This will be the 126th meeting between the Ducks and Beavers in the game formerly known as the Civil War.
Over the years there have been some massive battles between these two in-state behemoths.
It’s the time of year when households across the state argue about who’s the better team and who’s going to have bragging rights for the next full year.
All rivalries across college football are special.
But Saturday’s match-up between these two nationally ranked teams comes with a bit more juice. It’s actually one of the few times when both teams come in with a bigger prize to play for.
Oregon has a Pac-12 title game appearance on the line in Las Vegas where USC is waiting.
But the Ducks are in the middle of a grinding end-of-season gauntlet that began with a thud – a 37-34 loss to the Huskies.
A week later, however, the Ducks were able to flip the script with a 20-17 win over a Top 10 Utah team which propelled them back into a Top 10 national ranking.
Right now, Oregon is just trying to survive with several key players nursing some nagging injuries, including quarterback Bo Nix, who played with a bum ankle against the Utes.
According to head coach Dan Lanning, his quarterback should be good to go when his team faces the Beavers on Saturday.
“I think it’s evaluated every single day. We’ll see,” said Lanning.
“We have a great medical staff, they do a good job. Bo understands. He’s been playing the game for a long time. He understands the way his body feels. Obviously, he was able to go out there on Saturday, but keep evaluating as we get closer to each game.”
Nix was largely immobile against the Ute defense and whether or not he’ll be able to move around more in Reser Stadium remains to be seen.
But Nix isn’t the only player the training staff is working overtime to get healthy.
Much of the offensive line is banged up and the status of players such as Ryan Walk and Alex Forsyth is still up in the air and will be determined on Saturday prior to kickoff.
“I’m not gonna spend a ton of time talking about injuries,” said Lanning on Wednesday.
“But we have a lot of tough kids. It’s that time of year when you’re banged up, and you’re hurting, and it’s not Week 1 anymore. So we have a lot of guys that are banged up and Ryan’s (Walk) certainly one of those guys is battled through it and made sure he’s made his way to the field.”
BO NIX DISCUSSES HIS PREP FOR OSU AND ANKLE READINESS
The perception of this game would have been drastically different if the Ducks had not managed to win the close-fought battle at home last Saturday.
With so much on the line, the folks who schedule games on the television networks saw fit to put this game on ABC for a 12:30 pm broadcast to a national audience.
But if Oregon had lost and were targets of some lower-tier bowl match-ups, who knows which television window this matchup would have been slotted into?
Make no mistake though, Oregon will be ready to play this very stout and confident Oregon State team who would like nothing better than to knock the Ducks out of the conference championship game.
That’s what rivalries are.
They’re fierce hard-fought battles that mean so much more than conference championships.
They’re games of legacy that will be discussed for generations to come.
“It doesn’t take any extra juice for our guys” explained Lanning.
“I think they appreciate this game and know what it means. I love rivalries when it comes to rivalries in college football. So this is certainly one of the great ones and I think our guys are excited and ready to go play.”
That’s all a Duck fan can ask for.
And a win of course.
WEDNESDAY PRESSER; DAN LANNING TALKS OREGON STATE