EL PASO, Texas — It was the last pass of his Oregon career, and ironically, he didn’t even get the chance to take the snap on the play.
In the final seconds of the first half, Kellen Clemens took the snap from center Dan Weaver and quickly threw a bullet to Jason Fife, who was stationed as a receiver to the left.
Because it was a lateral, Fife immediately took the ball and threw it back to Clemens, who was beginning to streak down the right side of the field. He ran for 13 yards to the Minnesota 13, where Jared Siegel kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired.
Such is the ending of Fife’s career with Oregon. The quarterback/wide receiver leaves the Ducks after two seasons as a prominent offensive player.
It just so happened that in the final game of his career, he was Oregon’s third-string receiver.
“I felt fast, I felt quick,” he said. “I was open a couple of times. (Clemens) just couldn’t get it to me. I had fun nonetheless.”
Fife saw about a dozen plays at receiver against Minnesota and, aside from his pass to Clemens, did not figure into the game statistically.
He was, however, key in the Oregon offense. A couple of times in the first half, he was open, but Clemens, because of pressure by the Golden Gopher defense, could not find the senior from Lake Elsinore, Calif.
Late in the fourth quarter, Eli Ward stepped in front of a pass intended for Fife that would have put the Ducks up by six. Ward didn’t intercept the pass, but it helped cool down the Oregon series that resulted in a Siegel field goal.
“At first, I kind of thought we were going to use me as a decoy, but more and more, they actually started putting me in at crucial situations where I was going to have to catch the ball,” Fife said.

Moore expected back
At first glance, it would seem that the Ducks are set to lose three-fourths of their starting defensive secondary.
Starters Marley Tucker, Keith Lewis and Steven Moore are all listed on Oregon’s roster as seniors. Moore, however, is in a different situation than the former two.
Because he was an academic partial qualifier when he came to Oregon in 2000, Moore has the chance to return next season. That will depend on whether or not he can graduate by the end of summer, a stipulation set forth by the NCAA.
He said he has no doubts that he will be back.
“That’s my goal for the offseason: try to get the school thing done,” Moore said.

Lineup changes
Fife was forced into the third-string receiving role when Kyle Weatherspoon injured his hamstring a few days before the game. Oregon was already thin at the position when Marcus Maxwell re-injured a separated shoulder during the latter part of the season.
That added to a long list of Oregon receivers that went down this season, including Jordan Carey and Keith Allen, who was injured before Oregon’s first game of the season against Mississippi State.
Alex Mercier saw action against Minnesota. The freshman from Edmonds, Wash., had seen action in just one other game this season against UCLA and did not catch a pass in either game he played in this season.
Defensively, Jerry Matson was a bit bruised up before the game and saw Justin Andrews start in his place at middle linebacker. Matson finished the game with nine tackles, including two for a total of seven yards lost.

Hold on to the ball
The teams combined for just two turnovers, both coming in the second half.
Kevin Mitchell forced a fumble by Asad Abdul-Khaliq with 7:37 left in the fourth quarter. It was recovered by Igor Olshansky and led to Siegel’s 47-yard field goal that put the Ducks up by two with a little more than four minutes left.
Oregon’s only turnover of the game came with 10 seconds left. Clemens was pressured by the Minnesota defensive line and threw an ill-advised pass that landed in the hands of Jason Isom.