Now, I know there is a whole new game this weekend to discuss and dissect, and a whole new set of challenges that await the Ducks up in the Palouse.
But my thoughts still drift back to Saturday’s “I-can’t-believe-what-I-just-saw” game.
Seriously, it was the type of college football game that dumbfounds you when you think of how Oregon came up on the winning end.
In fact, it made you think of another thrilling Duck win in which you thought for sure Oregon was going to lose.
But this game didn’t take place on the gridiron. It took place in McArthur Court.
And it was also against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
You remember, don’t you?
March 2, 2000: The Oregon men’s basketball team miraculously drains two three-pointers in the final 2.8 seconds to win by two. It was a remarkable finish.
As was Saturday’s. Man, those Sun Devils must hate the Ducks.
Look at both games in a comparison:
In football, Oregon trails by 14 with 3:30 left in the game. The game is basically clinched. The Sun Devil fans in attendance begin screaming the overused chant, “Ov-er-rated.” (Which, by the way, still doesn’t make sense to me because wouldn’t you want the team that you are beating to be considered a good team?)
Anyway, as Arizona State nears a presumable big victory, some Duck fans in attendance at Sun Devil Stadium begin to stroll out. All throughout Eugene, televisions begin to get clicked off in frustration. Game’s over, these people say.
It was going to take a miracle to pull this one out.
Hmm. Sounds familiar to what happened in the hoops game.
Sun Devil sharpshooter Eddie House drills two free throws to up the lead to four with six ticks on the clock. The Sun Devils then call a time-out. At that point, every aisle in Mac Court has at least a few people head for the exits with sunken heads. A few Eugene drivers are switching from radio play-by-play man Jerry Allen’s voice to their favorite radio station to help ease the pain of a difficult defeat.
It was going to take a miracle to pull this one out.
And wouldn’t you know, in both cases, a miracle is what they got.
Too strong a word, you think? I don’t believe so. The word miracle is defined in the American Heritage College Dictionary as, “an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature.”
Well, consider these “inexplicable” events.
The Duck football team scores a touchdown to cut the lead to seven. It then gets the ball back, but falls one yard short of the end zone on a fourth-and-seven to turn possession back to the Sun Devils with only 1:22 remaining.
All Arizona State must do is run out the clock and then take a knee and this one’s in the books. Sun Devil tailback Mike Williams goes casually up the middle. The game appears done as he crosses the first-down line to clinch the win and … he fumbles. Huh?
Oregon recovers with 33 seconds left and on its first play, quarterback Joey Harrington finds tight end Justin Peelle for a 17-yard touchdown to tie the game at 49 and send it to overtime. We know what happened from there on out: 56-55, Ducks.
Similarly, the Oregon hoops team faced the improbable task of in-bounding the basketball from the opposite end of the hoop with a four-point deficit and less than six seconds to play. Guard Ben Lindquist heaved the ball downcourt, and somehow, it landed in the hands of Alex Scales, who promptly banged home a trey to cut the lead down to 74-73.
Then Arizona State’s Kyle Dodd’s ensuing inbound pass bounced off House’s fingertips and out of bounds in Oregon’s favor. Lindquist proceeded to heave it downcourt again, and again it bounced off House’s hands. Oregon’s Darius Wright scooped it up, launched it and watched it swish through at the buzzer to give Oregon the improbable 76-74 win.
It is these types of games that happen to teams during their magical seasons. Last season’s basketball team recorded its first 20-win season since 1945.
This year’s Oregon football team is off to its best start since 1959, and is only three games away from becoming the first team in Duck history to have a 10-win season.
Now, given the crazy circumstances in both ASU games, and the special seasons they were a part of, it makes you think of a different definition in the dictionary:
“The fate to which a particular person or thing is destined.”
“Destiny” may have led the men’s hoops team to its second NCAA Tournament appearance since 1961.
And with the month of November upon us, it should be fun to see where it takes the football team.