This was no normal Monday for Oregon football players.
This was “day one” of “War week.” All of the other weeks in the season combined don’t add up to the same importance as this one.
There’s just one game left — against your in-state rival — with both teams being ranked in the top 10 — and the Rose Bowl on the line.
Each day of practice will be crucial, and each day will also bring another dose of hype that already has the state of Oregon in a frenzy.
Listening to the Oregon players speak Monday, it sounds as if they wish they could just strap on the pads today and play the 104th edition of the Civil War.
“I’m not sure yet whether this week is going to fly by or whether it’s going to drag on,” senior linebacker Michael Callier said. “But it doesn’t matter man, because in five days it’s going to be on.”
The Ducks practiced behind closed doors Monday, as they will all week, and were only made available to the media in the Pittman Room of the Casanova center earlier in the afternoon.
Fox Sports Net cameras shone on one side of the room, while scribes from throughout the state and beyond picked these players’ brains to see what their attitude was heading into the week.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of news cameras, and the media and everybody wants to be talking all about the Civil War game, but we have to look at it just like another hard-fought football game that we have to play on Saturday,” sophomore free safety Rasuli Webster said.
Other Oregon players weren’t so bashful when discussing the attention that they were receiving in regards to the game. Callier, for one, didn’t believe the hype was too much for this game.
“Heck no, this is expected,” he said. “It’s good. Bring on all of this. Not just the media circus, but the fact that [Oregon State’s] playing well and we’re underdogs now. Whatever man, it’s all good. We’re ready to play.”
The spread on Saturday’s game lists the Beavers as four-point favorites. Also, the Bowl Championship Series rankings were released Monday and it had Washington at fifth, Oregon at seventh and Oregon State sitting in there at ninth.
Sports Illustrated joined in on the parade and ran a big feature on Beaver tailback Ken Simonton titled, “Eager Beaver,” with a tease on its cover stating, “Oregon State’s Renaissance Runner.”
Indeed, the hype for this game — which has been building all season — has kicked off, and with it, so too have the shenanigans.
Check out the big “O” on the side of Skinner’s Butte, and notice the color of it. Yup, it’s painted the color orange.
C’mon Duck fans, you can’t let those Beaver Believers get away with that.