Harrington faces an emotional homecoming

University of Idaho quarterback Michael Harrington received a loud ovation when he saw mop-up duty as a precocious freshman two years ago against Oregon at Autzen Stadium, a facility that is something of a second home to his family.

His return to Eugene this weekend as the Vandals starter was a natural storyline, given that older brother Joey was one of the Ducks’ all-time greats and younger brother Nick is Oregon’s team manager. However, the tenor changed abruptly earlier this week when Harrington’s teammate Eric McMillan died Monday morning from a gunshot wound.

Harrington and the winless Vandals will bring heavy hearts to Autzen Stadium. Concentrating on playing football will be a considerable chore. Factor in an Oregon team hungry for its first win and a noisy crowd of more than 50,000 and the Vandals face a sizable mental and physical challenge.

“I’ll prepare to the best of my ability to play a football game on Saturday,” Harrington said. “It’s going to different than past weeks obviously, but you have to keep going. You can’t let the tragedy end what we have going.”

Where Harrington is going Saturday still carries abundant family memories. Joey, now with the Detroit Lions, was 25-3 as Oregon’s starter. He led the Ducks to their highest national ranking ever (No. 2) and he became the first player in school history to be a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Michael watched many of his brother’s games at Autzen Stadium. When Michael piloted Idaho’s last series in a 58-21 loss to the Ducks two years ago, he fired two completions to move the ball from Oregon’s 46 to the 26. Idaho eventually turned the ball over on downs.

He knows he’ll probably receive a cooler reception Saturday as the starter on an opposing team trying to upset the heavily favored Ducks.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the crowd treats me,” Harrington said. “The last time it was really warm and receptive. I don’t think it will be this time.”

Count on it, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.

“I have great respect for the Harrington family,” Bellotti said. “We’ll be very glad and excited to see the family, but I don’t think we’re going to be very hospitable to Michael.”

Harrington already has enough distractions to deal with this week. He doesn’t want his return to Autzen to become another.

“Just because we’re going to Oregon I don’t want it to affect my concentration or how I’m preparing for the game,” he said.

Harrington’s preparation and concentration have been fairly solid in Idaho’s first three games. Harrington has completed nearly 62 percent of his passes, but he’s only averaging 86 yards per game, a reflection of Idaho’s dependency on underneath routes and inability to burn blitzing defenses with the big play.

“We need to create more big plays, but that’s not always Mike’s doing,” Idaho coach Nick Holt said. “Mentally he’s really sharp and we need to keep working on the passing game.”

Holt said backup Brian Nooy, also an Oregon prep product, has closed the gap on Harrington and will play today.

“Michael does get better with some things and he’s competing and he deserves to keep playing because he is getting better,” Holt said. “Brian still makes mistakes in practice but every day he gets better. He’ll get in the game, but I don’t know where.”

Harrington could hardly be blamed if his mind was already overloaded this week. Perhaps that’s why he’s maintaining a simple approach.

“I prepare the same as I do every week,” Harrington said. “The more I worry about that (Nooy closing the gap), the less productive I’ll be. I feel I’m doing what they ask of me. I’m going to continue to improve and our passing game is going to come along.”