While Joey Harrington completed clutch pass after clutch pass in that memorable last minute drive, there were two kickers on the Oregon sideline preparing to end the game in dramatic fashion.
One was Jared Siegel, the true freshman from Sacramento, Calif., who had missed an earlier second quarter field goal.
The other was David Rosenberg, the junior transfer from Calabasas, Calif., who had a field goal attempt blocked late in the fourth quarter.
“We have two great kickers, and I have confidence in both,” head coach Mike Bellotti said.
Bellotti had told both of them to be ready and saved the decision of who to go with until the final tense moments.
“He grabbed me and said, ‘You’re kicking it,’ and then about five seconds later he yelled, ‘Field goal!’,” Siegel said. “So I just went out there and let it fly.”
Let it fly he did, as the 32-yard field goal sailed through the uprights to clinch his team’s 24-22 come-from-behind victory Saturday night against USC and send the fresh-faced freshman on top of the arms of his adoring teammates.
“Put me down, put me down. I’m just doing my job, nothing special,” Siegel could be heard saying to his teammates as he rode the hero ride.
But afterwards, once he was away from the stadium atmosphere and out of uniform, the reality of a game-winning field goal in a Pacific-10 Conference game began to sink in.
“As a kicker, you dream about the opportunity to pull through and win one for your team,” Siegel said. “You go to bed at night dreaming about it. You go to practice and dream about it. So when it finally came true, you’ve seen it a thousand times already in your head; it’s almost like deja vu when it happens in real life.”
What made the kick that much sweeter for Siegel was that he was able to redeem himself from his earlier miss, which he admitted was “kind of a mental error on my part.”
And as Siegel jogged onto the field with the clock showing 0:16 and with 45,765 nervous eyes zeroed on him, he was greeted by teammate George Wrighster.
“George’s helpful advice before the kick was, ‘Siegel, don’t miss. Put it through the pipes,’” Siegel said.
“George said a little something to him, and I was about to pull him away,” said Harrington, the holder on all field goal attempts. “It’s bad luck. You never say anything to the kicker.
“But I never doubted that he was going to make it. Jared is a picture of composure for a freshman.”
So now Siegel goes down in the Oregon history books, just as Josh Frankel did in the Ducks’ 33-30 triple-overtime victory against the Trojans in 1999, as the hero who ended a thriller.
But what next? In just his third collegiate game, Siegel has fulfilled one of his ultimate dreams.
“Now you dream about putting it through again when it counts,” he said.