Aside from Washington or the occasional Top 5 opponent, there has been no greater joy for Oregon Football or its fans than beating Oregon State the past 25 years.
In the late 90s/early 2000s, the Civil War (most of us still call it that anyway) began to pick up national attention, and though there’s been some rather mismatched contests (2004, 2005, 2011 & 2012), there has also been some classic thrillers (2007, 2009, 2013, 2020).
Former Beavs head coach Jonathan Smith had pulled a Mike Riley in recent years, turning the smaller program full of less heralded recruits into a Top 25 program while reigniting the rivalry with Oregon by scoring upsets over them twice in Corvallis.