Bulletin Daily Paper 01/11/11

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Special BCS National Championship Game section No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Oregon • Monday, Jan. 10 • University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

TUESDAY

MORE COVERAGE

• January 11, 2011 50¢

Four pages of coverage of Monday night’s title game, wrapped around the A section

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 NO. 1 AUBURN 22, NO. 2 OREGON 19

No joy in Duck-ville MARK MORICAL COMMENTARY

Ducks come close to a title, only to lose a heartbreaker GLENDALE, Ariz. — regon wide receiver Josh Huff weeped openly, the tears flowing from his cheeks. Defensive end Kenny Rowe ran over to console his teammate. While Auburn players reveled in a shower of confetti, Oregon players fought to hold back their emotions, many with lost looks in their eyes as they headed off the field at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Ducks are just not accustomed to losing. After Wes Byrum’s 19-yard field goal split the uprights with no time remaining to give Auburn a 22-19 win in Monday night’s BCS National Championship Game, Oregon’s dream season was snatched away on the biggest stage of college football. There is no doubt considerable pain among Duck players and fans today. But there should not be. Just consider what the Oregon football program has come back from. Look back to last offseason, which featured a string of player arrests culminating in quarterback Jeremiah Masoli’s dismissal from the team. “If you look at a lot of these guys’ faces right now, they’re hurting,” said backup quarterback Nate Costa, who suited up for the game but did not play after suffering a career-ending knee injury earlier this season. “It would be hard to match this one, as far as Oregon history goes. From where we’ve come, even from last winter, from the Rose Bowl, to all the trouble we had, to now, it’s unheard of and it’s pretty amazing.” Now look back to the opening game of last season, Chip Kelly’s first game as head coach — the Boise State loss and the LeGarrette Blount punch. See Ducks / Page 4

O

Photos by Rob Kerr / The Bulletin

Oregon’s David Paulson is stopped by the Auburn defense in the fourth quarter of Monday’s BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz.

THE GAME

Auburn knocks off Oregon with field goal on final play By Eddie Pells

The Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Auburn running back Michael Dyer never heard any whistle, so he just kept running — past the tackler who thought he had him down and deep into Oregon territory. Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a short field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night. The freshman running back upstaged Auburn’s Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared

down but wasn’t — his knee never hit the ground — as he rolled over defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position. Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum’s 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal — the one that capped off a perfect 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year. “Fifty-three years, baby!” coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. “This is for you. War Eagle!” See Auburn / Page 4

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton celebrates and talks to the media after the Tigers defeated Oregon to win the national championship on Monday night.

THE LOCAL SCENE

UO fans turn out in force By Beau Eastes The Bulletin

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin

MON-SAT

Kati Jordan, 32, and Kellie Calkins, 42, both of Bend, celebrate an Oregon score along with the partisan crowd at Tower Theatre in Bend during the BCS National Championship Game on Monday.

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Despite wearing the same shades of green as nearly everyone at Tower Theatre on Monday, Bruce Johnson stuck out like a sore thumb. Sitting eight rows up from the Tower’s 18-by-24-foot big screen, Johnson, 61, was literally bouncing in his seat waiting for the start of the NCAA Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game between the University of Oregon and Auburn University. “I’ve been excited all day, I could hardly work,” said Johnson, who actually gradu-

ated from Oregon State University, but became a Duck fan when he and his family moved to Eugene in the early 1990s. “I never thought this could happen. The Rose Bowl was always our goal. This is beyond our wildest dreams.” Johnson was hardly alone Monday as Oregon fans filled downtown Bend bars and restaurants, savoring the Ducks’ first appearance in college football’s national title game. They went home unhappy, however, as Oregon lost 22-19 on the Tigers’ field goal as time expired. Less than three blocks away at McMenamins Old St. Francis School, Ste-

ven Foster-Wexler brought his two young children, Maya and Marley, to watch the game on McMenamins’ big screen, which is usually reserved for late-run movies. The former Catholic school was filled to the max with “Quacker Backers” on Monday, with even standing spaces hard to come by. “We watched the World Cup here and decided to come down once we learned the game wasn’t going to be on network television,” said Foster-Wexler, 47, a 1987 UO graduate, who stood against the back wall at McMenamins with his son Marley on his shoulder and his daughter Maya on his right. See Scene / Page 3

On the web

More inside

• Visit www.bendbulletin.com/ducks for more photos and coverage of the game

• For a game summary, see Page 2 of the four-page special section; more coverage on Pages 3 and 4


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