Pullman, Wash.– After the clock stopped, and the disappointed Cougar fans began to scramble for the exits, a jubilant crowd of Oregon supporters packed together in the northwest corner of Martin Stadium.
They knew exactly who to thank for an exhausting 27-24 overtime victory.
“Frankel, Frankel, Frankel!”
It was a cheer that many Oregon fans have yelled throughout this season, but not necessarily in the same context.
Heading into Saturday’s game in a chilly, snow-filled Washington State stadium, Oregon kicker Josh Frankel had made just four of his previous 14 field goal attempts.
But that didn’t matter to the Duck fans after the senior from Pacific Palisades, Calif., hit a career-long 47-yard field goal in overtime to keep the Ducks undefeated in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“That definitely touched me,” Frankel said of the crowd’s post-game chant. “The fans make this program, and those are the die-hards. They sat through the rain and the snow, and for them to be here and for them to start chanting my name was just unbelievable. If I knew all of their names, I’d start chanting … back to them.”
After missing a potential game-winner in the first overtime of last week’s game at Arizona State, Frankel was able to convert on an extra-point attempt to secure a 56-55 win for Oregon.
In practice last week, the kicker and Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti worked on changing Frankel’s approach and closing his stance.
“I’m so grateful that coach Bellotti didn’t give up on me,” Frankel said. “He kept working with me, and it means the world to me.”
And whatever they did, it worked. Before the game-winner, Frankel hit a 46-yard field goal to put the Ducks ahead 16-10 in the second quarter.
“Those were very big, pressure-packed kicks,” Bellotti said. “He hit them right down the heart and I’m very proud of him.”
No matter the situation, Frankel said he’s always had the confidence in himself.
“I’ve never got down on myself and I’m not going to get full of myself now,” Frankel said. “I went up to that kick the same way I’ve gone up to all my kicks this season. I knew that the team needed it, more than at any other time this season. We needed the points.”
Following Frankel’s go-ahead kick in overtime, Washington State kicker Anousith Wilaikul had a chance to send the game into a second overtime period.
“I really thought he was going to drill it. It was his destiny,” Frankel said of the Cougar kicker, a former Oregon walk-on.
But the destiny was not to be for the crimson and gray. The destiny came in the hand of Jed Boice, the Oregon defensive tackle who blocked the kick and won the game for the Ducks.
“I don’t know how much penetration I got, but I know I got a piece of it,” Boice said. “I just pushed through as hard as I could, and I don’t jump very high anyway. I knew it wasn’t going 40 yards.”
It didn’t but Frankel’s did. So goes the life of a kicker.