Bragging rights are the only real prize the winners take away from the University of Oregon vs Oregon State rivalry game. But, for a series that dates back to 1894, that means a lot.
This highly anticipated matchup between the Ducks and Beavers occurs once a year, typically the last scheduled game of the regular season. While this game has had many names, such as the “Oregon Classic,” it was officially known as the “Civil War” from 1929 until 2020. This is the fifth-most played college football rivalry game.
The first-ever game was played in Corvallis on Nov. 3, 1894, where Oregon traveled north to play Oregon State, at the time known as Oregon Agricultural College. The OAC came away with the first win between the two teams and the rivalry was born.
The following year, the first-ever game was played in Eugene but looked much different than it does today. The coaches acted as officials and tickets to the game were 50 cents.
Typically, the rivalry game alternates fields between Reser Stadium in Corvallis and Autzen Stadium in Eugene. Since even-numbered years take place at Oregon State, this year’s matchup will be a home game for the Beavers.
The last time the Beavers had home field advantage, they defeated the Ducks 41-38 in 2020 during a shortened season. Jermar Jefferson contributed to that win by rushing for 226 yards, the most rushing yards in the rivalry series. This surprising loss ruined the Ducks playoff contention and made this the Beavers first win against a ranked opponent since 2014.
Oregon leads the series 67-48-10 and since 2000 the Ducks have won 15 of the matchups.
In 2000, both teams were ranked in the top 10 when Oregon was No. 5 and Oregon State ranked No. 8. This year both teams are ranked in the top 25. Back in 2000, both teams were fighting for a spot in the Rose Bowl game and Oregon State came away with the rivalry win 23-13.
The 2017 matchup was a historical page in the books when Oregon set records for the series in margin of win and points scored with a final score of 69-10. This game was also monumental for individual players like Royce Freeman, who broke the 16 year record for Pac-12 rushing touchdowns.
The rivalry game was played seven times in Portland early on to try and gain attraction. The first Portland game was played in 1908 and a crowd of 10,000 gathered to watch. Last year’s game was played in front of 56,408 fans in Autzen Stadium.
Bringing two historic football programs together on one field tends to bring out strong emotions between the two fan bases.
In 1937, OSU shut out UO 14-0 and celebrated with a rally that resulted in approximately 2,000 OSU students traveling to Eugene the following day and continued their celebration. State police attempted to get involved and were only partially successful. Oregon students retaliated by throwing tomatoes and water balloons.
Duck fans stormed the field in the 1972 game in Corvallis when Oregon won 30-3, ending an eight-game win streak. Their excitement was shown by attempting to tear down the south goal post. Oregon State fans attempted to defend their goal posts but caused fights along the way.
The 2022 matchup comes with a lot on the line for the future of Oregon’s season and would wrap up a successful season for Oregon State. The anticipation of this historical matchup will likely make this an exciting game.
