CORVALLIS — In a season filled with late-game comebacks, the Oregon football team found itself trailing Oregon State by 10 points in the fourth quarter.
But in the state’s 104th Civil War, the Beavers made all the late-game heroics.
Ducks’ quarterback Joey Harrington fumbled on the Oregon State’s 10-yard line with six minutes to play and his team went on to lose 23-13 in front of a sellout crowd at Reser Stadium.
While he did connect 25-of-48 passes, Harrington spotted the Beavers (10-1 overall, 7-1 Pacific-10 Conference) five interceptions to accompany his late-game fumble. One of those interceptions came after the fumble, when the Ducks (9-2, 7-1) had one last chance to drive down field.
“Some of them were not his fault, but the quarterback always takes more the credit, more the blame than he deserves,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “He battled, unfortunately the ball a couple times did not go where he wanted.”
Harrington said he was confident that the Ducks would win before his fourth-quarter fumble.
“I had no doubts. We had the ball at the 10-yard line, we score, we cut it to three points with six, seven, five minutes left,” he said. “It didn’t matter; because we’d battled back all year.”
Regardless of his turnovers, Harrington’s teammates rallied behind him beneath Gill Coliseum after the game.
“Joey’s put together a great season,” cornerback Rashad Bauman said. “Joey’s gone in there day-in and day-out and handled business. Some games just don’t go your way, and this is one of those games that just didn’t go our way. It’s part of the game.”
In Pullman, Washington beat Washington State, 51-3, in the Apple Cup, giving the Huskies the Rose Bowl berth and most likely sending the Beavers to the Holiday Bowl.
Oregon will probably go to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, or one of the two bowls in Hawaii.
“I don’t have a feeling on any bowl right now,” Bellotti said. “I’ll wait and see what happens.”
In his second year as OSU’s head coach, Dennis Erickson led his team to a 10-1 overall record, its best-ever in history. This, just one year after snapping a 28-year span of losing seasons.
“When you go 10-1 at a school that has never been 10-1, and was at rock-bottom a few years ago, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Erickson said.
The Beavers scored their first 17 points in the first half. Their first touchdown happened with 10:03 left in the first when quarterback Jonathan Smith passed 32 yards to Robert Prescott in the end zone.
Then, with 4:27 left in the first, Smith found Prescott for his second passing touchdown.
Oregon State place-kicker Ryan Cesca kicked a 32-yard field goal to make the score 17-0.
Harrington put the Ducks on the scoreboard when he ran six yards and jumped into the end zone with 7:38 to play in the first half.
“We spotted them too many points,” Bellotti said, referring to Harrington throwing two first-half interceptions and Oregon giving up 97 yards in penalties. “They’re a good football team and you can’t do that. In a championship game at the opponent’s field, I don’t think you can spot them plays or touchdowns.”
Beaver tailback Ken Simonton scored Oregon State’s final touchdown with 7:07 left in the third when he ran 20 yards into the end zone, but Cesca missed the extra point and the score was 23-7.
Duck tailback Maurice Morris answered early in the third, scoring on a 1-yard run, but he failed to run into the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt that could have set up a tie, had the Ducks scored again with a second two-point bonus.
Oregon would not score again.
“We’re shocked right now, but we did know what was at stake and we knew as soon as the clock ran zero that the Rose Bowl hopes were gone,” Bauman said. “We’ve just got to battle back, and whatever bowl game we do go to, we’ve got to make sure we go down and handle business.”