Ducks run out of daylight.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

EL PASO, Texas - After 866 yards of offense, it came down to a foot or two here and a couple of inches there.

After 48 first downs, it mattered more what Minnesota did on a couple of fourth downs, the conversion of one that kept the game-winning drive alive and the field goal on another that ultimately decided the outcome.

After 3 hours and 40 minutes of football Wednesday, what Oregon was left asking for was a few more ticks on the clock.

`Fifteen more seconds,' mused Dan Weaver, the Oregon center. `I think we would have done it with 15 more seconds.

`I felt like whoever had the ball last would win the game, so I'm disappointed we didn't have a little more time on the clock. I know we would have taken it down there and finished the game.'

Instead, Oregon's final possession ended with Kellen Clemens throwing out of the grasp of a Minnesota defender in a situation where he couldn't afford a sack, and Justin Isom intercepting the wobbly pass with 10 seconds left.

Clemens completed 32 passes, in 42 attempts, and the one caught by the other team ended a pulsating Sun Bowl with the Golden Gophers on top 31-30.

One point, one last defensive stop, one more Clemens touchdown pass or another reception by Samie Parker - as if 16 weren't enough - and it might have been the Ducks celebrating at midfield as 2003 and the football season came to an end for Oregon in front of 49,894 in the Sun Bowl Stadium.

`Damn, man,' UO rover Marley Tucker said with a shake of his head. `We didn't think we'd lose until we saw those three zeroes on the clock.'

This was high drama, by any standards. There were a slew of records - for individuals and the teams - in this 70th Sun Bowl, and five lead changes in the second half.

Two of those came in the final 4 1/2 minutes, first when Jared Siegel kicked a 47-yard field goal to nudge Oregon into a 30-28 advantage, then finally when Rhys Lloyd's 42-yard field goal stayed inside the left upright and blooped over the crossbar to provide the winning points.

After at least one, if not two, Ducks felt they'd gotten a piece of the football on the kick.

`I tipped it, and it still went through,' UO safety Keith Lewis said.

Junior Siavii, the UO defensive tackle, who'd almost gotten a hand on a couple of earlier kicks by overpowering Minnesota blockers, said the football went off his forearm.

`I feel bad that I let my teammates down by not blocking it,' Siavii lamented.

Surely there were plays to rue and decisions to second-guess, but how much better can a bowl game play out?

The teams combined for 31 points in the second quarter, the highest-scoring 15 minutes in Sun Bowl history. Minnesota (10-4) could cherish Laurence Maroney rushing 15 times for 131 yards, giving the freshman 1,121 yards this season as half of only 30 duos from one team in college football history to each gain 1,000 yards in a season, with Marion Barber III already over the mark.

The Ducks (8-5) responded with Samie Parker setting Oregon records for receptions in a game (16), season (77) and career (178) as he accounted for 200 of the 363 passing yards by Clemens. Parker also had two of the touchdown receptions as Clemens matched a Sun Bowl record for touchdown passes with his three.

`It was a great game from the standpoint of the fans,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said. `I'm not sure we lost it, we just ran out of time.'

It was to preserve some precious seconds that Oregon used two timeouts in the final 40 seconds, after Minnesota had used its final timeouts with 1:36 left. The first stoppage by the Ducks came with 38.5 seconds left, after Devan Long had tackled Maroney for a 4-yard loss to leave the Gophers in a third-and-seven situation at the UO 30.

It would have taken a 47-yard field goal - into the wind - from there, so the Gophers ran for a 55th time, and Maroney moved Minnesota 5 yards closer. Then came another UO timeout, with 28.3 seconds left, as Minnesota prepared to kick that final field goal on a fourth-and-two play at the UO 25.

`They were already in field-goal range,' Bellotti said of the Oregon timeouts. `I didn't want them to have the final say.'

Oregon had shots at stopping the Gophers earlier on the drive to the final three points.

On third-and-three at the Minnesota 27 with three minutes left, Barber gained 5 yards. On an even more crucial fourth-and-two play at the UO 36, where it would have taken a 53-yard field goal to beat Oregon, the Gophers went for it and Maroney gained 3 yards and a first down with 52 seconds left.

`They kept nickel-and-diming us,' Tucker said.

The elusive Maroney led the 241-yard rushing effort by the Gophers and scored one touchdown, and bullish Thomas Tapeh added the finishing touches with three other scoring runs, two from a yard out, the other from 6 yards.

`We knew they were going to run the ball,' Lewis said. `We just couldn't stop them when we had to do it.'

On that 16-play drive that covered 55 yards to the winning three points, nine were runs by a tailback, for a net of 27 yards. The clock kept ticking, from 4:16 when the Minnesota drive started down to 23.1 seconds, when officials threw their hands into the air signalling the field goal by Lloyd was good.

`It was one of those things,' UO cornerback Steven Moore said. `We knew it was going to come down to who made the most plays, and they did. It was two great teams playing, but somebody's always got to lose.'

CAPTION(S):

Oregon's Devan Long (right) and Quinn Dorsey reflect the emotion of the Ducks' season-ending loss to Minnesota in the Sun Bowl on Wednesday. Kellen Clemens tries to get loose during the second half. Clemens finished 32-of-42 passing for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Collin Andrew / The Register-Guard Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard Minnesota quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq gets away from Oregon's Junior Siavii (center) and Quinn Dorsey during the Golden Gophers' victory Wednesday. Collin Andrew / The Register-Guard Minnesota head coach Glen Mason (left) smiles after he was doused by his players at the end of the Sun Bowl.