Talk about a bad omen.

 

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.

 

Stats:

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/gameTrax?gameId=200711030060

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/boxscore?gameId=200711030060

 

Other:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=273072483&period=0