The past two weeks haven’t been kind to the Oregon football team. After being beaten badly on the road by USC and then being upset by streaking Arizona in a blowout, the Ducks haven’t been in high spirits lately.
But when it’s time to play in the Civil War, any prior feelings of remorse are replaced with an intensity to stick it to the Beavers and establish bragging rights for the rest of the year.
“If there’s ever a game you want to win all year, it’s definitely the Oregon State game,” senior wide receiver Jordan Kent said. “Regardless of how you’ve played going into the game, or how the season’s been, it’s always a big game.”
For Kent, he’s one of the players who grew up with the rivalry since his father is Oregon basketball coach Ernie Kent. Kent has been a part of many Civil War games throughout his life but none of the same impact as the football game, he said.
“When you have the two in-state rivals playing each other, you can feel that electricity in the atmosphere,” Kent said. “It’s definitely something you feel the minute you wake up.”
Recently, the rivalry has been a back-and-forth battle with the home team winning every game since 1996.
“We’re trying to end the streak of it going back and forth the past 10 years,” freshman cornerback Walter Thurmond said.
If the Ducks have any hopes of winning, however, the team needs to decide about who will start at quarterback. After throwing three interceptions against Arizona, Dennis Dixon’s status as the starter is up the air, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. He said the position will be up for grabs this week between Dixon and backup Brady Leaf.
Despite handing the ball to the quarterbacks the entirety of the season, senior center Enoka Lucas doesn’t know who will be behind him to start the game.
“Only God and the coaches here can figure out who’s going to be playing this week,” Lucas said. “Whoever has a better practice this week has a better chance at starting.”
For Leaf, he believes the indecision on who will start is a positive to the team because Oregon State has to focus its game plan on seeing both quarterbacks at some point during the game.
“A lot of people call it a controversy but I think it benefits this team to have two guys that can go out there,” Leaf said. “I’m ready to play whenever they need me.”
Though Dixon’s cold streak may have caused some members of the team to be split over who they believe should receive the majority of the snaps, Thurmond said the team needs to be cohesive if it has any intention of winning.
“We have to stick together as a team and believe in each other,” Thurmond said. “If we can do that, we can win.”
Dixon finally addressed the media Monday afternoon, apologizing for his absence during postgame interviews Saturday.
“That’s uncharacteristic of me,” Dixon said. “I have to be able to take full responsibility for things right or wrong.”
Dixon said someone has to take the blame and he realizes that as the quarterback, he should take the brunt of the criticism. He also said he’s never been more willing to go out on the field than in this week’s game.
“I’m willing to get back out there again to prove that I am capable of getting things done,” Dixon said.
Aside from the quarterback situation, the Ducks need to overcome a string of turnovers that have plagued them in the past two losses.
Although turnovers have been an issue for the team all year, the offense recently hasn’t been able to put enough points on the board to overcome handing the ball over to the other team.
“The same things that we were saying we needed to work on in the beginning of the year have actually come back to bite us,” senior linebacker Blair Phillips said. “We were playing well enough to compensate for the things that we were doing wrong and now it’s showing up a lot worse.”
But any recent loss of momentum can be considered irrelevant when the Oregon teams square off in the 110th edition of the rivalry.
“You throw the records out when it comes to a big rivalry game,” Phillips said. “Last year I thought that a rivalry game can’t be that big, but on the field, guys are talking more, guys are a little more physical.”
As if the Ducks needed more incentive against the Beavers, the win will determine who receives a better bowl game in December. Oregon State is currently in third place in the conference while Oregon is one game behind in fourth.
“We need some momentum going into this bowl game because the last two weeks have been kind of rough,” Phillips said.
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