Welcome back to the Odyssey. As always, you can click here to read all parts of the journey covered so far. Last time, we took a look at the final regular season game of the famous 2001 Miami team. They survived Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, clinching their spot into the Rose Bowl for a chance at the National Championship. Today, we take a look at the first potential opponent for the Hurricanes; the Oregon Ducks.

Introduction: Big Man on Campus

During the 2000 season, Joey Harrington and the Oregon Ducks had a chance to win the Pac-10 outright with a win over their rivals in Corvallis. A chance for their first Rose Bowl since Rich Brooks’ final season in Eugene in 1994. However, Harrington threw 5 INTs in a 23-13 loss. The Beavers tied for the conference title (losing the H2H tiebreaker to Washington) and went on to blowout Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. So if you want to be mad at anyone for the Oregon State blowout, look at Joey Harrington.

This season, the Ducks had so much more to play for and a lot more time to wait for it. The Ducks had not played since November 10th with their win over UCLA. Because of the gap in their schedule, their standing fell at the top of the rankings. Florida jumped them in the BCS Standings and Nebraska stopping right above them at #4. With only one game remaining, the Ducks needed to blowout the Beavers and needed some help above them to get firmly in the National Championship picture.

Beyond that for Heisman hopeful in Harrington, it was his final game in Eugene. The two-year starter was on the cusp of a natural arc for him and his team. From a 9-3 sophomore season  where he was intermittently used in backup of AJ Feeley. A 10-2 junior season spoiled by the Oregon State game mentioned above, just missing on a BCS bowl. This season was his chance and Oregon knew it too, putting up the infamous billboard in Times Square to get Harrington Heisman consideration. With Crouch struggling the week before, this was his chance to capitalize and put his mark on the end of the season.

Game Recap: Can They Do It in a Cold, Rainy Night in Eugene?

After all of the pregame festivities it was time to play the game. The Oregon offense struggled early, punting on their first two possessions. They couldn’t get the ground game going between Maurice Morris and Onterrio Smith. Because of that, the passing lanes couldn’t open up for Harrington. Oregon State, meanwhile, leaned on its running game on its first possession. Ken Simonton accounted for 36 yards on the Beavers opening drive, which ended in a field goal from 43 yards out.

However, the Oregon defense was able to limit Jonathan Smith’s impact on the game early, and on the second drive got off the field because of it. Smith had only two completions on the first two drives; a screen pass to Simonton and a three yard completion to TE Tim Euhus. When Oregon got the ball back, they broke through on the ground. Morris found the edge on a sweep and turned the corner to the tune of 35 yards to set up an Oregon field goal attempt. The 44 yard attempt was good and the Ducks had tied the game late in the first.

On the ensuing drive, Smith found the passing lanes down field to open up. He hit James Newsom 47 yards down the field to put the Beavers in business to retake the lead. However, kicker Kirk Yliniemi hooked the 32 yard attempt, keeping the game tied. The two teams traded punts deep into the second quarter, until Smith found his passing groove again. The Oregon State QB hit Euhus, Clasen, Walsh, and Newsom to get the Beavers into field goal territory. With thirty six seconds to go in the half the Beavers retook the lead; with Yliniemi hitting a 28 yarder. The Ducks were on upset watch heading into the locker room for halftime.

The third quarter saw both teams play field position. The Oregon offense in particular could not get their offense going. They went three and out on consecutive possessions, with Harrington failing to throw a completion across three drives. In their final drive of the third quarter, the Ducks began to get open for Harrington. Combined that with the rushing prowess of Smith and Morris and the Ducks were back in field goal range to potentially tie the game. However, Oregon kicker Jared Siegel pushed his attempt wide left and the Ducks remained down a field goal going into the fourth.

Turning Point: Whetting Your Beak

As the second half unfolded in Eugene, the rain started to pour down, making mistakes and slips more common. At the start of the fourth quarter we saw the effects of the rain come to fruition. The Beavers punted to Keenan Howry, who took the return up the middle untouched into the end zone, giving Oregon their first lead of the afternoon.

The touchdown was the spark the Ducks offense needed. After another three and out for Oregon State, the Ducks leaned on their running game to burn clock and put the game out of reach. Harrington had his most successful play of the day during this drive as well, hitting Howry for 28 yards. Morris helped carry the load the rest of the way; finishing it off with a nine yard touchdown, extending the Ducks lead. The more important thing was that the drive lasted almost 8 minutes of game time.

Because of this, the Oregon State offense needed to more than double their point output in the remaining four and a half minutes to try and upset the Ducks. Smith had his most successful drive of the game, hitting mostly underneath and intermediate passes down the field. Then, Smith hit Josh Hawkins in traffic over the middle of the Oregon defense for the 24 yard TD. A conversion throw from Smith to Kintner made the deficit only a field goal, with two minutes to go.

After two straight rushes followed by Oregon State timeouts, Harrington had his most defining play of the game. It appeared to be a play action naked boot leg for Harrington. However, Beaver defensive end Kyle Rosselle had other ideas, forcing the ball out of Harrington’s hands. The Beavers fell on the ball at the Oregon thirty three, with a chance to win the game.

However, after nearly losing the ball on the previous play, Smith decided to end the game right then and there. On a third down attempt, the senior QB tried to force a ball into a tight window and Oregon’s Rashad Bauman made him pay. He stepped in front of the pass, picking it off and returning the ball down field before forced out of bounds. Oregon knelt on the ball to clinch the BCS bid outright, and keep their slim National Championship hopes alive.

Player of the Game: Keenan Howry, WR Oregon

This was a seemingly easy decision, since Howry seemed to be the lynchpin for the Oregon offense. His first punt return put Oregon into good field position to tie the game in the first half. His touchdown was the turning point in the game and gave Oregon the lead for good. He also led the Ducks in receiving on the afternoon, catching 2 catches for 42 yards. I thought about putting Morris in here, since his contributions were just as critical to the Oregon offense, but the contributions by Howry directly led to the success of the Ducks to clinch their BCS bowl.

Look Ahead: Wait and See

When watching the highlight clips of this game, Rece Davis mentioned that ESPN’s BCS gurus said that Oregon could not jump into the National Championship no matter what, because they could not jump Nebraska. Now, whether or not you agree with it now in 2021, the situation was the situation. We’ll dive into this in the next weekend’s BCS standings, but Oregon has a true gripe with the system. They played their schedule as best as they could, with only a close loss to a top ten Stanford team the only blemish. However, they needed help to even be compared to Nebraska. They needed Tennessee, Florida, and Texas to fall. Surely not all of those great teams would lose again.

Next time, we are going to take a look at two of those teams making up a game normally scheduled in September; Florida vs Tennessee. The winner would go to the SEC Championship, the loser would lose their National Championship hopes. Between that and the forth coming Big 12 Championship, the stakes were continuously climbing as the day went along. Until then, sound off on the Joey Harrington era of Oregon football and the sudden decline of Oregon State.