UW's 3 Best Wins and 3 Worst Losses Against Oregon
They were neighbors, cordial much of the time, able to co-exist for decades.
So when, you might ask, did all of the insufferable hate begin for the University of Washington and Oregon fan bases that knows no bounds?
It seems the levels of venom each year never have a winner — it's always a fierce tie. You can go as many overtimes as you want, but these greater Northwest fan bases can't top each other in throwing insults, invective and scorn at one another, whether online or in person.
OK, we'll give the roots of the big Seattle-to-Eugene disconnect a definitive starting point.
How about the time frame between Oct. 27, 1973, to Oct. 28, 1974?
That's 12 months of festering, gloating, name-calling and finger-pointing to set everything in motion.
On the first date, the Ducks hugely embarrassed the UW with a 58-0 drubbing in Eugene. They showed no mercy. Poured it on. And rubbed it in.
Could anything be more rude than in that outcome?
Well, yes.
Jim Owens, knowing full well his Husky coaching career was coming to an end the following season, got angry every time he thought about that eight-touchdown massacre in the Willamette Valley.
Five games from offering his resignation, he implored his UW players to beat Oregon with everything they had and not stop until they had scored at least 59 points, one more than the Autzen Stadium test of humility.
The Huskies gave him 66, as in a 66-0 payback lesson at Husky Stadium, that was slightly more disrespectful.
You would be hard-pressed to find any pair of rivals anywhere in college football who have shared in a 124-point turnaround like that in just 12 months.
That's the ultimate loathing displayed anywhere, I rest my case.
Of course, we have included both of those hopeless outings in the best and the worst of this longstanding series.
3 BEST HUSKY VICTORIES
2016, UW 70, at Oregon 21 — The fifth-ranked Huskies ended a 12-game losing streak to the Ducks, their longest in series history, and they did it in Eugene in an uproarious fashion. They scored a minute and a half into this game. They scored three touchdowns before Oregon responded. They scored 10 touchdowns at will, with five coming on touchdown passes from Jake Browning, who also ran for two and did his infamous "point" at a Ducks defender as he ran across the goal line. This game alone helped atone for nearly two full decades of having Oregon hand it to them.
1974, UW 66, at Oregon 0 — Payback is amazing sometimes. After losing 58-0 to the Ducks the year before in Eugene, the Huskies went for blood and exceeded that humiliation by handing out one of their own insults. They led 24-0 at halftime, scored 28 points in the third quarter alone and, under the direction of coach Jim Owens, wouldn't let up until the big man was fully satisfied. UW quarterback Chris Rowland ran for two touchdowns and passed for one, but he was kept in the game far too long after it was decided and broke an ankle. Running back Wayne Moses separated a shoulder late and was lost the season, too. Yet, the Huskies got their revenge. Afterward, Oregon coach Don Read felt compelled to say this, "I apologize to every Duck fan."
2017, at UW 38, Oregon 3 — This one ranks up there among the greatest wins maybe because it's the last time the Huskies beat the Ducks in this rivalry. While they didn't score 70 points, they whipped their rivals by 35 points, just four off that 2016 margin in Eugene. The game began innocently enough with a first-quarter Ducks field goal before the UW unloaded on them in this night game played in 40-degree temperatures. Dante Pettis caught a 64-yard TD pass, Ahmed Salvon broke a 58-yard scoring run and Myles Gaskin got free on a 31-yard TD run before 70,572 people.
3 WORST HUSKY DEFEATS
1994, at Oregon 31, UW 20 — The Ducks will never, ever let anyone forget this game or "the pick." They show it on the jumbotron before every home outing and celebrate it like it just happened. Every time. For those of you just returning from living in the Himalayas or Siberia for the past 28 years, Oregon cornerback Kenny Wheaton intercepted a Damon Huard pass and raced 97 yards for a touchdown with 49 seconds remaining to blunt a Husky comeback drive that had reached the Ducks 8 with the UW behind 24-20. The outcome propelled Oregon to its first Rose Bowl in 37 years and led to two and a half decades of mostly dominance over their good buddies from Seattle.
2018, at Oregon 30, UW 27 (OT) — Wide right. That's all you have to know about this one. Peyton Henry's potential game-winning kick from 37 yards out with just three seconds left to play in a tie game went wide right. The Huskies did everything they could to win this game except split the uprights at the final gun. Oregon twice called timeout to make the then-redshirt freshman think about. He did. It went wide right. In the overtime, Henry kicked a 22-yard field goal but the Ducks answered with a 6-yard touchdown by CJ Verdell. Opportunity missed.
1973, at Oregon 58, UW 0 — Two bad teams got together in Eugene and the Huskies were at their absolute worst. They gave up a 78-yard punt return for a score to Steve Donnelly just three minutes into the game, a 24-yard interception return to Mike Jodain and a safety at the end. The UW generated 6 first downs, 82 yards rushing and 20 yards passing in the ultimate show of futility. It should be noted that 43 years before Jake Browning did his infamous "point" in Eugene, Oregon wide receiver Bob Palm did it first, gesturing toward Husky cornerback Frank Reed as he scored on the second of his two TD catches.
Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.
Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.
Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12
Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3
