It was at the 10:07 mark in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game when Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti realized something was different on the sideline.
That was the time when Cal scored its final touchdown and took a 17-7 lead. That was the point when Oregon’s mindset made a drastic change.
“At that point, our team woke up and said, ‘enough is enough,’” Bellotti said. “For us at that point, I don’t know any one thing that happened other than the accumulation of frustration. Each player individually and collectively said, ‘enough is enough.’ Maybe they reached down a little bit deeper.”
Free safety Justin Phinisee remembers what it was.
“We talked about having ’emo’ on the field with us, that emotion out there, we had that last week,” Phinisee said.
It was emotion that fueled Oregon to score 14 points in the fourth quarter for its first fourth-quarter comeback in 17 games. It was emotion that helped the Ducks become eligible for a bowl game. It was emotion that helped the Ducks remember why they like football.
“In the beginning of the season, the first four or five games, (we were) coming out and playing hard, playing fast and having fun, and I think we kind of got away from that a little bit,” Phinisee said. “I think those were fading away like I said last week, and I think we’re back.”
Emotion helped get the Ducks to this point. Oregon players believe that the momentum from the win will be a key component in the final two games against UCLA and Oregon State.
“(We have) quite a bit of momentum, but we can’t get overconfident and overlook anybody,” quarterback Kellen Clemens said. “UCLA is a very good team. They’ve struggled as of late, but so had we. We can’t get overconfident going into this game by any means, but it does help our confidence, which coming out of that Washington game was hurt.”
Confidence has had its effects on Oregon this season. The Ducks know what confidence can do to a team and the positives it brings. They know that their team needs it to win.
“It can help for a fourth-quarter comeback,” Clemens said. “I don’t know if the team that wasn’t very confident to win that game would’ve won it. Being confident that you have the ability to win and show up week in and week out is going to help in practice, which in turn carries over into games.”
Being able to perform week in and week out hasn’t been the easiest task for the Ducks this season. Aside from the four-game winning streak to start the season, Oregon hasn’t won two in a row since.
But that could change in the Rose Bowl this weekend. If the momentum from Saturday’s win leads the Ducks into Los Angeles, they could have the upper hand against a UCLA team that has lost two straight.
Yet Bellotti is skeptical.
“I hope so, but I don’t know,” Bellotti said of what momentum can do for his team. “I thought we would have achieved something like that after Stanford, and we certainly did not. I think it’s very important that we do understand what we’ve done correctly to get where we are and what we’ve not done.”
What Bellotti does not doubt is the effects emotion can have on his team. He saw how it worked on Saturday night, where Oregon looked like the team of old. Oregon will need it again against UCLA.
“Emotion has to be our 12th man on the field,” Bellotti said. “When you don’t have it, you’re down a man. When you have it, and it’s generally self-instilled, then I think you can play to a higher level.”