Fresno’s OT loss to Oregon a bitter pill to swallow

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

It didn't take long for the Western Athletic Conference to test out the new overtime rule. And thanks to Tony Graziani's arm, the WAC is 0-1 in OT.

Fresno State did everything right against Oregon except one thing -- it couldn't shut down Graziani, the Ducks' senior quarterback. Graziani's 25-yard touchdown strike to Josh Wilcox negated the 35-yard field goal by Fresno State's Armen Torigian and gave Oregon a hard-fought 30-27 victory.

"It was a very difficult thing to live with," said Bulldogs coach Jim Sweeney of the OT loss. "It was like Dominic Young's 3-pointer to beat Utah. It takes the wind right out of you. Our people were stunned."

Graziani, who had three TD passes to lead the Ducks to victory, went for it all on the first play of Oregon's first OT possession. Fresno State had all but shut down Oregon's ground game, limiting the Ducks to just 43 yards. Still, despite the fact the Bulldogs knew he would go upstairs, Graziani found Wilcox and pulled out the victory.

"If he's not out there, they lose by three touchdowns," Sweeney said of Graziani's impact on the game.

Sweeney said the Bulldogs played it right in OT. They just got beat.

"We were prepared," he said. "We knew the rules. The things you have to ask yourself when you're in a situation like this is, 'Are you effective in throwing the ball in the red zone?' and 'Can you do the things that got you to overtime?'

"You don't have a secret list of plays for overtime. You have to run what got you there."

Which is why Oregon let Graziani go for it with his arm. He delivered. Just like he had in regulation.

Title tickets on sale

Tickets for the WAC's inaugural championship game Dec. 7 at Sam Boyd Stadium are on sale at the Thomas & Mack Center box office and through TicketMaster.

Prices are $40 for pavilion seating, $25 for stadium seating and $15 for club seating. In addition, a limited number of $100 VIP seats are available.

Commissioner Karl Benson said he didn't have a number on the response from WAC season-ticket holders, but he was confident the pre-sale would be good.

"We sent out brochures over a month ago and I believe we'll have a good response," he said. "We're still waiting for the report."

Benson also said he was satisfied with the necessary improvements and expansion to the stadium. Eight thousand seats were added to the north end zone and the press box was gutted and refurbished.

"For now, we're satisfied," he said. "Whether adjustments have to be made, we'll have to wait and see how things go Dec. 7."

Benson also said the local committee, which is being headed by the Fiesta casino-hotel's Gavin Maloof, was still being pieced together and there was nothing to report. Maloof has said his goal is to sell 20,000 seats to the game to local interests.

A happy Joe

There may be a lot of San Jose State players who aren't happy about their WAC debut. But you can count Joe Furlow among the minority of Spartans who love the WAC. Or at least love the altitude of the Rocky Mountains.

The senior punter had a career day in the Spartans' 45-0 loss to Air Force at Falcon Stadium. He had three punts travel more than 70 yards and finished the day with a 56.8-yard average in six attempts. Furlow's three big punts traveled 71, 74 and 73 yards -- all in the first half.

Only one SJSU punter, Lee Myhre, had ever kicked more than one 70-yard punt in his career. He had two. And while Furlow was having a fun day in Colorado Springs, he was unable to break Leroy Zimmerman's school record 80-yard kick set back in 1938.

WAC notables

* PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: The first WAC Players of the Week were announced Monday. In the Pacific Division, Colorado State fullback Damon Washington, Air Force linebacker Chris Gizzi and Wyoming kicker Cory Wedel were the offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week, respectively. In the Mountain Division, New Mexico tailback Lennox Gordon, Southern Methodist linebacker Craig Swann and Brigham Young kicker Ethan Pochman were accorded similar honors. ... Wedel set a school and WAC record by kicking six field goals and tied another mark by scoring 20 points, which was half of Wyoming's output in its 40-38 win over Idaho.

* ON THE TUBE: Four WAC games will be televised around the nation Saturday. The TCU-Oklahoma and Utah-Stanford games will be televised regionally on ABC, while the entire country will get Colorado-Colorado State on ESPN2. The Wyoming-Iowa State game will be aired on Prime Network.

* SEASON DEBUTS: Rice, TCU and San Diego State open their 1996 seasons this weekend with the Aztecs officially the last team to kick off their season when they host Idaho at 6 p.m. Saturday. ... The Vandals got the attention of SDSU coach Ted Tollner, who said of their 40-38 loss to Wyoming, "We haven't been able to play Wyoming as well as these guys played them." ... Air Force's crowd of 52,350 for its 45-0 win over San Jose State was a WAC record at Falcon Stadium and the second-largest crowd ever at the academy. Only Notre Dame was a bigger draw when 53,533 watched the Fighting Irish in 1989.