Ducks’ tenacious defense stymies Buffs’ attack
■Colorado nets just 49
rushing-yards in Oregon’s
38-16 Fiesta Bowl victory
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
TEMPE, Ariz. — One word: re
spect.
In the week leading up to the Fi
esta Bowl, the Ducks could not get
away from the Colorado running
game — it’s all they heard about.
But when it mattered most, the
Colorado tailbacks could not get
away from the Ducks.
“I’m going to be honest with
you — with all the talk, we had a
score to settle, and we had a chip
on our shoulders coming into this
game,” Oregon sophomore line
backer Kevin Mitchell said after
Oregon’s 38-16 rout of Colorado
on New Year’s Day. “We had an
attitude that we were going to
stop the run.”
It showed.
Against a rushing offense that
averaged nearly 230 yards per
game — and tallied 380 yards on
the ground against then-No. 1 Ne
braska on Nov. 23 — Oregon’s
speedy defense held the highly
touted Buffalo rushers to a season
low 49 total yards.
“It was one of the top efforts I’ve
ever been around,” Oregon defen
sive coordinator Nick Aliotti said.
“If you can control the run and
make a team one dimension, you
have a good chance of winning.
And — God, I don’t like to sound
like I’m bragging — but we certain
ly did that tonight.”
Fullback Brandon Drumm gave
the Buffs a 7-0 lead midway
through the first quarter, but there
would be few highlights on the
ground for Colorado after that.
On consecutive series in the sec
ond quarter, Oregon was able to
hold the Buffaloes on key third
and-one plays. Redshirt freshman
tackle Igor Olshansky was in
volved in both tackles.
“I feel that we’re the best in the
country. We dominated this
game,” Olshansky said. “I don’t
think anyone in the country can
run on us. We may not be the
biggest or the fastest defense in the
country, but we’re going to play
hard.”
Quarterback Joey Harrington
and the Oregon offense scored 38
unanswered points to give the
Ducks a 38-7 lead at the 9:38 mark
of the fourth quarter, and, by then,
Colorado had to rely almost entire
ly on its passing game.
“They didn’t even try to run the
ball in the end,” Aliotti said.
With seniors Steve Smith and
Rashad Bauman patrolling the air,
Colorado senior quarterback Bob
by Pesavento could not establish a
rhythm and was replaced by soph
omore Craig Ochs.
“They just wanted it more,” Pe
savento said.
Ochs was not greeted warmly ei
ther, with his first pass attempt
turning into one of Smith’s three
interceptions — a Fiesta Bowl
record.
“Steve Smith has a knack for the
ball, and he’s a play-maker,” Aliot
ti said. “Throughout his career ...
Steve has just a knack for making
the big plays.”
Fesavento finished ll-of-27
with two interceptions, and Ochs
came in to give the Buffs 279 total
passing yards, most of which came
when the game was out of reach.
“Once we got them in air, we
knew the game was over,” Bauman
said. “They’re not a throwing
team. (Pesavento) isn’t used to
throwing the ball that many times,
and we knew that would be to our
advantage.”
For a defense that was ranked
ninth in the Pacific-10 Conference
«— allowing 406 yards per game —
Oregon surprised, and silenced,
many critics.
“I don’t think we really went
into the game underestimating
them,” Colorado wide receiver Ro
man Hollowell said. “They just
stepped up to the challenge. They
just stopped the run, stopped our
whole offense entirely.”
Contact sports editor Adam Jude at
adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
John Stoops for the Emerald
Senior Rashad Bauman blind-sides Colorado quarterback Bobby Pesavento for one of
Oregon’s four sacks in the Fiesta Bowl win over the Buffaloes.
Fiesta Bowl
continued from page 7
ning game, taking a 7-0 lead on a
Brandon Drumm one-yard scoring
run at the 6:26 mark of the first
quarter.
But that was all it took for the
switch to flip in Oregon’s mind.
In the Ducks’ next series, Har
rington zipped a 28-yard strike
down the middle to Keenan
Howry for a well-timed touch
down pass to even up the score.
From there, the floodgates opened
and the Ducks tacked on 31 more
unanswered points to turn the
game into a true fiesta for Oregon
and its fans, which were loudly
represented among the 74,118 at
Sun Devil Stadium.
On defense, most of the Oregon
cheers were directed toward de
fensive back Steve Smith, who
snared three interceptions and
earned the game’s defensive player
of the game award. He also had
three picks against USC earlier in
the season.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said
Smith, a senior. “You know me, I
didn’t get a touchdown, but it’s a
great feeling.”
On the other side of the ball, Har
rington capped his storybook col
lege football career by completing
28-of-42 passes for 350 yards and
four touchdowns. Nine of those
Harrington heaves landed in the
hands of sophomore receiver Sarnie
Parker, who had a career-high 162
yards receiving. Harrington and
Parker hooked up on a 79-yard
touchdown pass to give the Ducks
their first lead, 14-7, in the opening
minutes of the second quarter.
“I knew after I got by him that he
wasn’t going to catch me because I
knew I was faster than him,” Park
er said of his defender.
Oregon took a 21-7 lead into
halftime after a Harrington six
yard shovel pass to Onterrio
Smith.
With the game still within reach
at the opening of the third quarter,
the Buffaloes were given a punch
to the gut on a play that began in
nocently enough with Harrington
handing it off to Maurice Morris.
But that was when Morris made
highlight films everywhere. After
running 28 yards, he appeared to
be tackled at the 21-yard line, but
he rolled over the back of Col
orado’s Joey Johnson to stay on his
feet. Then, with most of the play
ers thinking the play was over, he
ran into the end zone to complete
the 49-yard scamper and propel
Oregon to a 28-7 lead.
Morris’ team-high 89 yards gave
him 1,049 for his senior season,
which along with Smith, gave the
Ducks two 1,000-yard tailbacks for
the first time.
“Maurice’s run, it changed the
complexion of the game,” Bellotti
said.
“I got to watch it on the replay
screen and that was incredible,”
offensive lineman Ryan Schmid
said.
Once the lead was extended to
21 points, Colorado appeared to
shut it down and concede the Fies
ta Bowl and the possible split na
tional title to the Ducks.
The rest of the Oregon scoring
consisted of a Jared Siegel career
long 47-yard field goal and a final
scoring pass from Harrington to his
good friend Justin Peelle.
Colorado scored nine meaning
less points to end the game. The
most glaring statistic was Col
orado’s rushing total of 49 yards
against an inspired Ducks defense.
“I don’t have an explanation,”
Colorado head coach Gary Barnett
said. “Oregon did not get our best
shot tonight.”
As the fourth quarter minutes
slowly wound down, many Col
orado fans began to file out, leav
ing the green-and-yellow contin
gent with plenty of opportunities
to celebrate amongst themselves.
With three minutes on the clock,
Bellotti was drenched by a cooler
filled with ice water.
Seven seconds later, the Oregon
fans began the “We’re No. 1” chant
that lasted through the end of the
game.
Of course, with Miami winning
two days later, the Ducks settled
for No. 2, which left some players
wondering what would have hap
pened if the national title pairing
was done by humans rather than
computers.
“We made a statement that we
belonged in the championship
game,” Onterrio Smith said. “It
didn’t happen, but we wanted to
prove to people that we’re one of
the national powers.”
They made their move, and the
nation noticed.
Contact assistant sports editor Jeff Smith
at jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com.
Men’s
continued from page 7
treys down the stretch, giving ASU
the seven-point victory.
“It came down to the fact that
they had more energy than we did,”
Kent said.
The Oregon players may have been
tired after Friday night’s win over Ari
zona. The Ducks toppled the Wild
cats 90-80, and the game was not
nearly as close as the score indicated.
Oregon led by as many as 22
points and never let Arizona get
close at the McKale Center in Tuc
son. For the Ducks, the win in Tuc
son was their first since 1985, and
completed their first season sweep
of the Wildcats since 1982.
“We conquered the road with a
big, big win down at Arizona,” Kent
said Sunday night. “Hey, we’re 3-1,
and we don’t have to play these two
teams again, while everyone else still
has to go through them. ”
Oregon returns to McArthur
Court on Thursday to face Pac-10
foe California before taking on No.
13 Stanford on Saturday.
Contact sports reporter Peter Hockaday
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
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