Student Athlete: One week with the Oregon Ducks Football Tea

[JoeZeon100]

man i wish we stayed with these uniforms, them and the 1994 rose bowl uniforms where the best

[meloyellowduck]

What I would have given to see this back then. I was only ten, and used to idolize the 1995 team. Too bad no You Tube existed then.

[meloyellowduck]

I'll never forget how they all ran out wearing green! How cool to see Graz modeling in that uniform, and how they agreed mutually to wear that! (Wish they still voted like that as a team on what to wear!)

[camduckfootball]

to long and boring. i'm a duck fan and i am glad the beavers got the shit noked out of them but i dont under stand that the ducks lost to BSU. fuck that

[MVillani1985]

Wasn't 1994 the "Gang Green" team of Oregon? If I remember right, Penn State pounded them like they were a Division III team, but didn't get a share of the national championship.

Oregon's cheerleaders are hot, though.

[rockajangles]

Hmmm, that game was tied at 14 with about 20 minutes left before PSU pulled away to win 38-20. Not sure I'd call that an epic pounding.

State had a crap load of talent that year for sure.

[MVillani1985]

That was a bit of an exaggeration, but I still think Penn State winning by 18 points over what was the #6 team in the nation at the time is still amazing. As a Penn State fan, it felt like an epic pounding to watch them dismantle a very talented team like that. I think PSU should have gotten a share of the national championship after that win, though.

[keeerrrttt1]

That was a painful game in that Oregon beat itself as much as anything. Oregon Cb Herman O'Berry lowered his head insteda of wrapping up on the first play letting Kijana carter go for an 80-yard TD...Then Oregon squandered a scoring opportunity inside the 10 yardline letting time expire for the half, and missed four FGs. There also was a key Carter fumble that was incorrectly ruled down.

Oregon had many chances to compete in that game, but ya can't make mistakes against great teams and win.

[MVillani1985]

I agree that mistakes are what kept Oregon out of the game, but Penn State was still much too powerful to be stopped. But you were the #6 team in the nation at the time and you showed us why. A similar game from more recent times is PSU vs Notre Dame 2006. ND won 41-17 but PSU kept pace with the Irish the whole game.

But I think the #2 team beating the #6 team 38-20 should have allowed a share of the NC. Would you agree that the voters screwed PSU that year out of a share of the NC?

[keeerrrttt1]

That Penn State team SHOULD have won the national championship, I thought it was BS how they dropped to #2 solely because their margin of victory over Minnesota that year wasn't large enough.

Oregon was a cinderella, the little guy who improbably beat up the bully to be there. NOBODY, not even the most optimistic of Oregon fan, ever dreamed of Oregon getting there. Just to be in the game was an amazing achievement. PSU was amazing team and even in an 18 point loss we were so happy over UOs play

[MVillani1985]

Actually that was Indiana they got punished for (and Ohio State). But I agree with you. They beat Minnesota 56-3 early on. After dropping in the Coaches polls to #2 after beating Ohio State 63-14 (with the reserves in for most of the second half), Kerry Collins said in response "What do they want us to do to these teams?!", because it seemed like they wanted an 84-7 game instead (which IMO, is just cruel to do to a team). That Indiana game they really got punished for was never in doubt.

[MVillani1985]

The 35-29 score should have been 35-14, since that's what it was when JoePa pulled the rest of his starters (he pulled some after going up 28-7). Indiana scored a garbage time TD with 1:48 to make it 35-21, then forced the backups to punt, and then as time expired, the already defeated Hoosiers threw a Hail Mary, then ran in a 2 point conversion to make it appear as close as possible at 35-29. Strange how in 2006 Ohio State wasn't punished for a 14-6 Penn State game and the 17-10 Illinois game.

[MVillani1985]

And that 2006 game was one where Penn State dominated, but had only 6 points to show for it. It was a lot like the 2004 Cal vs USC game. And their 17-10 win was over a 2-10 Illinois team, yet they never dropped.

Usually I love to cheer for Cinderella teams, but you can understand why I made an exception for the Rose Bowl that year. But I thought Oregon still played an amazing game, even though they came up short. 1994's Oregon Ducks are similar to the 2007 Illini, who almost won the Big 10.

[keeerrrttt1]

Mea culpa mixing up Indiana & Minnesota. That was back when margin of victory mattered, which is why OSU gets into the NC with 14-10 wins.

The Rose Bowl was the watershed moment for oregon, a nothing program that built itself into a national powerhouse as a result of the great achievements of the 1994 rose bowl team. The more ya read into the 94 team the more you'll see how truly remarkable that team was, the kind of thing they make cheesy Disney movies about because it's so unrealistic.

[MVillani1985]

That was probably the best example of a coach getting punished for showing respect to the other team by pulling the starters at the end (the Indiana game).

Actually, now that I think about it, the 1994 Oregon team was a lot like the dynamite 1995 Northwestern team. After years of being the doormat of the Big Ten, Northwestern goes to the Rose Bowl.

Do you think we'll see another Oregon team like the 1994 team? That would be cool. That year helped put an end to USC and The Nine Dwarves.