Everyone wants to change. Everyone wants to get better. Sometimes, though, time must stand still.
Last November, when the then-No. 16 (8-3) Oregon State Beavers rolled into Autzen Stadium, they had the opportunity to (with a lot of luck) steal a bid to the final Pac-12 Championship Game. So did the No. 6 (11-1) Oregon Ducks, who won that rivalry game, 31-7.
That was 295 days ago.
Now, they’re meeting under entirely different circumstances. Despite losing the Pac-12 Championship to the No. 3 Washington Huskies, Oregon sealed its earthshaking move to the Big Ten Conference. Alongside the Huskies, USC and UCLA, the Ducks found a new home in one of the nation’s two premier conferences.
The Ducks were a consensus preseason top-five pick to win this year’s National Championship and recruited one of the best transfer classes in school history.
One hour north in Corvallis, it’s been a nightmarishly different story. The Beavers were left without a suitor, and remained one of just two teams in the Pac-12. They lost several players, including star quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and rushing leader Damien Martinez to the transfer portal.
Head coach Jonathan Smith left for the Michigan State job and took four-star freshman QB Aidan Chiles with him. The Beavers’ preseason championship odds hovered around +60,000. To say that they’ve gone in different directions is an understatement.
And yet, the two are still playing. Why?
“I think games like this are really important,” Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning said ahead of last year’s matchup. “It would be great if that’s something we can make happen and continue to make happen.”
While the Ducks and Beavers are playing in front of a likely sold-out Reser Stadium, a different situation will be taking place five hours north. Faced with the same set of circumstances, the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars decided to play their “Apple Cup” rivalry at the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field. Per reports from 247Sports, it’ll be less than half-full — they sold out a larger-capacity Husky Stadium last November.
Tradition is the name of the game in college football. Both schools have their own: “Shout” permeates the national conversation. Benny Beaver and his chainsaw carve a visceral image for many Ducks fans. The tradition that matters most, however, is shared.
And so, for all of the innovation that I talk about in this series, maybe there’s a place for some stability. There’s a reason, for once, not to make change. If it were any other team in the Beavers’ place, the Ducks’ playoff ambitions wouldn’t change. On paper, it’s no different. But that’s not where this game matters.
There will always be room for revolution. There’s potential for the Ducks to face an opponent three times this year — something that has rarely happened in college football history. Rematches like those are rife with tactical intrigue: How will coaches deconstruct each other again? Will the same game plan work?
But still.
This weekend’s game matters because it means more than football. It matters not because of what happens on the field, but because of what happens around it. In a world filled with analytics, data and reasoning, there’s room for emotion. Now, time is at a standstill. It’s not about the future; it’s about the past. Enjoy this one, Oregon fans. It’s more than a game.
It’s tradition.
On Innovation is a weekly column, published in the Daily Emerald’s Gameday edition, which breaks down the University of Oregon’s commitment to living ahead of every other school, on and off the football field.
