The Oregon football team didn’t reach the Rose Bowl.
But that’s about the only blemish on a remarkable season that will surely be remembered for its heroics and fervor.
From its league-opening win against UCLA to its Holiday Bowl victory against Texas, the Ducks packed as many of their fans into the back of their bus as possible and let them enjoy the ride.
The result ended up being a 10-2 season, a Pacific-10 Conference co-championship and a final ranking of No. 7 in the Associated Press poll. It also represented a season that put the small city of Eugene on the national map.
“In the beginning of the season, everyone was thinking that we weren’t going to do as good because we had the least amount of starters coming back in the Pac-10,” said senior defensive Saul Patu, who was the only player to start in each of the school’s four straight bowl games. “Take back three plays in our whole season … then we’re sitting pretty nice and probably in the national championship game.”
One of the plays that Patu is referring to could be Wisconsin’s blocked punt of a Kurtis Doerr attempt in the end zone back on Sept. 9. The Badgers recovered it for a touchdown and went on to win, 27-23, in Madison, Wis.
The others could be any of the six Oregon turnovers against Oregon State in the 23-13 Civil War defeat on Nov. 18. Had the Ducks won either of those two games they would have been headed to Pasadena instead of the Washington Huskies.
But what characterized this team more than anything was its ability to put the past behind it and always look ahead.
Obviously, the loss to Oregon State was deflating and propelled the Beavers to a Fiesta Bowl blowout win against Notre Dame. The Ducks, though, knew they couldn’t turn back the clock and chose to dedicate themselves throughout the month of December for their Holiday Bowl showdown with Texas.
“After that Oregon State game, it hurt losing, but you always knew you’d have another game,” senior linebacker Garrett Sabol said.
It was that type of attitude that helped the Ducks win so many memorable games this season. For example, down by 14 with 3:30 to go in regulation at Arizona State. Impossible? Not for the 2000 Ducks. Oregon proceeded to score twice and win in overtime with a ridiculous final score of 56-55.

Time and time again, the Ducks did what they had to do to get the win. Oregon gave Washington its only defeat, sent USC lower than it already was and provided an early knockout blow to Arizona. The Ducks also took care of Washington State and California while having huge bulls-eye marks on their chests as the league front-runner.
Now, the challenge is to continue to look forward and try to build on this success, despite losing 22 valuable seniors.
“Well, we have the luxury of having a lot of our offensive people come back,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “Defensively, we have some holes to fill. We were able to reload very effectively from last year, and hopefully, we can do that again.”
The appetite for those associated with the Oregon football team is continually swelling.
There once was a time in which an above-.500 record was seen as a success, but the 1994 Rose Bowl season ruined that.
Then, there was a time in which simply reaching a bowl game was viewed as a significant accomplishment, but victories in the Las Vegas, Sun and Holiday bowls have diminished that concept.
And now, after the first 10-win season in Oregon history, those connected with the Ducks are speaking of much loftier goals. They speak of not only capturing sole possession of the Pac-10 but also of playing for the national championship.
“Our goal will be to play for it all next year,” junior cornerback Steve Smith said. “We’ll shoot for it and see what happens. It’s going to be exciting to see if we can do better than we did this year.”
Oregon had six wins in ’96, seven in ’97, eight in ’98, nine in ’99, and, for the first time, 10 in 2000. For the Ducks to continue their corresponding improvement and capture a special 11th win, a lot must happen between now and Sept. 1, the day Wisconsin visits Eugene to open the season.
But, as many have learned from watching Oregon during the past two seasons, no climb is insurmountable.