It’s been said continuously over the past few weeks that Oregon controls its own destiny.
Well, after the Ducks’ astonishing, ridiculous 56-55 double-overtime victory over Arizona State Saturday, a case could be made that the Ducks not only control fate, but they have it on their side.
Oregon stayed unbeaten in Pacific-10 Conference play (7-1 overall, 5-0 Pac-10) by miraculously beating Arizona State (5-3, 2-3) in front of 53,085 fans at Sun Devil Stadium. It’s the first 5-0 start for Oregon since the 1957 season.
“We’re going home with an empty tank,” junior quarterback Joey Harrington said. “We left everything — physically and emotionally — on the field.”
After everything that transpired on the field, it’s hard to argue against the notion that Oregon is a team of destiny.
How else to explain the Ducks battling back from three separate 14-point deficits — with the latter taking place with under four minutes to go in regulation time as the Sun Devil crowd chanted, “Overrated.”
How else to explain Oregon getting the ball back with 2:16 to go in the fourth quarter and courageously driving downfield; facing a fourth-and-goal from the nine-yard line; completing a pass to tight end Justin Peelle, only to have Peelle stuffed at the one-yard-line to turn over possession of the ball.
And then to have Sun Devil tailback Mike Williams fumble while running out the clock to give possession back to the Oregon offense with 33 seconds to play.
“I don’t know how, but somehow by the grace of God, that ball popped out and we recovered and took advantage of that opportunity again,” Harrington said.
On the very next play, Harrington connected with Peelle for a 17-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 49 and send it to overtime.
Overtime proved to be just as crazy as regulation when Oregon cornerback Steve Smith intercepted a Jeff Krohn pass, setting up a potential game-winning field goal by Josh Frankel. Of course, the game couldn’t end on that note because that would be too simple, so Frankel missed the field goal — his eighth miss in 12 attempts — to send it to double overtime.
The Ducks’ offense continued to sizzle as Harrington drilled wide receiver Keenan Howry for 18-yards down to the seven-yard line. A few plays later, tailback Allan Amundson — filling in for Maurice Morris, who left the game with bruised ribs — outran a herd of Sun Devils toward the left corner of the end zone for the one-yard touchdown run to give the Ducks the 56-49 advantage.
Then Arizona State, faced with a crucial third-and-seven, converted a 22-yard touchdown pass from Krohn to tight end Todd Heap to presumably send the game into a third-overtime.
But Sun Devil head coach Bruce Snyder had a different idea. On the extra-point attempt, the ball was snapped to Krohn, who was the holder. Krohn stood up with it, rolled to his right and threw toward Heap in the end zone.
The ball bounced off Heap’s hands and onto the ground to officially conclude the four-hour-and-14-minute game.
“We had a feeling of the fake,” Smith said. “We just played our technique and batted the ball down.”
“They battled, never gave up,” head coach Mike Bellotti said about his team. “They believed, no matter what the scoreboard said or how much time was left on the clock. We felt we had a chance to win. That is the mark of a winner.”
The mood was obviously a little different in the Arizona State locker room.
“I feel very badly for the players,” Snyder said. “I just felt like it would be a great victory for them. How heartbreaking this is.”
Last week against Arizona, the Oregon offense sputtered and its defense came through and saved the day. Saturday, it was reversed, as the offense shone and the Pac-10’s top-rated defense surrendered a combined 667 offensive yards and 55 points. It was the most points Oregon had ever given up in a victory.
But whenever the defense would give up a big play to ASU’s Heap or tailback Tom Pace, Oregon’s Harrington would turn it up. Harrington continued his road dominance by completing 26-of-43 passes for a career-high 434 yards and six touchdowns.
“I’m in complete and total shock right now,” said Harrington, whose six touchdowns tied the Oregon record for most in a game, set by Danny O’Neil in the 1994 Rose Bowl season. “We played so hard out there. We battled our butts off.”
The game capped a crazy 24 hours for Oregon, who arrived into Tempe, Ariz., 2 1/2 hours after expected because of weather problems in Phoenix. The players didn’t fall asleep until 1:30 a.m., and then had to rise at 7 a.m. for the 12:30 p.m. game.
“I told them yesterday sitting on the plane that this would probably be the greatest adventure of their life,” said Bellotti, referring to the plane delays. “Little did I know that the game would be the best.”
Oregon’s long night was evident in its sluggish start. The Sun Devils caught the Oregon defense sleeping on a 69-yard Krohn to Pace touchdown pass with 5:55 to go in the first quarter to grab the early 7-0 advantage. The Ducks responded over four minutes later when Morris ran in from 17-yards out to tie it up.
The Sun Devils would take charge in the second quarter, as Krohn completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Donnie O’Neil. Then Sun Devil linebacker Adam Archuleta forced a questionable Harrington fumble in the end zone, and ASU’s Eric Fields recovered it for the score to give Arizona State the early 21-7 lead.
Oregon wouldn’t give up, however, and two Harrington touchdown passes later (to Howry and Marshaun Tucker), and the teams would enter the half tied at 21.
“We had to come back twice in this game — in the first half and in the second,” said Howry, who did not start the game due to a hip pointer, but finished with four catches for 125 yards, including two touchdowns. “Everybody made some big plays.”
Bellotti has coached many great games during his tenure as head coach of Oregon, but ranks Saturday’s affair near the top of the list.
“This is as good as any,” said Bellotti, whose team travels to Washington State next weekend. “I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of my kids in my life. Win or lose I would’ve said that. This was a wonderful, exciting, tremendous football game.”