 Mitchell earned preseason first @-@ team All @-@ Pac @-@ 10 honors from The Sporting News and Lindy 's Sports before the 2000 season as he prepared to take over the starting wide receiver job following Farmer 's graduation . Mitchell , along with teammate Poli @-@ Dixon , was named to the Fred Biletnikoff Award watchlist for the best wide receiver in college football during the preseason . In the season @-@ opener against third @-@ ranked Alabama , Mitchell threw a 31 @-@ yard touchdown pass to Poli @-@ Dixon on a trick play in the first quarter and made a 46 @-@ yard touchdown reception from McCann in the third quarter . He finished the game with four catches for 91 yards in the upset win . In the 24 – 21 win over Fresno State on September 9 , Mitchell led the team in receiving with six receptions for 58 yards and a 20 @-@ yard touchdown pass from McCann . Mitchell 's catches went into the double @-@ digits against third @-@ ranked Michigan , as he had ten receptions for 137 yards in the 23 – 20 upset win on September 16 . On September 23 , in the third quarter of a 29 – 10 loss against Oregon , Mitchell caught what appeared to be a touchdown in the corner of the end zone , but was ruled out @-@ of @-@ bounds by the officials . The Bruins settled for a field goal on the drive and Mitchell explained after the game that " I knew it was a touchdown , you knew it was a touchdown , everybody does . The ref [ <unk> ] knew it too because he looked at me like he was sorry . " On the next series , however , Mitchell caught a 54 @-@ yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Bennett . Mitchell finished the game with eight receptions for 158 yards . In a 38 – 31 comeback win over Arizona State on September 30 , he caught two touchdown passes from Cory Paus in the third quarter , one of which was for 80 yards , and had four total catches for 125 yards in the game . On October 14 , in a triple @-@ overtime loss to California , Mitchell made eight receptions for 167 yards and caught a 35 @-@ yard touchdown from Paus in the fourth quarter . 
