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80 days until first pitch...
When I first started writing for BtD back in July, I remember thinking how exciting Civil War week was going to be. We'd have back and forths with Addicted to Quack, and all sorts of funny and debating articles, and there would be shenanigans abound.
Now. Meh. Neither team feels good about their team. I have to admit, after watching the Duck game Saturday I thought the Beavers might have a legitimate chance to win this game. Then I watched the Beaver game....
Side note: I'm watching the Oregon State-SIU Edwardsville game on TV while working on this, and I can not get used to rooting for Beavers in turquoise.
The Beaver athletic department has put together an official preview, outlining all sorts of stats and interesting tidbits about the game. Amongst the info: Oregon State averaged 42,964 fans this year, third most ever and the most in a non-Civil War year. (Of course, most of those tickets were already sold either before the season started, or before the late season stretch of home games began.)
If Brandin Cooks can get 9 catches and 162 yards on Friday, he will set Pac-12 single season records in both categories. He's also 3 touchdowns behind the Pac-12 single season record, so that's not out of the question, either, assuming the Beavers can get their offense in gear. A game like that would do a lot towards his Biletnikoff Award hopes.
ESPN believes that the Pac-12 is still the nation's second best conference. A lot of this just seems like a circular reference. The conference rankings tell us that the SEC is best, so we'll rank them higher, so they'll end up higher in the conference rankings...
17 seniors really want to avoid going 0-fer against the Ducks in their career. Oregon is currently be the only Pac-12 team that class has not defeated.
The Pac-12 blog provides a quick look at this week's games. A look back at last week's games. Power Rankings (we're #9! we're #9!). Bowl Projections.
The Oregonian's Lindsey Schnell asks if winning the Civil War would cure fan frustration. While I don't know the answer to that for sure, I say we try it and find out. She also believes the Beavers need to find some new wrinkles in the running game if they're going to compete this weekend. The Beaver defense is looking for answers after giving up a Bill and Ted approved 69 points last weekend.
The Ducks aren't feeling a whole lot better about themselves than the Beavers, despite the 9-2 record. Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti gets a little defensive and promises they'll be ready to play. The Ducks need to focus on fixing some key mistakes, particularly in the red zone. Not to be forgotten in the Civil War "hype" is that Friday is also the Ducks' senior day.
A number of Beavers made the Pac-12 All Academic team. Dustin Stanton, Isaac Seumalo, and Stephen Christian made the first team, Connor Hamlett the second, and five others (including Sean Mannion) made honorable mention.
Athlon's contributions for the week: Fun stats, Power Rankings, Bowl Projections.
The Pac-12 compiles some bowl game projections. While most of the projections are not figuring the Beavers to get one of the official Pac-12 bowl invites, there are a number of other bowls that will be needing people, which honestly makes it a little more interesting than trying to figure out if you're going to San Francisco, Las Vegas, or Albuquerque. The possibilities, while not limitless, are varied. I see Georgia Tech coming up in a lot of potential matchups. That could be interesting.
The Oregonian reviews Civil Wars from 1940 to 1959. Each day leading up to the game, they'll touch on a couple more.
Oregon Live Video about this week's Civil War game: Sean Mannion. Mike Riley. Ducks coach Mark Helfrich.
Last weekend's blowout loss, at least the blowout part, caught everyone by surprise.
Stats Oregon State Players Lead the Country In:
Sean Mannion: Passing Yards.
Brandin Cooks: Receiving Yards. Receiving Yards per Game. Receptions per Game.
The mens' basketball team did exactly what they should do against teams like SIU-Edwardsville last night, beating the Cougars by a score of 101-81. They had a 23 point halftime lead and basically maintained it throughout the second half, much of that time with second and third stringers on the court. Next up on Sunday: the Big East's DePaul Blue Demons. Although Oregon State and DePaul were national powers together at the same time in the early eighties, both teams are firmly ensconced in the lower echelons of their respective conferences now. This is a game that Oregon State could (and perhaps should) win.
The Beaver baseball team signed 10 more players, including the #3 prospect in the Northwest region, Gage Hinsz of Billings, Montana. I would urge a little caution about getting too excited for these guys, however, as we won't know until after next year's draft how many of them are going to come to Corvallis and how many are going to go pro. The baseball team is also going to hold three winter baseball camps for youth.
The womens' basketball team, off to a 4-0 start after feasting on creampuffs in proper style, faces their first stiff competition this weekend. They are in the Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam, and will play #13/14 ranked Penn State Friday, followed by a game with either Florida or Illinois State Saturday. If the Lady Beavers can somehow come out of this weekend still undefeated, they should come away with at least some votes in the polls.
Oregon State volleyball continues to try to outdo Jay John and is still 0-for-the-conference, 18 games in. With two games left on the road against the Ducks and Huskies, 0-20 seems very likely. How'd you do that? I'm not even mad; that's amazing. The "Fire Taras Liskevych" movement continues to gain steam.
The wrestling team lost a tight match to their closest conference rivals, the Oregon Ducks Washington Huskies Washington State Cougars Boise State Broncos.
Despite this year's Debbie Downer of a Civil War, there have been some great Civil Wars in the last 15 years that are worth revisiting. Starting with the most exciting finish ever:
And another, more recent, victory:
Sadly, that is the most recent victory. It's also the last one I didn't attend in person. Coincidence? I hope so, because I'll be there this Friday.
The Civil War edition of the Illegal Participation podcast is out.
As always, if I missed anything, post it below. Vote in the poll below, and if you haven't voted for Brandin Cooks for the Biletnikoff Award yet, here's your chance.