Saturday, December 26, 1998
Moschetti outshines Smith
By Paul Arnett
as Colorado wins
the Aloha Bowl
Star-BulletinThe atmosphere at the Jeep Aloha Bowl felt like a change-over at the U.S. Open tennis championship.
People were coming and going. The humidity was in a neck-and-neck race with the temperature. And there was even some talk that a linesman blew a call on Ben Kelly's 93-yard scoring scamper for Colorado during the opening kickoff.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti was as hot as John McEnroe after his Ducks' six turnovers spoiled his dish of revenge for the 1996 blowout loss to the Buffaloes.
He will go home to Eugene, Ore., believing he had the better team -- the statistics back him up -- but the bottom line was a 51-43 victory for Colorado in a game that had more big plays than the first team vs. the scouts in a spring scrimmage.
Most folks figured Oregon quarterback Akili Smith would produce his fair share of game breakers, and he did. But try as he might, he couldn't match little Mike Moschetti.
The 6-foot Colorado quarterback may have had half as many yards, but he threw twice as many touchdowns. And therein lies the difference in one of the wildest Aloha Bowls ever.
Down by as many as 30 points, the Ducks were forced to abandon the running game and turn it over to Smith. He responded with 456 yards and two touchdown passes.
But he also was sacked four times and threw two costly interceptions, including one that was run back to give Colorado a 44-14 lead.
Oh, the Ducks made a frantic run. And when a fake punt by the Buffs backfired, giving Oregon one last chance to tie, many were thinking overtime.
But Colorado was able to gather itself in time to secure its second bowl victory over Oregon in three years. Moschetti led the way by setting an Aloha Bowl record with four touchdown strikes.The first one was just 5 yards to Javon Green and was his only completion in his first seven attempts. He warmed up to complete a 58-yard pass to Marcus Stiggers, a 72-yard bomb to Darrin Chiaverini and a 20-yarder to Daniel Graham, which was the last time Colorado scored in the 228-minute game.
"Wasn't that fun?" Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel asked in that high-pitched, nasal voice that would be a good fit for an afternoon kids' show.
"This was a kick," he said. "I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas than with a hard-fought victory that can only help us as we go into next season."Oregon played well. Our defense played well but just ran out of gas in the end. We scored too quickly, which exposed our defense to a lot of humidity."
Meanwhile, Smith seemed to thrive on the heat. He completed 16 of 25 passes in the second half for 290 yards and two touchdowns. He and Moschetti were named MVPs.
Colorado finished with only 13 first downs. But it was the big plays that made the difference for the Buffaloes, starting with Kelly's opening kickoff.After breaking free at the 25, Kelly swung left and raced up the sidelines as his teammates cheered him on to his fourth career touchdown return.
Three of his steps came dangerously close to the white paint, but the officials ruled he remained inbounds to give Colorado a startling 7-0 lead.
The early disadvantage seemed to rattle Smith, who came into the doubleheader as the player receiving the most hype. He completed only 8 of 21 in the first half.
Unfortunately for Oregon, his poor play fell flat on the rest of the team. The Ducks pressed. And the harder they tried, the more miscues they made.
"The mistakes just killed us," Bellotti said of his Oregon team, which fell to 8-4 for the season. "I thought the missed touchdown (on a fourth-and-goal from the 1) right before the half really hurt us. But our kids never gave up. They believed we could win until the end."
The backbreaking mistake for Oregon occurred early in the third quarter. Smith took one step away from center and attempted a quick wide receiver screen. But Colorado cornerback Damen Wheeler stepped in, stabbed the ball with one hand, cradled it with both and ran 52 yards untouched for a touchdown."We thought we had them at that point, but give them credit, they kept coming back on us," Wheeler said. "They have a great quarterback and talented receivers."
Smith was forced to pass on nearly every down in the second half. He cut into Colorado's lead with a 9-yard touchdown toss to tight end Jed Weaver midway through the third quarter. Tailback Derien Latimer scored his third touchdown early in the fourth, and Smith found Donald Haynes for a 42-yard touchdown pass.
But it was a classic case of too little, too late.
"I was really proud of our guys for keeping their heads in the game," Neuheisel said. "Oregon is an outstanding football team that showed a lot of character in the final quarter.
"I thought we played very opportunistic football. Both teams kept making big plays on both sides of the ball. Even special teams came into play. To win a game like this requires a total team effort."
Colorado lost top tailback Marlon Barnes early on to an ankle sprain. With him down, the Buffaloes didn't have a first down in the third quarter.
Moschetti kept them in it with a big touchdown toss in the fourth, but his turnover late in the game proved costly.
"I was a little disappointed with the final two minutes," Moschetti said. "My fumbled snap gave them a chance to get back in it. But fortunately, we held on for the win, and that's all that counts."
See "Notebook"
Box Score
Colorado 51, No. 21 Oregon 43
Colorado 17 20 7 7--51 Oregon 0 14 7 22--43
Col--Kelly 93 kickoff return (Aldrich kick), 14:43.
Col--FG Aldrich 48, 6:36.
Col--Green 5 pass from Moschetti (Aldrich kick), 2:10.
Ore--Latimer 11 run (Villegas kick), 13:23.
Col--Stiggers 58 pass from Moschetti (Aldrich kick), 12:19.
Col--FG Aldrich 41, 10:00.
Ore--Latimer 6 run (Villegas kick), 7:11.
Col-- Chiaverini 72 pass from Moschetti (Aldrich kick), 6:53.
Col--FG Aldrich 23, :02.
Col--Wheeler 52 interception return (Aldrich kick), 10:39.
Ore-Weaver 9 pass from Smith (Villegas kick), 7:31.
Ore--Latimer 1 run (Villegas kick), 13:34.
Col--Graham 20 pass from Moschetti (Aldrich kick), 10:45.
Ore--Smith 1 run (Villegas kick), 7:13.Ore--Haynes 42 pass from Smith (Nero pass from Smith), 5:55.
Col Ore First downs 13 27 Rushes-yards 35-176 35-79 Passing 221 456 Comp-Att-Int 12-24-0 24-46-2 Return Yards 397 535 Punts-Avg. 6-51.5 4-48.3 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-4 Penalties-Yards 8-75 4-30 Time of Possession 26:42 33:18Rushing--Colorado: Cherrington 10-92, Stiggers 1-28, Barton 4-24, Barnes 8-24, Johnson 3-5, Moschetti 9-3. Oregon: Latimer 19-74, Chance 1-4, Smith 8-1, Cooper 1-0, Ho-Ching 6-0.Passing--Colorado: Moschetti 11-23-0-213, Johnson 1-1-0-8. Oregon: Smith 24-46-2-456.
Receiving--Colorado: Chiaverini 3-96, Stiggers 3-81, Cherrington 2-12, Green 2-4, Graham 1-20, Washington 1-8. Oregon: Griffin 8-146, Haynes 7-148, Nero 3-63, Weaver 3-45, Latimer 1-33, Collins 1-15, Young 1-6.
