USC win
continued from page 9A
minutes into the game. It was the
longest run of McCullough’s ca
reer, as he woke up the dormant
Trojan rushing attack with a ca
reer-high 152 yards.
Hackett came into Saturday’s
game with a defensive plan cen
tered around Oregon tailback Mau
rice Morris. Sounded smart
enough, considering that Morris
had carried the Ducks throughout
the season and that quarterback
Joey Harrington had only complet
ed 47 percent of his passes on the
year.
But on the Ducks’ first drive, it
was evident that Harrington had
come ready to play.
Harrington completed his first
pass to tight end Justin Peelle. He
then connected on a 14-yard com
pletion to wide receiver Marshaun
Tucker down at the Oregon 46
yard line. Then he threw a 17-yard
dart to wide receiver Keenan
Howry down at the USC 34. On
the next play, it was Harrington to
Tucker for 13; then to Howry for
13 more on a third-and-11.
Finally, the drive was capped on
a Harrington shovel pass to Morris,
who scampered in from eight
yards out to tie the game at seven
with 8:24 to go in the first.
It would be a sign of things to
come as the junior quarterback from
Portland busted loose and complet
ed 28 of 42 passes for four touch
downs and a career-high 382 yards.
“Joey was clicking,” said Tucker,
who hauled in four passes for 80
yards. “We knew that when this
offense started to click, it was go
ing to be on.”
Harrington just kept rolling. He
completed 12 of his first 14 passes,
including a perfectly placed 23
yard touchdown pass to fullback
Josh Line at the start of the second
period to extend the lead to 14-7.
Later in the quarter, the Ducks
appeared to be on their way to
turning the game into a rout. On a
Ihird-and-four from the Trojan
eight-yard line, Harrington found
Howry in the right corner. Howry
lunged toward the end zone, and
appeared to have his head jerked
around on a facemask as he fum
bled the ball.
No penalty was called, and
Joey was clicking. We
knew that when this of
fense started to dick, it
wasgoingtobeon.
Marshaun Tucker
Oregon wide reciever j j
since the ball rolled out of the end
zone, it went for a touchback.
“Howry’s a little sore after that
facemask, but it didn’t get called,
so I guess it didn’t happen,” said
Bellotti of his sophomore receiver
who finished with 126 yards on
eight catches.
Smith
continued from page 9
yards downfield and firing it. It ap
pears as though receiver Matt Nick
els is going to pull it in, but Oregon
rover Steve Smith bats it down to
turn over possession of the ball.
Did you just see Harrington? He
didn’t see the play, but he heard the
silence of the 54,031 fans in atten
dance and jumped for joy. He
picked up his helmet and stormed
out on the field.
All the Ducks have to do here is
run down the clock and the first
road-win of the season is theirs.
The first three plays are running
plays, and the Ducks are faced with
a fourth-and-three from the Trojan
18-yard line. Looks like it’s up to
struggling place-kicker Josh
Frankel to extend the lead to seven
points.
Huh? Head coach Mike Bellotti
just decided to go for it on fourth
down.
Harrington seems pretty
pleased with the call. He takes the
snap, finds a streaking Justin
Peelle running toward the right
part of the end zone and lets the
ball go. It floats 18-yards into his
tight end’s hands for the touch
down.
“At that point I didn’t think a
field goal would do us any good
because we’d still only be up by
seven and the Trojans could score
and go for two and win the game,’’
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “It
worked perfectly.”
It was the exclamation point.
Oregon 28, USC, 17.
Now it’s just a matter of waiting
for the final 70 seconds to tick off
and the fifth win for the Ducks
will be official.
Those Oregon Duck fans in the
east end zone sure can’t wait. Look
at those crazies. They’re already
celebrating and taunting the Tro
jans.
USC sophomore wide receiver
Marcell Allmond must obviously
respect them because he just gave
all those fans a certain “No. 1”
salute with a certain finger on his
hand as he was being carted into
the locker room.
Three... two... one... ballgame.
Some Duck fans rushed the
field, as they have in the previous
weeks against Washington and
UCLA. Oregon wide receiver Mar
shaun Tucker is greeted by his
family and friends who have
made the trip up from El Centro,
Calif.
And those Trojans walk off the
field with their heads held low af
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Oregon would extend its lead to
21-7 on Harrington’s 13-yard
touchdown pass to tight end La
Corey Collins in the third quarter,
but the Trojans wouldn’t quit.
USC’s John Wall converted on a
25-yard field goal, and then got the
ball back when an Oregon drive
sputtered. Trojan tailback Malae
fou MacKenzie’s 34-yard run then
helped set up quarterback Carson
Palmer’s seven-yard touchdown
pass to tight end Antoine Harris to
trim the lead to 21-17 with 12:41
to play in the game.
On the Ducks’ ensuing drive,
Harrington’s near-perfect day was
blemished when he was picked off
by Troy Polamalu.
“At that point, we were worried,
but we knew we just had to keep
making plays,” Oregon defensive
end Jason Nikolao said.
With its season presumably on
the line, USC drove to the 50 and
didn’t convert on a crucial third
and-one. So on fourth-and-two
with just more than six minutes
left, Hackett chose to punt —
much to the “booing” displeasure
of the 54,031 fans on hand.
Those six minutes went by fast as
Oregon ran off the clock, punted,
stopped USC’s offense and then
drove the nail in the coffin. Oregon
chose to go for it on fourth-and
three and Harrington connected
with Peelle for an 18-yard touch
down strike to clinch the Pac-10
road win.
“It’s another big win for this
team,” said Harrington, who be
came the first quarterback to throw
for four touchdowns against USC
since Notre Dame’s Steve Beurlein
did in 1986. “We had such a tough
stretch and it’s not over. It’s such a
cliche to say, but it’s the truth: We
need to take it one game at a time.”
That next game is the No. 21
Arizona Wildcats, who will enter
Autzen Stadium Oct. 21 in a tie
for-first with the Ducks.
Said Nikolao: “USC’s over with..
It’s all about Arizona now, boy.”
ter their third-straight Pacific-10
Conference loss.
Let’s follow these triumphant
Ducks through the tunnel to their
locker room.
They have a certain champi
onship look to them, don’t they?
Yeah, they’re excited; but not too
much, ya know?
“We enjoy [playing] big games,”
linebacker Matt Smith said.
“Yeah, we made some mistakes,
but we stepped it up when we
needed to.”
Okay, so maybe Oregon full
back Josh Line is a little bit excit
ed. He deserves to be though, es
pecially after that clutch 23-yard
touchdown pass that he pulled in
from Harrington in the second
quarter.
“Who’s next?” Line is scream
ing to nobody in particular.
"Who’s next, baby?”
Keep on following me and stay
close because we’re about to brave
the media crush. Come through
these doors and into this room,
where you’re not going to be able
to breathe, let alone walk around
from player to player.
“It’s a zoo in here, man,” wide
receiver Marshaun Tucker said.
Sure is, full of national media
wanting to get a piece of these up
and-coming Oregon Ducks. In one
corner, Bellotti is surrounded by
scribes and speaking into an
ESPN microphone.
In another, there’s Harrington
talking with the bright lights of
Fox Sports Net cameras in his
face.
We know what this means,
right? These Ducks are no longer a
secret.
They haven’t been a secret
since their 29-10 victory over the
Bruins Sept. 23, but really, there
were a lot of people waiting for
the “Duckies” to get on the road.
Some were not quite ready to hail
them as legitimate contenders un
til they won away from their bois
terous crowd.
“Today we showed we can play
on the road,” senior linebacker Gar
rett Sabol said. “We need to show
that. We showed that we could
come to somebody else’s house and
win. This was huge for us.”
{ C Today we showed we
can play on the road. We
need to show that We
showed that we could
come to somebody else’s
house and win. This was
huge for us.
Garrett Sabot
Oregon linebacker
Come check this out. Peer out
in the hallway with me. Do you
see what I see? It’s Oregon athletic
director Bill Moos and Bellotti ex
changing an embrace.
And not just your “Hey, nice
win” embrace either. It was more
like a “Well, coach, we really have
something special on our hands”
embrace.
So, let’s get out of here and let
these players, coaches and athlet
ic director enjoy this win. There’s
a big game next week against Ari
zona at home that needs our atten
tion now.
But we both know that in a few
months we could be taking a simi
lar walk through a similar stadi
um just a few miles north of here
in a town called Pasadena.
Jeff Smith is the sports editor of the Emer
ald. He can be reached at
Smittside@aol.com
NAME THAT DEFENSE
Want to name the Oregon football defense?
They’re a gang and they’re green, but defensive coordinator Nick
Aliotti said that these Ducks can’t share the same nickname as
the 1995 Rose Bowl squad. So, we at the Emerald sports desk are
hosting an informal “name that defense” competition.
It’s simple: Just e-mail your nickname ideas to
Smittside@aol.com. We’ll publish the top-10 ideas in this week’s
Homecoming Game Day supplement, along with your name, of
course. For the top nickname, we are giving away a copy of the
1995 book titled, “The Year of the Duck.” The book is written by
former Oregon sports information director George Beres, and it is
a detailed look into the Oregon Ducks’ 1995 Rose Bowl season,
full of unique anecdotes and captivating pictures.
And hey, who knows. Your idea might make headlines across the
nation.