The 105th Civil War holds significant implications, but think back to previous years, and you may recall similar situations.
With an Oregon loss last year, the Ducks dropped into a three-way tie for the Pacific-10 Conference title, and if Oregon State wins this year, the Ducks would be part of a four-way tie for first.
If the Ducks had won last year, they would have gone to the Rose Bowl. And this year? It may take some help from Virginia Tech, Colorado and Tennessee, among others, for Oregon to go to Pasadena for the national championship game — but it could happen.
Last year, the Beavers entered the annual rivalry ranked No. 8 and came out with a bang. Oregon State had posted 17 points before No. 5 Oregon could tack on a score of its own with a Joey Harrington six-yard run midway through the second quarter. Each team would add another touchdown (Oregon State missed the extra point and Oregon failed in its attempt for a two-point conversion) as the Ducks fell, 23-13.
In the game, Harrington threw five interceptions and lost a key fumble on the Beavers’ 10-yard line with six minutes to play. The contest would fail to be another incredible comeback for head coach Mike Bellotti’s squad. It also gave Oregon State a first-ever 10-win season (the Beavers, of course, went on to win the Fiesta Bowl over Notre Dame.)
“When you go 10-1 at a school that has never been 10-1 and was at rock-bottom a few years ago, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson said after that game.
Two years before, in the 1998 game in Corvallis, the Beavers won an overtime thriller 44-41 — a thriller which practically turned into a nightmare for Oregon’s players when a riot broke out in then-Parker Stadium, with Beaver fans spitting and cursing at the Oregon players.
There have also been other games of great significance, exciting finishes and interesting outcomes throughout the 104 previous Civil War games, in which Oregon has a record of 52-42-10.
In 1964, a Rose Bowl berth was decided by a 7-6 win by Oregon State, and the 1983 game, which held little significance, ended in a 0-0 tie. The Ducks and the Beavers also played to scoreless ties in 1902, 1906, 1920, 1921 and 1931.
More recently, a win in the 1994 contest assured the Ducks of a Rose Bowl bid, but the Beavers had been leading with 4:42 left in the game. Oregon quarterback Danny O’Neil then led a Harrington-like 70-yard march down the field to win the game, 17-13.
Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson knows the importance of the Civil War.
“This is the most important game of the year — no question,” he said. “And it was last year, and it was the year before, and it will be next year, and it will be, hopefully, 10 years from now, when I’m still coaching here.
“Because it’s the Civil War and it’s about bragging rights for a year, about pride in both these programs — it will always be the most important football game.”
Whatever the outcome, the Civil War is always a hard-fought battle. Given the records of the two schools, Oregon fans may be treated to a 44-0 blowout like the two that occurred in 1895 and 1987. But as the saying goes for big rivalry games, “You can throw out the records when these two teams get together.”