Oregon was rewarded with its loss in the Civil War today with an invitation to the fifteenth Las Vegas Bowl on December the 21st; the winning Oregon State team was punished with a trip to El Paso/Juarez for the Sun Bowl on the 29th. What a tragedy indeed. Most Duck fans I know aren't torn up by having to "settle" for Vegas over El Paso.
The opponent for Oregon is Brigham Young University (BYU), which should be a great match-up between the two high powered offensive teams. It is also a rematch of one the greatest games in Oregon history, from September 29th 1990 when the fourth ranked Cougars, behind the Heisman trophy candidate Ty Detmer, fell to the Ducks 32-16. Detmer got his passing yards in the game (442), but the Ducks held their running game in check, and limited them to -47 yards total.
The Vegas Bowl, at Sam Boyd Stadium, has been host to the Ducks before; in 1997 a 6-5 team took on a higher ranked Air Force Academy, many of whose fans felt more than a little bit miffed that they weren't playing a team with a better record. Two offensive plays for the Ducks in, barely 3 minutes into the game, and Oregon was leading 14-0, the first touchdown a 69 yard pass down the left sideline to Pat Johnson from Akili Smith, the second was a 76 yard gallop up the middle by Saladin McCulloch, who was mostly untouched as the Air Force defenders were basically left dead in their tracks on both plays. A complete recount of the game is HERE
I attended the game on a package tour from Azumano Travel and stayed in the same hotel as the team did, the MGM Grand. Caesar's Palace was the team hotel for Air Force. I had a wonderful three days and two nights doing what people do in Vegas, of which I can dutifully report that I remember nothing of ;)
LAS VEGAS BOWL
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