SAN DIEGO – A couple of inches decided the Holiday Bowl winner Dec. 29 when Oklahoma held on to defeat then-No. 6 Oregon 17-14.
A record crowd of 65,416 witnessed the Sooners (8-4 overall, 6-2 Big 12 Conference) dominate the third quarter on both sides of the ball, but escape from Qualcomm Stadium after stopping a late rally by Oregon (10-2 overall, 7-1 Pacific-10).
Oklahoma linebacker Clint Ingram intercepted a pass by Oregon quarterback Brady Leaf at the Oklahoma 10-yard line to seal the victory with 33 seconds remaining.
“I fully believe we would have won that football game – a couple of inches on that last pass,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.
Leaf found receiver Demetrius Williams open near the 7-yard line but decided to forfeit touch for quickness during the pass. Attempting to take trajectory off the ball, Leaf said, he simply didn’t get it high enough.”I just underthrew the ball a little bit,” he added.
Despite the final score, the Ducks erased a double-digit deficit in the final four minutes of the game and made key defensive stops in the closing quarter. Leaf found Tim Day in the back of the end zone with 3:30 remaining to close the gap to three points.
The Ducks forced a three and out on the Sooners’ ensuing possession and, following a punt, had the ball at their 22-yard line with one timeout and 3:04 left in regulation.
Leaf then guided the Ducks down the field, converting two third downs. With the ball in field goal range and the clock under its control, Oregon went for the victory.
“I didn’t want to give them too much time. We didn’t want to score too early,” Bellotti said. “I knew we could always kick the field goal to tie it up. At that time obviously we were all thinking ‘win the football game and win it right now.’”
Excluding its final two drives, the Oregon offense stalled most of the game. The Ducks finished with 327 total yards; 137 came on the final two possessions.
In the third quarter, Oklahoma scored a touchdown on each of its two possessions, amassed 169 yards of offense and held the Ducks to negative nine total yards.
The biggest change was the Oklahoma rushing game. The Ducks held the Sooners to 28 rushing yards in the first half and star tailback Adrian Peterson to eight yards on eight carries. That changed in the second half when Oklahoma finished with 132 rushing yards, 83 of which came in the third quarter.
“What they did in the second half was run more laterally; that created some gaps,” Bellotti said. “When they ran at us we did a great job. Some of the biggest plays came when we stuffed it inside, at the point of attack, and they reversed and we didn’t quite stay alive as much as we talked about.”
The teams combined for the lowest scoring first half of a Holiday Bowl game with the Ducks leading 7-3 at halftime.
Oklahoma got on the board first with a 34-yard field goal on its first possession of the game. Oregon answered with a 12-play, 79-yard drive. Williams scored on a 5-yard run with 2:58 remaining in the first quarter.
The Ducks failed to record their 11th victory of the season, a school record held by the 2001-02 team. However, the 10 wins has only been accomplished two other times in school history.
Of the 22 players that started the Holiday Bowl, Oregon potentially returns 13 next season, including eight on offense.
