2024 Ducks-Beavers College Football Preview

When it comes to betting on football in the state of Oregon, the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers take the top spots as the most popular and wagered on NCAA Division I FBS teams. The Ducks are coming off a better-than-expected season in 2018 while the Beavers look to pull themselves in rebuild mode and improve from the disappointing season they had a year ago.

Oregon Ducks - 2024 Season Preview

The Ducks had a well-earned 9-win season last year, but the team will have much loftier goals in 2019 - like winning the Pac-12 championship. All eyes will be on quarterback Justin Herbert, who chose to come back after he would have been a sure-fire first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft according to most scouts.

Herbert will definitely be on pretty much Heisman Trophy watch list to start the season and if he has an even better season then the one he had a year ago, then he may have a shot at becoming the second Oregon QB to take home the hardware.

Head coach Mario Cristobal enters his second year leading the team from the sidelines and will look to improvide on last season and make a run at getting into the College Football Playoff. He has a lot of young talent to develop but he learned from Nick Saban while at Alabama, so he likely learned a few things from one of the greatest coaches of all time.

While the Ducks may come up short for a birth in the playoffs, a lot of it will come down to whether the team can limit their losses since a two-loss Pac-12 team is unlikely to make the postseason in college football. If they make it through the schedule undefeated or with only one loss, then the Ducks could be national title contenders in 2019.

Oregon State Beavers - 2024 Season Preview

It’s safe to say that things did not go according to plan in the Beavers’ first season with head coach Jonathan Smith at the helm. The team had another disappointing season, ending the year with only 2 wins out of 12 games and finishing dead last in the Pac-12 North for the third time in four years.

Recruiting talent has been a major issue for the Beavers over the past couple of years. When you rank 12th out of the 12 teams in the Pac-12, you’re going to have an uphill battle against the California teams and the revitalized Washington squads. And that’s not even bringing up the rival Ducks who’ve done a great job with recruiting over the same time span.

Not having a starter named at quarterback is also a glaring issue, and senior Jake Luton and sophomore Tristan Gebbia are the two leading contenders to take the job. Splitting time should not be in the game plan since it rarely has success at any level of football because it limits the reps and experience gained for both QBs when you could be dedicating 100% of the reps (or at least a majority) to the person you believe will lead your offense.

Despite the recent offensive signal caller woes, the Beavers have no chance of improving if coach Smith does not patch up the defense as soon as possible. The squad ranked at the very bottom of the Pac-12 in both points allowed per game (45.7) and yards given up per game (536.8). Honestly, things don’t look great for the Beavers in 2019 but if the defensive line can get more physical and begin to win some battles at the line of scrimmage, then they could double their win total or even hit .500 and earn a trip to a bowl.

Oregon-Oregon State Civil War: All-time Records and History

The “Civil War” series is one of the oldest rivalries in college football history and ranks as the 5th most played rivalry game in NCAA Division I FBS. The series features the University of Oregon Ducks from Eugene and the Oregon State University Beavers from Corvallis.

Oregon and Oregon State are the two largest public universities in the state in regards to the student population, and their campuses are a little less than 50 miles from each other in the Willamette Valley. With 122 games played in the series, the “Civil War” holds the unique record of having played the most games between two public state universities that are named "University of ___” and “___ State University."

The rivalry is renewed annually during each season’s “Rivalry Week” in November at the end of the season. The winner of the matchup between the two Oregon teams takes home The Platypus Trophy and holds it until the next year’s meeting. The hand-carved maple wood trophy is a platypus because the animal takes features from both of the school’s mascots - a duck and a beaver.

The trophy was used for three meetings (1959-1961) before it was thought to be lost forever, but 40 years later after a state-wide trophy hunt, it was found in a closet at the Oregon Ducks’ McArthur Court in 2005. It has been used as the trophy for the rivalry each year since 2007 and is one of the most iconic symbols from any rivalry in college football.

Series Record: Oregon Ducks lead, 65-47-10 (57.4% win rate)
Total Meetings: 122
First Meeting: OAC 16, Oregon 0 - November 3, 1894 (125 years ago)
Played continuously: Since 1945
Largest margin of victory: Ducks won 69–10 (2017)
Longest win streak: Ducks 8 (1975-82, 2008-15), Beavers 8 (1964-71)
Current win streak: Ducks 2 (2017-2018)
Next Meeting: November 30, 2019 @ Autzen Stadium