2000: The Win Over Oregon

By Kip Carlson

Saturday, November 18, 2000.

When the sun rose on the big day in Corvallis, the temperature began climbing from an overnight low of 21 degrees. It was still well below freezing and foggy in the Willamette Valley when ESPN's College Gameday telecast began from Tallahassee, Florida, where No. 3 Florida State would play No. 4 Florida.

But another of the day's featured games was on the West Coast, where No. 5 Oregon would visit No. 8 Oregon State with Rose Bowl hopes on the line for both teams, and it didn't take long for Gameday host Chris Fowler to introduce Shelley Smith reporting from Corvallis; alluding to the presidential recount battle going on in the Florida capital, Fowler said "I'm told the only place that has more satellite trucks than Corvallis is right here."

The matchup between the Beavers and Ducks rated a pair of features during the morning, the first on the matchup and the long rivalry between the schools, the second on OSU's two-year rise from a 28th straight losing season to being ranked in the top 10.

Toward the show's conclusion, analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit offered their predictions. Corso: "I think the Oregon Ducks will slip into ol' Beaverville and upset the mighty Beavers." Herbstreit, noting Oregon's defense allowed an average of just 12 points per game at home but 30 on the road: "I think that's the difference – playing on the road, I like Oregon State to beat Oregon in Corvallis. If this game were in Eugene, I'd pick the Ducks."

Oregon State would receive $272,000 for appearing on the ABC regional telecast, bringing OSU's television revenue for the season to more than $1 million. While that would help with the athletic budget, it wasn't the only benefit.

"If you were to cost this out and try to buy that time that you were going to get on TV and expose your institution, you couldn't pay for it," OSU senior associate athletic director Bob De Carolis told the Salem Statesman-Journal. "We're talking potentially about four hours in prime time. That's huge."

The Oregonian that morning included a column by sportswriter Norm Maves Jr. about what the rivalry – and this game in particular – meant to longtime residents of the state. He began: "Let's be adults about this, OK? College football is just a game played by children for the entertainment of other children.

"Yeah, right."

Maves, who grew up in Beaverton, attended Oregon and married an Oregon Stater, would be attending his 28th game in the rivalry since 1964: "This doesn't make me an expert, but it does mean I've witnessed most of the Made in Oregon magic of the rivalry," Maves wrote. "As bad as the football has sometimes been – if you didn't see the 0-0 game in 1983, you don't know ineptitude – the Be There was important.

"That's because these are Our Teams. And Our Memories. If it seems as if we glorify this game and this day a little too much, it's because this game and this day glorify all of us, too. I can ell you with a straight face that I don't really care who wins, because I already know.

"We do. All of us. Today, we are the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. Everybody is watching us.

"We can act like adults some other time."

As fans made their way into Reser Stadium, reporter Steve Law of the Statesman-Journal was roaming the area outside with $100 of company money to see what sort of deal he might strike with a scalper. About a half-hour before game time, regular tickets were going for $300; a student ticket could be had for $50 but word was out that security was carefully checking those ticketholders for student identification at the gate.

Not long after, the price had gone down to $200 for a ticket on the 20-yard line; it was down to $150 about five minutes later. Thirteen minutes before kickoff, the scalper countered Law's offer of $100 with a price of $125. Finally, at 12:28, Law scored his ticket for $100 for seat on about the 15-yard line.

By the 12:30 p.m. game time, the skies had cleared to provide a sunny, 32-degree afternoon. The ABC-TV audience wasn't watching; it was still locked into the finish of the Michigan-Ohio State game as the Beavers kicked off to the Ducks.

The 36,044 wedged into Reser Stadium saw a penalty and a DeLawrence Grant sack force the Ducks into a third-and-32; Harrington tried to pick it up with a pass down the middle to Keenan Howry, who tipped the ball into the air. OSU safety Jake Cookus snagged the ball at the Oregon 48 and returned it 31 yards to the 17. A penalty on the play set the Beavers back to the Duck 32 and they eventually faced third-and-9 from the 31.

That's when ABC joined the party. Its opening shot of the field from the Valley Football Center beyond the north end zone showed was bordered on the right by a vase of roses as Jackson intoned, "So the state of Oregon now joins us as we have been working the game on pay-per-view and we're starting to accumulate our audience as the Michigan-Ohio state game is finally over."

Just about the time Jackson got those words out of his mouth, Smith took the snap, faked to running back Ken Simonton, dropped back and found Robert Prescott on a slant at the 20-yard line. The wide receiver shook off a tackle attempt by Oregon safety Rasuli Webster and raced into the end zone to give Oregon State a 7-0 lead with 10:03 left in the first quarter.

OSU kicked off again and Oregon picked up a first down before being forced to punt, pushing the Beavers back to their own 12. On a third-and-10 from the 24, a pass interference penalty against the Ducks kept the drive alive and two more penalties helped Oregon State reach the Oregon 49.

From there, Smith again faked to Simonton and found Prescott, this time on the left sideline at about the 26-yard line; getting behind the Ducks' Ryan Mitchell, Prescott pulled the ball in over his left shoulder and took the ball the rest of the way for his second touchdown catch of the game.

"He's a really smart guy out there," Smith said of Prescott. "He understands the routes he's running, he understands coverage and where he's supposed to go. You see Robert open a lot of times in the middle and that's just because he knows what kind of coverage it is and how to get open."

Oregon's defense was focused on stopping Simonton, and it cost the Ducks.

"That's the football we play: stop the run, and if the pass beats us, it beats us," UO cornerback Rashad Bauman said.

With 4:27 to go in the opening quarter, the Beavers led 14-0.

"We go out there, we establish our dominance, it's 14-0 and we go from there," OSU offensive guard Robert Sykes said. Added Smith: "We've taken shots down the field all year. I thought the key to the game was going up 14-0 and forcing them to play catch-up all game long."

Oregon returned the kickoff to its 40 but an illegal block penalty on the play moved the ball back to the 15. The Ducks' Maurice Morris had a big carry to the Beaver 47, but a personal foul against UO at the end of the play took the ball back to the Oregon 38. On second-and-seven, Harrington threw deep down the right side but Cookus jumped the route, tipped the ball and then secured his second interception of the day.

"The offense jumping out to a 14-0 lead gave us all the motivation we needed just to go kill, to go kill," OSU linebacker Darnell Robinson said. "That was our attitude."

Early in the second quarter, Oregon reached the Beaver 27 but Josh Frankel missed a 43-yard field goal wide left with 12:15 left in the half. On the next play, Smith took a shot down the middle for Chad Johnson, who made a diving catch at the Duck 29 for a 44-yard gain.

On third-and-13, Smith's pass for Johnson was incomplete but there was another flag and another costly penalty against Oregon: pass interference, putting the ball at the UO 17. The Ducks' seventh penalty of the game set up Ryan Cesca's 32-yard field goal and the Beaver lead grew to 17-0 with 10:10 left in the quarter – Oregon's largest deficit of the year.

As Oregon began its next possession, ABC cut to sideline reporter Todd Harris, who observed, "I've got to tell you, the Oregon sideline is absolutely shellshocked. This team that is normally very confident and high on each other, they are all just absolutely amazed they are down 17-0." Responded Jackson: "Well, they'd better get rid of their amazement and get involved because they're going to be whipped."

The Ducks heeded the renowned broadcaster's advice. A 34-yard pass from Harrington to Marshaun Tucker down the right sideline moved the ball to the Beaver 5 and Harrington completed the drive with a six-yard quarterback draw to get Oregon within 17-7 with 7:38 to go in the half.

After forcing a punt, the Ducks were driving again but were set back by a facemask penalty against one of their offensive linemen. On fourth-and-two from the OSU 34, the Ducks took a delay penalty then opted to go ahead with a fake punt; the Beavers strung it out to end the threat with 2:46 on the clock. Thanks to taking the ball near midfield, Oregon State's subsequent punt left the Ducks pinned too deep to get in scoring position before intermission.

ABC's halftime programming included a news update labeled "ABC News Special Report: A Nation Waits." Florida had completed counting its overseas absentee ballots and George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore now stood at 930 votes with several counties continuing their by-hand recounts.

While Bush held the lead in the Sunshine State, the Beavers held their 17-7 halftime lead despite being outgained 250-156 in total yards, topped 13-7 in first downs and looking at a time of possession disadvantage of 19:00 to 11:00. Simonton had been held to just 10 yards.

Simonton got untracked on the first possession of the second half, breaking free for a 25-yard gain but OSU had to punt from its own 49. Oregon booted the ball back to Oregon State but the punt went just 24 yards, setting OSU up at its own 40.

Smith honed in on tight end Marty Maurer for a pair of passes covering 26 yards and hit Prescott for another 10 to reach the Oregon 20. From there, Simonton carried into the middle of the line, found an opening to the right and dashed across the goal line for his 50th career touchdown. Cesca missed the point-after wide right, ending his school-record string of conversion kicks at 80 in a row, and OSU's lead stayed 23-7 with 7:07 left in the third quarter.

"They started covering me, and that's when Ken started to roll," Maurer said. "If I could have scripted it, I couldn't have scripted it better."

As ABC's broadcast returned from a commercial break, it showed a fan holding a sign made up like a ballot with "Bush-Cheney" and "Gore-Lieberman," but the check mark was in the box next to an additional box: "Smith-Simonton." Oregon went on the march again, from its own 26 to the Oregon State 41, but from there a Harrington pass was tipped by defensive tackle Charles O'Neal at the line of scrimmage; Beaver linebacker Richard Seigler reversed his charge, dove back away from the line and grabbed the ball just before it hit the ground for OSU's third interception of the day.

"That was the money ball – I had to go get the money," Seigler said. "We were making big plays on defense all night. We came out smashing them. We knew what we wanted to do and we followed through like we have all year."

The Ducks forced a punt but had to start from their own 7, down two scores late in the third quarter. As it had most of the game, Oregon moved the ball and reached the Beaver 31. During the drive OSU safety Terrence Carroll limped off and was replaced by Calvin Carlyle, who was still recovering from a foot injury suffered two weeks earlier; Cookus was starting in Carlyle's place.

Harrington found tight end Justin Peele on the right side inside the Beaver 20 but his pass led him a bit too much; Cookus dove and picked off the ball at the OSU 13, his third interception of the afternoon. As Oregon State took over, Jackson asked, "Now the question begins to loom: is 23 points enough for Oregon State to win the game?"

It seemed possible, but the first play of the fourth quarter again left that in doubt. Smith's pass for Johnson was intercepted by Bauman and Oregon was in business at the OSU 30. The Ducks turned that into a one-yard touchdown run by Morris to draw within 10. They opted for a two-point try that could make it a one-score game and Morris tried the right side but Carlyle and Seigler stuffed the play and it stayed 23-13 – a two-score lead – with a long 14:24 to go in the game.

With Simonton continuing his second-half surge with runs of 19 and 13 yards, OSU reached the Oregon 43. The drive eventually got to the 20 but the Beavers had to settle for Cesca's 36-yard field goal try that went wide right. The lead remained 10 points with 9:43 to play – plenty of time for the Ducks' potent offense to make up that gap. Harrington had guided his team to comeback wins each of the past three weeks.

Indeed, Oregon took the ball to the OSU 10 and had first and goal from there with 6:56 to play. On second-and-goal from the 10, Harrington dropped back to pass; Oregon State defensive end Sefa O'Reilly hit him in the back from the blind side and jarred the ball loose. Defensive end DeLawrence Grant was where the ball fell, and Jackson called, "Grant picks it up, and Oregon State has the football – and perhaps the game."

"Too many turnovers," Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said of Harrington's day. "He battled, and unfortunately the ball a couple of times did not go where he wanted. Several of those plays were tipped … and unfortunately, it took a couple of what I call Beaver bounces."

The Beavers took possession just 6:06 away from a share of the Pac-10 title; a Smith scramble for 20 yards kept a clock-eating drive alive. Oregon State eventually faced fourth-and-four at the Oregon 31 with 2:57 left. Mike Fessler's punt was downed at the UO 3 and Jackson told viewers, "So that works to perfection as they put the Oregon Ducks in about the deepest hole you can put then in with 2:50 to go in the game, and Oregon is in trouble."

One more time, Oregon moved the ball, taking it out to its own 49 with just two minutes left. On first and 10, Harrington passed to his right; Grant – after initially rushing and then dropping into coverage – reached up with his right hand and snagged the ball for Oregon State's fifth interception and Oregon's sixth turnover of the day.

"So Oregon State with the ball and they will share, it appears, the Pac-10 crown with Oregon and perhaps Washington," Jackson surmised.

With just 1:48 left in the game and the Beavers at their own 45, it was a safe assumption. Simonton carried once into the line, then went wide left for a first down at the Duck 40. The ABC viewers got a look at head coach Dennis Erickson on the OSU sideline, pumping his arm in celebration.

Smith took a knee as Oregon State's students began scaling the wall behind the Beaver bench. Smith took another knee, then with 18 seconds left, did so once more; he immediately sprang to his feet and began sprinting toward the OSU sideline, right fist in the air and the ball cradled in his left arm.

"That's it," Jackson said. "Oregon State will run out the clock. Now here come the students racing out into the stadium, and they have just swallowed the field." After a few comments about there being no incidents as Oregon walked toward its locker room in Gill Coliseum, Jackson concluded, "So it is a festive ending here in Corvallis, Oregon, for the Oregon State Beavers as they go 10 and 1 for a historic moment in their football history."

Alongside those words was the view of a fan on the field holding a sign reading: "Hell Has Frozen / Pigs R Flying / Beavers R Champs"

Cookus, with his three interceptions, was a focus of postgame attention.

As Roy Gault of the Salem Statesman-Journal described Cookus meeting the media, "He stepped gently into the spotlight, exactly the opposite of the way he played the game, and soft-spokenly and humbly answered questions."

"I was just fortunate," Cookus said. "I was getting good reads on the quarterback, had a good feel for where he was going with the ball, and I was fortunate to get to those spots … growing up I always came to this game, but I never thought I'd be part of it like this. It's a great feeling. I was lucky to come in here at the right time."

Oregon ended up outgaining the Beavers 471-399, but those six Duck turnovers made the Beavers' defense the key to the outcome.

"We kind of knew we were going to have a good game against their offense," OSU cornerback Dennis Weathersby said. "A lot of mixups and turnovers. Maybe not this many, but we knew we'd be in the right place at the right time. Defensively, it was probably our best game."

Harrington finished with 333 yards passing, completing 24 of 46 attempts with no touchdowns and those five interceptions as he lost for just the second time in his 15 games as a starter.

"Some of those balls that were tipped or overthrown may have fallen incomplete in other games," Harrington said. "They made big plays – I give them a lot of credit."

Said Tucker: "Nobody's perfect. You can't really get on the General, Joey, for things that happened. It's not his fault everything that happened. Linemen got their hands up and things like that. He went out there and played hard. That's all you can ask from a quarterback."

Smith was 14-for-27 for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns with one interception; Prescott had six catches for 109 yards and the two early touchdowns and Maurer five receptions for 73 yards. After OSU's passing success loosened Oregon's defense, Simonton finished with 113 yards rushing and a touchdown on 24 carries – 103 of those yards coming in the second half.

"I'm just an extension of my brothers," Simonton said. "To shut me down lets my other side roll out. They feared our running game, so we opened it up. You can't keep doing that, or we'll kill you deep."

By game's end, Oregon had 12 penalties for 132 yards, Oregon State 13 for 137 yards – but the Ducks' infractions proved more costly. Asked about a reason for the frequent flags, Erickson simply offered, "Rivalry."

After the game, several of the Beavers referenced the Ducks spending the week stating their distaste for what had happened in Corvallis two years prior. At that game, fans stormed the field when they thought the game was over but a late penalty flag extended the proceedings, then the throng crowded the team benches for the remainder of the game before finally exulting in a double-overtime win.

"They talked a lot, and we tried to be quiet until the end of the game," Seigler said. "We didn't have any love for them."

Said Simonton: "When you do as much fast-mouthing before a game as they did, especially when you're going to somebody else's house, you'd better be ready. It didn't make much sense to me, how much they talked, unless they came ready to do some work."

Added Maurer: "My hat goes off to Oregon because they won the battle this week of talking smack. But we won the battle of the game today. So that just kind of shows you what happens."

The Beavers donned caps commemorating their Pacific-10 co-championship. For Oregon State, it was its first conference title since 1964; its ninth straight home win, the longest streak since 13 in a row from 1962-64; and the first six-game winning streak within a season since 1966. Not only had OSU won 10 games for the first time in school history, it would also play in a bowl game for a second straight season for the first time ever.

All of this just two years after OSU suffered through its 28th straight losing season.

"When you go 10-1 at a place that has never been 10-1 before, and when you see what has happened to these players who have been through a lot and four years ago were at rock bottom (with a 2-9 record in 1996), then it doesn't get much better than this," Erickson said.

Said Smith: "I'll tell you this: four years ago, I would not have put much money on Oregon State players getting to wear Pac-10 champion hats."

Outside, in Reser Stadium, one fan managed to scale the north goalpost but the increased security prevented any serious threat of bringing down either of them. From the Valley Football Center, OSU wide receiver Shawn Kintner watched the orange throng celebrate the historic win.

"Look at this," Kintner said. "I've never been in a game this big, one where so many people cared so much."

Most of the crowd was content to bask in the victory on the field before finding a place to watch the Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State that would determine whether the Beavers were Rose Bowl-bound; UW already held an early 6-0 lead.

That didn't in any way dim the joy of those leaving the stadium.

"They're awesome – it's great," OSU freshman Dan Yates told the Corvallis Gazette-Times. "I never thought I'd actually come to a school that could actually do this."

Erickson was asked whether the Beavers would gather as a group to watch the game in Pullman that could determine their bowl fate.

"I told them to enjoy themselves and do the right things," Erickson said. "They don't want to hang around with me."

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