1954 Oregon Ducks football team

The 1954 Oregon Ducks football team represented the University of Oregon as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1954 college football season. In their fourth season under head coach Len Casanova, the Ducks compiled a 6–4 record (5–3 in PCC, third), and outscored their opponents 218 to 159. The team played its home games on campus in Eugene at Hayward Field, and at Multnomah Stadium in Portland.

1954 Oregon Ducks football
Conference	Pacific Coast Conference
Record	6–4 (5–3 PCC)
Head coach	Len Casanova (4th season)
Captain	Ron Pheister
Home stadium	Hayward Field, Multnomah Stadium
Seasons ← 1953 1955 →

1954 Pacific Coast Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 UCLA $	6	–	0	–	0			9	–	0	–	0
No. 17 USC ^	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Oregon	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
California	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Washington State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Stanford	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Idaho	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Washington	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative UCLA won rivalry game over USC, but no-repeat rule was in effect Rankings from AP Poll

On a morning deer hunt east of Eugene in mid-October, senior guard Jack Patera of Portland mistakenly shot and killed former Oregon teammate Ken Sweitzer, a graduate assistant.^[1][2] It was ruled accidental and he was cleared of negligence.^[3] This was the second death for the team in two months; in mid-August, junior guard Doyle Higdon of Cottage Grove was killed in a logging explosion while removing stumps.^[2][4]

Oregon won all four games against northwest PCC opponents; their next sweep came 26 years later.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 18	at Idaho	No. 18	Neale Stadium Moscow, ID	W 41–0	7,000	[5]
September 25	Stanford	No. 16	Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	L 13–18
October 2	Utah*		Hayward Field Eugene, OR	L 6–7
October 9	at California		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 33–27	31,000
October 16	USC		Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	L 14–24	22,766
October 23	San Jose State*		Hayward Field Eugene, OR	W 26–7
October 30	at Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (rivalry)	W 26–7	36,064
November 6	at No. 1 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 0–41	46,435
November 13	Washington State		Hayward Field Eugene, OR	W 26–14	16,000
November 20	at Oregon State		Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR (Civil War)	W 33–14	21,200	[6]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[7][8][9]

References

1. "Shot kills ex-Oregon grid star". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 14, 1954. p. 1A.
2. "Tragedy stuns Oregon squad". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 15, 1954. p. 14.
3. "Patera cleared of negligence". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 15, 1954. p. 1A.
4. "UO athlete, co-worker killed in blast". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). August 14, 1954. p. 1.
5. Strite, Dick (September 19, 1954). "Webfoots wallop Idaho 41-0". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
6. "Oregon's Shaw leads 33-14 win over Beavers". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 21, 1954. p. 4, sports.
7. "1954 Oregon Ducks Schedule and Results". College Football @ Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
8. "1954 Football Schedule". University of Oregon Athletics. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
9. "2023 Oregon Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Oregon Athletics. p. 49. Retrieved September 3, 2023.