Wednesday Duckstory: 1989 Independence Bowl

This week for the Wednesday Duckstory we’ll be looking at the 1989 Independence Bowl.  There had been a long drought of post-season play for the Ducks coming into this one.  That year the Ducks were the second place PAC-10 team and were heavily favored against Tulsa.  Rich Brooks was the head coach and it had been 26 years since Oregon’s last bowl game.

Oregon was led by junior quarterback Bill Musgrave, the temperature was a cold 29 degrees and it was a shaky start for the Ducks.  The Ducks went into halftime trailing Tulsa but the second half would prove to be all about Oregon.  Let’s take a look at the game quarter-by-quarter.

First Quarter:
Oregon started the game out with errors as Tulsa struck first after an interception and quick run into the end zone.  Oregon wasn’t far behind with a 29 yard field goal and the Ducks ended the first quarter down 3 – 7.

Second Quarter:

Oregon put some offense together in the second quarter and scored their first touchdown from a 20 yard pass to Tony Hargain.  They wouldn’t score again in the second quarter but Tulsa put up a 26 yard field goal and got another touchdown off a blocked punt followed by a 21 yard run late in the second quarter.  The Ducks went into halftime down again – this time it was 10 – 17.  Something would have to change in the second half for the Ducks and luckily it did.

Third Quarter:

It looked like a disaster for Oregon as Tulsa scored another touchdown early in the third quarter putting them up 24 – 10.  Then late in the third quarter Oregon started to gel on offense and put up another touchdown.  This time it was a 9 yard touchdown pass by Musgrave to junior Joe Reitzug.

Fourth Quarter:

Oregon sealed the game in the fourth quarter with another touchdown drive finished off by Musgrave’s first rushing touchdown.  It was back to even with a 24 – 24 tie.  After a fumble recovery by Tulsa that was overruled and given back to Oregon, Musgrave led the Ducks up the field and set up Gregg McCallum’s game winning 20-yard field goal.  The defense really stepped up for the Ducks in the second half and placed a huge role in their second-half comeback by holding Tulsa to only 102 yards of total offense during the second half of the game.  It was finally all over after a quarterback sack by Matt LaBounty with 2:12 remaining.  The Ducks would get the 27 – 24 victory over Tulsa that year.

SCORING
TU…….Brent Adams 1 run (Dave Fuess kick), 7:44, 1st
UO…….Gregg McCallum 29 FG, 1:25, 1st
UO…….Tony Hargain 20 pass from Bill Musgrave (McCallum kick), 6:56, 2nd
TU…….Fuess 26 FG, 2:15, 2nd
TU…….Derrick Williams 21 blocked punt return (Fuess kick), 0:22, 2nd
TU…….Adams 1 run (Fuess kick), 5:50, 3rd
UO…….Joe Reitzug 9 pass from Musgrave (McCallum kick), 2:05, 3rd
UO…….Musgrave 1 run (McCallum kick), 12:38, 4th
UO…….McCallum 20 FG, 3:07, 4th

Individual Leaders

Rushing
Loville (UO) 20-82, Obee (UO) 2-34.
Adams (TU) 26-72.

Passing
Musgrave (UO) 39-22-2-320,
Rubley (TU) 34-17-2-183.

Receiving
Reitzug (UO) 6-121, Hargain (UO) 5-100
McVey (TU) 4-47.