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Ducks and Devils leave everyone exhausted
Jeff Davids State Press
Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington lunges for an extra yard in an emotionally draining game in Sun Devil Stadium.
What in the world is going on?
PEZ SEZ
SCOTT PESZNECKER
I’d call it madness. Absolute,
total madness.
Craziness.
Who would have thought
that the Ducks would over
come a 14-point deficit with
about 4 minutes left to come
back and win? By one? In dou
ble overtime?
Obviously, Oregon’s players
thought they could do it, and
they did.
Like I said. Insanity.
Yet there they were, seem
ingly getting their hearts shat
tered when tight end Justin
Peelle caught Joey Harrington’s
pass, then was promptly
stopped on Arizona State’s
one-yard line. Had he gone just
one more yard, it would have
been the game-tying touch
down with less than two min
utes remaining.
And then there were those
Ducks again, leaping in celebra
tion just moments later when
Jermaine Hanspard recovered
the fumble on what would have
been a Sun Devil first down and,
more importantly, Arizona
State’s assurance that it could
win the game on quarterback
Jeff Krohn’s knee.
Next play, Peelle redeemed
himself with a touchdown
catch.
Unbelievable.
Then, the first overtime. Ore
gon’s depleted defense trudged
into the extra period. Watching
from the sideline was defensive
end Jason Nikolao, who suffered
a torn medial collateral ligament
in his right knee during Arizona
State’s first possession of the
game, and Rashad Bauman,
who jammed his arm against
Sun Devil receiver Richard
Williams. As Bauman fell in
pain, Williams broke free,
caught Krohn’s pass and ran for
a 90-yard touchdown.
So it could be argued that the
Ducks were playing the over
time periods without two of
their four best defenders. One
in stopping the run, the other
in stopping the pass.
It would have been easy for
ASU to score, but cornerback
Steve Smith would have none
of that. Interception.
Astonishing.
Then, the low point of the
game hit for Oregon, For what
ever reason, the Ducks decided
to abandon Harrington’s dead
Turn to PezSez, page 9
■A combined 111 points is put on the scoreboard in one of the
most wacky football games in Oregon history
By Jeff Smith
Oregon DaiJy Emerald
It’s been said continuously over the
past few weeks that Oregon controls
its own destiny.
Well, after the Ducks’ astonishing,
ridiculous 56-55 double-overtime vic
tory over Arizona State Saturday, a
case could be made that the Ducks not
only control fate, but they have it on
their side.
Oregon stayed unbeaten in Pacific-10
Conference play (7-1 overall, 5-0 Pac-10)
by miraculously beating Arizona State
(5-3, 2-3) in front of 53,085 fans at Sun
Devil Stadium. It’s the first 5-0 start for
Oregon since the 1957 season.
“We’re going home with an empty
tank,” junior quarterback Joey Harring
ton said. “We left everything — physi
cally and emotionally — on the field.”
After everything that transpired on
the field, it’s hard to argue against the
notion that Oregon is a team of destiny.
How else to explain the Ducks bat
tling back from three separate 14-point
deficits — with the latter taking place
with under four minutes to go in regu
lation time as the Sun Devil crowd
chanted, “Overrated.”
How else to explain Oregon getting
the ball back with 2:16 to go in the
fourth quarter and courageously driv
ing downfield; facing a fourth-and
goal from the nine-yard line; complet
ing a pass to tight end Justin Peelle,
only to have Peelle stuffed at the one
yard-line to turn over possession of the
ball.
And then to have Sun Devil tailback
Mike Williams fumble while running
out the clock to give possession back
to the Oregon offense with 33 seconds
to play.
“I don’t know how, but somehow by
the grace of God, that ball popped out
and we recovered and took advantage
of that opportunity again,” Harrington
said.
On the very next play, Harrington
connected with Peelle for a 17-vard
touchdown pass to tie the game at 49
and send it to overtime.
Overtime proved to be just as crazy
as regulation when Oregon cornerback
Steve Smith intercepted a Jeff Krohn
pass, setting up a potential game-win
ning field goal by Josh Frankel. Of
course, the game couldn’t end on that
note because that would be too simple,
so Frankel missed the field goal — his
eighth miss in 12 attempts—to send it
to double overtime.
The Ducks’ offense continued to siz
zle as Harrington drilled wide receiver
Keenan Howry for 18-yards down to
the seven-yard line. A few plays later,
tailback Allan Amundson — filling in
for Maurice Morris, who left the game
with bruised ribs — outran a herd of
Sun Devils toward the left corner of
the end zone for the one-yard touch
down run to give the Ducks the 56-49
advantage.
Then Arizona State, faced with a
crucial third-and-seven, converted a
22-yard touchdown pass from Krohn
to tight end Todd Heap to presumably
send the game into a third-overtime.
But Sun Devil head coach Bruce
Snyder had a different idea. On the ex
tra-point attempt, the ball was
snapped to Krohn, who was the hold
er. Krohn stood up with it, rolled to his
right and threw toward Heap in the
end zone.
The ball bounced off Heap’s hands
and onto the ground to officially con
clude the four-hour-and-14-minute
game.
“We had a feeling of the fake,” Smith
said. “We just played our technique
and batted the ball down. ”
“They battled, never gave up,” head
coach Mike Bellotti said about his
team. “They believed, no matter what
the scoreboard said or how much time
was left on the clock. We felt we had a
chance to win. That is the mark of a
winner.”
The mood was obviously a little dif
ferent in the Arizona State locker
room.
“I feel very badly for the players,”
Snyder said. “I just felt like it would be
a great victory for them. How heart
breaking this is.”
Last week against Arizona, the Ore
gon offense sputtered and its defense
came through and saved the day. Satur
day, it was reversed, as the offense shone
and the Pac-lO’s top-rated defense sur
rendered a combined 667 offensive
yards and 55 points. It was the most
points Oregon had ever given up in a
Tu rn to Double OT win, page 9
Men impress at Pac-10s
■ All-around
good
performances
by Duck men
lead to a
second-place
finish at the
Pac-10 meet
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some may have wondered
how the Oregon cross country
team would fare at the Pacific-10
Conference Championship with
out All-Americans Steve Fein
and Andrew Bliss, the squad’s
two best runners from the previ
ous season.
On Saturday, the Ducks made a
strong, responsive statement.
The young, green and yellow
pack of two seniors, a junior, a
sophomore and three freshmen
exceeded all expectations at the
Pac-10 championships in Seattle,
edging No. 10 Arizona by four
points to finish in second place
with a score of 66. Stanford won
the team title with 21 points by
placing five runners in the top
seven.
This year marks the fourth time
in five years that Oregon trailed
only Stanford in the Pac-10 meet.
“Coming in, I tried to convey
the intensity of what a conference
meet is,” Oregon head coach Mar
tin Smith said. “Today they rose
to that challenge. We have a real
ly young team, and a key was that
the freshmen kept their cool and
followed the plan.”
The losses Fein and Bliss left
the Ducks with a young and un
proven team this season, but
Smith’s team has earned a No. 13
ranking and posted three impres
sive performances at large meets.
Super sophomore Jason Hart
mann led the Ducks at the cham
pionship meet, placing second in
Turn to Men’sXC, page 12
Meet leaves women frustrated
■The lady Harriers’ NCAA
hopes are in a holding
pattern after their mediocre
Pac-10 season finish
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Continuing struggles by the
Oregon women’s cross country
team has put the Ducks in a diffi
cult position: Facing the possibil
ity of missing the NCAA meet for
the first time since 1996.
A seventh-place finish at the
Pacific-10 Conference champi
onships is Oregon’s worst placing
at the conference meet since it’s
inception in 1975.
The Ducks began the season
ranked No. 12, but after three dis
appointing performances at ma
jor meets, Oregon has dropped
completely out of the top-25
polls, which has an effect on
which teams are selected for the
NCAA meet.
All is not lost, however. Last
season, Oregon overcame a sixth
place finish at the Pac-lOs to earn
a NCAA bid, where they placed
19th out of 31 teams.
“Ironically, all we’ve got to do
at regionals is edge Washington
State and UCLA to get a spot at
nationals,” head coach Tom
Heinonen said. “If we don’t beat
one of them and get fifth then we
don’t get selected.”
Oregon trailed fifth-place
Washington State by only 16
points. In the much larger region
al meet, the Cougars could get
Turn to Women’sXC, page 12
CC I think
we’re a
better team
than this.
Our last
chance to
prove that
will be at
regionals.
Tom Heinonen
head coach
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