So much can change in two years.
On Nov. 18, 2000, Oregon State hosted the Ducks in the 104th Civil War. Both teams had dreams of the Rose Bowl, but an Oregon State win combined with a Husky win in the Apple Cup sent Washington to Pasadena.
The Beavers had a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but after scoring a touchdown to make it 23-13 with 14 minutes left in the game, the Ducks were confident they would get another comeback win.
“I had no doubts,” then-junior quarterback Joey Harrington said after the game. “We had the ball at the 10-yard line, we score, we cut it to three points with six, seven, five minutes left, it didn’t matter — because we’d battled back all year.”
Harrington fumbled the ball, and Oregon State’s DeLawrence Grant recovered, giving the Beavers a chance to run down the clock.
The Ducks got the ball back before the end of the game, but Harrington gave up one of his five interceptions to end Oregon’s hopes of winning.
“I was getting really good reads on the quarterback and seemed to know where he was going,” Beaver safety Jake Cookus said.
Cookus picked three of five interceptions Oregon State got from Harrington.
Oregon State’s win gave the Beavers a 10-1 season finish.
“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,” Erickson said.
“I thought the key to the game was going up 14-0 and forcing them to play catch-up all game long,” Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith said.
The Beavers scored 17 points before Oregon scored its first touchdown.
Two years later, the Ducks and Beavers are competing in Corvallis again. This year, instead of fighting over the Rose Bowl, the teams are fighting over breaking even in the Pac-10.
So much can change in two years.