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BOX SCORE
|  | | Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington passed for 434 yards and tied a school record with six TD throws. |
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- An amazing comeback, a disastrous fumble and
an unexpected play call that fizzled capped an afternoon of high
drama and heartbreak at Sun Devil Stadium.
In a game as wild as college football gets, Joey Harrington
threw for 434 yards and tied a school record with six touchdown
passes as Oregon (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) beat Arizona State 56-55 in two overtimes
Saturday.
"I'm just speechless and in total shock right now," Harrington
said. "We're going home with an empty tank. We left everything --
physically and emotionally -- on the field."
The Ducks (7-1, 5-0 Pac-10) never led in regulation, but
Harrington threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final 3:21 of
the fourth quarter, the last with 27 seconds to go.
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Sat, October 28
At the end of the second overtime in the Oregon-ASU game, Todd Heap's dropped ball was the result of a penalty that wasn't called. Heap dropped the ball because he was trying to catch it one handed. He was trying to catch it one handed because the Oregon defensive back was holding his other hand. The official was right there and apparently didn't see it. If it had been called, ASU would have had another opportunity to kick the PAT or to go for two again.
But you have to give Oregon credit -- for playing a tough game and converting when they had to. Every championship team has a scare. The question, and often what makes them champions, is if a team prevails or falls by the wayside when they are scared or threatened. Oregon had that scary game today, and they fought through it. They played a tough road game against an opponent and coach that knows them well. Mike Bellotti's squad managed to get some breaks he will make sure they learn from. They now have a chance to win it out -- which they should do -- and go to the Rose Bowl. The Ducks control their own destiny.
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"They battled, never gave up," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said
of his players. "They believed, no matter what the scoreboard said
or how much time was left on the clock, we felt we had a chance to
win. That is the mark of a winner."
Allan Amundson, playing in place of injured Maurice Morris, ran
1 yard for the Ducks' touchdown on their second overtime
possession.
Arizona State (5-3, 2-3) followed with a 21-yard touchdown pass
from Jeff Krohn to Richard Williams. The Sun Devils set up for a
conversion kick that would have tied it again, but it was a fake.
Krohn, who threw for 432 yards and five touchdowns, rolled right
and threw to Todd Heap, but the tight end couldn't quite come up
with one of his trademark spectacular catches.
"This definitely was the toughest loss I've ever had to take,"
Arizona State linebacker Adam Archuleta said.
Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder said he went for the fake
because kicker Mike Barth's sore back had worsened as the game went
on. Snyder also said he was concerned that his injury-depleted
secondary would be able to stop Oregon.
"I thought about it through the course of the week actually
because we had been working on that play," Snyder said. "I
thought I'd give it a shot right there, and it didn't work out, so
that's totally on me. ... It's just heartbreaking that we couldn't
come away with the victory."
Krohn blamed himself for the play's failure.
"I just didn't get it there," Krohn said. "I just didn't get
it done."
Arizona State rolled up 667 yards against an Oregon defense that
entered the game leading the Pac-10 and ranked 10th nationally.
According to records dating to 1976, it was the most yards given up
by the Ducks.
At 7-1, Oregon is off to its best start since 1959 and stayed in
front in the race to the Rose Bowl.
The Sun Devils seemed to have sealed the victory when safety
Willie Daniel tackled Oregon tight end Justin Peelle at the 1 on a
pass play on fourth-and-goal from the 9 with 1:22 to play.
Arizona State tried to run out the clock, but Mike Williams, who
had scored on a 59-yard run to put the Sun Devils up 49-35 with
5:47 remaining in regulation, fumbled and Oregon's Jermaine
Hanspard recovered at the Arizona State 17.
On the next play, Harrington threw to Peelle for the touchdown
to tie it at 49 with 27 seconds to go.
Tom Pace, an Arizona State walk-on who works part-time cleaning
swimming pools, gained 158 yards on 33 carries and caught a 69-yard
scoring pass in his first collegiate start. Oregon's Marshaun
Tucker caught 11 passes for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Harrington completed 26 of 43 passes, and Krohn was 21-for-34.
Oregon gained 565 yards.
It was a crazy end to a tough trip for the Ducks, who sat on the
airport runway in Eugene for 2½ hours Friday night because of bad
weather in Phoenix. The team didn't get into its hotel until 1
a.m., and had to get up at 7 a.m. for the 12:30 p.m. kickoff.
The Ducks rallied to tie four times.
Arizona State broke a 28-28 tie when, on third-and-inches from
the Oregon 2, Krohn tossed a touchdown pass to fullback Stephen
Trejo, his first career score, to make it 35-28 with 14:38 to play.
Moments later, on third-and-14, Krohn connected with a wide-open
Richard Williams, who outran the defenders on a 90-yard touchdown
play that make it 42-28 with 11:52 to go. It was the fifth-longest
pass play ever for the Sun Devils, and Arizona State's longest in
15 years.
Harrington's 32-yard touchdown pass to Tucker cut the lead to
49-42 with 3:18 to play, but Arizona State recovered the onside
kick attempt.
The Ducks held, though, and drove down the field only to have
Peelle stopped at the 1.
Harrington fumbled twice in the second quarter when he was hit
by Archuleta as he went back to pass. The second fumble came in the
end zone, and Eric Fields recovered for a Sun Devils' touchdown to
put Arizona State ahead 21-7 with 6:56 left in the half.
While the Ducks lost Morris with bruised ribs, Arizona State
also had injury problems.
The Sun Devils sorely missed cornerback Kenny Williams, who went
out with a sprained knee on Harrington's 5-yard touchdown pass to
Tucker that tied it at 21 with 21 seconds left in the first half.
Harrington's six touchdown passes tied the school record set by
Danny O'Neill against Washington State in Oregon's Rose Bowl season
of 1994.
On the first overtime possession, the Ducks' Steve Smith
intercepted Krohn's pass, but Oregon's Josh Frankel missed a
42-yard field-goal try.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Oregon Clubhouse
Arizona State Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joey Harrington airs it out to Keenan Howry for a 26-yard TD.
avi: 1411 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Todd Heap stretches out to pull in the one-handed catch.
avi: 1125 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Maurice Morris busts through the Sun Devil defense for a 17-yard TD run.
avi: 1532 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Adam Archuleta sacks Joey Harrington in the end zone, creating a fumble and TD.
avi: 1261 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Donnie O'Neal and Jeff Krohn connect for a 28-yard TD.
avi: 812 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jeff Krohn scrambles and finds Tom Pace who takes it 69 yards for a TD.
avi: 1557 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Oregon coach Mike Bellotti says it's the greatest game he's ever witnessed.
wav: 118 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
An exhausted Oregon QB Joey Harrington is happy to go home with the win.
wav: 86 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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