■ The 104th Civil War is not theTirst time the game has had so
much importance, and the rivalry has made other great stories
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
“7-6 or 28-27. Either of those
could be the score Saturday when
Oregon meets Oregon State.”
Those words were not written by
Emerald sports editor Jeff Smith in
a Civil War story this week. They
were, in fact, written by. former
Emerald sports editor Phil Sernas
before the last Civil War game
where Rose Bowl fates hung in the
balance for both teams — in 1964.
The final score of that Civil War
game was 7-6, Oregon State, as Se
rnas eerily predicted, and the
Beavers went to the Rose Bowl only
to lose, 34-7, to Michigan.
But back in 1964, the Emerald
sports staff didn’t* hype the Civil
War. In fact, Sernas’ story in that
Friday’s paper waJ the only article
to discuss the garpe, and it didn’t
include the words “Rose Bowl,”
even though the winner would
most likely make the trip to Pasade
na.
How times have Changed.
Back when there wasn’t media
hype, there was still the Civil War,
and it sometimes had bowl impli
cations.
Throughout the last quarter-cen
tury, Oregon and Oregon State have
had memorable Civil War
matchups, but none have quite
lived up to that 1964 game — until
now. There was the infamous 0-0
tie in 1983, the come-from-behind
Oregon victory in 1994 that put the
Ducks in the Rose Bowl and the
double-overtime thriller in Corval
lis two seasons ago.
Let the wars begin.
Rose Bowl when it started, and
ended up being for the Cotton
Bowl.
“Jim Aiken and his relentless
Webfoots will be out to make an
Oregon dream of 18 years standing
; come true today,” wrote the Emer
ald’s Glenn Gillespie in ‘48.
The “Webfoots” pulled out the
10-0 win but didn’t go to the Rose
Bowl despite a 7-0 record. A secret
ballot of Pacific Coast Conference
faculty representatives selected 6-0
California instead, and Oregon
went to the Cotton Bowl.
1957
“Take a pair of volatile, fast
geared football teams, put them at
opposite ends of Hayward Field in
the midst of 26,000 divided fans
and let them fight 60 minutes for
some part and/or all of the PCC
championship,” wrote Emerald
sports editor Jerry Ramsey. “That’s
Homecoming, Oregon, 1957,”
The 1957 Civil War was one
where everything was on the line.
The Civil War that year was indeed
for the Pacific Coast Conference
championship, and the Beavers
pulled off the 10-7 upset win at Ore
gon. But under PCC rules Oregon
got the Rose Bowl bid because Ore
gon State had gone the year befqre.
In a pep rally the following Mon
day, Oregon president O. Meredith
Wilson announced the Ducks were
headed to the Rose Bowl and can
celed classes for that day.
One Emerald sports reporter in
particular enjoyed writing about the
game. His name was Phil Knight.
“Past records mean nothing
when these two te^ms meet,” wrote
Knight, now the owner of Nike, be
t pmiifiiji is*
. r * Emerald
Oregon’s ‘Webfoots’ run onto the field before the 1957 Civil War game. Oregon State won, 10-7, to become league co-champs.
with the annual Oregon-Oregom
State football game, a contest filled
with tradition.”
Knight is still making headlines..
The Oregon graduate has been at
tending football games recently af
ter cutting ties with school’s athletic
department, and the Civil War will
be the third straight game he will at
tend this year.
1983
There was nothing at stake in
1983’s game except the job of
Beaver coach Joe Avezzano, but the
game will live long in the minds of
Oregonians nonetheless.
“The game may make a football
follies film/1 ’wrote the Emerald’s
Steve Turcott.
In all, the two teams committed
11 turnovers in the 0-0 tie. The
Ducks fumbled seven times, and
four times the Beavers recovered.
Oregon State had three passes
picked off by the Oregon second
ary.
1994
“It’s finally here. The Civil War to
end all Civil Wars takes center stage
Saturday,” wrote Chris Metz in
1994.
"That game was the Civil War to
end all Civil Wars until now. Ore
gon, needing a win to clinch a spot
in the Rose Bowl, faced an upset
-- rHTfitfled ^Beaver team that almost
executed the upset.
With the Beavers leading 13-10
with 4:42 left in the game, Oregon
quarterback Danny O’Neil engi
neered a 70-yard drive to win, 17
13. The Ducks then watched as
UCLA beat Southern California,
which meant the Civil War out
come hadn’t mattered, but Oregon
celebrated the trip to Pasadena all
the same.
2000
Perhaps someday in the future
the Ducks and Beavers will meet
with as much on the line as this
Saturday. And maybe then, people
will look back to see what Jeff
-Say tbjiad to say,
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