Oregon and Washington will play each other for the 115th time Saturday. This is the first time that both have been ranked in the top 10, with the undefeated Huskies No. 7 in the Associated Press poll and the undefeated Ducks No. 8. It is, quite literally, the best of times for an underrated rivalry tucked away in the Pacific Northwest.
And it might never be this good again.
Next season, both will join the Big Ten Conference, along with fellow Pac-12 evacuees USC and UCLA. There will be more money. There also will be more problems. Life is going to become much more difficult.
The competition to make the league championship game will be tougher. Even if both programs continue performing at a high level, they probably will be in a five-way battle for fourth best in the Big Ten. Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State aren’t going anywhere at the top, at least not in the short term. Washington and Oregon likely will join USC, Wisconsin and perhaps UCLA in making up the next tier.
For notes on the difficulty that comes with changing conferences, the Pac-12 schools might want to consult Nebraska’s history. The Cornhuskers played in six Big 12 championship games between 1996 and 2010. They’ve played in one Big Ten title game, surrendering 70 points to Wisconsin in ’12, and have scarcely mattered since then. They’re currently trying to end a six-year streak of losing seasons.
The travel will be tougher, too. Washington’s 2024 conference schedule features four long road trips—one going two time zones East to play Iowa, and the others going three time zones East to play Indiana, Penn State and Rutgers. Oregon will travel to Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin. How will they hold up in the cumulative effect of that travel? How much harder will it be (and what the Trojans and Bruins also face) than the current Big Ten teams making only one trip West each?
And their rosters figure to be diminished in 2024 compared to where they currently stand. They will make the Big Ten move without their current star quarterbacks, Michael Penix Jr. of the Huskies and Bo Nix of the Ducks, a pair of 23-year-old Heisman Trophy candidates. Nix, a fifth-year senior, is poised to play in his 53rd college game Saturday. Penix, a six-year guy who has endured several injuries in his career, will be playing in his 40th college game. Even if both schools dip into the transfer portal, that combination of talent and experience will be difficult to replace next season.
Can those things be overcome? It’s possible but hardly guaranteed. So be careful what you wish for, Huskies and Ducks, and enjoy this week while you have it. This is the good stuff.
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The winner can probably make a claim to be ranked No. 1, take a big stride toward playing for the Pac-12 championship come December, and also a big step toward College Football Playoff candidacy—especially given the overall quality of the league this season. An undefeated Pac-12 champion would seem a slam dunk to make the playoff, and a one-loss champion would merit strong consideration. This might even be a two-bid league, unless the selection committee chooses not to recognize the conference’s current strength. (Don’t put it past them.)
On an individual level, the winning quarterback might move to the head of the Heisman class, depending on what USC’s Caleb Williams does in South Bend on Saturday.
So the stakes are suitably massive. This might even be Game of the Year material.
Ohio State–Notre Dame got the first chance to claim that label, but the Fighting Irish have subsequently done their part to dim the luster of that showdown. Oklahoma-Texas, another matchup of schools preparing to leave their current conferences, probably inherits that honor for the time being. But if this Oregon-Washington game is like last year’s, look out.
The Huskies won that 37–34, scoring 10 points in the final three minutes to pull it out in Eugene. There were four touchdowns of longer than 45 yards in the second half alone, and if anything both teams are more explosive this year.
Oregon is second nationally in total offense at 556 yards per game and third in yards per play (8.06). Washington leads the nation in both categories at 569 yards per game and 8.81 yards per play. (There’s a long way to go, but the FBS single-season record for most yards per play is jointly held by 2018 Oklahoma and ’06 Hawai‘i at 8.6. The Huskies are on pace.)
The national leader in most passing plays of 10 or more yards, 20 or more and 30 or more? That’s Washington, which is Team Vertical when it comes to throwing the ball. The national leader in yards per running play? That’s Oregon at 6.99.
Like everything else happening in this ironic Pac-12 season, the Oregon-Washington matchup comes with a tinge of sadness over the ending of an era. A dying league is having its best year in ages, with a thick résumé of quality nonconference wins and a deep roster of teams that could end up in Las Vegas playing for the Pac-12 title. But come 2024 they will all be scattered—two schools to the Atlantic Coast Conference, four schools to the Big 12 and the four ticketed for the Big Ten.
For Oregon and Washington, the road ahead is lucrative but more difficult. They have great coaches, great financial backing and passionate fan bases—but so do all the big dogs in the Big Ten. Future iterations of this ancient Pacific Northwest rivalry might never mean as much as it means this week.
