Melancholy Hangs Over a UW-OSU Game That Could Be a Classic

CORVALLIS, Oregon — It seems only fitting that Washington and Oregon State will meet in possibly their final football game as the nation's fifth- and 10th-ranked teams, going out wearing their Saturday best.

While the Huskies will continue to face Oregon each year as fellow Big Ten members and are trying their best to preserve the Apple Cup against Washington State, the Beavers simply don't figure into future UW schedules going forward, which doesn't seem right.

This is goodbye for now, for who knows how long, maybe forever.

This series will come to an abrupt close this weekend after 108 meetings, as the only Northwest rivalry for sure doomed by the ever-changing and cold-hearted college football landscape.

Disappearing from view will be the memory of rather rotund Beavers coach Dee "the Great Pumpkin" Andros running onto the field, fullback Bill "Earthquake" Enyart being virtually impossible to bring down, the first Northwest Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker accepting the big prize, newly remodeled Reser Stadium looking extra spiffy though now underappreciated and the continuous grating whine of that customized mascot chainsaw.

Yet far more pressing than past or future considerations for these teams is a gigantic football game with so much promise some odds-makers have made the Beavers (8-2 overall, 5-2 Pac-12) two-point favorites over the unbeaten Huskies (10-0, 7-0) in a game that will kick off at 4:30 p.m. and be televised nationally by ABC. The UW, which leads the series 68-35-4, can clinch a Pac-12 championship game berth with a win or an Arizona loss.

"I think our guys really play well when the lights are bright," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said.

Hardly fearful of offending the Oregon Ducks, some people think these might be the two best conference teams, matching up a couple of low-key yet likable coaches who should be on everyone's wish list when a major job opening arises these days.

When they matched wits for the first time 12 months ago in stormy conditions, Smith's Beavers held the upper hand throughout a physical game until the UW pulled out a 24-21 victory with a Peyton Henry field goal at the end in Husky Stadium.

Smith, the former UW offensive coordinator for Chris Petersen, and DeBoer went on to be named Pac-12 Co-Coaches of the Year, with Smith typically wisecracking, "I would have won the thing [outright] if I hadn't voted for him."

Rather than this be a total lovefest, Husky wide-receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard took one look at the point spread, considered the ever-present chainsaw and jumped on it for instant motivational purposes.

"This is exactly what we need," Shephard said in rapid-fire dialogue. "We need every bit of it. I don't know if you guys know, at Michigan State, their fans were on the sideline talking trash to our players, especially the wide receivers. All that did was motivate us in a way that was unprecedented. We really, truly thrive in these types of environments when our backs are against the wall. That's when we're at our best.

"So my hope and prayer is, when we get there, they're just as rowdy and vicious. I went them to know the names of our players, talk bad about their parents, talk bad about their girlfriends, give us every single piece of motivation that's going to allow us to play our best — because we're going to need it."

Whew. Thank you, Reverend Shephard. Now turn to page 23 in your hymn books or game program.

As the Huskies return to Corvallis, this is the place that made Edefuan Ulofoshio a star. In 2019, he entered the game at Reser Stadium as a non-scholarship walk-on, a redshirt freshman and a reserve linebacker, and he came away as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week with a big outing and as a UW starter thereafter when healthy.

This also is the place that likely dulled former Husky offensive lineman Jaxson Kirkland's NFL prospects. In 2021, he was possibly a first-round or at least a high draft pick when he was pass-blocking in Reser and got obliterated from behind when fellow tackle Victor Curne missed his block, ultimately required surgery and hasn't been the same player since. He went undrafted and works with the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad this season.

For this meeting, the Huskies will send its one-time Indiana transfer quarterback Michael Penix Jr. into Corvallis for the first and last time to face Clemson transfer signal-caller DJ Uiagalelei, two guys who have landed quite nicely in their second stops. Penix is close to winning the Heisman Trophy. The other guy has a chance to upset Penix and Company and spoil it all.

While both football teams have a lot at stake and big postseason ambitions to close this current season, they're headed in decidedly different directions once the game is over.

The coaches, players and fans for both sides all should take a moment before exiting Reser and acknowledge what a great relationship the UW and Oregon State have had on the football field for more than a century.

Unlike Oregon and the Huskies, this is a friendly competition without the pretentiousness of who's more superior as cities, schools, teams and people.

It just doesn't seem at all fair the series has to be discontinued or put on hiatus until somebody gets wise and restores things with a non-conference matchup somewhere well down the line.

Meantime, the scene is set for potentially one of the most competitive football games between these two neighboring schools. Check out the new and improved Reser Stadium. Let it rain. Turn these teams loose. Fire up that chainsaw.

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