About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 01:41 PM EST
[General]
The University of Oregon Men's basketball team was one of the last eight teams left standing in last year's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Though they fell to the eventual tournament champion, the Florida Gators, in the Elite 8, they did show the college basketball world that heart can matter just as much as height and that the relentlessly quick team from Eugene with the fearless perimeter game should not be taken lightly.
However, after a 29-8 record, a Pac-10 conference tournament crown, and three wins in the Big Dance in 2006-2007, being overlooked by opponents is not likely anything they'll have to worry about this season. What they do need to worry about is how to replace the one player who simply would not allow them to fail last year, Aaron Brooks.
Oregon's fiery senior point guard defined the team's season a year ago with two monumental game-winning shots. The first, a buzzer-beater at home against then top-ranked UCLA last January, sky rocketed the team's confidence and national credibility. The second, a dagger on the road at Arizona a week later, silenced any remaining doubts.
However, Brooks, who led the Ducks in points (17.7 ppg), assists (4.4 apg), and cool, parlayed his magical season into an NBA roster spot with Houston Rockets. And, without doubt, it was Brooks who made Oregon go last season. He played over 36 minutes a game for the Ducks, shooting over 40% from 3-point range and over 80% from the line, and his assist-to-turnover ratio was nearly 2:1. Not only did he know how to protect the basketball, he knew how put it into the basket or set-up his teammates to do so with impressive efficiency, and he was on the floor for over 90% of each game to make sure that happened.
The good news for Oregon in 2007-2008 is that they will have three seniors in the starting lineup ready to help fill that leadership void - G/F Malik Hairston, G/F Bryce Taylor, and F Maarty Leunen. Of the three, Hairston is the most dynamic. While a heel injury dampened his 2006-2007 season and caused him to miss 10 games, he bounced back enough down the stretch to give a glimpse of his impressive overall game. At 6'6", he has enough speed and lift to do a lot of different things on the floor. He averaged six boards a game to highlight his ability to play inside and hit over 42% of 3-point shots to showcase his perimeter game. In fact, his 52% overall shooting from the floor led the team and reinforced his ever-improving court sense and shot selection. Fully healthy, Hairston will be the one his teammates look to as a team leader on the stat sheet and in the locker room.
For a game, Bryce Taylor was perfect. Literally. In the Pac-10 conference tournament final against USC, Taylor hit all 11 of his shots from the field, including an astonishing 7-for-7 from 3-point range, and was perfect in his three attempts from the free throw line. His 32-point demolition of the Trojans gave Oregon a convincing 81-57 win en route the conference tournament title. While Taylor's career-night didn't necessarily translate to those kind of superstar numbers night-in, night-out (how could they?), his improvement from his sophomore to junior seasons was remarkable, nonetheless. The 6'5" swingman improved his scoring average by nearly five points a game (from 9.3 to 14.1 ppg), raised his overall shooting percentage by over 10% (from 40.6% to 51.7%), and improved his 3-point accuracy by nearly 16% (from 26.7% to 42.2%). As it is, Taylor has transformed into a dangerous scorer with a versatile arsenal. If he continues to improve, he could really be lethal in teaming with Hairston to give the Ducks a deadly 1-2 scoring punch.
Maarty Leunen was really given an impossible task last season. The 6'9", 215-pound forward was asked to carry Oregon's front court all by himself. While he was out-jumped and out-muscled in nearly every game he played, he was never outplayed. He simply outlasted taller, stronger opponents. Tireless and fearless, he would slowly wear them down - minute after minute, game after game. And when they weren't looking, he would sneak out to the perimeter and knock down a three. Like Taylor, Leunen's improvement as a player exploded from his sophomore to his junior season. In achieving career-highs in scoring average (10.8), rebounds per game (8.2), assists per game (2.1), and steals per game (1.4), he fully demonstrated his remarkable versatility. Perhaps, most surprising was his improvement as a long-range shooter. As a sophomore, he made a pedestrian 28% of his tries from beyond the arc. As a junior, he dropped over 41% of those shots on opponents, and most never even knew what hit them.
In fact, Oregon's perimeter game was their trademark last season, and befitting a team from Oregon, they made it rain buckets. Dropping shots from the rafters like it was monsoon season in Singapore, everyone who touched the ball for the Ducks could hit a 3-pointer. All five starters made better than 40% of their treys, and they needed each one. With an undersized lineup that relied on speed to create open looks, they couldn't allow a game to be decided on the glass. Missed shots meant rebounds, and the Ducks knew they how little chance they had to win that way. So, they ran and shot. And made.
And few people on the floor ran faster or shot quicker than the smallest player out there, 5'6" freshman Tajuan Porter. Porter needed that quickness because his window for an open look closed faster than anyone else's. Although he started the year with little more expectation on him than to be a safety valve for Aaron Brooks to catch his breath for a few minutes a game, his deadly shooting touch earned him significant playing time. He averaged 14.6 points a game, shooting better than 41% from long distance and better than 90% from the line. When open, there was little question how good the little man with the big jumper was. His crowning moment was a 33-point barrage (on 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point range) against UNLV in Oregon's Sweet 16 win over the Rebs in the NCAA Tournament.
This year, however, Porter will not only be expected to pick up where he left off shooting the rock but also to assume the team's point guard duties. Can he make the transition from a shoot-only player to a pass-and-shoot player? He needs to, because the only other point guard on the roster is true freshman Kamyron Brown. While Brown has loads of potential with great court vision and a deft passing touch, asking him to run the team if Porter is slow to make the transition from off-guard to the point would be asking a bit much too soon. However, Brown certainly has the ability to play his way into more minutes at the point (shifting Porter and his deadly outside game to the 2) as the season progresses.
In addition to Brown, the Ducks' bench looks to be much stronger this year.
The Invisible Man is finally visible. JC transfer Frantz Dorsainvil looked like a perfect fit for the Ducks last season. At 6'8", 270 pounds, the athletic Dorsainvil would have given Maarty Leunen the front court help the team so desperately needed. Unfortunately, a funny thing happened on the way to Mac Court. The prized JC transfer, a native of Haiti who grew up in Montreal, got tangled up in Visa-related red tape and never made it to Eugene. Luckily, all of that crimson adhesive was somehow detangled in the off-season, and the Ducks finally have their highly coveted athletic big man on the roster.
Another transfer, 6'6" swingman Churchill Odia, may also see some significant playing time. Odia, who transferred from Xavier in 2005, played limited minutes last year, averaging just 1.8 points per game in just over nine minutes a contest. However, in his second season in head coach Ernie Kent's system, he may find his way into the rotation more often, especially in light of the transfer of Chamberlain Oguchi. Oguchi, the very definition of a streak shooter, never found his touch last season. After establishing himself as a dangerous 3-point threat in 2005-2006, he hit just 26% of his long-range shots in 2006-2007 and then transferred to Illinois State in the off-season. So, Odia, recruited as a point guard by Xavier, may be the one who picks up Oguchi's minutes this year or help in the point guard rotation, but he'll have plenty of competition for those minutes.
Another swingman, 6'5" redshirt freshman LeKendric Longmire, is also in the running for guard minutes. His athleticism and defense may win him some time, and defense became a surprising strength for the undersized Ducks late in the season. The team's ability to shut down some of the Pac-10's top scorers in the conference tournament jump started their NCAA tourney run. So, Longmire's defensive potential may help to continue that trend. Early season games will likely sort out the minutes, but Longmire will have a chance to claim some of them.
With so many wing players, Ernie Kent's squad might as well be playing in Buffalo, because they have yet another "tweener", highly-touted freshman Drew Viney, whose impressive perimeter game fits in perfectly with Oregon's high-powered long-range offense. With so much riding on getting outside shots to fall, the Ducks always need marksmen, and Viney is definitely that. It will just be a matter of how quickly he finds his range that determines his role on the team.
Along with Dorsainvil, sophomore forward Joevan Catron will get quality minutes in the front court. Last season, as a freshman, Catron saw his playing time increase as he showed his ability to defend in the paint and fight for rebounds. Although just 6'6", he played bigger than that and wasn't bashful about the physical nature of the interior.
Besides sitting at the end of Ernie Kent's bench last year, 6'10" Mitch Platt and 7'0" Ray Schafer seemed to offer little more than 10 fouls and traffic in the post. The nature of Oregon's high-octane offense didn't help them get any closer to the scorer's table, either. However, Platt's a somewhat intriguing player. The fifth-year senior has had some productive minutes for the team but missed all of the 2005-2006 season with injury. As a freshman, he did play enough to average five points and four boards a game.
Of course, head coach Ernie Kent's philosophy in recent years has been all about speed, and, frankly, tall players just tend to slow things down. And the methodology to Kent's basketball madness can be traced directly back to his own playing days. In the mid-70's, Kent was a player at Oregon. His team at the time was nicknamed the "Kamikaze Kids" for their aggressive, all-out style and their knack for sacrificing their bodies (via taking charges) on the floor. They were a frenetic, relentless bunch led by their all-everything guard Ron Lee. Forwards Greg Ballard and Stu Jackson were Lee's top lieutenants, and Kent joined the fray off the bench.
The experience must have resonated, because Kent's teams play with that same kind of fury. Although this year's team is lacking their Ron Lee, Houston-bound Aaron Brooks, they haven't lost their speed or intensity. With three senior leaders returning and Tajuan Porter with a full year of experience on his resume, they have enough to overcome the loss of Brooks. It is the addition of Dorsainvil and the high-ceiling potential of Kamyron Brown and Drew Viney that may be the keys for an even deeper run into March Madness.
So, there's no sneaking up on anyone for the Ducks this season. However, that's ok, because they can always just run past them on their way to another 3-point shot. And it all starts this Saturday night at the Pit against Pepperdine. Mac Court will be rocking, and, I suspect, it will, like the team itself, continue to rock all the way into March.
Playing a team with a mascot sporting horns and a pitchfork just three days after Halloween, the Oregon football team had to know they were going to get a scare in their big Pac-10 showdown with the undefeated Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday. They probably just didn't realize how big that scare would be.
Early in the fourth quarter, Oregon's star QB and Heisman candidate Dennis Dixon darted from the pocket and ran for 11 yards and a first down. At the end of the play, Dixon's leg twisted awkwardly and he immediately clutched at his knee. For Oregon players, coaches, and fans, few Halloween horrors could rival the sight of Dennis Dixon grabbing his knee in pain. Rollicking Autzen Stadium, one of the loudest venues in the country, went instantly silent.
With the Ducks leading comfortably 35-16 at the time, few in the sold-out stadium were in the mood for celebrating as Dixon hobbled off the field. Oregon's senior QB has been an unquestioned team leader this season, and his lethal pass-run threat has fueled the offense to nearly unprecedented heights. As further proof of that, Dixon had thrown for 189 yards and 4 TD's without an interception and rushed for another 57 yards at that point in the game. The vaunted ASU defense simply had not been able to contain him, and he had directed Oregon to five scores and a 19-point lead against the #4 team in the country. To say that the Ducks would be a far less dangerous team without him in the lineup is one of the more massive understatements in college football.
So, when Dixon limped off the field, nearly all of Oregon's lofty hopes went with him and rested squarely on how badly Dixon's knee had been hurt. Luckily, Oregon's star QB was seen strolling the sidelines without visible pain shortly after and even jogged off the field in the closing seconds of the game as his backup, Brady Leaf, handled things for the Ducks in the final clock-killing drives of the contest. And it's a good thing Dixon's knee injury appears to be only a minor mishap, because Oregon's offense goes from high-octane to garden variety unleaded without him.
As for Oregon's big 35-23 win over the previously undefeated Sun Devils, the tone for the game may have been set on the Ducks' very first play from scrimmage. Boxing legend Roberto Duran had the nickname "Hands of Stone" as a testament to his punishing punching power. Oregon's star-crossed WR Jaison Williams has earned a similar nickname but with a far less positive connotation. Williams has dropped so many passes in his career with the Ducks that his unreliability has nearly become the stuff of legend. However, on the first play from scrimmage against the stout Sun Devils' defense, Dixon found Williams for 43 yards.
Later in the same drive, Dixon found his big WR for a 26-yard score. Just like that, Oregon took a 7-0 lead and established Jaison Williams as a legitimate scoring threat. By the stretching the field early, they also created running space, and on their next drive, they took advantage of that running room by giving the ball to Jonathan Stewart and allowed the big RB to push forward. Between Stewart and Dixon, they ran the ball seven times for 41 yards and set-up a 3rd-and-5 at the ASU 13. And it was Stewart who finished the drive by taking a beautifully executed screen pass and powered his way into the end zone.
With the huge home crowd roaring, Oregon's defense stopped the Sun Devils on their next drive and forced a punt. However, DB Patrick Chung knocked down the punter for an apparent 15-yard penalty and an ASU first down. It would have been a huge momentum shift, except the Sun Devils were called for an illegal formation as well, and the infraction offset the bigger Oregon penalty. So, the Ducks got the ball back and wasted little time in cashing in on their good fortune.
This time it was all Dennis Dixon. The dual-threat QB ran for 19 yards on three carries and completed all four of his passes on the drive for the other 56 yards, and it was much-maligned Jaison Williams again finding the end zone on a 27-yard strike right down the middle of the field. On the play, Dixon pulled two ASU defenders forward with a terrific pump fake, and Williams ran right by them, wide open. Williams, who finished with five catches for 106 yards and the two big TD's, was found money for Oregon. So little was expected of him coming into the game that his profound early impact put an exclamation point on just how much was going right for Mike Bellotti's team in the biggest game of the year.
Just over a minute into the second quarter, the Ducks were up 21-3 and were firing on all cylinders. Conversely, the Sun Devils were in trouble and knew that if they fell behind any further the game was likely over. However, ASU had been on the wrong side of the score at some point in nearly all of their games this year and never withered. Their undefeated season was peppered with big comebacks, so an early 18-point deficit seemed oddly routine to them. And true to that pattern, Dennis Erickson's team came roaring back.
Even though ASU QB Rudy Carpenter had an injured thumb and the score dictated upsetting the pass-run balance that had been the cornerstone of the Sun Devil's offense, Carpenter started to get the ball downfield and his receivers started making plays for him. With a TD practically a necessity for ASU, Carpenter delivered. A 31-yard pass to TE Tyrice Thompson down the middle of the field put the Sun Devils squarely on the Oregon side of the field. Four plays later, Carpenter hit WR Michael Jones for a 26-yard score, and ASU had the answer they absolutely had to have.
The score also seemed to energize the Sun Devil defense, because they forced a pair of three-and-outs and recovered a fumble on a third series when Dixon mishandled a play fake. Momentum was shifting, and ASU, who had closed the score to 21-13, had a chance to shorten that gap even further with the ball at the Oregon 49 and just over three minutes left in the first half.
With no timeouts left and the clock ticking, the Sun Devils drove all the way down to the Oregon 13. With under a minute to go and time draining off the scoreboard like so much water escaping from a leaky bucket, Carpenter knocked that bucket over. With a chance for a game-changing TD, ASU imploded. Frantically trying to get a play signaled in from the sideline, Carpenter allowed precious seconds to tick away. When they finally got the play off, it was an odd choice. RB Dimitri Nance was stuffed on an inside run and knocked back two yards. With less than 10 seconds left, Carpenter now spiked the ball and set up a field goal try without having taken a legitimate try for six. As punctuation for the botched red zone opportunity, ASU kicker Thomas Weber missed the field goal attempt, pulling the 32-yard try wide.
The amount of wind that seemed to empty from ASU's sails in those final seconds of the half never came back. Although they took their first drive of the second half for three points and closed to within 21-16, the huge momentum swing that would have surged their way with a TD, or even another field goal, before halftime had some carryover when it didn't happen.
And with a chance for Oregon to slam the door shut once and for all, Jonathan Stewart did so - with a running start. Stewart, who finished with 99 yards on 21 carries, broke through the ASU defense and thundered 33 yards for a TD, putting the Ducks back up by 12, the margin that would mark the final score (even after the teams traded late TD's).
Stewart's score forced ASU back into a pass-heavy offense, and Oregon's uneven pass defense had a chance to shine. DE Nick Reed entered the game with 7.5 sacks for the season and has been the only consistent pass rusher for the Ducks for most of the year. Against the Sun Devils, it was Reed who again brought the heat. On a day Oregon sacked Carpenter nine times, Reed registered 3.5 of them (bringing his season total to a Pac-10 leading 11 sacks) and forced ASU to account for him every time Carpenter dropped back to pass.
Although the Sun Devils had moved the ball well all game long, gaining 489 yards in total offense, the combination of the increased pass pressure and the need to fight the clock, the scoreboard, the raucous partisan crowd, and a fired-up Oregon defense finally seemed to catch up with them. Carpenter, who had a truly gutsy performance and balanced all of those sacks and his injured thumb by throwing for 379 yards and 2 TD's, made the one mistake that sealed things. With ASU again in the Oregon red zone with one last chance to get back into the game, Carpenter was again pressured and made a wild throw on the run. Whether a receiver broke off a pattern or Carpenter made an awful read, the pass fluttered into the end zone right in the middle of three Oregon defenders. Without an ASU player in sight, DB Walter Thurmond III made the easy interception and ended any remaining drama.
With the win, Oregon has played itself right into the National Championship picture. Currently at #3 in the BCS rankings, they have a chance to edge their way into the title game should either team ahead of them stumble. However, thinking that far ahead is deadly in college football these days. Instead, the Ducks just need to keep playing as they have and let the rest sort itself out. A much needed bye week may strengthen that perspective. If nothing else, it is also seven more crucial days for Dennis Dixon's knee to avoid the rigors of a live football game. And with so much riding on what's left of Oregon's season, any thought of the Ducks trying to forge ahead without their star QB leading the way is far scarier than anything seen on Halloween night.
It's official. Jonathan Stewart definitely has game.
For the second week in a row, Oregon's superstar RB simply refused to be stopped. And that refusal was never more apparent than on the final play of the third quarter in the Ducks' 24-17 win over USC at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. Stewart, who had shredded Washington's defense for a career-high 251 yards just a week earlier, got the call on a crucial 3rd-and-14 and ran directly into the Trojans' nationally-ranked run defense. Churning straight upfield, Stewart appeared to be stopped well short of a first down. However, appearances can be deceiving, because they tend to discount the extraordinary. And Stewart's third down run was extraordinary.
Oregon's junior RB took the contact of no less than seven USC defenders, dragging a number of them forward to a fresh set of downs for the Ducks. A seemingly impossible first down suddenly became reality, and, on a day full of momentum shifts, it shifted again. Oregon, with a 7-point lead over USC at the time, was looking to pull away. Fittingly, Stewart, who had 103 rushing yards on the day, finished the job with a 1-yard TD plunge to give the Ducks a 24-10 lead.
However, with the Ducks up 24-10 and just over 10 minutes left in the game, Oregon's coaching staff took their foot off the gas, and the team's high-octane offense stalled. Lamborghini's are simply not supposed to idle. However, the guys wearing the headsets had spoken - time was now more important than scores - and that seemed to be that.
Oregon's defense, which had shown itself to be both stifling and pedestrian in alternate weeks leading up to the USC game, had dug itself in nicely against the Trojans. In the first half they had allowed just 3 points despite the fact that a pair of special team turnovers had given USC the ball deep in Oregon territory.
And, ultimately, it was what was done or not done with those gifts that defined the game. That pair of Oregon turnovers, which included a fumble on the opening kickoff, only led to three points for the USC. In fact, the Trojans further compounded matters with a self - destructive holding penalty on a separate series that nullified a long TD run by freshman sensation Joe McKnight.
Meanwhile, USC had committed a pair of turnovers themselves in the second half, and the Ducks converted both into touchdowns. The first, a Stanley Havili fumble at the USC 16, was a backbreaker, because it happened with the game tied at 10-10 and led directly to a TD run by Stewart just two plays later. The second, a Mark Sanchez interception, ended a promising USC drive that could have re-tied the game and set the scene for Stewart's dramatic third quarter run.
So, down by 14 and time, a thundering crowd and an equally thundering defense against them, USC needed to make something happen quickly. Just how quickly they did stunned not only the big partisan crowd and the Oregon defense but probably themselves just a little as well.
In just 48 seconds, Sanchez fired five passes, completed four of them, and drove the Trojans 85 yards to a startlingly efficient score - a beautifully thrown 14-yard TD pass to David Ausberry. In fact, a pass interference penalty was called on the play. Such was the methodically unstoppable nature of that drive, it couldn't even be denied by illegal contact.
With the Ducks reeling just a little and the Trojans definitely rolling, Oregon needed to string together some first downs to drain what was left of the game clock. Oregon QB Dennis Dixon had been showing his versatility all game long. He'd completed nearly two-thirds of his pass attempts, hadn't turned the ball over a single time and had escaped USC's defensive pressure time and again on the way to 76 yards running. His elusiveness had been maddening to the Trojans. Every time they thought they had him pinned down, Dixon simply outran the pursuit to either buy time for his receivers or to get positive yards himself.
However, among the Oregon receivers, only two had really distinguished themselves. In the wake of season-ending injuries to star WR's Brian Paysinger and Cameron Colvin, TE Ed Dickson had elevated his game and established himself as a dangerous pass threat. Against the Trojans, Dickson became Oregon's most reliable pass catching weapon, hauling in five throws for 69 yards. Freshman WR Aaron Pflugrad also showed some grit. The undersized young wide-out, who's more Wayne Chrebet than Reggie Wayne, somehow found open spaces and made a pair of big catches despite getting creamed on both.
Unfortunately for Oregon, the team's most talented WR, big Jaison Williams, simply hasn't turned his seemingly limitless potential into performance often enough for the Ducks. The USC game was no exception. With the game on the line and Oregon starving for time-consuming first downs, Williams had a chance to make a big play but didn't. On third-and-5 with less than four minutes to go, Dennis Dixon once again escaped USC's pass rush and made a perfect throw to Williams. However, Williams, whose problems with dropped passes are becoming the stuff of legend among the Duck faithful, literally let the ball hit him in the numbers before bouncing to the turf. Goodbye, game-sealing first down; hello, frantic nail-biting finish.
With USC's confidence soaring, the Trojans got the ball back with plenty of time and a pair of timeouts to take a legitimate shot at tying the game. And Mark Sanchez had found a groove. However, the team's leading receiver, TE Fred Davis had been effectively shut down by Oregon's defense. Davis, who entered the game with a team-high 34 catches for 538 yards and 5 TD's, had been held to just a single catch for 11 yards against the Ducks. Instead, WR's Patrick Turner and Videl Hazelton had been Sanchez's go-to guys. Turner finished the game with 7 catches for 107 yards and a score, while Hazelton paced USC with 8 receptions.
So, with the team's young QB now throwing the ball with some authority and 82 yards to go for a game-tying score, the Trojans curiously called two straight running plays that netted just 4 yards. A short pass to Hazelton on third down set up a 4th-and-2 at the USC 26. Although McKnight converted with a 7-yard run, another short pass on first down only brought the Trojans to their own 37, and they had burned nearly two minutes off the clock in gaining just over 20 of the 80-plus yards they needed to extend the game.
With a new sense of urgency, Sanchez started to throw the ball downfield. He found Hazelton for 17 and McKnight for another 10. They were on the Oregon side of the field now, but the clock was running dry. They needed a big play. So, Sanchez turned to USC's big play guy, Fred Davis, to make something happen. However, the Oregon defense knew how much Davis meant to the Trojans offense and had held him in check all day long. So, when Sanchez decided to force a pass to Davis, he threw into triple coverage. Nickel DB Matthew Harper jumped the route and made the interception, sealing the game for Oregon.
It was a big win for the Ducks, who have been surging in recent weeks (jumping all the way to #5 in the BCS rankings), but they have little time to savor the victory. The undefeated Arizona State Sun Devils come to Autzen Stadium this weekend for a game that will likely determine the Pac-10 race and have some significant influence on the BCS Title Game picture. So, any breaths that need to be caught had better be done as such quickly, because one big game begets another.
Oregon is just fortunate that their star running back has found his game and that it appears to be unstoppable enough to make running on 3rd-and-14 seem like a smart thing to do.
However, for Boston College QB Matt Ryan, his team's final furious drive against Virginia Tech Thursday night may have, indeed, been the best of times.
On a miserable, rainy night in Blacksburg, Ryan and the BC Eagles had been absolutely stifled by the fast and relentless Hokies' defense all game long. Boston College's undefeated season, the team's #2 BCS ranking, and Ryan's Heisman Trophy hopes all seemed to be washing away in the southwestern Virginia downpour.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Hokies led 10-0 and were driving for what would have been a game-sealing score. If the Eagles couldn't keep Virginia Tech out of the end zone, their shot at a national championship would be over. However, the BC defense had nearly matched the Hokies' sterling defensive effort stop-for-stop, and when they needed to give Ryan and the struggling offense a sliver of a chance, they did. The Eagles' D held and the Hokies were forced into a 46-yard field goal try with just over four minutes to go.
Instead, Virginia Tech chose to direct snap to the kicker who pooched a punt inside the BC 10. So, Ryan and his offensive teammates were looking at going 90-plus yards with the rain, the crowd, and am inspired defense all howling in their faces. Worse still, they knew that even if they finally reached the scoreboard on the drive, they'd need to do it again to tie or win the game. Given the fact that they hadn't scored a single point in the first 56 minutes of the game, the prospects for scoring at least 10 in the final four minutes didn't look all that promising.
Matt Ryan, apparently, wasn't paying attention to the odds.
Throwing a wet football on a rain-soaked field to receivers who had been dropping passes all night long against a stingy defense that knew he had to throw the ball on every down, Ryan simply defied probability. Working the clock and trusting his teammates, who were now suddenly making plays all over the field for him, Ryan led the Eagles methodically down the field.
Comfortably inside Virginia Tech territory, Ryan, who had 5 net rushing yards for the season at that point, suddenly broke out the pocket and scrambled for 11 yards to the Hokies' 16-yard line. Arm, feet - it didn't seem to matter. Ryan could smell points now, and the clock was moving.
Two plays later, he threw a beautiful lob pass over Rich Gunnell's back shoulder. Gunnell, falling out of the end zone, made a terrific catch and got a single foot just inside the sideline. The Eagles had finally broken the seal on their side of the scoreboard, but there was just 2:11 left to play and BC still trailed by 3.
A lot of things can happen on an onside kick attempt. When it's raining and the football gets slippery, a lot more things can happen, and most of them are bad for the receiving team. So when BC's onside kick attempt skipped toward the Hokies' first wave of players, a Virginia Tech player lunged forward to grab the football. He didn't get it. Instead, the ball skipped away from him and when he tried to corral it in it squirted further away and straight into the path of a BC player.
Suddenly, Ryan and the Eagle offense were back in business, and the stout but tired Virginia Tech defense was rushed back on the field. BC's all-everything QB knew the Hokies' defense was vulnerable now. Still, everyone in the stadium knew where Ryan was going to be (the pocket) and what he was going to do (pass) on every play left in the game. So, Virginia Tech turned up whatever heat it could find in its pass rush.
However, Ryan's seemingly washed away Heisman Trophy hopes were now being washed back on shore in these final furious minutes, and he was on fire. The reads were coming back. He could see the spaces and made the throws. Everything that had made him the fire-breathing leader of an undefeated team was coming back. Four throws to four different receivers brought the Eagles roaring down the field.
Although BC kicker Steve Aponavicius was waiting on the sideline with a tie game and a 78% chance of making that happen (7-of-9 in FG attempts for the season), Ryan wasn't playing like a QB hoping for a chance at overtime. With less than a minute to go and 14 yards from the lead, Ryan charged ahead. With the Virginia Tech pass rush bearing down on him, he made a wild scramble out of the pocket and fired a dart to Kevin Challenger in the end zone. Touchdown.
Except, it wasn't.
The Hokies' pass rush had proven a little too strong, and a holding penalty was called. Not only did those six potentially game-deciding points evaporate, but the Eagles were moved back 10 yards to the Virginia Tech 24. Even a game-tying field attempt went from a comfortable 31 yards to an unnervingly uncertain 41-yard coin toss. And after an incomplete pass, there were less than 20 seconds left.
However, the Eagles had a pair of trump cards. One was a final timeout they still had in their pocket that could be used on any play stopped in bounds short of a first down or the end zone. The second was the fearlessness of their senior QB.
The Virginia Tech defense turned up the heat again and sent Ryan scampering from the pocket. With time dwindling and the pass rush closing in, Ryan made football's most dangerous throw.
And got away with it.
Scrambling to his left, he spun slightly and threw the ball across the field and away from his momentum. It was a high, looping pass headed for the back of the end zone. A pair of Virginia Tech defenders turned just in time to see BC running back Andre Callender slip behind the defense and lunge for the ball, cradling it before it hit the ground.
Again, it wasn't Flutie to Phelan. But it was close.
And just like that, Matt Ryan reclaimed his Heisman candidacy, kept his team squarely in the center of the National Championship chase, and spared the Eagles the ignominy of yet another team at the top of the college world falling down in the national spotlight.
Sure, there are those who will question legitimacy of Boston College in the National Championship picture and opine for other more "deserving" alternatives. However, in a game they had to win against both a fired-up Virginia Tech team and Mother Nature, the Eagles did. So, those waiting for the worst of times or some other sort of Dickens-like fall from grace by the team from Chestnut Hill will just have to keep waiting.
For it is a far, far better thing that they do, than they have ever done. Or something like that.
With the world literally watching this year's version of the Fall Classic, it is probably fitting that 2007 will mark the third season in a row that a player from Japan will win a World Series ring. In 2006, OF So Taguchi was part of the St. Louis team that took the title. In 2005, 2B Tadahito Iguchi was part of the victorious White Sox club. And with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima on the Red Sox roster and Kaz Matsui on the Rockies' payroll, no matter which of this year's World Series participants prevails that trend will continue.
Though this may not seem like a particularly noteworthy item now, you don't have to go back very far to realize that having a Japanese player on any MLB roster, let alone that player being a key part of a championship team, was more oddity than sound personnel strategy. Hideo Nomo's MLB debut with the Dodgers in 1995 marked the first time a Japanese player had appeared in the big leagues in 30 years. Ichiro Suzuki's arrival in the US in 2001 marked the first time a position player from Japan had appeared at the MLB level, ever.
Of course, baseball is nothing new to Japan. It has, over the course of several decades, become as much a part of their cultural fabric as it has to ours. Though some of the particulars differ between American and Japanese baseball - MLB's 162-game schedule versus the Japanese League's 130-game schedule, the "small-ball" philosophy practiced in Japan from the very start of games, the sometimes brutal level of effort demanded of Japanese players during practice - the game itself is still principally the same. And the evolution of playing ability in the Japanese Leagues eventually led to Japanese players dotting MLB rosters without anyone batting an eye.
However, I sometimes wonder how the shape of our game might have been different had that influx occurred sooner. As it is, I think the recent internationalization of MLB has been a positive thing. The different styles and philosophies of players from all over the globe have added a richness to the sport that seems to transcend the game.
With that in mind, I again wondered about the predecessors of Ichiro and Nomo and what it would have been like to see them in the major leagues...
Nomura was Japan's greatest power-hitting catcher and finished his career with 657 homers, second only to the great Sadaharu Oh on the All-time list. In 1963, he hit a career-high 52 HR with 135 RBI. However, it was his "Iron Man" persona that trumped even those impressive power numbers. Nomura played for 27 seasons and caught over 2,900 games. He was absolutely tireless behind the plate, often catching both games of a doubleheader. He simply refused to come out of the games, and his teams were better off for it.
1st Base - Sadaharu Oh (1959-1980) - Tokyo/Yomiuri Giants
The number is really quite remarkable - 868 career home runs. Factor in the 130-game seasons, and the total is even more stunning. Oh was unquestionably Japan's greatest player, and his distinctive batting stance made him even more memorable. Balancing on one leg like a samurai warrior coiled to strike, he was a picture of iron-clad concentration. Outside of his lethal ability at the plate, he was also a slick-fielding 1B who won 9 Gold Gloves. Oh was such a force in Japanese baseball that he led his team to 11 championships, nine consecutive in one stretch, and won 9 MVP awards. In one of his greatest seasons, 1973, he hit .355 with 51 homers, 114 RBI, and 124 walks. For the year, his slugging average was .755 and his on-base percentage .500. While there are those who debate the viability of home run total and what that number would have been at the MLB level, such a debate misses the greater point. Oh was a remarkable player who would have been a star, if not a record holder, anywhere in the world.
3rd Base - Shigeo Nagashima (1958-1974) - Tokyo/Yomiuri Giants
Nagashima played Gehrig to Oh's Ruth and teamed with the legendary slugger to give the Giants an unbreakable middle of the order duo in the 1960's and 70's. While he couldn't match Oh's sheer power (no one in Japan could or has since), Nagashima was, nonetheless, a dangerous player in his own right. A career .305 hitter over 17 seasons, the gritty 3B finished his brilliant career with 444 career homers. In 1963, he enjoyed his finest season, swatting 37 homers with 112 RBI and a .341 average. Though not known for his speed, he also swiped 16 bases that year, to boot. In Ted Williams-esque style, he homered in his final game and retired with one of the greatest careers in league history.
Harimoto is the only player in Japanese baseball history to reach 3,000 career hits. He was also a picture of balance as a hitter - a .319 career average, 504 homers, and 319 steals. High average, good speed, and terrific power, what's not to like?
Outfield - Yutaka Fukumoto (1968-1988)
As Japan's greatest base stealer, Fukumoto finished his 21-year career with 1,065 stolen bases. In 1972, he topped the 100-steal mark by swiping 106 bases. And he wasn't helpless at the plate, either, finishing his career with a .291 average and 208 homers. However, steals were his trademark. Again, the question is not whether or not he would have achieved the same staggering total in the US, but rather whether or not his raw skills would have translated to MLB success. His impressive speed and baserunning instincts seem to indicate that they would.
The Hawaiian-born Yonamine was actually a pro football player in the US before he ever drew a salary for his ability on the diamond in Japan. In 1947, he played halfback and defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers, running for 74 yards on 19 carries and recording an interception on defense. With MLB struggling with its own integration, Yonamine broke a little ground of his own. He was just the third foreign-born player ever to play in Japan, and fans didn't let him forget it. Despite the jeers, he played the game with a healthy dose of his football background front and center. Aggressive at the plate, on the bases, and in the field, the Giants' hard-nosed leadoff man ultimately earned some respect and acceptance. He also finished his career with a .311 average, 163 steals, three consecutive batting titles, and induction into the Japan Hall of Fame in 1994.
The left-handed Kaneda was Japan's winningest pitcher, finishing his brilliant career with exactly 400 wins. He also won three straight Sawamura Awards (the Japanese equivalent of MLB's Cy Young Award) from 1956-1958. In the final year of that trilogy, 1958, he had eye-popping numbers - a 31-14 record, 1.30 ERA, and 311 strikeouts in just over 332 innings pitched. In fact, Kaneda is also Japan's all-time strikeout leader as well, fanning 4,490 batters over his 20-year career.
While it has been exciting to watch players like Ichiro and Nomo establish a solid history for Japanese players at the MLB level and that such a history now allows others to play for baseball's greatest prize, it would have been nice if that history would have extended a little further to include just a few more players, particularly a power-hitting phenomenon who could literally hit standing on one leg.
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