No. 15 Ducks stormed back to win shootout against Tar Heels, scoring winning touchdown with 19 seconds to play
Welcome back, Holiday Bowl. Where’ve you been? Since we last saw you, old Qualcomm Stadium has been reduced to dust, a global pandemic came and mostly went, and the Padres started throwing around cash like Rodney Dangerfield at Bushwood Country Club.
“I had tears in my eyes at kickoff,” said Mark Neville, the bowl’s executive director. “I got text messages from directors of eight other bowls saying congratulations. They know what we’ve been through.” Oregon, No. 4 in the country in total offense, needed six plays and less than 2½ minutes to dent the scoreboard as Bucky Irving’s 2-yard run and the point after made it 7-0.
When the teams traded a pair of wide-right field goal attempts, you almost believed the offensively punch-drunk bowl might find some scoring sanity. Then, Irving knifed to a 66-yard touchdown on three cutbacks to make it 14-7 with 9:13 to play in the first half. Then came the play of bowl season. On a Nix pass attempt in the final minute of the half, a deflected ball bounced off the calf of Carolina defender Cedric Gray and foot of teammate Power Echols, who corralled it by his fingertips Immaculate Reception-style.
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