SAN DIEGO — As the fireworks blasted overhead after Oregon’s 35-30 Holiday Bowl win over Texas, Oregon defensive tackle Jed Boice walked up to one of the happiest Oregon fans on the field.
“Money man!” Boice yelled as he went in to embrace the smiling supporter, whose eyes were barely visible underneath his green Ducks hat.
As Boice let go of his bear hug, it was seen that the fan was none other than Nike CEO Phil Knight.
Knight was on the field of Qualcomm Stadium Dec. 29, seconds after the conclusion of the Culligan Holiday Bowl, soaking up every bit of Oregon’s dramatic win over the favored Texas Longhorns.
“It was a great season and what a way to end it!” said Knight, who started attending Oregon games in early November again after his much publicized dispute with the University over labor issues. “God it feels great right now. We beat Texas! I mean, Texas. Look at that team. Wow!
“You watch this team for four years and see how hard they work, and it’s just great. It was really something special, wasn’t it?”
Knight’s views were surely echoed by all of the Ducks and their large showing of fans among the 63,278 in attendance on this cool southern Californian night. The victory secured the first 10-win season in Oregon football history, and helped the Ducks end the season on a positive note and get that nasty taste of the Oregon State loss out of their mouths.
“That Oregon State game is long gone, man,” defensive end Jason Nikolao said. “This game right here was our Rose Bowl and we played like it. Texas is a huge team, but we showed them that we deserve just as much respect.”
“We are the Pac-10 co-champs and we showed why tonight,” said rover Steve Smith, who snatched one of the more impressive interceptions of the season in the first quarter. “It was a war and there was a lot of emotion going around. Victory’s so sweet. If you believe then you achieve, and that’s been our motto all year.”
But, as was typical of the 2000 Ducks, they had to fight and claw their way right down to the final moments of the game to capture the win. The Holiday Bowl has traditionally been a high scoring, shoot ’em out affair, and this game was no exception.
The teams entered the fourth quarter tied up at 21, with both eyeing a win that would put itself among the top-10 teams in the nation in the final rankings.
Oregon struck first in the fourth when Joey Harrington lowered his head and ran into the end zone from nine yards out with 9:43 left in the game. The lead was short-lived, though, as Texas’ Victor Ike took the ensuing kickoff and dashed 93-yards for the touchdown, a Holiday Bowl record.
With the score knotted at 28, it seemed the momentum had shifted into Texas’ favor, but Harrington insisted that the thought of losing never entered Oregon’s mind.
“Absolutely not,” said the junior quarterback, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns. “You can not believe that you’re going to lose. If that thought enters your mind then you’re done because you’ve given up. We’ve played these games all year.”
Harrington and the Ducks showed their tight game experience on their next series, when they completed an eight play, 68-yard scoring drive with less than six minutes left. On a third-and-goal from the four-yard line, Harrington pitched it to sophomore receiver Jason Willis on an end-around reverse, who skated into the left corner of the goal untouched for the 35-28 lead.
The rest of the game consisted of missed chances for Texas, as Longhorn quarterback Chris Simms could never quite connect on the important pass. On a first-and-10 from the 22 with less than three minutes on the clock, Simms’ pass to receiver B.J. Johnson bounced off his wide-open hands.
Simms threw the next pass out of bounds, but on third down, he again threw towards Johnson, who again dropped the ball. Finally, on fourth down, Simms saw an open Roy Williams in the right corner of the end zone, but the pass bounced right off of Williams’ hands and onto the ground.
It couldn’t have ended that easily for Oregon, however, as running back Allan Amundson fumbled and Texas recovered at the Oregon 32. Simms found the passing game difficult again, though, as he was picked off by Rashad Bauman.
Oregon then took a planned safety and turned it over to Texas with 17 seconds left, but the Longhorns’ Hail Mary at the buzzer fell incomplete.
“We respected Oregon from the start,” said Simms, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 245 yards. “They were definitely a BCS eligible team and deserved to be there if you ask me. They were unpredictable and kept us on our toes.”
The end of the game brought the ceremonial water — Culligan water, of course — dousing of head coach Mike Bellotti and the award presentations to Harrington and Bauman as offensive and defensive players of the game.

“I’m proud for all the fans out here that took the time to come out and support us, and for my football team for their great work on the field,” said Bellotti, while trying to get some of that water out of his ear. “Joey and Rashad deserve their award. They are great competitors with great heart.”
Harrington showcased his variety of skills in front of an ESPN audience in the first quarter when he received his first ever reception and took it past the goal line for the touchdown in not-so-typical fashion.
On the scoring play, Harrington handed it off to receiver Keenan Howry — a high school quarterback — and then darted down the field. Howry lofted the perfect pass, and Harrington caught it while almost falling on his face. With the ball in his hands at the 10-yard line, he stumbled, bumbled and almost fumbled his way into the end zone.
“All year that kind of stuff has always been in the game plan and we knew we had an opportunity to get these plays off,” said Howry, who had practiced that same exact trick play with Harrington eight times the previous week and only completed it once.
The touchdown gave Oregon the 14-0 advantage, following tight end Justin Peelle’s one-yard touchdown reception earlier.
The Longhorns bounced back in the second period and ran off 21 unanswered points, capped by Greg Brown’s 23-yard interception for a touchdown to give Texas the 21-14 lead at the half.
Oregon’s Maurice Morris, who finished with 96 yards on 26 carries, provided the scoring in the third quarter when he received a pass from Harrington and scampered 55 yards down the field to send the game into the fourth tied up at 21.
“This is the greatest win in my career,” senior defensive end Saul Patu said. “I’m just glad we’re able to make history with the first 10-win season ever.”
As Harrington reveled in his team’s triumph on the field after the game, he just couldn’t stop expressing how proud he was of his Ducks. When asked for one word to describe the feeling, Harrington couldn’t contain himself.
“How about character? How about desire? How about Oregon Duck football family?” Harrington said. “I guess that’s more than one word, huh? But that’s really what it was all year. We played for each other, from the start of the season to the end. We’ve shown that we can beat the best teams in the country.
“Oh man, it’s great to be a part of something this special.”
A few days later, the final rankings were released with Oregon finishing No. 7 in the Associated Press poll and No. 9 in the Coaches’ poll.