Wednesday Duckstory: 1992 Independence Bowl

This week’s Duckstory will feature the 1992 Independence Bowl that pitted the Ducks against Wake Forest in front of a crowd of over 31,000 and a national audience via ESPN. The Ducks had lost in the Freedom Bowl the year prior and were itching for a much different result this year. Led by quarterback Danny O’Neil, during the first half it looked as though Oregon would get their victory. Let’s take a look at how it all played out…

First Quarter: Oregon ended the first quarter 13 – 7 against Wake Forest. It was Wake Forest who struck first putting the Demon Deacons in the lead 7 – 0 but they wouldn’t see another touchdown until the second half. Oregon seemed to be unstoppable and Wake Forest was making mistakes. Oregon’s second touchdown during the first quarter was the result of a fumble recovery.

Second Quarter: The Ducks kept on rolling in the second half, holding Wake Forest to only a field goal and adding their own touchdown and field goal to the scoreboard. Oregon went into halftime with a 22 – 10 lead over the Demon Deacons.

Third Quarter: It began to fall apart for the Ducks during the second half. All looked well early in the 3rd with Oregon scoring another touchdown when Alex Molden intercepted a Wake Forest pass and walked into the endzone. After that touchdown the next four scores went to Wake Forest during the next four possessions and Oregon couldn’t do anything on offense. In the third Wake Forest cut the Duck’s lead to five going into the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter: At this point it was a close game that could have gone either way, but the Wake Forest offense kept on rolling with two more touchdowns. The Ducks were now facing a 10 point deficit and couldn’t put a score together again until the end of the fourth. It was too little too late and the clock ran out with Oregon losing by four points.

SCORING
WF…….John Leach 1 run (Mike Green kick), 12:33, 1st
UO…….Sean Burwell 40 run (Tommy Thompson kick), 9:21, 1st
UO…….Herman O’Berry 24 fumble recovery (pass failed), 1:08, 1st
WF…….Green 38 FG, 11:01, 2nd
UO…….Vince Ferry 4 pass from Danny O’Neil (Thompson kick), 4:03, 2nd
UO…….Thompson 48 FG, :47, 2nd
UO…….Alex Molden 8 interception return (Thompson kick), 9:43, 3rd
WF…….Ned Moultrie 1 run (Green kick), 3:54, 3rd
WF…….Todd Dixon 30 pass from Keith West (Green kick), :45, 3rd
WF…….Dixon 61 pass from Bobby Jones (Leach pass from West), 12:02, 4th
WF…….Leach 6 run (Green kick), 5:19, 4th
UO…….Ronnie Harris 10 pass from O’Neil (pass failed), 1:05, 4th

Next week we’ll feature the Duck’s 1995 trip to the Rose Bowl.

References:

 http://www.mmbolding.com/bowls/Independence_1992.htm

http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=30021