49-42.
No, that isn’t the score of either Oregon loss this season.
49-42.
That represents the score when “Captain Comeback” Joey Harrington appeared to run out of magic comeback dust.
It represents the one tarnish to then fifth-ranked Oregon’s 11-1 record for the 2001 season.
The Stanford win on Oct. 20, 2001, ended Oregon’s 23-game home winning streak. It ended dreams of a perfect season, and it only took 15 minutes.
After three strong quarters of Oregon football, the Ducks looked like they were on track for another win. Ahead 42-28, and with Stanford missing their starting quarterback, students were chanting the numbers “24.”
Chris Lewis, Stanford’s backup quarterback, replaced Randy Fasani after Fasani suffered a sprained right knee in the second quarter. Lewis had done something similar before, coming off the bench in the 2000 season to guide the Cardinal past No. 5 Texas.
The Ducks did not score in the fourth quarter, and, after blocking two punts by Jose Arroyo, Stanford scored a touchdown with 9:09 left in the game. The score was 42-35, and Oregon was still safe.
On the ensuing kickoff, Oregon was caught off-guard by Stanford’s onside kick. The Cardinal scored a touchdown with 5:32 left, but Seth McEwen blocked their point-after attempt. Oregon just had to hold onto the ball and it would win, 42-41.
With four minutes left, Oregon was on its own 30-yard line. On third-and-1, Harrington passed. Defensive end Marcus Hoover ended up with the ball after a tip and an interception, and Stanford had the opportunity it needed to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter.
With 1:10 left in the game, Stanford scored a touchdown and added a two-point conversion to make the score 49-42.
The Ducks got back down to the Stanford 37-yard line, but Harrington threw four incomplete Hail Mary passes in a row, the last flying out of the end zone as time ran out.
“We lost. It doesn’t matter how or why,” Harrington said after the game.
The Ducks dropped five places in the national polls, and all hope seemed lost for a national championship.
“This puts a damper on everything,” Oregon receiver Keenan Howry said after the game.
The game began as a nail-biter, with Stanford scoring first, and the score was tied at 14 with 3:26 left in the first quarter. Oregon added a touchdown and the first quarter ended with the Ducks up 21-14.
Each team put up a touchdown in the second quarter, leaving the Ducks up by seven — 28-21 — at halftime.
The third quarter gave the Ducks a bit more confidence, with Oregon adding two touchdowns and holding the Cardinal to one.
Oregon had the longest active home winning streak snapped at 23.
“The biggest thing is we can’t let Stanford beat us twice,” head coach Mike Bellotti said after the game.
He meant not letting the ghosts of that loss get to them last season. He surely means this season, too.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.