Oregon at Oregon St. Civil War Game Thread

#5 Oregon (10-1, 7-1) at #16 Oregon St. (8-2, 6-2) / Reser Stadium / Noon PST / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM

Game Notes Gametracker

Its the 116th meeting in the Civil War, dating back to 1894. Oregon leads the oldest and most contested rivalry in the west 59-46-10, and more importantly, have won the last 4 in a row, including last year's 49-21 rout of the Beavers at Autzen Stadium. That blowout won Oregon their third straight conference/division championship. In order to extend their streak to 4, tieing that of USC in 1966-69, the Ducks will need to win the Civil War, and then watch the late afternoon game to see if UCLA can defeat Stanford, which would set up a Bruin-Duck rematch of last year's Pac-12 Championship game next Friday night at Autzen Stadium.

Any other combination of outcomes will result in a rematch of the Stanford-UCLA game, which would be played at the sight of the winner of this afternoon's first meeting.

A Beaver win would keep hopes alive for a BCS Bowl at large berth, and at the very least help offset the possible bumping down effect that the Pac-12 not getting a second BCS bid would cause. Holiday Bowl officials will be in attendance today.

It's only the 4th time both teams have been ranked when they meet in the Civil War, all since 2000. This year is the third highest combined ranking of the teams ever. Oregon opened as 13 point road favorites, but the line has shrunk to 10.5 in some quarters. Whether that's a move to get action on Oregon St., or genuine doubts about the degree of focus at least some of the disappointed Ducks may bring is open for debate.

Oregon St. is also conducting "Senior Day" activities today, even though the Beavers play at home again next week against Nicholls St., keeping with the originally scheduling of the Civil War as the last home game of the season, before Hurricane Isaac necessitated the rescheduling of the season opener as the season closer.

After 3 straight home games being at night, and 4 of the last 5 games overall, an early, high noon start will be something of a shock to the system for Beaver fans, but surely a welcome one.

The game will honor the 50th. anniversary of Terry Baker winning the Heisman Trophy, and Baker will be an honorary captain.

If you're not going to be a part of what will be the 4th sellout of the year at Reser, here's the place to discuss the surprising season, and weigh in how its going (assuming you have access to the Pac-12 Channel).

Buildingthedam.com will be at the game, and back afterwards with full coverage and analysis.

Go Beavs!

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo,com