No longer the Civil War, Oregon-Oregon State rivalry resumes today
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Although it’s no longer called the Civil War, the rivalry between Oregon and Oregon State is still heated even in a short and unusual season.
The two teams will meet today for the 124th edition of the rivalry, which dates back to 1894.
This season and going forward, however, the game — or the meetings between the two schools in any sport — will not be known by the Civil War nickname.
Amid marches against racial injustice nationwide, the universities came together this summer and decided the name, while unintended, was too closely associated with a
war meant to perpetuate slavery.
Former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon led the effort to drop the nickname, and former Oregon State players Ken Simonton and Steven Jackson joined in.
This season’s rivalry game is important to the ninth-ranked Ducks, who are undefeated and — potentially — vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff if everything
breaks their way. Oregon (3-0) was ranked No. 15 in the first CFP rankings released this week.
Although it’s most likely a longshot, wins are key to keeping any playoff hopes Oregon might have alive. Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said the playoff topic was broached with the team following the tooclose-for-comfort 38-35 victory over UCLA last weekend.
“Whoever takes care of their business throughout the season, it will show at the end of the year in the CFP rankings,” Cristobal said. “So our complete focus and attention is on us getting better, and our opponent this upcoming week, so that’s the way it was addressed.”
Oregon State (1-2) is coming off its first win of the season, a 31-27 victory over Cal. Quarterback Tristan Gebbia ran for a 1-yard touchdown to put the Beavers in front in the fourth quarter, and Jermar Jefferson ran for 196 yards and a touchdown.
The Beavers are hoping to build on the victory, and a win over the Ducks would be a nice way to do it.
“I feel grateful that we’re headed toward being able to play this game in 2020, and having a really good team come in here to see where we stack up and challenge us,” Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith said. “It’s definitely different, I think all of us get that, but I’m grateful to be able to play it.”
Oregon holds a 66-47-10 advantage in the series and has won 11 of the last 12 games against the Beavers. This year is different because usually the meeting between the two teams is played at the end of the regular season.
Besides the game’s nickname, there’s one other obvious thing that’s going to be different this season: No fans. The state of Oregon doesn’t allow for even limited numbers of attendees as coronavirus cases continue to rise.
“I feel for the fans, I do,” Cristobal said, “because you can feel the enthusiasm, the energy, the anticipation of games like this, you can just feel it in the community, and in our town, our city. But it is what it is. Either way I know that our guys are really looking forward to the opportunity to play a team that is playing as well, a team that’s coached as well, and coming off a huge win, as Oregon State.”
On Thursday night, the Pac12 announced that Saturday’s game between Colorado (2-0) and No. 19 Southern California (3-0) has been canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests for the Trojans.