College Football Old School Game of the Week: "The Pick" Completes Oregon Upset Over Washington

Oregon defensive back Kenny Wheaton races toward the end zone to complete his 97 yard interception return for a touchdown that would become known as "The Pick" by Oregon fans.

Almost every major college football program has a play that shapes its history.
For Boston College, its Doug Flutie's game-winning 48-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Phelan as time expired to give them a win over Miami in 1984 and sealing Flutie's Heisman Trophy winning season.
For the Auburn Tigers, it's the "Kick-Six" where Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 109 yards for the game-winning touchdown as time expired to give Auburn a shocking win over Alabama in the 2013 Iron Bowl, propelling them to the national championship game.
But for the Oregon Ducks, they have a play that not only propelled to greater heights, it also changed the fortunes of their program.
Oregon entered their contest with the Washington Huskies unranked with a 4-3 record, but with a 2-1 record in the Pac-10, an upset over the Huskies could put the Ducks in the thick of the Pac-10 title chase and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
However, the Ducks had not been to the Rose Bowl since the 1957 season and had won only 42% of their games in the past 30 years.
The Ducks would coached by Rich Brooks, who had been the Oregon head coach since 1978 and had complied only six winning seasons during his tenure in Eugene.
Despite their bad history, the Ducks felt they had a good chance to pull off the upset thanks to a strong defense nicknamed "Gang Green" since the Ducks were green uniforms, that had held opponents to about 14 points per game entering their game with the Huskies which would be played at home in Autzen Stadium.
Washington entered the game ranked #9 with a 5-1 record which included a 38-20 win over the Miami Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl ending the Hurricanes' 58-game winning streak at the Orange Bowl.
Despite having a strong team which featured quarterback Damon Huard and running back Napoleon Kaufman, who was averaging 167.3 yards per game up to this point, the Huskies were ineligible for the Pac-10 title or the postseason as players had received improper benefits during the 1992 season, leading NCAA sanctions that banned Washington from playing in a bowl and competing for the Pac-10 championship for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
This led to the resignation of head coach Don James, who had lead the Huskies to six Rose Bowl appearances, winning four of them, and sharing the 1991 national championship with Miami, just weeks before the 1993 season began.
James was replaced by his longtime defensive coordinator Jim Lambright who directed the Huskies to a 7-4 season in 1993.
With nothing to lose, the Huskies hoped to squash Oregon's dreams of making a run to the Rose Bowl as they traveled to Eugene to take on the Ducks, a team that Washington had defeated 17 out of their previous 20 meetings.

Washington running back Napoleon Kaufman would carry the ball 23 times for 101 yards.

The Huskies got the first scoring opportunity of the game after forcing the Ducks to go three-and-out on their opening possession to get the ball at the 50-yard-line and drove to the Oregon 29-yard-line to set up a 46-yard field goal attempt by John Wales which sailed wide left, keeping the game scoreless.
Most of the first quarter would be a defensive stalemate as neither team was able to put together a drive into scoring position until Kaufman busted loose for a 37-yard run to the Oregon' 24-yard-line near the end of the first quarter.
The long run would set up another field goal attempt for Wales, which this time he made from 38 yards out on the second play of the second quarter to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Oregon running back Ricky Whittle give the Ducks a jolt as he returned the kick 88 yards to the Huskies' 13-yard-line, which two plays later would lead to the Ducks' first touchdown a eight-yard run by Dino Philyaw to give Oregon a 7-3 lead with 13:50 left in the second quarter.
Washington would return the ensuing kickoff to their 23-yard-line, but on 2nd & 9 Huard would be intercepted by Oregon cornerback Alex Molden who returned the pick to the Huskies' 19-yard-line.
Then after Oregon quarterback Danny O'Neil hit wide receiver Dameron Ricketts for 17 yards to give Oregon a 1st & goal at the two-yard-line, Whittle punched it for the Ducks' second touchdown in 77 seconds to extend their lead to 14-3 with 12:33 to go in the first half.
It would only take the Huskies 31 seconds to make a one-score game again as Huard connected with wide receiver Eric Bjornson for a 51-yard touchdown to cut the Oregon lead to 14-10 with 12:02 left before halftime.
After both teams combined for 24 points in a span of 2 minutes and 48 seconds, things settled down a bit as both teams exchanged punts until the Huskies got the ball at their 44-yard-line midway through the second quarter.
Following two straight incomplete passes, Huard found Dave Janoski for a 43-yard gain to give the Huskies a 1st & 10 at the Oregon 13-yard-line.
However, the "Gang Green" defense held the Huskies to just one more yard and forcing a 29-yard field goal by Wales which he made to cut the Oregon lead to just one point, 14-13 with 3:19 left in the first half.
From there, the defenses would control the game as neither team would mount another scoring threat for the rest of the half leaving the game at 14-13 in favor of the Ducks after 30 minutes.

Washington quarterback Damon Huard threw for 254 yards on 20-of-39 passing and one touchdown, but was also intercepted twice.

The defensive stalemate continued throughout the second half with the exception of a short drive by the Ducks in the middle of the second quarter where they drove 24 yards in nine plays to set up a 45-yard field goal by Matt Belden to increase the Oregon lead to 17-13 with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter.
The Ducks kept their 17-13 lead going into the 4th quarter until O' Neil was intercepted when a pass intended for Dwayne Jones, bounced off his hands and into the arms of Washington cornerback Reggie Reser, whose 21-yard return gave the Huskies offense the ball at the Oregon 29-yard-line.
Washington would be able to convert the interception into points as fullback Richard Thomas punched it in for a 10-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 20-17 lead with 7:44 to go in the game.
It looked like the Ducks were going to get the ball at their 20-yard-line following the ensuing kickoff after Oregon defensive lineman Troy Bailey threw a punch following the extra point, drawing a 15-yard personal foul penalty, meaning the Huskies would kick from the 50-yard-line.
But the kick was short and caught by Pat Johnson, who slipped and fell at his two-yard-line, meaning the Ducks would have to drive 98 yards for a potential go-ahead touchdown.
That is when O'Neil, who had struggled mightily throughout the game as he had only completed six of 16 passes for 61 yards up to this point, dropped back and fired a pass toward Ricketts, who made the catch at the Oregon 18-yard-line and proceeded to run downfield until he was tackled 20 yards later at the Ducks' 38-yard-line for a 36-yard gain, the longest play from scrimmage for the Oregon offense.
Then on 3rd & 8 from the 40-yard-line, O'Neil connected with Johnson, atoning for his fall, for a 10-yard gain and another 1st down at the 50-yard-line.
On the very next play, O'Neil connected with Rickets again, this time for 21 yards to put the Ducks at the Huskies' 29-yard-line and another 1st down.
Then on another 3rd & 8, O'Neil used his legs to get the 1st down, as he scrambled for the eight yards to give the Ducks one more 1st down at the Washington 19-yard-line.
Following his scramble, O' Neil handed it off to Whittle, who picked up seven yards on 1st down, but was stopped for no yards on 2nd down, setting up a critical 3rd & 3 at the Huskies' 12-yard-line.
That is when O'Neil gave the ball to fullback Dwayne Jones, who went straight ahead for the 12-yard touchdown to complete the 11-play, 98-yard drive and gave the Ducks a 24-20 lead with 2:40 left in the game.

Oregon quarterback Danny O'Neil completed all four of his passes for 68 yards and ran for eight yards on Oregon's 11-play, 98-yard touchdown drive which gave the Ducks the lead.

After Kaufman returned the ensuing kickoff 15 yards, the Huskies had 75 yards and 2:33 left on the clock to drive for the winning touchdown and escape the upset.
The drive began with a seven-yard pass from Huard to wide receiver Eric Bjornson, which was followed by Huard avoiding a sack on 2nd down and completing a 23-yard pass to Bjornson to give the Huskies a 1st down at the Ducks' 45-yard-line.
But after Huard threw three staright incomplete passes, the Huskies were faced with a do-or-die 4th & 10.
That is when Huard found Bjornson for the third time on the drive, this time for 14 yards to give the Huskies a 1st down at the Oregon 31-yard-line with 1:49 to go.
Following two more incomplete passes, Huard would scramble for 11 yards and another 1st down at the 20-yard-line, which was followed by a 12-yard pass to tight end Mark Bruener to give the Huskies a 1st & goal at the eight-yard-line with 1:05 left to play.
With his defense on the ropes, Brooks called timeout in hopes of calming the "Gang Green" defense down and giving them a chance to rise up and keep the Huskies from breaking the Ducks' hearts with a touchdown.
That is when it happened.
Huard dropped back three steps and fired a pass toward the left side of the field, intended for Bjornson, only to have Wheaton jump in front of the Huskies wide receiver to make the interception at the three-yard-line.
Wheaton ran down the sideline until he made a cut at the Oregon 40-yard-line where he split though Huard and Bruener, who made a futile diving attempt at a tackle and ran untouched for the 97-yard touchdown to make a 31-20 lead with 49 seconds to go in a play that will forever be known by Oregon fans as "The Pick".

Washington would drive into Oregon territory in the final seconds but would not score again as Oregon fans ran out onto the field to tear down the goal posts at Autzen Stadium as the Ducks completed the 31-20 upset over #9 Washington.
Following the loss to Oregon, the Huskies would go 2-2 for the rest of the season to finish the season with a 7-4 record for the second year in a row and out of the final AP and Coaches Poll rankings.
With the sanctions lifted for conference championships and postseason play, the Huskies would share the Pac-10 title in 1995 with the USC Trojans, but would ended up playing in the Sun Bowl, instead of the Rose Bowl, thanks in large part to another loss to Oregon.
Lambright would be fired after the 1998 season complying a 44-25-1 record but a 1-3 record in bowl games which did not include the Rose Bowl.
As for the Ducks, the win over Washington spring-boarded the Ducks' run to the Pac-10 championship as they would win their next four games to win the Pac-10 title and earn a trip to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 37 years.
The Ducks' Cinderella season would come to a screeching end as they were steamrolled by the Penn State Nittany Lions 38-20 in the Rose Bowl, which was Brooks' last game as the Ducks head coach as he left to become the head coach of the St.Louis Rams as Oregon offensive coordinator Mike Belotti would become the Ducks' head coach.
But if ever one play changed a program's fortunes, "The Pick" did that for Oregon.
Since 1995, the Ducks have had only two losing seasons and have played in the postseason in 20 seasons, including three more trips to the Rose Bowl, including wins in 2011 and 2014.
Oregon has also complied 10 seasons where they won at least 10 games and have twice played in the national championship game(2010, 2014) and produced a Heisman Trophy Winner in quarterback Marcus Mariota in 2014.
Even today, "The Pick" is still celebrated by Oregon fans as video of the play is played on the jumbotron before every home game at Autzen Stadium.