It couldn’t have been that easy.
You knew that. I knew that. Heck, even the Oregon players knew it.
After the Ducks beat California Saturday afternoon, 25-17, there was some celebration after securing at least a Pacific-10 Conference co-championship.
But there wasn’t the celebration. The celebration that signifies a trip to the Rose Bowl. The celebration where everybody breathes a sigh of relief and basks in their accomplishments.
Instead, it was business as usual. The Ducks knew that if Oregon State lost to Arizona Saturday night, then a Rose Bowl berth would be theirs. You wouldn’t have known it, though, if you saw the Oregon players and coaches talk after the game.
They spoke as if the Beavers had already won. They spoke as if they already knew that the Civil War next week would be where the Pac-10’s Rose Bowl representative would be decided.
“Oregon State’s going to bring their ‘A’ game and we’re going to bring our ‘A’ game and two teams are going to collide,” junior cornerback Rashad Bauman said. “Somebody is going to fall and we don’t plan on being the one that does.”
In a season where Oregon has always taken the hard way out, it must do so one final time. And anybody who watched the Beavers trounce Arizona on the road Saturday night, 33-9, knows that next week’s game will be just that — hard.
But in a way, you knew it all would come down to this. It would have been too simple to just beat California and have Oregon State lose. It wouldn’t have had the necessary drama for the 2000 Ducks if they were to take the field in Corvallis knowing that they were already going to the Rose Bowl.
It would have made it much too easy on the fans, who have grown accustomed to holding their breaths, clutching their hearts and squinting their eyes as their Ducks come from behind to win — as was the case again against Cal.
And you know what else? It wouldn’t have made next Saturday’s game as much fun. Yeah, that’s right. I said that this Civil War will be fun.
Two teams from the state of Oregon battling it out with the rights to the Rose Bowl on the line? Amazing. The national media will be eating this game up. The storylines are just too good.
There’s Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson’s unbelievable turnaround of a football program in only his second year on the job.
There’s the pathetic history of this game, including a forgettable 0-0 tie in 1983 that has been dubbed the “Toilet Bowl.”
And there’s the national rankings of both schools, with Oregon being No. 5 and Oregon State sitting at No. 8. (When Oregon athletic director Bill Moos heard of the recent rankings of both schools Sunday afternoon, he let out two words: “That’s amazing.”)
But it’s clear that some people still need to do their research on the teams. During halftime of Oregon State’s game against Arizona, Fox Sports Net analyst Kellen Winslow — a former San Diego Charger whom I have great respect for — analyzed the Civil War game with his hosts. While he got all of the players’ names right, he mistakenly referred to Oregon State being located in Beaverton, instead of Corvallis.
Which is just another reason why this Civil War is so important. Regardless of the outcome, for one Saturday afternoon, the nation’s eyes will be focused on two teams from a state commonly forgotten about.
“It’s obviously great for the Northwest,” Moos said. “My hat’s off to Oregon State. And for Oregon, you always want to settle it on the field. I could sense in the locker room afterwards that our team was saving the celebration for next week.”
As is Civil War week tradition, Moos will embark on a six-city tour that takes him through Bend, Klamath Falls, Medford, Roseburg, Salem and Portland. He will be joined by radio announcer Jerry Allen, who will help him hype Saturday’s game to legions of Duck fans who seem to dread a make-or-break game taking place in Corvallis.
And just think, this could have been a column about Oregon securing its fifth Rose Bowl berth in school history, and its first in seven years.
But as you and I both know, it couldn’t have been that easy.