Paradise Lost
Oregori has nation’s
respect; now it’s
time to back it up
HUNUl.l II.() It wasn't supposed Uj
happen this way. Not with this
team.
Not in this dream season
But there it was in glowing yelluw iium
hers as the final hum sounded —Colorado
51, Oregon 43.
What the hell happened here?
How could a nationally ranked team, one
that had readied as high as No. 11 in the
Opinion
Joel
flood
country, one witn an otteuse
as explosive as any in col
lege football and, not to
mention, a big fat chip on its
shoulder from previous
bowl embarrassments, come
up short in its most impor
tant game of the season?
This embarrassing loss
wasn’t simply about the six
Duck turnovers that led to
23 Colorado points.
This loss wasn’t just
about sloppy tackling or
misreads on defense. ll wasn’t about rank
ings or matchups or revenge or any of the
hoopla that preceded this event.
This loss was about one thing -- intimi
dation It's different Ilian respect. Yon can
have one but not the other. Oregon has
spent the later part of two decades building
respect. It now must find a way to intimi
date.
Oregon's mission whan it landed on the
island of O’ahu a week before the big game
was the same as when it stepped into Alo
ha Stadium to begin its pregame warmups
— beat Colorado.
The Buffaloes were a team with national
recognition, a national title under its belt, a
winner of four straight bowl games and a
team that had embarrassed Oregon in its
last meeting, a 38-6 victory in the 1996 Cot
ton Bowl.
But the problem witli intimidation is
that it only works if the other team is will
ing to play along. Oregon was the favorite,
by about 5 1/2 points at kickoff. The Ducks
were the higher nationally ranked team.
Their offense was among the best in the
country.
And everyone who covers college foot
ball seemed to think the time was right for
this Oregon football program to come of age
by running up the score on a rag-tag Col
orado team five seasons removed from its
glory years.
But Colorado wasn’t fooled. Why should
it have been? UCLA wasn't fooled, Arizona
wasn’t fooled, Oregon State certainly was
n't fooled. Oregon has won plenty of big
games in the last 20 years, but it has seldom
beaten the big opponent.
The Ducks play hard, they stay in the
game, and each time you hear the same
thing in the locker room after the game, “...
Boy, if we just could have held onto the
ball on that last drive, we really could have
done something..."
After the game on Christmas Day, Bellot •
ti and Akili Smith talked about the pride
and character of this Oregon team and the
respect it had earned by coming back from
the 23-point halftime deficit to within a
touchdown.
And who knows, if the Ducks land on a
tew of those first-half turnovers instead of
Colorado, things could have been different
Either way, Oregon learned a valuable
lesson this Christmas — that respect is no
longer good enough. Or was this outcome
just a case of Colorado respecting Oregon
so much that it didn’t want to see Duck
fans jeopardize missing their flights home
after celebrating all night?
Joel Hood is the sports editor for the Emerald
He can be reached t ia e-mail at hood@j>lad
stone. t lontgon. edit
Oregon Notes
HONOLULU — Oregon lias now
failed to win back-to-back bowl games
in three tries, most recently in thel995
Rose Bowl and 1996 Cotton Bowl, 1 '
losses, and including the 198
Smdence Bowl, a win, atglSIl
e 1990Freedom Bowl. .§
ing markedly better in the i
for most of th$ season,
9 yard* i&the sec
l&iilast
18 !08S,
jb ha vo
J>' another chance to
r/ end their careers on
a winning note.
Smith will play in
the Jan. 15 East
West Shrine gamo
at Stanford Stadium
in Palo Alto, Calif.,
as well as the Jan.
23 Senior Howl in
Mobile, Ala. The
quarterback will be
joined by punter Josh
Bidwoll in California and
corner!rack Erit; Edwards
the following week down
South
Bid well was named sec
ond-foam All-American by
The Associated Press, as
was kicker Nathan Villegas.
Tight End Jed Weaver was a<>
corded third-team All-American
honors by Football News. ...
Michael Fletcher's Aloha Bowl
performance helped him tie or
break two school records in special
teams. Fletcher’s 46 punt returns
tied the record of Ronnie Harris from
1992. and Fletcher’s 532 return yards
eclipsed Harris’ mark of 517 from the
same season.
Six Ducks hail from Colorado, most
notably Derien Latimer, who had three
touchdowns against the Buffaloes, and
kicker Josh Smith, who did not play this
season due to the exploits of Villegas but
had two field goal* against Colorado in
the Cotton Bowl three yearn ago.,.,
rears 39*21 over the past ft
ence. Nine members oft!
are starters, including
Weaver, Edwards, Bidwj|
ler Chris Vandiver, rec«|§
fin and offensive HneniM
Stefan deVries and Michael)
The Buffaloes are now 8-6 all time against
Oregon, im I udingJM) in bowl games...
inSHlido has ttowwon five straight bowl
gamea, becoming the 11th team to do so.
That mark was two less than the seven
straight of Syracuse, which had its streak
ended with a jfan. 2 loss to Florida. 31-10. in
the Orange BovyljJfpnically, the Buffaloes’
last bowl loss w$tjothe Orangemen, 26-22,
in the 1992 FiesfaBowl.
Colorado losses 13 seniors, including sev
en starters....
Gornerback Ben Kelly is first all time at
Colorado in kickoff return yardage with
1,251, despite being Just a sophomore. It’s
no surprise Kelly returned the opening kick
off in the Aloh% Bowl 93 yards for a touch
,.#wn.
Hob Moseley