Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold (and Foggy)

You'll remember that I mentioned Friday that Saturday was the 109th playing of the Civil War, the longest-running rivalry game on the West Coast, as my beloved University of Oregon Ducks hosted the Team from Up the Road, the OSU Beavers. You'll also remember I mentioned a few pieces of Trivia about the game. One little tidbit I didn't mention was the fact that LAST year's game included the highest score by either team in the history of the game, as OSU handed us a 50-21 drubbing.

Well, as The Manolo might say, if he were to care about such things as football, the payback, she is the bitch.

That's right, 56-14. It's probably a good thing for Beaver fans that the weather was so foggy -- they really didn't want to see this.

To give you an idea of how thoroughly the Ducks dominated OSU, a few things to consider:

• Oregon started both halves of the game by scoring before their offense had even taken the field. During OSU's first offensive series, Aaron Gipson returned an interception 60 yards for the score. Then, Jonathan Stewart returned the opening kickoff of the second half 97 yards -- TD.

• Late in the game, the Beavers blocked a punt by the Ducks, recovering the ball on Oregon's 8 Yard Line. They failed to score.

• The Beavers lost one fumble, and threw 3 interceptions. Oregon lost none, threw none.

• Oregon outscored OSU in every quarter.

• The Ducks were 2 points short of winning by the biggest margin of victory in Civil War history.
  

The only sad thing for Ducks fans is that Saturday was probably the last time we'll see junior Haloti Ngata play in Autzen Stadium. Scouts predict that if he goes pro, he'll be a First Round pick, maybe even in the top 5. This is one scary Defensive Lineman. He has the size and strength of a DL, the speed of a Linebacker, and the intelligence of a quarterback. I've seen him break through O Lines, then run fdown RB's from behind. When he rushes the passer, it's with the quickness of a blitz, and NO ONE runs up the middle on him. Furthermore, because he must be double-teamed, he frees up the rest of the line, as well as the linebacking corp, increasing their ability to rush the passer and cover outside runners and receivers. I may not root for whatever team picks him up, but I won't BET against them.