It doesn’t matter who you are or who your favorite team is. At some point, your rooting spirit will get crushed. Sure, there may well be championship glory to celebrate. However, no team wins a championship every year. Eventually, there will be a moment when hope vanishes and championship dreams turn to dust. For the second-ranked Oregon Ducks, that moment happened the instant Oregon’s all-everything QB Dennis Dixon limped off the field last night in Tucson, taking the team’s national championship hopes with him during the first quarter of Oregon’s 34-24 loss to Arizona.
Dixon, the Heisman Trophy favorite and the multi-threat trigger man for Oregon’s lethal spread offense, had already stunned the Wildcats with a 39-yard TD bolt straight up the middle of the field on a 4th-and-3 to start the game. He then drove the team back into the red zone on the Ducks’ next series before a pass bouncing out of WR Derrick Jones’ hands was intercepted in the end zone. While Arizona capitalized on the mistake with a score of their own, a 34-yard TD strike from Willie Tuitama to Mike Thomas, it was what happened on Oregon’s next drive that ultimately determined the game, dashed the Ducks’ dream season, and caused yet another shake-up to the BCS picture.
Driving Oregon into the red zone yet again, Dixon ran an option play, but something went horribly wrong. His knee buckled, and he fell to the turf in a heap. Where a similar sight two weeks before against Arizona State only turned out to be a sizable scare, this time the injury was very real. And Oregon’s high-powered offense came to screeching, ear-splitting halt.
Enter backup QB Brady Leaf. Exit any and all chance for the Ducks to win the game.
Because you cannot take a Ferrari off the racetrack, replace it with a Prius, and expect to win the race. Almost as if on cue, Leaf threw a back-breaking interception on Oregon’s very next series. Arizona’s star CB Antoine Cason jumped a route on a short third-down pass and took the ball 42 yards for a TD and the first lead of the game for the Wildcats, 17-11. Momentum was in full force for Arizona, and the Ducks looked dizzy from how quickly their fortunes had spun on them.
And they simply didn’t stop spinning.
Tuitama burned the Oregon secondary again. This time, on a third-and-long, he again found Mike Thomas, who split the coverage and caught a brilliantly thrown pass from Tuitama in the seam before streaking past flailing defenders 46 yards for a score. Thomas finished the game with 6 catches for a game-high 125 yards and the two big TD’s, and he wasn’t alone in making big plays for the Wildcats.
Just 10 minutes after he stunned Oregon with an interception return for a TD, Antoine Cason stunned the Ducks a second time. He took an Oregon punt 56 yards to the house to give Arizona a commanding 31-11 lead. Just like that, the Wildcats had dropped 24 straight points on the Ducks. Knowing that Oregon was wounded and reeling without their superstar QB, Arizona had swarmed in to take advantage.
Down 20 and left with a single weapon in the backfield, star RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon gamely attempted a second half comeback. Stewart, who finished with 131 yards on 28 carries, just kept churning upfield. However, the Arizona defense, led by senior LB Spencer Larsen, knew that, besides Stewart, Oregon’s offensive cupboard was bare. So, they turned up the heat on the Oregon star.
With Stewart reasonably contained, the Wildcats openly challenged Leaf to make plays. And he couldn’t. Where Dixon had been able to run circles around defenses to buy time or burst into the open field, the cement-footed Leaf could only try to get the ball downfield with his arm and a depleted receiving corps. Arizona’s secondary, playing with house money and a 20-point lead, refused to yield the big plays Leaf and the rest of the Ducks needed to get back into the game.
Though Oregon did close to within 31-24 late in the fourth quarter, the long, painstaking drives that were required for those closing points drained too much off the clock. Without the ability to strike quickly, as they had done for much of the season under Dixon’s scary precision, Oregon just had too little to make up too much.
As Arizona students mobbed the field and the Ducks’ BCS title dreams evaporated, there was little solace to be found in what might have been. While no team ever wants to lose, they can only hope that such losses occur with their best. The added bitterness in Oregon’s meltdown in Tucson was that their best was in street clothes for three-and-a-half quarters
However, give Arizona credit. They took down the #2-ranked team in the nation by knowing exactly where the Ducks were vulnerable and keeping their foot on the wound until Oregon simply could not get back up. That the dream season in Eugene is gone is heartbreaking, for sure. The wild ride that was Oregon’s exhilarating dash to the cusp of college football’s apex still had its moments, and there is gratitude in that. It’s just a shame that the one moment still fresh in everyone’s mind is the sight of the team’s best player not being able to finish what he had worked so tirelessly to help create.
Greatness isn’t something that has come easily or often to the University of Oregon’s football program. So, this year’s thrilling high-speed chase all the way up to #2 in the BCS rankings has been all the more dizzying, because of its freshness and the crisp, clean smell of championship hope. It is new and exciting and, with every passing week, closer to being a reality.
However, while the reality of team greatness may have made only spotty appearances in Eugene over the years, individual football greatness has been painted across the school’s history for decades in wide, rich strokes. So, as this year’s team continues to chase the collective glory of a national title, perhaps, they can draw some inspiration from the proud lineage of great players who have lined up in the green and yellow of the University of Oregon in years past.
QB – Dan Fouts (1970-1972)
A future Hall of Fame NFL QB, Fouts threw for 5,995 yards and 37 TD’s in his career at Oregon. Along the way, the skinny kid from San Francisco who slipped through the recruiting nets of every school except one, set 19 records for that school and became the first QB in the program’s history to pass for more than 2,000 yards in a season. As a pro, Fouts spent his entire 15-year career with the San Diego Chargers - starting as a rookie apprentice to the great Johnny Unitas and finishing with 43,040 career passing yards, 254 TD’s, six Pro Bowl appearances, and a bronze bust in Canton.
DE/OG – Dave Wilcox (1962-1963)
A rangy, athletic end on defense and bruising guard on offense, Wilcox was relentless in his desire to excel at his job. And the native of Vale, Oregon with the lunch pail mentality was definitely good at his job. Invited to the Hula Bowl after his senior year, he became the first defensive player to earn outstanding lineman honors in the game’s history. As a pro, Wilcox moved to linebacker and carved out an eventual Hall of Fame NFL career. He was named to seven Pro Bowls and, true to his tough Eastern Oregon background, only missed one game in his 11 years as a pro, spending his entire career with the San Francisco 49ers.
RB – Mel Renfro (1961-1963)
Mel Renfro was fast. So fast, in fact, that he was an All-American track star at one of the nation’s preeminent track schools. However, unlike many track stars who tried but failed to translate that speed to success on the football field, Renfro was able to make that transition spectacularly. An electrifying running back, Renfro climbed to third on Oregon’s all-time points list (141) and seventh on the all-time rushing list (1,532) during his career with the Ducks. Moved to cornerback in the NFL, he spent his entire 14-year pro career with Dallas, making 10 Pro Bowls and finishing with 52 career interceptions (3 for TD’s). He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
QB – Norm Van Brocklin (1947-1948)
No one could ever accuse Norm Van Brocklin of not trying. In fact, were anyone ever to even have made the suggestion, the fiery QB nicknamed the “Dutchman” would likely have punched his lights out, because that’s the way Van Brocklin handled things on the football field. He fought for every yard he gained, for every pass he completed, and for every score he put on the board. At the end of his two-year Oregon career, that fight yielded 1,949 passing yards, 18 TD’s, and a berth in the 1948 Cotton Bowl. In the NFL, he never stopped fighting. In a 12-year pro career, he threw for 23,611 yards and 173 TD’s with Rams and Eagles. And that competitive fire led him all the way to Canton.
WR/RB – Bobby Moore (1969-1971)
Long before he married Mrs. Huxtable, the benign sports personality now known as Ahmad Rashad was plain old Bobby Moore. However, there was nothing plain about his game on a football field. During a spectacular college career, Moore set 14 school records at Oregon, including the single-game rushing (249), season rushing (1,211), and career rushing (2,306) marks. He also set the single-season records for pass receptions (54) and career catches (131). And in excelling as both a running back and wide receiver, Moore led the Pac-8 in scoring in 1969 and 1970 from two different positions, the first conference player ever to do that. As a pro, he made four Pro Bowls in 10 NFL seasons, finishing his productive career with 495 catches for 6,831 yards and 44 TD’s.
TE – Russ Francis (1972-1974)
The Hawaiian-born Francis was such a gifted athlete that he was drafted by both the NFL and MLB. However, the playmaking TE was also an enigma. A free spirit who somehow balanced the easy-going attitude of the Islands with the white-knuckle intensity of the gridiron, Francis missed his entire sophomore season with an ankle injury, came back as a junior and earned All-conference and honorable mention All-American honors with 31 catches for 485 yards, and then elected not to play during his senior year. Despite missing his final season, he still held enough promise to be a first-round selection by the New England Patriots. In a 14-year pro career with New England and San Francisco, Francis made 3 Pro Bowls, missed the playoffs one season because of a motorcycle accident, retired and un-retired, made a cameo as a pro wrestler, and finished his quirky but occasionally brilliant NFL career with 393 catches, 5,262 yards, and 40 TD’s.
OT – Gary Zimmerman (1980-1983)
Gary Zimmerman was probably the school’s greatest offensive lineman. At 6’6”, 294 pounds, Zimmerman was a hulking figure who used his size and speed to frustrate opponents. However, his height also mandated exceptional technique, because tall linemen have a higher tipping point. Few knocked Zimmerman over, though. Through technique and sheer toughness, he simply wouldn’t allow it. He ended up parlaying his exceptional college career into a brilliant 12-year NFL stint with Minnesota and Denver that included seven Pro Bowls.
In later years, each decade had its moments and star players with each seemingly leading to bigger and better things.
The 80's brought Chris Miller throwing deep to Lew Barnes, Bill Musgrave pitching the ball to Derek Loville, and Doug Judge knocking the snot out of the people in the secondary. The decade also brought increasing respectability to the program with successive winning records and mid-level bowl bids.
The 90's brought even more success, culminating in the school's first Rose Bowl berth in 37 years following the 1994 season. Though the Ducks fell 38-20 to that year's co-National Champion Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon QB Danny O'Neill set Rose Bowl records for pass attempts (61), completions (41), and passing yards (456). And 11 of those completions were made by TE Josh Wilcox, Dave's son, carrying on the family name on the Oregon gridiron. However, that Rose Bowl appearance would not have possible in the first place had it not been for a stunning defensive play by a freshman DB. Now simply know as "The Pick", cornerback Kenny Wheaton intercepted a Damon Huard pass near the Oregon goal line and streaked 98 yards for a game-sealing TD against the highly-ranked Washington Huskies.
Aside from the team's magical Rose Bowl run, the decade also brought higher expectations. Bowl bids were now expected, and the level of bowl game became the focus rather than just the invite itself. Greater visibility also brought a higher level of talent to the program. Ricky Whittle, Saladin McCullough, and Rueben Droughns were all 1,000-yard runners for the Ducks in the 90's. Akili Smith and A.J. Feeley starred at QB, and it was Smith who first opened up the Oregon offense to a legitimate pass-run QB. Defensively, Chad Cota and Alex Molden roamed the secondary, and Peter Sirmon, Jeremy Asher, and Rich Rule swept the middle of the field.
In the new millennium, "Captain Comeback" Joey Harrington, whose father John had been an Oregon QB under legendary coach Len Casanova in the 60's, did something his father or few others ever had for the school's program - he openly entered the Ducks into the National Championship conversation. In 2001, Harrington led Oregon to an 11-1 record and a 38-16 win over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and an eventual #2 national ranking. WR Keenan Howry, RB Maurice Morris, RB Onterrio Smith (Mr. Wizzinator himself), and DB Steve Smith (who snared a Fiesta Bowl-record three interceptions) all helped to make the Ducks one of the most dangerous teams in the country.
Kellen Clemens followed Harrington at QB, Terence Whitehead inherited the RB job, Demetrius Williams claimed the WR spot, and Haloti Ngata, JD Nelson, and Blair Phillips were the new defensive stalwarts.
However, 2007 has been another thing entirely. QB Dennis Dixon and RB Jonathan Stewart have brought the team as close to a National Championship opportunity as the school has had in years. And Dixon is the current frontrunner to bring home Oregon’s first Heisman trophy. Stewart hasn’t been too shabby, either, running for a school-record 251 yards earlier in the year and climbing to 5th on Oregon’s all-time rushing list.
It is rarified air that is circulating around Eugene these days. Though, with three conference games left on the schedule including the bitter Civil War game remaining with Oregon State, there is so much more to be done before anyone in Eugene can take a deep breath of that air.
However, the current team needs to look no further than the program’s four Hall of Famers – Fouts, Wilcox, Renfro, and Van Brocklin – to know that greatness has visited the Oregon campus before. They just have three weeks to bring it back.
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.
It looks like Jonathan Stewart was up to the challenge, after all.
In the wake of a season-ending injury to his teammate and fellow star RB, Jeremiah Johnson, in Oregon’s lopsided win over Washington State last week, there was some question as to whether or not, Stewart, the Ducks’ supremely gifted junior RB would be able to shoulder the load of Oregon’s rushing attack without the help of Johnson. Consider that question answered – to the tune of 251 yards.
In Oregon’s 55-34 win against Washington on Saturday, Stewart set career-highs for carries (32) and yards (251) and found the end zone twice in helping the Ducks improve to 6-1 on the season. Perhaps, playing the Huskies provided extra motivation for Oregon’s superstar RB, because they always seem to get Stewart’s best efforts. In 2006, Stewart, from nearby Lacey, WA, had one of his biggest games of the year against his hometown team, running for 159 yards and 2 TD’s. A year later, he improved that by almost 100 yards. And the locals had to be impressed. Not only did Stewart obliterate his previous career-high for rushing yards (168), he nearly doubled the number of carries he’d been averaging coming into the game (16.5). It was a big effort on a day that his team needed that from him.
And Stewart wasn’t alone. Oregon’s rushing attack was simply unstoppable. With Stewart leading the way, the Ducks rolled up a school-record 465 yards on the ground and left little doubt that whoever was carrying the ball for Oregon was likely to move it forward in sizeable chunks. Johnson’s replacement, sophomore Andre Crenshaw, spelled Stewart and also set career-highs in carries and yards, picking up 113 yards on 15 carries and two scores.
QB Dennis Dixon joined the party as well. While Oregon’s senior QB is enjoying a stellar season so far in 2007, his rushing totals had been fairly stagnant the past three games. Although he’d scored a rushing TD in each of those games, he had done so while gaining a modest 48 yards on 24 carries. The danger he had flashed as a runner in the first two games of the year, a remarkable 141-yard effort in the season opener against Houston and a 76-yard day against Michigan in Ann Arbor, had seemingly disappeared in recent weeks. That danger returned against the Huskies as Dixon added 99 yards and a TD of his own to Oregon’s gaudy rushing totals. And that TD, his 7th of the season, kept his impressive string of scoring exactly one TD in each of the Ducks’ seven games this year alive.
Credit for Oregon’s devastating day running the football in Seattle should also include the team’s veteran offensive line. Senior tackles Geoff Schwartz and Fenuki Tupou, senior guard Josh Tschirgi, junior guard Mark Lewis, and junior center Max Unger have been doing this all year long. Whether pass protecting for Dixon (and yielding less than two sacks a game) or creating space for Stewart and company to do their thing (at a 295-yard per game clip, 3rd best in the nation), the guys in the offensive trenches for the Ducks are an elite group.
And Oregon needed their running game to come up big as the team’s already depleted receiving corps thinned out even more before game time. Sophomore WR Derrick Jones was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. While specifics of that violation were not disclosed, an indefinite suspension implies something serious. And with Cameron Colvin and Brian Paysinger out for the year with injuries, Jones’ suspension reduced the team’s depth at WR considerably.
However, the Ducks’ overwhelming success on the ground allowed Dixon a chance to keep the Huskies off-balance with the pass, and he was able to spread the ball around to the few available receivers in uniform. Jaison Williams, Garren Strong, and freshman Aaron Pflugrad all had five catches apiece for between 50 and 60 total receiving yards each, and Strong caught Dixon’s only TD pass of the game, a 2-yard score for the game’s first points. In all, Dixon completed 19 of 30 passes for 196 yards and one TD with one interception (a desperation toss-up on the final play of the first half).
Truly, the only sour notes on a day filled with upbeat ones were played by the Oregon defense.
On a day full of big plays, the Ducks’ secondary was burned for four long TD passes. Washington QB Jake Locker, a redshirt freshman who seems to have the trappings of a star in the making, was spectacular against Oregon. Although he completed just 12 of 31 passes, four of those completions were daggers. One, a stunning 83-yard score to Anthony Russo, kept the Ducks from blowing the game open in the 1st quarter. Two others, a pair of TD passes in the third quarter (43 yards to Louis Rankin and 38 yards to Marcel Reese), tied the game at 31. Locker, who finished the game with 257 yards passing and 4 TD’s, also ran for 78 yards and seemed to single-handedly keep the Huskies in the game until 24 fourth quarter points by the Ducks finally put things out of reach. However, Locker’s effort led to 421 yards in total offense and 34 points for the Huskies, and, for three quarters, matched Oregon’s high-octane offense score-for-score.
Defensively, the Ducks couldn’t have looked more different than they did a week earlier in manhandling Washington State, 53-7. In that game, DE Nick Reed dominated play, recording 3.5 sacks and five tackles for loss. Against the Huskies, Reed was essentially shut-out, limited to only 3 assists. And the rest of the defense seemed to follow suit. They simply could not keep Washington off the scoreboard. With USC and Arizona State looming for the Ducks, their inconsistent defense had better find their footing – and fast.
Fortunately, the Oregon offense ultimately settled things in Seattle - 661 yards in total offense and 55 points were just too much for the Huskies to match. And visions of Oregon running backs burning up and down the field must have stayed with the Washington defense long after the game ended. After all, on a day when one of Seattle’s own made a triumphant return home, his team’s historic day at Husky Stadium had to leave some sort of lasting impression.
It is a moment that Oregon WR Cameron Colvin may well remember forever.
In the time it takes to blink, Colvin went from impending hero diving for the end zone to tie the biggest game of the season for his team to watching helplessly as the ball, the game, and Oregon’s hopes for a dream season literally slipped through his fingertips.
Down 31-24 to Pac-10 powerhouse Cal at home in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter last Saturday, Oregon was in the midst of a furious comeback. They had driven all the way down to the Cal 5-yard line when Oregon QB Dennis Dixon threw a short swing pass to Colvin, who darted for the end zone pylon. But a funny thing happened on the way to a tied game, the intrigue of overtime, and two heavyweight offenses going toe-to-toe for a little while longer.
In a game that featured nearly 900 yards in total offense, it was the defense that had the final say. Cal DB Marcus Ezeff knocked the ball out of Colvin’s hands as the WR was getting ready to extend it into the end zone, and the ball trickled harmlessly out of the end zone. Touchback. Game over. Stunned silence.
Perhaps, two of the most stunned people in the entire stadium were Oregon’s biggest star players, RB Jonathan Stewart and QB Dixon. Both players had to be looking at this game as a clear opportunity to elevate themselves and their team into national prominence and chase away the ghosts of 2006. In 2007, both Stewart and Dixon seemed to have turned a corner of sorts. Whatever gaps existed in their respective games before simply did not appear to be there anymore.
In Stewart’s case, he runs like a wrecking ball. Mass and force in cleats. At 5’11”, 230 pounds, he looks too stocky to have any real speed, but appearances can be deceiving. Though he runs with power, he can also flash breakaway speed once he gets into the open field. It is that combination of strength and quickness that leads many to wonder how soon Stewart, if he hasn’t already, will make a name for himself on the national level.
In the two games leading up to the showdown with Cal, Stewart ran for over 160 yards in each, picking up 325 yards on just 36 carries (a 9.03 per carry average) and scored 3 times, including a 88-yard bolt in a game against Fresno State. Now, the big, bad Cal Golden Bears were coming to Autzen Stadium for the biggest Pac-10 game of the young season, and Jonathan Stewart would be there waiting for them looking for a little payback.
Stewart’s backfield mate, QB Dennis Dixon, was also looking for some redemption. His 2006 season went into tatters after a fast start. In 2007, he was again off to a brilliant start – 69% completion rate, 932 passing yards, 11 TD passes, and, most importantly, no interceptions.
However, the Cal game had marked the beginning of the end for Dixon, Stewart and the rest of the team in 2006. In last year’s Cal-Oregon match-up, the Ducks were embarrassed, 45-24, in Berkeley. Dixon threw three picks (one on the very first play from scrimmage for the Ducks), and Stewart was given no running room. The Bears completely stifled him, holding him to just 25 yards on 18 carries.
Though, as the saying goes, that was then and this is now. Whatever partisan pick-me-up the Bears got from a jam-packed Memorial Stadium last October was transferred 500+ miles to Eugene and moved over to the opposite sideline. With Dixon looking as confident as he’s ever been, Stewart coming off of two of the biggest games of his collegiate career, and Jeremiah Johnson ready as that shifty, change of pace back just waiting in the wings to catch a defense off-guard, the Ducks looked hungry enough to chow down on a hearty plate of redemption. And they needed to be plenty hungry, because the Bears showed that they’re no shrinking violets on offense.
WR DeSean Jackson proved that he may be the fastest player in the conference. RB Justin Forsett answered any questions about his ability to replace last season’s star RB Marshawn ####. And Cal even had a secret weapon – freshman RB Jahvid Best, who’s little more than a blur once he gets to full speed and who averaged a gaudy 12.4 years per carry in limited action coming into the game.
Though Best was a non-factor on offense (he did make a brilliant special teams play forcing a fumble on a botched Oregon kick return), Jackson and Forsett were every bit as dangerous as advertised. Jackson, in particular, simply owned the second half of the game. After a modest first half, Jackson burned the Oregon D with a pair of electrifying scores – one, a dazzling stutter-step streak down the sidelines. Cal’s brilliant home run hitter finished the game with 11 catches and 161 yards, both career highs.
Forsett also started slowly, the combination of a stout Oregon defensive effort in the first half and conservative play calling keeping him contained. However, once Cal’s passing game opened things up, Forsett found enough room to finish the game with just over 100 yards rushing and two scores, the last of which capped the scoring and provided the final margin of victory.
For his part, Jonathan Stewart kept the Ducks close, rumbling for 120 yards on 21 carries (a far cry from the 18-carry, 25-yard disappearing act in the 2006 game). In fact, as the game went on, Stewart did what all elite backs seem to be able to do – he got stronger and tougher to bring down. Just ask Cal freshman DB Chris Conte. On one of Stewart’s runs in the second half, the big RB lowered his shoulder and simply ran right through Conte. Were Conte to wonder what the license plate number of that particular truck was, the answer would be “28” in big yellow numbers.
Also, somewhat lost in the shuffle, were two brilliant moments by Stewart’s backup, Jeremiah Johnson. Johnson, who is all about speed and elusiveness, used his ability to change direction in an instant in turning a simple dump off pass into an amazing 26-yard open field gain on Oregon’s ill-fated final drive. Earlier, he had an equally impressive 26-yard run on the Ducks’ first scoring drive, proving that you simply cannot tackle what you can’t reach.
Unfortunately, for Oregon, Dennis Dixon had no such similar renaissance. He’d played 19 quarters of nearly perfect football in 2007, but picked the absolute worst time to show his flaws. His ill-timed interception deep in Oregon territory (his first pick in nearly 130 attempts) led to Cal’s go-ahead (and, ultimately, game-winning) TD shortly after. Four plays later, he threw another interception as the Ducks were driving for a tying score when a tipped pass intended for Stewart was gobbled up by Cal DT Tyson Alualu at the 17.
Though Dixon finished the game with 306 passing yards and both a passing and rushing TD, his two interceptions were backbreakers. By the time Colvin’s fumble sealed Oregon’s fate, the Ducks had turned the ball over four times, and their heretofore opportunistic defense had created none. And minus-4 in the turnover battle is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome, particularly against an elite team with a scary offense.
Still, give Cal credit, they walked into one of the most hostile environments in the conference – a place they haven’t won at in 20 years – and kept their undefeated season alive. They made the big plays they needed them most and cashed in on enough of Oregon’s miscues to stay in front. With so many of the perennial national college football powers falling by the wayside like so many bowling pins, Cal looks to be on a collision course with USC for the upper hand for at least one of the spots in the BCS title game.
For Oregon, it’s a bye week, seven more days to stew over what might have been. It is also time to contemplate how to keep the fight and fire going in the wake of serious injuries to star WR Brian Paysinger (knee – out for the season) and defensive leader LB A.J. Tuitele (broken foot – out 6-8 weeks). Though disheartening, the Cal game should have shown the Ducks a number of things.
First, they gave the now-#3 team in the country everything it could handle. Second, despite getting creamed in the turnover battle, the offense rolled to nearly 500 yards in total offense and came within a few feet of tying the game in the closing seconds. Third, Jonathan Stewart’s occasional disappearing act from 2006 seems to be a thing of the past. Fast, strong, and angry 230-pound running backs are in short supply, and the Ducks should consider themselves fortunate to have one of them on their side.
On the other hand, Oregon had a number of tough lessons to learn as well. Though Dennis Dixon had been nearly perfect in 2007 leading up to the Cal game, his tendency to commit crippling turnovers still lurks ominously. The defense, which played well in the first half, got burned in the second half when they failed to pressure Cal QB Nate Longshore consistently. Longshore, who had all sorts of time in the pocket in the second half, simply picked apart Oregon’s overworked secondary, because the defensive line never got real any push into the backfield. The absence of team leaders like Paysinger and Tuitele means others will have to fill those voids. How Colvin’s last second fumble affects his ability to do that remains to be seen.
So, at 4-1, the Ducks can still have a great season. However, in order to do so, they need to recognize how little separates good from great and joy from heartbreak. Like a fumbled football just inches away from the goal line.
In nature, a duck has virtually no chance against a wolverine. On a football field, though, things are different. In Ann Arbor this past Saturday, a group of Ducks from the University of Oregon showed just how different.
The Michigan Wolverines, who were still reeling from their opening week loss to 1-AA Appalachian State, had an entire week to stew over one of college football’s most stunning upsets. In so doing, they had one of two ways to respond in their next game – they could either play like the angriest team in the country, taking out their frustration on the next team that got in its way or they could sink with the pieces of their seemingly shattered season dragging them down.
Honestly, I had hoped for the latter but feared the former, and expected Oregon to walk right into the offensive buzzsaw of Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Mario Manningham with 110,000 loud, angry Michigan fans cheering them on.
It didn’t happen.
Although Hart, Henne, and Manningham all had their moments early in the game, moving the ball well against the Ducks’ defense, turnovers and stalled drives limited the damage to just 7 points despite rolling up over 190 yards in the first quarter alone. Whatever questions those sustained Michigan drives seemed to raise on the Oregon sideline went away quickly.
