Wisconsin couldn’t overcome itself or Justin Herbert
9:24 PMBy Art Spander
PASADENA, Calif. — He didn’t even make the top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting, a comedown for Justin Herbert after a cover story in Sports Illustrated. The other guys — the winner, Joe Burrow of LSU, and Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma — had more yards and more attention.
The NFL scouts remained high on Herbert, however. He could throw the ball, which was expected of a top quarterback. And as he proved once more, on a beautiful blue-sky New Year’s Day in the 106th Rose Bowl game, he also could run with it.
Herbert rushed for three touchdowns, the most by a quarterback in a Rose Bowl in 13 years, and carried the University of Oregon to a 28-27 win over Wisconsin — which gave Herbert and Oregon the opportunity by losing three fumbles and throwing an interception.
“We didn’t overcome ourselves,” a downhearted Paul Chryst, the Wisconsin coach, said of the four turnovers.
But Herbert, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior who grew up near the Oregon campus in Eugene, overcame his failures and disappointment against Arizona State — a loss that knocked the Ducks out of the chance to play for the national championship but in a way may have been advantageous.
Oregon instead of Oklahoma would have faced LSU in one of the semifinals last weekend. The Sooners were battered, 63-20. Instead, Oregon goes to the Rose Bowl the first day of 2020, gets a thrilling victory on Herbert’s 30-yard run in the fourth quarter and may get a spot as high as No. 5 in the final rankings.
Wisconsin, which appeared to have the majority of the usual sellout crowd of 90,462 on its side — if you lived in the Midwest, wouldn’t you head for California in winter? — also for a long, long while seemed to have the game.
There was a six-play sequence in the first quarter that included a 95-yard touchdown kickoff return by Wisconsin’s Aron Cruickshank, a Herbert interception and another Badger TD, which gave Wisconsin a 10-7 lead.
And Oregon was virtually offensive on offense, their combined passing and running yards total of 204 was the fewest in a Rose Bowl game in 41 years.
But you can’t keep giving the other team the ball. Eventually, you give it the game.
“We would have liked to finish it differently,” said Chryst. Wisconsin finished it, the season, 10-4, Oregon 12-2.
Not surprisingly, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal called Herbert the best college quarterback in the land.
“He can beat you in so many ways,” said Cristobal after a game in which Herbert basically beat the Badgers on the ground, running four yards for a TD in the first quarter, five for one in the second and then the big 30-yarder with 7:41 left in the game.
“You see the legs,” said Cristobal, “you see the arms. But what you don’t see is the leadership and the heart. And in the end, that was the biggest difference, in my opinion.”
Herbert said of his winning TD dash, “It’s a rare opportunity. It’s something I haven’t experienced very often. But it was great.”
Oregon wasn’t great, but it was effective. The school’s athletic program (Nike U?) is on a roll. The basketball team, No. 5 in the rankings, very well could be better than the football team.
“We go hard now,” said Cristobal, an implication that the team was soft the previous year. “What we do is not kind and cuddly, and it’s certainly not for everybody. We stuck to a blueprint that is as demanding as it gets.”
A blueprint and a quarterback who runs and, most importantly, wins.