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Duck 'D' comes to the rescue By Don Hunt EUGENE - When the final chapter of the 2001 Oregon football season is written, it will be remembered for its marquee offensive players. Quarterback Joey Harrington, and his flirtation with the Heisman Trophy. Running backs Onterrio Smith and Maurice Morris, and their march to 1,000 yards apiece. Wide receiver/kick returner Keenan Howry, and his superb catches and scintillating punt returns. And the defense? Well, the defense will be forgotten as quickly as what we had for dinner last Tuesday. And yet it was Oregon's defense that saved the day during Saturday's 17-14 Civil War victory over Oregon State. On a mostly rainy, often windy and unmistakably miserable afternoon that 46,075 hearty fans dared to endure at Autzen Stadium, the Ducks' 'D' rescued the team's record 10th regular-season victory and kept alive their slim hopes of a berth in the national championship game. And, at the same time, sent the Beavers packing without a winning season and without a bowl berth. Cornerback Rashad Bauman put the exclamation point on Saturday's effort. With the Beavers having seized the momentum and trailing by three points with just over a minute left in the game, Bauman intercepted a Jonathan Smith pass along the left sideline at the Oregon 31 and returned it to the OSU 32. With the Beavers out of timeouts, all Harrington had to do was kneel down a couple times and that was that. "They were out of timeouts with only a minute left and so I knew they'd try an out pattern," said Bauman, who is listed at 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds but looks an inch shorter and 10 pounds lighter. "They weren't going to throw the ball in the middle of the field. I read it, broke on the ball and it was off to the races." Only moments earlier, Harrington had fumbled the ball away at the Oregon 33 while attempting to pass, and potentially fumbled away his Heisman hopes. But Bauman and crew came through in the clutch. As has been the case so often this season, the Oregon defense bent like warm taffy but held firm in the red zone. OSU finished with a 359-209 advantage in total offense, a 19-10 edge in first downs and converted on seven of 20 third-down opportunities. And yet until the Beavs drove 69 yards in 11 plays late in the fourth quarter, with Smith connecting on a 24-yard touchdown strike to Josh Hawkins followed by a two-point conversion pass to Shawn Kintner with 2:31 remaining, all they had to show for it was a pair of first-half field goals by Kirk Yiniemi. "Yards don't beat you, (giving up) points beat you," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "And other than that late drive that's about as tough as our defense has played in the red zone this season." Asked why Oregon's defense seems to get feistier the closer an opponent gets to its goal line, linebacker Kevin Mitchell said, "I think as a team we just say that it's time to bow our necks and take some pride in what we're doing." Mitchell had his neck bowed all day as he registered 17 tackles, eight of which were unassisted. "We try to play the same the whole time," he added, "but we seem to fly around a little more at crunch time." The Ducks took pride in preventing OSU's Ken Simonton from reaching 1,000 yards, a plateau he was attempting to reach for the fourth straight year. Simonton needed 113 yards Saturday but finished with only 92 on 26 carries. Simonton finished the season with 989 yards and had 4,802 yards for his career, the 15th highest total in NCAA history. "Our focus during the week wasn't to keep Ken Simonton from getting 1,000 yards, it was to beat Oregon State," Ducks defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. "But anytime you hold him in check to some degree, as we did today, then your chances of winning go way up." Oregon's defense held the fort long enough for Howry to make the game's biggest play, the 70-yard punt return with 14:36 left that gave the Ducks a 10-6 lead, their first of the day. Seconds later, heavy sheets of rain and sleet rarely seen even in these parts pelted the field, making it almost impossible for OSU to move the ball on its next series. Oregon got the ball back, the rain let up and the Ducks drove 80 yards to paydirt to take a 17-6 lead. "Today was a tough day for our offense, but a good day for the defense," Bellotti said. Not that many folks will remember the scenario a month from now. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.