Most of us at the University of Oregon can agree that the Washington Huskies are the most hated team in the Pacific-10 Conference by Duck fans. There are a couple of other teams we have a dispassion for, such as the USC Trojans because they just keep on winning or the Beavers because they are our in-state rivals. But the Huskies draw the most volatile response year-round.
I mean, outside of the week or two surrounding the Civil War, Duck fans are pretty mellow when it comes to the Beavers. We might say we hate the Beavers, and there are a group of Ducks who really do, but secretly we wish for them to do decently, as long as they lay over quietly when we play them at the end of the season.
Getting back to Washington, the palpable anger and malice I felt at my first Husky-Duck football game my freshman year was unreal. Students (and people in their 50s) were chanting “Huck the Fuskies,” but slightly altered, if you know what I mean. I even witnessed a pair of Husky fans who were bold enough to show their purple and gold in the student section get punched out by a pair of very drunk students, and the Husky fans were the ones who were dragged out of the section by security.
Then let’s not forget about the Feb. 24, 2007 game in men’s basketball when Ryan Appleby didn’t shake Aaron Brooks’ hand. I’ve never heard so many boos and curse words at a public sporting event. There were some very funny signs, I must admit, but the best part of the entire night was Brooks taking it all in stride and straight-up owning Appleby by dropping 30 points and having an unforgettable breakaway dunk.
The point I’m trying to make is that any time Oregon plays the Huskies, it’s a big deal. And this fall, the biggest rivalry game, outside of the upcoming Civil War in football, is taking place this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. when the No. 8 Oregon volleyball team will host the No. 5 Washington Huskies.
It’s hard for me to get across how big of a match this will be, but let me try.
The Ducks lost to Washington up in Seattle on Oct. 17 in five sets. It was a heartbreaker for the team, which has taken at least one set from the Huskies every time it has played them since 2005. Oregon just can’t win that magical third set, the one that makes the losing and woulda-coulda-shouldas go away.
Oregon hasn’t beaten the Huskies in volleyball since 2000. That’s 15 straight times that the purple and gold have prevailed. As far as rivalries go, this one seems awfully one-sided. If the Huskies had beaten the Ducks this many times in football, boosters would be screaming for a change.
Head coach Jim Moore has done a lot of things right, don’t get me wrong. No one is very focused on the troubles with Washington because the overall program was garbage before he arrived. Since his hiring in 2005 he’s only gone 25-24 in the Pac-10, and taken the worst program in the history of the Pac-10 to the top 10 in the nation.
But sadly, in the world of sports, a coach is sometimes evaluated on how he performs against his team’s rival. Against the Beavers, Moore is 8-2. But he has never beaten Washington. Just like he’s never beaten Stanford, which holds an incredible winning streak that dates all the way back to 1990, but that’s for a different column. According to Moore, this year’s volleyball team is the best he’s ever had. That’s saying a lot, considering he’s won a national title and has a combined winning percentage of over .600. So this is his best shot at beating the Huskies.
What do I mean by all this? Am I saying this year’s season is a complete failure if the team doesn’t beat Washington on Sunday? Am I saying Moore should be fired if he doesn’t deliver? Of course not; that would be absurd. Oregon is poised in the top half of the conference, ranked No. 8 in the nation, and headed back to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year. Moore’s job is so secure that even master thief Clive Owen from “Inside Man” couldn’t get to it.
I’m just saying if the Ducks could squeak a win out against their rivals from Washington, this season would turn from magical to downright unbelievable.
BEN SCHORZMAN
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