DANNY ONEIL

The secret behind Oregon’s success: Kenny Wheaton guessed

Oct 5, 2016, 6:32 AM | Updated: 9:05 am

Oregon has won 12 straight games against Washington, a Husky fan's waking nightmare. (AP)...

Oregon has won 12 straight games against Washington, a Husky fan's waking nightmare. (AP)

(AP)

Kenny Wheaton guessed.

That’s the dirty little secret behind the 20-year rash that is Oregon football.

The Ducks cornerback played a hunch 21 years ago, jumped an out route and changed the course of conference history.

If there had been a pump fake or a fade route or if Dave Janoski’s out route had been called at 10 yards instead of 5, we would not be having this conversation.

But Wheaton guessed right, picked off Damon Huard’s pass and ran 97 yards the other way for a touchdown, and we’ve been hearing about it at Washington ever since. We’ll see it on Saturday, too, since that’s the last highlight that plays before every Oregon game at Autzen Stadium.

That is the historical backdrop for what is the single most painful reality for any Huskies fan. Going 0-12 in 2008? That’s nothing compared to losing 12 in a row to the program that is thankfully located downwind.

It’s a streak that I hope ends on Saturday, Washington ranked No. 5 in the country and coming off a 38-point victory over the reigning conference champion, Stanford. It’s a streak that I pray ends on Saturday, Oregon having lost three in a row and reportedly preparing to start a freshman quarterback. But speaking honestly, it’s a streak that I’m at least a little bit worried won’t end on Saturday, because if the Huskies can’t beat Oregon this season, when exactly will they?

I’m torn on how to proceed right now. A deep-rooted sense of fairness compels me to note that the recent inadequacy of Washington’s football program is responsible for a large degree of my bitterness and the undeniable success of Oregon spawned the rest.

This is also personal for me, too. Partly because I was born in that state (though I had the good sense to move out at age 15). It’s also because I happen to share a name with the Oregon quarterback who led the Ducks to the Rose Bowl back in 1994, and just about every year I receive a phone call or an email from someone thinking I’m that Danny O’Neil. And every single time I’m tempted to elaborate on how much I now loathe the University of Oregon, that I want nothing to do with that school and am embarrassed that my name is attached to it without every explaining that I’m not – in fact – that Danny O’Neil.

Mostly, it’s hard to get leapfrogged in the grander scheme of college football, especially when your school finds itself in the gutter with no guarantee it will ever get out.

We used to look down on Oregon. It was the school whose color scheme resembled nasal discharge and whose mascot was borrowed from Walt Disney. It was the school that the Huskies beat 17 times in the 20 meetings from 1974 through 1993, the year I enrolled at Washington.

Then came Wheaton’s interception and suddenly the programs were on equal footing. Oregon and Washington split the next 10 meetings starting in 1994 with five wins apiece.

And then Oregon pole-vaulted to the top of the conference while Washington skidded into its nether regions. The Ducks promoted Chip Kelly, the Huskies hired Tyrone Willingham, and then the only way for Washington to gain an advantage over Oregon was to reference Washington’s increasingly distant history while insulting the Ducks’ relative lack of it.

And don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to mock the Ducks’ lack of pedigree. They are the Beverly Hillbillies of the Pac-12, after all. A veritable Jed Clampett, only instead of firing a shotgun into the ground and discovering black gold or Texas tea, the Ducks managed to drill a well into Phil Knight’s wallet.

So they get ornate locker rooms. And new uniforms every week. They even won a Rose Bowl. Actually two, which is pretty good, I guess. After all, that’s what started Oregon’s run of success:

A guess.

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