Civil War T-minus 4 days

Just 4 more days left to the start of the 113th Civil War between my Oregon State Beavers and those feathered fowl from Eugene. I hope it gets here soon because my metabolism cannot take much more.

It all started out so peacefully. With the win last week in Pullman and then the Ducks win in Arizona the stage was set for the most important Civil War of all time. The winner goes to the Rose Bowl. The potential cost of a lose in this game for either team is more for the Beavers then the Ducks. If the Ducks lose they are sole #2 and will go to the Holiday Bowl. If the Beavers lose they are, once again, tied for second.

Last year, after the loss to the Ducks the Beavers found themselves tied for second and ended up in El Paso for the Sun Bowl (3rd place bowl). The year before, 2007-2008, the Beavers finished third in the PAC-10 and ended up in the Emerald Bowl (5th place). This is all because of the complex system of determining the bowl berths based upon, no-repeat clauses, head to head tie breakers and who the bowl commettees think will bring the most fans. The last option beinging the one most considered.

So with a loss in the Civil War this year, where would the Beavers end up? Ted Miller from ESPN has the Beavers losing and tied for second and going to the Las Vegas Bowl (5th place).

So if the Beavers lose on Thursday they are 6-3. Cal beats Washington next week they end up 6-3. The winner of the USC-Arizona games ends up at 6-3 with the loser going to 5-4. Stanford finished yesterday at 6-3.

So with that in mind, the Beavers beat Stanford and Cal and lost to Arizona or USC. So that should put the Beavers in no worse then the 3rd place bowl which is the Sun Bowl. But since the went there last year (insert no-repeat clause) the Sun Bowl won't take then. That moves then to the Emerald Bowl (4th Place) vs an ACC team. If the Beavers drop to the Las Vegas Bowl they will most likely face Utah because BYU has been 5 years in a row and the Beavers have already faced Utah.

So basically if the Holiday Bowl does not take the Beavers we get screwed for the third year in a row by dropping down to a bowl that was not what we earned.

IMO the Holiday Bowl would be absolutely nuts to take any other team then the Beavers if we lose. We travel better then any other team in the PAC-10 and we have never been to the Holiday Bowl. I already have hotel rooms booked in Pasadena and San Diego as do several other Beaver alums I know.

So lets go and win the Civil War and end the bowl confusion for the Beavers. And if we by chance lose to the Ducks. The Holiday Bowl had better make the correct decision this year and bring the team that truely deserves to be there. THE BEAVERS!

GO BEAVERS BEAT THE DUCKS!