It seems that every team that goes through a spectacular season has these kinds of games.
The game where its quarterback completes only nine of his 22 passes and it takes the tailback 34 carries to rack up 114 yards.
The game where the offense sputters.
The game where both teams score a combined zero points in the second half.
The game where the opposing team has the ball in the final seconds of the game with a chance to put the ball in the end zone for the win.
And, lastly, the game where, despite all of that, it wins.
Such was the case on a cold, Saturday night in Autzen Stadium where the temperature dipped as low as 37-degrees, leaving 45,950 fans blowing in their hands in between claps.
Folks, this was football.
Oregon’s 14-10 victory over Arizona Saturday night may not have glittered with long runs and 60-yard pass plays, but the result was what mattered.
As the old saying goes, “a win is a win is a win.”
“This is a huge win,” cornerback Rashad Bauman said. “It gives us the number one spot in the Pac-10 and the edge for the Rose Bowl.”
The Ducks are in control of their own destiny.
Granted, the football that was being played was not pretty, but it was football — smash-mouth style.
Did you see the hit that Oregon linebacker Wesly Mallard laid on Wildcat cornerback Michael Jolivette in the first quarter? Mallard certainly let the dogs out on that one as Jolivette’s helmet and mouthpiece flew off as he was getting crunched.
One reporter compared it to a cork flying off a champagne bottle.
“I saw him coming, but it was just too quick,” said Jolivette, who was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital to receive 11 stitches in his lower chin. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Many Oregon fans have mentioned how they didn’t enjoy the game as much as the others. But how could you not enjoy the great theater of watching an Arizona team faced with a first-and-10 with only 26 seconds left in the game.
The Wildcats were trailing by four and had the ball at the Oregon 36-yard line. The game, and possession of first place in the Pacific-10 Conference, was on the line.
Autzen Stadium was in a nervous frenzy. Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins acted with calm confidence.
It was the perfect offense versus defense scenario.
First pass: Incomplete. Eighteen seconds left.
Second pass: Incomplete. Eleven seconds left.
Third pass: Incomplete. Two seconds left.
Fourth and final pass: A rainbow heave that floated through the air and fell crashing to the ground when Oregon cornerback Ryan Mitchell batted the ball down.
For those brief seconds when Jenkins’ hail-Mary floated, everyone in the stadium held their breath.
It was what college football is all about.
“Our defense has been the backbone and it was fitting that we were on the field in the end,” Oregon defensive end Jason Nikolao said.
Yes, it would have been easier to play and watch if Oregon had beaten the Wildcats 52-17. But playing in a hard-nosed defensive battle where the game is always in doubt is good for the team to experience.
Especially since there is one game looming on the schedule that is bound to be a nail-biting showdown: The Civil War Nov. 18.
With No. 18 Oregon State beating UCLA on the road, it has become clear that the road to Pasadena comes through the state of Oregon.
But are any of the players letting such rosy aspirations slip out of their mouths and avoid their usual “one game at a time” mantra?
Nikolao is.
“Right now I’m thinking about uh… yeah, to tell you the truth, I’m thinking about the Rose Bowl,” he said. “I’m not gonna lie. Go get your tickets and we’ll meet you down there.”
The 1994 Oregon team that went to the Rose Bowl has been hailed as one of the greatest teams in Duck history. That team also beat Arizona at home, but guess what the final score was?
A forgettable 10-9, Ducks.
See, a win is a win is a win.