball
after the kickoff crossed mid
field
The fans who had stuck
around to witness the ending
were in a mild case of shock by
this point Not to mention UCLA
head coach Tommy Prothro,
who was scrambling to put his
first-string defense back in the
game
On first down, Blanchard
handed off to Moore for five
yards, and on the next play,
Moore was stopped for no gain
But the Ducks were faced with a
bigger problem than just a
third-and-five situation On the
play before, Blanchard separat
ed his shoulder while blocking
for Moore.
Despite the injury. Blanchard
reared back and threw a pass
deep into Bruin territory
Oregon split end Leland Glass
and UCLA safety Jerry Jaso
went up together for the ball.
And they both came down with
it. In an unusual decision for an
unusual game, the officials
ruled the play a dual possesion,
giving the ball to the offense
Oregon had a first down at the
11 yard line
Blanchard hobbled off the
Men shoot for Northern title
The Oregon men's cross country team will
be shooting for a sixth straight Northern Divi
sion title Saturday. Oct. 31. at the Spring Hill
Country Club in Albany The 10,000 meter race
begins at 1 p m
The Ducks have won the Northern Oivision
meet nine times: Washington State, three And
while Oregon wilt be favored over Washington
and Oregon State, based on results of the
Oregon Track Club Invitational Oct 18. Wa
shington State remains the mystery team
‘I think we re better than Washgmton and
Oregon Track Club Invitational Oct 18.
Washington State remains the mystery team
linger. "We hope to win the meet and it s
possible that Bill McChasney and Greg Irwin
could go one-two “
McChesney, the U S leader et 5.000
meters and second-ranked at 10.000 is a lead
ing contender for the NCAA title and easily won
his first two crow-country tests of the ‘81
season Erwin, who finished second to team
mate Jim Hill (who is out tor the season with a
stress fracture in his foot) in the Northern
Division meet last fall has been running within
30 seconds of McChesney WSU's Rob Evans
third in the Northern Division last year, returns
as does Dave Barnett of Washington who was
fourth Mark Pricker leads an improved Oregon
State squad
Oregon s other entries in the meet are
Greg Hitchcock. Derek Shirley. Chris Hudson
Stan Link. John Strickland. Jasen Emmons
Rick Cteek and Dave Harding
Dellinger is looking for continued im
provement from that group of runners as the
Ducks try to close the gap between their first
and fifth scorers He praised the performance
of Chns Hudson, a 1500-meter runner who
was Oregon's fifth man in the OTC meet, and
noted that Oregon s next three finishers in that
race (Link . Strickland and Emmons) should be
able to move up m the pack
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field after that play, and Frei
sent Fouts back into the ball
game Moore rushed for six
yards up the middle to the 5, and
then on second down, Fouts
was sacked for a 10 yard loss
Oregon faced third down and
11 with time running out. Every
body in the house knew that
Fouts was going back to pass
But instead of throwing to
Moore or Glass (both of whom
caught seven passes in the
game for over 100 yards), Fouts
zipped a pass to Greg Specht.
Specht, who had spent most
of the season watching action
from the bench, surprised the
UCLA secondary on a post pat
tern for the winning touchdown.
The Ducks missed the two
point conversion try, but it didn't
matter They had taken a 41-40
lead, completing their dramatic
comeback. UCLA had one more
chance to score, but their drive
was aborted by an interception
by Oregon’s Bill Brauner as time
ran out
“This was the greatest
comeback I've ever been
around,” Frei understated after
the game “This was about as
much guts as a team could
show ”
Oregon's 1970 victory over
UCLA marked the first time they
had defeated the Bruins since
1957, and the first time they had
beaten them in Los Angeles
since 1948. The comeback win
raised the Ducks record on the
season to 4-1, and sent visions
of a Rose Bowl appearance
dancing in the heads of Eugene
football fans.
Oregon upped its record to
6-1, and grabbed a share of the
Pac-8 lead, as they beat Idaho
and upset USC over the next
two weeks. But bowl hopes
dwindled after that for Oregon,
as they couldn't win any of their
final four games, and finished
with a 6-4-1 record.
This season, the Ducks aren’t
supporting any kind of bowl
hopes. They come into the
UCLA contest with a 1-6 mark.
The Bruins are 4-2-1, coming off
a victory over California last
weekend
And no matter what happens
at Autzen this Saturday, it will be
hard for the two teams to re
plicate that kind of a wild finish.
That's almost beyond anyone's
imagination.
1
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