EL PASO, Texas — The game of inches came down to a matter of feet.
After a number of record-setting performances, the 2003 Sun Bowl came down to a field goal. A field goal that was said to be tipped by both Keith Lewis and Junior Siavii.
A field goal, much less, that cleared the uprights by no more than a few feet.
Rhys Lloyd’s 42-yard field goal with 23 seconds left catapulted Minnesota to a 31-30 victory over Oregon Wednesday in front of 49,894 at Sun Bowl Stadium.
“In the end, if you give it your all, that’s all you can ask for,” Oregon defensive end Quinn Dorsey said after his last game in an Oregon uniform. “Sometimes the better team doesn’t prevail. It’s college football. Any team can prevail on any given Saturday, or in this case, a Wednesday.
“I give my hat off to Minnesota. They did a great job.”
On this Wednesday, it was a field goal that decided a game that saw more than 850 yards of total offense, which included three Minnesota (10-3 overall) running backs rushing for a combined 241 yards and Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens passing for 363.
Lloyd’s field goal simply ended a back-and-forth contest between two impressive offensive teams. Oregon (8-5) had a 30-28 lead until the field goal, but only because Jared Siegel put a 47-yarder through the uprights with 4:16 left to play in the game.
The Golden Gophers picked up where Siegel left off and immediately went on a 16-play, 55-yard drive that spanned 3:53 and ended with Lloyd’s field goal.
On a 2nd-and-3 play from the Oregon 26, the Ducks looked like they had put a nail in Minnesota’s coffin. Devan Long stopped Laurence Maroney for a 4-yard loss to the 30. An Oregon timeout at that point stopped the clock with 38.5 seconds left and the Golden Gophers picked up from there with a 5-yard run to Oregon’s 25.
Another Oregon timeout with 28.3 seconds left preceded Lloyd’s game-ending field goal.
“We took a timeout because they were in field goal range,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “I didn’t want to let them have the last say. I wanted to have a chance, if they did make it, for us to get a chance to get back in.”
That chance was short and ended prematurely for Bellotti and the Ducks. After Kenny Washington returned the kickoff to the Oregon 21, Kellen Clemens’ pass fell into the hands of Jason Isom for the game’s only interception.
The play ended what was a record-setting day for Clemens and the Ducks. Wide receiver Samie Parker had an Oregon-record 16 catches, which resulted in 200 yards. He set Oregon records with 77 receptions this season and 178 for his career.
For Parker’s efforts, he received the C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player award.
Clemens, meanwhile, was 32 of 42 passing for 363 yards and three touchdowns. He ended the season with 2,400 passing yards, 18 touchdown passes and just nine interceptions.

However, it was a play that wasn’t made that Clemens took the hardest.
Two plays before Siegel’s field goal put the Ducks ahead, Minnesota’s Eli Ward almost intercepted an intended pass to converted wide receiver Jason Fife in the end zone. Had the pass been completed, Fife would have scored, sending the Ducks to a six-point lead.
“If I had made the play two plays (before Siegel’s field goal) when I threw it to Jason, we would have won that game, probably,” Clemens said. “At least it would have forced them to score a touchdown instead of a field goal to win it.”
Perhaps, but it can also be said that Minnesota’s rushing attack ultimately had a say in the outcome. The Golden Gophers ran for just five yards in the first quarter, but turned up the tempo with 83 in the second.
Maroney rushed for 131 yards on 15 carries and Thomas Tapeh ran for three scores — two of which were 1-yard runs.
Overall, the Golden Gophers ran for 241 yards on 55 attempts. It was the third-lowest rushing output of the season for Minnesota, but came against the nation’s 12th-best-rushing defense.
“They had way too many third-down conversions,” Dorsey said. “I don’t know where to place the blame or if we can place it on one spot. Our whole defense, we didn’t do what we needed to do to take care of business.”
For Dorsey, Parker, Fife and a number of seniors, the loss was a bittersweet way to end their careers in Eugene.
“I feel OK because we fought to the end,” Dorsey said. “At the same time, it was my last game as a Duck, and I wanted to have a good memory of my last game as a Duck.”