Only one more regular season game separated them from a potential spot in the Rose Bowl to play for a national title.
But it wasn’t just any game. It was the game. The game that divides the state.
They entered the game as heavy favorites. After all, they had lost just once, and their opponent didn’t even have a winning record.
Plus, the game took place at their home stadium with their passionate rowdy fans who live for those Saturdays when they can dress in their school colors and scream their lungs out. And this Saturday was when they could say goodbye to their beloved team in the final home game of the season.
The opponent was OSU, with that hated orange on their uniforms and their orange-clad fans who would enter their stadium hoping to celebrate an upset.
In the week leading up to the game, this favored team said all the right things. Their quarterback said that “we’re expecting a dogfight.” Their defensive lineman said that “it’s the opportunity for us to accomplish the goals we set at the beginning of the year.” And their coach said that “last year’s last year. This year’s this year. Everything’s different.”
Well, what do you think happened?
Yep, that team lost. But nope, we’re not talking about Oregon here.
The Oklahoma Sooners entered their rivalry game with the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Nov. 24 sporting a 10-1 record and a spot on the inside track to the national championship game.
The Sooners watched Nebraska lose to Colorado the day before and knew that all they had to do was beat Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game on Dec. 1 to reach the Rose Bowl. Oh yeah, they also had to beat those Cowboys, but seriously, with that 1-6 league record they hardly posed a threat.
Oops.
First rule of a rivalry game: Throw out the records.
The Sooners rushed for zero yards, and the Cowboys capitalized, ending Oklahoma’s rosy dreams with a shocking 16-13 victory.
The upset made headlines everywhere. It left the BCS computers with a list of one-loss teams and plenty of numbers to crunch.
And 2,057 miles away from the site of that game, while enjoying their Thanksgiving weekend, members of the Oregon football team took full notice of the events that took place in Norman, Okla.
“Anything can happen in a rival game and I think that was perfectly shown in the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game,” linebacker David Moretti said.
Also played on Nov. 24 was the matchup between Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan entered the heated rivalry game as the favorite and knew it had to beat the Buckeyes in order to share the Big Ten title with Illinois.
Plus, the Wolverines had the advantage of their home crowd in Ann Arbor, Mich.
You can probably guess what happened.
Unranked Ohio State toppled then-11th ranked Michigan, 26-20, knocking the Wolverines out of a coveted BCS bowl.
So that’s two OSU upsets in rival games. Will there be a third that will take place Saturday at Autzen Stadium? No, and here’s why.
All you have to do to know that the Ducks will beat the Beavers is stop, collect yourself, close your eyes if you’d like, and listen to Eugene native Chris Tetterton talk about last year’s Civil War. Watch the affable smile disappear as the face in between his long brown hair suddenly turns serious.
“That was one of the worst feelings I’ve had in my life,” said Tetteron, a starting defensive tackle for the Ducks. “Walking off that field with their fans in your face, man. And getting on a bus to drive back here at night. … It was a horrible bus ride.
“The guys that have been around here for awhile know how much the game means and know how crappy it is to have that feeling.
“More than the Texas win, the OSU loss hurt. The 12th game is always a gift, that’s what you enjoy and we did. But the last game of the season is always Oregon-Oregon State and when you lose that one, it sticks with you for the rest of the year.
“So hopefully we won’t have that feeling after Saturday.”
Before Oct. 20, there was a part of me that thought a Beaver win on Dec. 1 was likely. Oregon was primed to get beat, as the fairy tale ride was bound to get knocked off course. But Stanford took care of that. The Cardinal ruined Oregon’s undefeated season. The Ducks have had their scare.
So unlike Oklahoma, Oregon won’t lose. There won’t be an ESPN camera crew inside the visiting OSU locker room, as there was with the Cowboys, catching them in a rowdy sing-a-long of the Oklahoma State fight song.
Oregon has a similar tradition. After each Duck win, and after Mike Bellotti has given his postgame speech, the players and coaches join together and belt out the Oregon fight song.
The last line is always sung the loudest: “OSU may fight to the end, but we will win!”
Oregon State won the Civil War last year and headed to the Fiesta Bowl. It’s time to see if the Ducks can back up the confident claim in their fight song and do the same.