BFS Story Archive

The 2007 Civil War - AKA "The Battle of the Backups"

11/25/2007

It is just 6 days until the Beavers and Ducks get together to play the 111th Civil War at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. The Civil War is the 7th oldest college football rivalry in the nation.  Here are the rivalries that have been going on longer then the Civil War at the Division I level:

1. 117 games Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
2. 116 Kansas vs. Missouri
3. 114 Nebraska vs. Kansas
4. 114 Texas vs. Texas A&M
5. 112 Miami (Ohio) vs. Cincinnati 
6. 112 North Carolina vs. Virginia 
7. 111 Civil War Oregon State vs. Oregon
8. 111 Auburn vs. Georgia 

"BATTLE OF THE BACKUPS"

I have renamed t he 111th edition of the Civil War to "THE BATTLE OF THE BACKUPS". The reason for this is because this season more then any other in recent memory has seen more injuries to key players on both sides of the ball then should be possible for one team let alone two teams. In fact, in the PAC-10 conference this year we have seen injuries to the following starting quarterbacks that have forced them to miss at least one full game this season; Dennis Dixon (knee) - Oregon, Sean Canfield (Shoulder) - Oregon State, John David Booty (Broken Finger) - USC, Jake Locker (Neck) - Washington, Nate Longshore (ankle) - Cal, Rudy Carpenter (Thumb) - Arizona State, T.C. Ostrander (Seizure) - Stanford, Ben Olsen (concussion) - UCLA, Patrick Cowan - UCLA.

In the Civil War both Oregon and Oregon State will be without their starting quarterbacks and Oregon is also missing backup QB Brady Leaf, , Oregon State will most likely be without starting tailback Yvenson Bernard, Oregon tailback Jonathan Stewart is nusing a sore ankle, Oregon State and Oregon are missing several other key players on offense and defense.

Needless to say this edition of the Civil War is more a "Battle of the Backups" and not so much a "Civil War".

BFS