This is so unbelievable that it’s like trying to tell my kids about life before cable.
Remember when we had four TV stations? When we used something called a typewriter? When we had to walk uphill both ways to school and, dadgum, we didn’t complain about it?
For anybody who is old enough to remember the 1970s and the 1980s, this year’s Civil War conjures up memories of The Dark Ages in Oregon and Oregon State football.
Those were the days when the Ducks were going 25 years without a bowl game and the Beavers were amassing 28 consecutive losing seasons. Those were the days when the teams combined for an awesomely bad 0-0 Civil War in 1983 — the last scoreless tie in college football.
Dan Aykroyd used to play a character on Saturday Night Live named Leonard Pinth-Garnell. He would introduce “Bad Conceptual Theater” and then revel in its sheer awfulness. “Terrible! Simply terrible!” he would exult.
That was Oregon and Oregon State. Bad Conceptual Football.
For years, the Ducks and Beavers would have been unable to put together a good football team between them.
Now they are playing for the Rose Bowl — and it is no fluke.
Sure, this season’s Civil War has benefitted from a down year by Southern California. But none of the other Pac-10 programs have put themselves in this position. None of the other teams have demonstrated the week-after-week consistency that is required throughout the conference schedule.
And in the process, the Oregon schools have provided a lesson for the rest of the Pac-10.
Oregon’s ascension began in the late 1980s, when the school opened the Casanova Center, containing locker rooms and training facilities and coaches offices. Then it built an indoor practice facility. Then it built a multi-million dollar football locker room.
Detractors can denigrate Oregon as being Phil Knight University, but they do so at the risk of exposing their own jealousy.
Oregon State has undergone a similar transformation over the past two decades. What once was a glorified high school stadium has been expanded and renovated and joined by a building housing offices and locker rooms, followed by an indoor practice structure.
It is no coincidence that success on the field has followed these investments, which is the inherent lesson for both Washington and Washington State.
The Huskies, while hope has been rekindled under Steve Sarkisian, are going to have trouble returning to the top of the conference until Husky Stadium is renovated. For all its advantages in money and in its recruiting base, Washington is saddled with a dilapidated stadium.
It is no secret that college football is an out-of-control arms race. That garish facilities and outlandish coaching salaries tend to drive the sport away from the educational mission of the schools the teams represent.
But that is the way the game is played.
And it is about a lot more than having the right coach or getting lucky with your schedule some fall.
Oregon and Oregon State made a commitment to being at least competitive in the Pac-10, with the hope that maybe once in a while they can land in the Rose Bowl. Combine that with Chip Kelly and Mike Riley, who have pushed all the right buttons this year, and you have the makings for an epic Civil War game.
Kelly kept his team together in the wake of a season-opening disaster at Boise State.
Riley enhanced his credentials as perhaps the best coach in the Pac-10, despite what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.
The result is a stunning turn of events — a Civil War on a Thursday night with the winner going to the Rose Bowl. For anybody who has been around this part of the country for a while, it’s difficult to explain how improbable that once seemed.
Greg Jayne is Sports editor of The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4531, or by e-mail at greg.jaynecolumbian.com. To read his blog, go to columbian.com/section/GregJayne
