'We want to be in the best bowl game possible,' says Bellotti

KEVIN HUDSON | SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER

When the No. 19 Oregon Ducks take the field at Reser Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, against the No. 17 Oregon State Beavers, it will be just the second time in the 112-year history of the rivalry that both teams go into the game with a national ranking.

The last time was in 2000, with the Ducks ranked No. 5, and the No. 8 Beavers were the only thing standing between Oregon and a Pacific-10 Conference Championship. The Beavers won that game 23-13 and went on to dismantle Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

This season the tables are turned, as the Ducks stand as the last challenge between the Beavers and a conference title and Oregon State's first Rose Bowl appearance in 44 years.

Lose, and the Beavers drop to at least the Sun Bowl, possibly even the Las Vegas Bowl. The Ducks could make their bid for a Holiday Bowl berth with a win, while a loss will likely relegate them to the Las Vegas Bowl, as no-repeat clauses in the Sun Bowl contract could be exercised.

Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said in his Sunday evening teleconference with reporters that his team needs to believe their stakes are just as high as the Beavers'.

"There is as much at stake in this game for us, and we have to perceive it that way," he said. "They can't be any hungrier or want it any more than we do."

And while many Duck fans are undoubtedly excited by the possibility of knocking the Beavers out of the Rose Bowl, Bellotti won't subscribe to that mentality for his team this week.

"I don't think it's that we want to keep them out of the Rose Bowl. It's that we want to be in the best bowl game possible," he said. "We want to win in Corvallis, and we want to win the Civil War for the value of the Civil War."

This Civil War has been sold out for weeks as the possible stakes have become clear and newspapers up and down the Willamette Valley now have Web sites packed to the brim with message board posts from zealous fans of both schools.

Every vehicle on the road will declare its allegiance this week via decals, flags and pom-poms, while cubicles and storefronts across the state will be adorned with green and yellow or orange and black, sometimes both.

"It ought to make everybody proud that this game counts for something," Bellotti said. "I would hope everybody would really enjoy this week."

KEVIN HUDSON khudson@dailyemerald.com

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