Sun Devils’ offensive
show goes for naught in loss
■Arizona State treats its 50,000-plus fans to a high-powered
offensive performance, but some questionable calls late in the
game lead to a tough defeat to Oregon
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
One team scores 55 points, and
gathers 667 total offensive yards.
Its starting tailback — a walk-on
that earns a living cleaning pools —
rushes for a career-high 158 yards
on 33 carries.
Its starting quarterback — a red
shirt freshman that has battled
through mononucleosis to take over
the starting role—lights it up for 432
yards and five touchdowns, while
completing 21 of his 34 passes.
And, in the end, that team loses.
Such was the case for head coach
Bruce Snyder’s Arizona State Sun
Devils Saturday, in their heartbreak
ing 56-55 double-overtime loss to the
Oregon Ducks at Sun Devil Stadium.
“[I feel] just drained,” Snyder
said. “It was a very hard-fought
game. I told my team that I’m proud
of them in terms of their effort. ”
It wasn’t the Sun Devil players
who had to deal with the second
guessing afterwards, it was Snyder
himself.
Arizona State trailed 56-49 in the
second overtime, but still had a shot
to tie the game up. On a third-and
six from the 21-yard line, quarter
back Jeff Krohn found Richard
Williams in the end zone for the
touchdown pass.
The Sun Devils’ kicking team
trotted out for the extra point, while
it appeared a third overtime was
soon to begin. But then the ball was
snapped to Krohn, who instead of
holding it for place-kicker Mike
Barth, got up and threw towards
tight end Todd Heap in the end zone
for the potential game-winning two
point conversion.
Heap couldn’t corral it, and the
ballgame abruptly ended in Ore
gon’s favor.
Snyder expected to be second
guessed on the gutsy call.
“The whole decision is on me,
obviously,” Snyder said. “I just said,
‘Let’s try to win it right here.’ We’ve
been practicing that play, we do it
every week. It’s something that’s
well-drilled. We just didn’t get it
completed.”
Snyder also mentioned how
Barth’s lower back was hurting,
which had impacted an earlier field
goal miss. Barth’s health also affect
ed a play call made late in the fourth
quarter, when the Sun Devils were
faced with a fourth-and-14 from the
Oregon 33-yard line with 2:22 to
play in the game.
Instead of kicking it and extend
ing its 49-42 lead, Arizona State
went for it, didn’t get the first down
and turned the ball back to Oregon.
It was a move that would eventually
lead to Oregon’s game-tying score.
“That was one of the most diffi
cult decisions in the game, no ques
tion,” Snyder said.
All week, Duck head coach Mike
Bellotti warned his team that the
Sun Devils would be no push-over.
“Arizona State, coming in at 5-2
after what they’ve gone through is a
tremendous testament to their
coaches and their players,” said Bel
lotti, referring to the Sun Devil in
jury problems. “We knew we were
in for a battle.”
A courageous battle put on by
both teams that left one side amazed
at its own victory, and another fac
ing the dreaded two worded ques
tion, “What if?”
Oregon limping but recovering after big-time win at ASU
■ Injuries to Jason Nikolao
and Maurice Morris top the
list of banged-up Ducks
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
After the Oregon football team
marched into Sun Devil Stadium
and stunned Arizona State in dou
ble overtime, it began the process of
limping back to Eugene.
Several key players on the offense
and defense were banged-up,
bruised and battered in the Ducks’
dramatic win. Fortunately, Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said that
most of those injuries will amount
to a few missed days of practice.
“I expect there to be a long list of
walking wounded on Monday,”
Bellotti said. “By Tuesday, everyone
should be back.”
While most of those injuries
aren’t too severe, a couple setbacks
could have an impact on the rest of
the season.
Senior defensive end Jason Niko
lao, one of Oregon’s best defenders
when it comes to stopping the run,
partially tore the medial collateral
ligament in his right knee during
Arizona State’s first possession of
Saturday’s game.
While the typical recovery time
for such an injury is between two
and six weeks, Bellotti said he is op
timistic that Nikolao will be back in
two or three weeks.
If Bellotti’s timeline holds true,
Nikolao would be back on the field
in time for the Civil War. Not to
mention Ken Simonton, the Pacif
ic-10 Conference’s leading tailback.
In the meantime, he will be re
placed by junior Zack Freiter, who
has been sharing time with Nikolao
this season.
“He has been playing more and
more each game and doing a good
job,'’ Bellotti said. “His game shape
is improving dramatically.”
Tailback Maurice Morris, who
bruised some ribs Saturday, is an
other player Oregon must keep a
close eye on. Morris will start
against Washington State Saturday.
Last season, tailback Reuben
Droughns had to wear a flak jacket to
protect him from torn rib cartilage,
Double OT win
continued from page 7
victory.
But whenever the defense would
give up a big play to ASU’s Heap or
tailback Tom Pace, Oregon’s Har
rington would turn it up. Harring
ton continued his road dominance
by completing 26-of-43 passes for a
career-high 434 yards and six
touchdowns.
“I’m in complete and total shock
right now,” said Harrington, whose
six touchdowns tied the Oregon
record for most in a game, set by
Danny O’Neil in the 1994 Rose
Bowl season. “We played so hard
out there. We battled our butts off.”
The game capped a crazy 24
hours for Oregon, who arrived into
Tempe, Ariz., 2 1/2 hours after ex
pected because of weather prob
lems in Phoenix. The players did
n’t fall asleep until 1:30 a.m., and
then had to rise at 7 a.m. for the
12:30 p.m. game.
“I told them yesterday sitting on
the plane that this would probably
be the greatest adventure of their
life,” said Bellotti, referring to the
plane delays. “Little did I know
that the game would be the best.”
Oregon’s long night was evident
in Its sluggish start. The Sun Devils
caught the Oregon defense sleeping
on a 69-yard Krohn to Pace touch
down pass with 5:55 to go in the
first quarter to grab the early 7-0 ad
vantage. The Ducks responded over
four minutes later when Morris ran
in from 17-yards out to tie it up.
The Sun Devils would take
charge in the second quarter, as
Krohn completed a 28-yard touch
down pass to Donnie O’Neil. Then
Sun Devil linebacker Adam
Archuleta forced a questionable
Harrington fumble in the end zone,
and ASU’s Eric Fields recovered it
for the score to give Arizona State
the early 21-7 lead.
Oregon wouldn’t give up, how
ever, and two Harrington touch
down passes later (to Howry and
Marshaun Tucker), and the teams
would enter the half tied at 21.
“We had to come back twice in
this game —- in the first half and in
the second,” said Howry, who did
not start the game due to a hip
pointer, but finished with four
catches for 125 yards, including
two touchdowns. “Everybody
made some big plays.”
Bellotti has coached many great
games during his tenure as head
coach of Oregon, but ranks Satur
day’s affair near the top of the list.
“This is as good as any,” said Bel
lotti, whose team travels to Wash
ington State next weekend. “I don’t
think I’ve ever been prouder of my
kids in my life. Win or lose I
would’ve said that. This was a
wonderful, exciting, tremendous
football game.”
Pez Sez
continued from page 7
on passing and run the football on
its first three overtime attempts. No
luck.
Then, with a chance to win it in
Southern California fashion, place
kicker Josh Frankel walked onto
the field to attempt a 42-yard field
goal. He missed.
Well, maybe that wasn’t so as
tonishing, but fit least the kick was
close.
The tension continued to mount
in the second overtime. The Ducks
capped a passing drive with an Al
lan Amundson run, as the sopho
more ran into the end zone and post
ed the touchdown. The score
marked Oregon’s first lead of the day.
Wow.
But the Sun Devils weren’t done
yet. Another touchdown and they
lined up for the extra point, ready to
take the game into its third overtime.
Fake.
See tight end Todd Heap try to
break free. See him dash into the
end zone. See Oregon’s Rasuli
Webster follow, see the ball fly
from Krohn’s hand, see Webster
and Heap reach for it with one
hand—and then see the ball wisp
away from Heap’s fingertips and
fall incomplete, once and for all.
The comeback was complete.
All across the state, I imagined
thousands of Oregonians jumping
from their seats with arms raised in
triumph, each one with about 10
years less to live after such a sus
penseful game.
No Arizona State upset. Oregon
is still the Pacific-10 Conference’s
only undefeated team. The Ducks
still control their own destiny in
the Rose Bowl race. They won, de
spite losing key players and fight
ing from behind throughout regula
tion and half of the first overtime.
Which brings me back to my first
statement.
Madness.
Unfortunately, the costs of win
ning were high. It will be tough for
Oregon to keep its winning streak
alive, considering it could be with
out key defensive players in the
next couple of weeks.
Also, tailback Maurice Morris
bruised some ribs and didn’t play
in most of the fourth quarter or in
the overtimes.
Washington State and California
should be easily won games, even
with the losses in the roster. How
ever, Oregon State has shown by
now it is a force to be reckoned
with, and the Ducks will need a full
supporting cast if they are to put up
a good fight in Corvallis.
Because while Oregon was mak
ing an asylum out of Sun Devil Sta
dium, the Beavers were driving
Washington State bonkers at Reser
Stadium, blowing the hapless
Cougars out by a score of 38-9.
That Oregon State team is off its
rocker up there.
But Oregon football? Perhaps no
body can figure it out.
Scott Pesznecker is the assistant sports edi
tor for the Emerald. He can be reached at
pezsez1@hotmail.com.
which became a nuisance down the
stretch of the season. However, Bel
lotti said that Morris’ injury is not as
serious as Droughns’ was.
Cornerback Rashad Bauman had
to leave Saturday’s game in the fourth
quarter after sustaining a dislocated
shoulder, but Bellotti expects him
back to practice by mid-week and
ready to play against the Cougars.
Defensive end Saul Patu
(strained right knee), safety Ryan
Mitchell (sore ankle) and linebacker '
Garrett Sabol (swelling in calf and
left knee) are also on the “banged
up” list of Oregon players. Accord
ing to Bellotti, all should be healthy
enough to play in Saturday’s game.
And that’s a good thing — a quar
terback like Washington State’s Ja
son Gesser would love to face a de
pleted Oregon defense.
Phil Barnhart
Supports University Students
Vote NO on 9
Phil Barnhart for State Representative
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www.philbarnhart.com
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