Oregon's Cyrus Habibi-Likio tackles fan who snuck onto field in Cal game

Zac Al-Khateeb

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Oregon's Cyrus Habibi-Likio tackles fan who snuck onto field in Cal game image

Oregon's biggest tackle in its 17-7 win over Cal on Saturday was peculiar for two reasons. One, it came from running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio. Two, he didn't tackle anyone on Cal's football team.

And it just may have helped his Ducks team to a hard-fought win vs. the Golden Bears.

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Late in the third quarter with Oregon down 7-3 to visiting Cal, a fan snuck onto the field and managed to evade security for several moments, halting the Ducks' drive downfield. Finally, as said fan headed toward the West end zone, the 6-1, 222-pound back broke from the huddle and streaked 20 yards downfield to tackle the fan at the 15-yard line.

Here's another angle of the hit:

After the game, Habibi-Likio said he tackled the fan to help get the game back on track.

"We were down and he was kind of taking a while — prayers out to him, I hope he's not hurt," Habibi-Likio said after the game (via ESPN). "I had no intention of hurting him, we just need to get the game going.

"This is the Pac-12 North, and this is a Pac-12 game, we gotta get going or the result would have been different."

The tackle must have had the intended effect; shortly thereafter, he dove in for a 1-yard, go-ahead touchdown later in the third quarter that ultimately proved to be the difference in a tough Ducks win. That said, Habibi-Likio said he does feel bad for tackling the fan, even if the Pac-12 doesn't have a policy to reprimand student-athletes who tackle fans on the field of play.

"If (the fan) has Instagram or Twitter, you can follow me and message me, Habibi-Liko said, "and we can go get ice cream."

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.