A look back at the ups and down of one of college football’s great rivalries: the Oregon Ducks vs. the Washington Huskies.
The biggest unknown when conference realignment made its way into college football was how the long-standing rivalries that give the sport its juice would be affected.
When the Oregon Ducks moved to the Big Ten, it effectively killed the Civil War — the annual game between instate rivals Oregon and Oregon State. Sure, the Ducks played the Beavers in Corvallis this September, but I think we can all agree that the game just didn’t feel the same. But, there were some positive repercussions of conference realignment for the Ducks.
This year, and for the foreseeable future, Oregon will play the Washington Huskies during rivalry week (the final regular season game of the season) instead of Oregon State. Many Ducks fans feel Washington is Oregon’s chief rival, and the Ducks and Huskies’ move to the Big Ten allows the right game to be played during rivalry week.
Oregon and Washington have played 116 games in their history, beginning with a 43-0 Ducks victory in 1900. Since that first game, the Ducks have won 47 more games, the Huskies have won 63 games, and five have ended in ties.
While the Ducks lead the series in the 21st century 16 to seven, the last two seasons have been all Washington. The Ducks and Huskies have played three times since 2022, with all three games going to Washington — each by a margin of three points.
All three losses diminished — or crushed — Oregon’s College Football Playoff hopes, particularly the Ducks’ most recent loss in the Pac-12 Championship Game last December. Instead of Oregon in the playoff, it was the Huskies who advanced to the National Championship Game.
Ducks Head Coach Dan Lanning has accomplished a lot, with a 33-5 record and two bowl wins accenting his resume, but short of the National Championship itself, Lanning has one last hill to summit: beating Washington. Lanning’s risk-seeking nature has brought the Ducks a lot of success, but in Oregon’s three losses to Washington during his tenure, Lanning’s dice rolls (particularly on fourth-and-short situations) have hurt the Ducks more than they’ve helped.
Of course, there’s far more history to the Cascade Clash than the last two seasons. The most famous play in Oregon football history came against Washington in 1994. With Washington on a five-year win-streak, the Ducks finally had a chance to knock off the Huskies with a 24-20 lead late in the game, but Damon Huard and the Huskies were driving. Just when it looked like Washington would score a TD and continue their streak, Kenny Wheaton — a freshman cornerback — picked the ball off and housed it.
Since that October day in ’94, the play is known simply by Ducks’ fans as, “The Pick.”
This year, Washington doesn’t have the power to snuff out Oregon’s College Football Playoff hopes. Even with a loss in Autzen, the Ducks are still playoff shoe-ins, but that doesn’t mean this game is any less important. Rivalry games like this are a big reason why fans turn on their TVs and buy season tickets. The Huskies are unranked and facing down the barrel of a .500 season, but a Ducks victory on Saturday is still essential to the growth of Oregon’s program.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
