As a Boy Scout in Eugene in the late 1960's I had the duty/opportunity to serve as an usher at Autzen stadium for some of the Ducks games. One game in particular has stuck with me and I think exemplifies the Duck football experience prior to Mike Bellotti. Late in the season OJ Simpson was in town with USC and the Ducks were giving them more than they could handle. It was the fourth quarter, the score was close, I think a small Duck lead.

The Ducks got the ball fairly deep in their own territory and were struggling to move the ball. It seemed to me and probably most in the not-sold-out stadium that the Ducks would have to punt and USC would drive to win the game. Then an incredible play happened - a Duck receiver got behind everybody by about 20 yards, caught the ball and was headed to a sure score. He was chased by two Trojans but maintained an insurmountable lead. I was close to the 50 yard line and not very far from the field.

As the receiver came opposite me he stumbled, fell down and lost the ball. While the ball bounced about five yards away the receiver just lay there. Get up! Get up! I was thinking/shouting, but he didn't. The Trojans caught up a few seconds later and collected the ball, returning it back deep into Duck territory. If the receiver had simply lurched over to the ball the Ducks would probably have won the game.

USC went on to beat Notre Dame and be ranked number one at the end of the season. What could have been. I suspect the receiver assumed he had succumbed to inevitable Duck fate and that there was no hope. The "we can't have nice things" attitude that shows up even now sometimes. I have never seen anyone else recount this occurrence, even though there were probably over 20,000 in attendance that witnessed it. Does anyone else remember this?

Losing in the semifinals of the playoffs? Losing two previous championship games? My how far we have come!

Yes, in fact OJ's only college games under 100 yards were against the Ducks.

Of course, when you tackle him like this, makes you kinda hesitant to run the ball!!!

That was my first game. I was eight. I kept hearing about “Juice” but had little understanding of what was going on. That’s a good first college football game, I think.

TexasDuck I am in NE Texas, where are you?

Memory Lane! I ushered as a Boy Scout, only I grew up in Corvallis and at that time....loved to hate the Ducks. My best memory was ushering at the OSU-USC game of 1967 where the Beavers won 3-0 over OJ and John McKay.

It was a horribly muddy field at Parker Stadium, of which McKay donated the first dollar after the game to begin a fund for artificial turf.

Thank goodness I saw the light and went to Oregon!

30 minutes ago, Charles Fischer said:

Thank goodness I saw the light and went to Oregon!

Can I get an AMEN?

Gui...the game you remember...

1968 USC entered Autzen No. 1.  Ducks were 3-3 including losses at Colorado and at Ohio State.

It was USC’s first ever trip to Eugene.  All prior games had been in Portland.

Autzen had opened in 1967.   There were 33,500 in Autzen for the game.

OJ had rushed for 980 yds in his first 5 games, but Ducks held him to 67 yds on 25 carries.  He won the Heisman at the end of the season. He averaged 171 yds in 10-regular-season games, then rushed for 171 in the Rose Bowl.

The game was 13-13 when Trojan Steve Sogge fired a 3 yd pass for the TD:  20-13

The play you remember that set up USC for the winning TD drive was a 61-yd completion to Duck Greg Lindsey that started with Olson fading back into his own end zone after a USC punt was downed on the Duck 1-yd line.  Lindsey was chased down from behind by Trojan Ron Ayala who forced Lindsey’s fumble – which the Trojans recovered on their own 38.  With little more than 2 minutes left, USC went on a 62 yd drive for the winning TD helped by a 4^th down conversion and later a Duck pass interference. There was 1:12 left when USC scored.

Oregon responded with Olson passing the Ducks to the USC 8 yd line, but Duck Eric Olson had 3 incomplete passes in the last 28 seconds to end the game. QB John Harrington had been injured earlier during the game.

The Ducks outgained USC 359 to 196.  Coach Frei indicated in the post-game that if the Ducks had scored they would have gone for a 2-pt conversion to attempt the win.

The Trojans went 9-1-1 with some incredibly close winning scores: 3, 7, 7, 4, the 21-21 tie with Notre Dame, and 11-pt loss to Ohio St in the Rose Bowl.

3 hours ago, guiduck said:

As a Boy Scout in Eugene in the late 1960's I had the duty/opportunity to serve as an usher at Autzen stadium for some of the Ducks games. One game in particular has stuck with me and I think exemplifies the Duck football experience prior to Mike Bellotti. Late in the season OJ Simpson was in town with USC and the Ducks were giving them more than they could handle. It was the fourth quarter, the score was close, I think a small Duck lead.

The Ducks got the ball fairly deep in their own territory and were struggling to move the ball. It seemed to me and probably most in the not-sold-out stadium that the Ducks would have to punt and USC would drive to win the game. Then an incredible play happened - a Duck receiver got behind everybody by about 20 yards, caught the ball and was headed to a sure score. He was chased by two Trojans but maintained an insurmountable lead. I was close to the 50 yard line and not very far from the field.

As the receiver came opposite me he stumbled, fell down and lost the ball. While the ball bounced about five yards away the receiver just lay there. Get up! Get up! I was thinking/shouting, but he didn't. The Trojans caught up a few seconds later and collected the ball, returning it back deep into Duck territory. If the receiver had simply lurched over to the ball the Ducks would probably have won the game.

USC went on to beat Notre Dame and be ranked number one at the end of the season. What could have been. I suspect the receiver assumed he had succumbed to inevitable Duck fate and that there was no hope. The "we can't have nice things" attitude that shows up even now sometimes. I have never seen anyone else recount this occurrence, even though there were probably over 20,000 in attendance that witnessed it. Does anyone else remember this?

Losing in the semifinals of the playoffs? Losing two previous championship games? My how far we have come!

I remember that well. I think there was little over one minute left when he fumbled.

4 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

Memory Lane! I ushered as a Boy Scout, only I grew up in Corvallis and at that time....loved to hate the Ducks. My best memory was ushering at the OSU-USC game of 1967 where the Beavers won 3-0 over OJ and John McKay.

It was a horribly muddy field at Parker Stadium, of which McKay donated the first dollar after the game to begin a fund for artificial turf.

Thank goodness I saw the light and went to Oregon!

I was at that game too with a friend and his folks....

HDuck, thanks for the details! Things I did not remember or never knew. I disagree with the record on Lindsey's fumble though. It is pretty strong in my memory that the receiver was well ahead of the Trojans when he fumbled. I think I do remember reading accounts of the game afterwards that sound like what you wrote, and being puzzled by the different account.