Column: Holiday Bowl ends its unplanned holiday with Oregon, North Carolina classic

Welcome again, Vacation Bowl. The place’ve you been? Since we final noticed you, previous Qualcomm Stadium has been lowered to mud, a worldwide pandemic got here and largely went, and the Padres began throwing round money like Rodney Dangerfield at Bushwood Nation Membership.

You have been primed and painted to your glamour shot at Petco Park final December till UCLA pulled the rug out from underneath North Carolina State and San Diego, citing a last-minute COVID outbreak.

Cough. Sniffle. No matter. Play with who you’ve bought. That’s previous water underneath an previous bridge, although. We’re simply glad you’re again. You look sharp in your new downtown digs.

Oregon and North Carolina delivered a bit extra normalcy to our upended world Wednesday, reviving a December staple relationship again to the Camp David Accords. Pads popped once more. Footballs flew once more. Out-of-towners emptied wallets once more.

The sport itself made the wait splendidly price it.

Oregon scored on a fourth-and-2 move from quarterback Bo Nix to Chase Cota with 19 seconds to play. The group of 36,242 gasped when, tied at 27, the extra-point try from Camden Lewis hit the left upright and barely stayed inside the alternative upright on the carom.

Oregon 28, North Carolina 27. Welcome again … and wow.

A Vacation Bowl that took an prolonged vacation lastly bought again to work.

“I had tears in my eyes at kickoff,” mentioned Mark Neville, the bowl’s government director. “I bought textual content messages from administrators of eight different bowls saying congratulations. They know what we’ve been by means of.”

The Navy Leap Frogs nailed their landings. The bowl’s Massive Flag fluttered from sideline to sideline. Sky Present fireworks crammed the sky.

And the sport thrilled anew.

On the sector, it was onerous to determine who had a rougher begin, the Tar Heels or the 15-yard part of the sector chewed up from the leap.

North Carolina sputtered to a three-and-out earlier than members of the Padres grounds crew patched up a piece on the south finish of the sector between the 10- and 25-yard traces that confirmed regarding put on after in a single day rain, lower than 4 minutes into the sport. It may need been the primary time Diamond Dry has been utilized in a bowl recreation.

Oregon, No. 4 within the nation in complete offense, wanted six performs and fewer than 2½ minutes to dent the scoreboard as Bucky Irving’s 2-yard run and the purpose after made it 7-0.

The Tar Heels responded, although, with George Pettaway’s 56-yard kickoff return that arrange a 12-play drive masking greater than six minutes. A 6-yard strike from quarterback Drake Maye to Andre Greene Jr. knotted issues at 7.

For just a few hours, inflation and switch portal visitors jams hit pause. This was Oregon, No. 15 within the nation, quacking and coating the Petco stands Eire inexperienced. This was North Carolina, led by Mack Brown, who has coached since disco put America’s hips in movement.

When the groups traded a pair of wide-right subject purpose makes an attempt, you virtually believed the offensively punch-drunk bowl would possibly discover some scoring sanity. Then, Irving knifed to a 66-yard landing on three cutbacks to make it 14-7 with 9:13 to play within the first half.

Cheers rose from the stands … and the beds of pickup vehicles. The Padres bought packages to sit down in six Toyotas backed as much as the North Carolina sideline. The house-spun seating was believed to be a primary for a serious sporting occasion.

As the sport marched alongside, followers — regardless of the situation — noticed two groups throwing early punches like nimble middleweights. When Maye hit Bryson Nesbit on a 14-yard route in the course of the top zone with 4:34 earlier than half, it turned 14-14.

Then got here the play of bowl season. On a Nix move try within the last minute of the half, a deflected ball bounced off the calf of Carolina defender Cedric Grey and foot of teammate Energy Echols, who corralled it by his fingertips Immaculate Reception-style.

Echols, after enjoying a one-man recreation of hacky sack, returned the interception 40 yards to the Oregon 49.

Then got here the play-after-the-play of bowl season. One snap and 9 seconds later, Maye linked with Kobe Paysour for a landing that shocked the Geese and made it 21-14 with 26 seconds to play.

Recreation on.

Nobody smiled wider than Neville, who shed an 800-pound monetary gorilla from his shoulders at kickoff.

“The final two years, we misplaced greater than $3 million,” Neville defined. “That harm. We would have liked to get this recreation in. We constructed reserves for a wet day and we had these wet days.”

What if this recreation had not been performed in 2022?

“It could have been hassle,” Neville mentioned.

Requested if the final two years absolutely exhausted these reserves, Neville mentioned: “Virtually.”

North Carolina discovered itself saying virtually, as properly.

Welcome again. We missed you.