In Joey Harrington’s first postgame press conference of his senior season, the Heisman Trophy candidate asked a question to the media that best summarized the first game:
“Do you expect anything else from us?”
We shouldn’t have.
A thrilling 31-28 victory against the then 23rd-ranked Wisconsin Badgers that featured five lead changes in the third quarter alone and made Autzen Stadium on Sept. 1 feel like November for a night was a game that certainly met my expectations for the Ducks that I’ve grown accustomed to.
It was a Ducks win and Harrington improved his record as a starter to 15-2, and 17-2 as the quarterback of record. He then improved those marks by one more win the following week when Oregon beat visiting Utah, 24-10.
Can’t really complain about those numbers, right?
But many, many, many, many other people expected more from these 2001 Ducks.
The many people who saw and read about Harrington’s 100-foot Heisman campaign billboard in the heart of New York City (which, by the way, was taken down just before Oregon’s game versus Wisconsin).
The many people who saw Harrington share the cover of Sports Illustrated with Oregon State’s Ken Simonton with the headline, “State of War: In Oregon a national title is at stake!”
The many people who saw Harrington on the cover of ESPN the Magazine with the headline, “The Hype Starts Now.”
The many people who saw Harrington and Simonton profiled on the weekly ESPN documentary show, “The Life.”
The many people who have driven down Interstate 405 near the Los Angeles airport and caught a glimpse of the Maurice Morris billboard.
The many people who have cruised along the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and seen a Rashad Bauman billboard.
And the many, many people who have read, heard, seen, stumbled upon and tried to ignore but couldn’t all the building and building and building hype of this one college football team composed of boys in their late teens and early 20s.
Really, it was quite an impressive offseason for the mallard green team.
Few broken up quotes. Hardly any misdirection camera interviews. Daily doubles went by smoothly with Q & A sessions in the morning and in the afternoon.
But then came game time. And it was as if people expected to see the 1998 Denver Broncos out there instead of the gritty Duck bunch.
Oregon’s first drive takes the Ducks all the way to a 1st-and-goal at the five yard line. After three busted plays, a field goal. Groans could be heard throughout the record season-opening crowd of 45,919. Oregon-3, Wisconsin-0.
On its third drive of the game, Oregon takes it down field and scores easily to take the 10-0 lead, prompting the chests of those green and yellow clad fans to poof out as if to say, “Yeah, that’s right baby. Ducks all the way!”
But there come the Badgers, who score in the second quarter and make the halftime score read: Oregon-10, Wisconsin-7.
At that point, Autzen Stadium had an eerie quietness to it that only got softer when Wisconsin took the 14-10 lead. The crowd finally erupted at the 7:21 mark of the third quarter when Harrington connected with tight end Justin Peelle for an 11-yard pass, and then the Oregon faithful went through the usual nail-biting, back-and-forth conclusion that ended with a deep breath and a high five to one’s partner.
Sounds like a typical Oregon Ducks game to me.
Instead of expecting too much in the future, how about enjoying the present?
Instead of getting worried about BCS rankings, polls and Heismans, how about reveling in witnessing classic college football moments?
Moments such as Oregon linebacker David Moretti catching the blocked field goal attempt off teammate Igor Olshansky’s hand and rumbling 28 yards down field … with a broken thumb that he had injured earlier in the game.
Or moments such as new Ducks punter Jose Arroyo jumping for joy after each of his first two punts went almost exactly where he wanted to place them.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Arroyo said. “I never envisioned it being like that out there. Awesome.”
Or how about Bauman’s clutch defensive play on a Wisconsin 3rd-and-10 with 1:47 left in the game. Badgers quarterback Jim Sorgi threw a beautiful pass towards top receiver Lee Evans … both Evans and Bauman ran stride for stride alone down the field … both Evans and Bauman leapt up towards the spiral … and Bauman’s right hand deflected the ball down, setting up an incomplete pass on fourth down to clinch the Oregon win.
“That was nothing special, that’s my job and what I’m supposed to do,” Bauman said. “Now, if I had jumped up and grabbed it one-handed, done a spin move, waved to the crowd as I ran all the way downfield and scored, well, then we could be talking about me doing something special.”
No doubt there will be many more Kodak moments in this 2001 Oregon football season, with maybe Bauman fulfilling that one-handed interception dream.
The only question will be whether fans will bring out those mental cameras and enjoy the pictures of splendid college football on a weekly basis, or choose to save their rolls of film for something greater, the big picture if you will, which is not even guaranteed of ever being developed.
Jeff Smith is the assistant sports editor of the Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].