Log Haulin recently replied to this article.

Dan Lanning has no reason to distrust Oregon - USC must respond

"So Trojan wire is calling Oregon a rival. I don't really view them as a rival. Ducks don't play them often enough. They are unlikeable sure. But a rival?"

I think anytime you enjoy beating a team as much as ewe dub, it is a rivalry.

While my observation makes us uncomfortable, it may very well apply. When Washington was beating us year after year for decades, we looked at them as a rival, but they did not regard us as such. Only now do both sides view each other with intense rivalry.

USC fans are viewing Oregon the same way that Oregon viewed Washington during those frustrating years; they look up to us as a rival, we did not view them as a West Coast rival until they start beating us on a regular basis.

But their fans and their coaches sure make it fun to beat them!

1 hour ago, Steven A said:

Log Haulin recently replied to this article.

Dan Lanning has no reason to distrust Oregon - USC must respond

"So Trojan wire is calling Oregon a rival. I don't really view them as a rival. Ducks don't play them often enough. They are unlikeable sure. But a rival?"

SC is the biggest brand on the West Coast, and whether it's correct or not, SC is The West Coast football Blueblood and the only team other than Oregon in the Pacific and Mountain time zones with a Blue Chip Roster.

Now that SC has upped its recruiting game and portal-picking prowess, SC is Oregon's top West Coast competitor for talent, especially SoCal talent.

Outside of the Eastern time zone, SC is Oregon's B1Ggest challenger for a spot in the PO.

9/26/26 in LA is a program-defining game for SC and a game Dan Lanning knows he needs to win to continue Oregon's West Coast supremacy.

The number of eyeballs on the SC game will dwarf those for all other 2026 games, except the 11/7/26 game against Ohio State in Columbus, with a good chance that GameDay and Big Noon will be in town.

I think the game will kick off at 7:30 Eastern. The biggest SEC game on 9/26/26 is Texas at Tennessee, scheduled to be broadcast at Noon Eastern.

Current Odds - Oregon -5.5 - Over/Under 58.5

Great topic, thanks.

They became a rival as soon as we both joined the B1G imo.

Hopefully the B1G will recognize the opportunity here. To be true rival requires an annual match-up imo. It's hard to get the juices flowing playing every third year.

I have a ton of hate for Trojan. Especially after they tried to stick it to Oregon in the reshuffle. Cowards!

This fued is ripe to be a full blown "kick'em when they are down" rivalry. Hopefully the B1G powers will recognize this and schedule yearly.

I would love to stomp Trojan into the ground every November for sure.

Notre Dame is opening a new $100 million dollar football facility. USC officially opens their new gazillion facility August 5. The Oregon facility opened in 2018, as I recall.

Would USC spent that much, for that elaborate a facility, if Oregon hadn't been making recruiting in-roads in So. Cal?

27 minutes ago, Log Haulin said:

Hopefully the B1G will recognize the opportunity here. To be true rival requires an annual match-up imo. It's hard to get the juices flowing playing every third year.

I have a ton of hate for Trojan. Especially after they tried to stick it to Oregon in the reshuffle. Cowards!

This fued is ripe to be a full blown "kick'em when they are down" rivalry. Hopefully the B1G powers will recognize this and schedule yearly.

I would love to stomp Trojan into the ground every November for sure.

Agreed, LH. When the current scheduling format concludes in 2028, I hope that B1G HQ will have the four West Coast teams playing every season. If this means one more season to play every Big Ten opponent twice, so be it.

One fewer trip to the Central or Eastern time zone for the 'Pac-4' and one fewer B1G team having to trip West.

Always felt like USC was actively trying to avoid a regular slate of games with Oregon the last 15 years or so. They just didn't want to be embarrassed repeatedly. Seems like a great time to pull up this goodie again:

USC in LA is going to be a tough game. Despite the fact that it's easy to abhor them, they are getting better and better yearly. The arrogance of their fan base is further reason to despise them. I had a roommate from USC in law school...he lasted for less than a year.....thank God. What a piece of work.

I predict this is LR’s final year unfortunately.

6 hours ago, HDuck said:

Notre Dame is opening a new $100 million dollar football facility. USC officially opens their new gazillion facility August 5. The Oregon facility opened in 2018, as I recall.

Would USC spent that much, for that elaborate a facility, if Oregon hadn't been making recruiting in-roads in So. Cal?

Wait until they realize that the NEW facility will be able to be seen from space. Sorry Spoiled Children, innovation is the name of the game now.

Rivalries require hate that goes both ways...

Yeah USC is a rival.

Washington is a rival.

Oregon State has been losing rival status for awhile because as Duck fans we don't hate them as much as Beavs hate us.

2 hours ago, FG Lumber said:

USC in LA is going to be a tough game. Despite the fact that it's easy to abhor them, they are getting better and better yearly. The arrogance of their fan base is further reason to despise them. I had a roommate from USC in law school...he lasted for less than a year.....thank God. What a piece of work.

Good call. In 2025, SC did not lose a home game, including wins over Iowa and Michigan.

Three road losses came at Illinois, Notre Dame, in a torrential rainstorm, and at Oregon, 27 to 42, but only 13 to 14 in the 2nd half.

With Notre Dame off the schedule and even with a home game vs Ohio State, the game against Oregon is job No. 1 for Riley and company.

IMHO the fact that we didn't want USC restoring their recruiting prowess indicated we consider the them a rival.

They haven't defeated us in years, but we sure our time of hate on them.

USC just lost its starting offensive center for the year. Actually in a weird way this may be good news for them. The backup may be better.

2 hours ago, fred flintstone said:

USC just lost its starting offensive center for the year. Actually in a weird way this may be good news for them. The backup may be better.

No matter the opponent, I hate to see CFB players injured. By far, the worst part of the game.

Why do you think the back up could be better? Thanks.

Obviously, no one likes injuries. In fact, I'd rather beat a team's best.

Killian was a walk on who was under sized. He gave it his all with what he had. Very heady player.

He was sub par to average at pass blocking and average at run blocking. Unfortunately his best games were against poor teams. Against the elite he broke down. Not sure who will be plugged in (I know the names but there are several) yet none of them I consider to be good, probably the same or slightly better. What this may do is make their depth of experienced players thin because the leading candidate is a starting guard.

People have argued for years about "new blood" powers like Oregon being a true rival to "bluebloods" like USC or Ohio State. I'd argue that Oregon is one of the top two or three opponents on those programs schedule any year. Some also say that you can have only one real rival. But that's nonsense.

Florida has four rivals that they used to have to play every year. Those being Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, and FSU. Miami is also a rival, but that game has never been played yearly. Miami also hates Florida way more than Florida hates Miami imo. We can't call them little brother like Oregon can to Oregon State though. It's just fun to get under their skin and remind them that they have us on their mind constantly. I cheer for anybody playing them,outside our other rivals of course,so yeah it's a rivalry.

I'd ask my friends here if you think it's possible to have more than one rival, and if so, who are they? I'd guess it would be Washington, Oregon State, USC, and probably Ohio State as a new one, now that you are conference mates. Is Indiana a possible one, or will it take more years of them being a B1G heavyweight?

USC has Notre Dame, UCLA, and Oregon imo. They might say Michigan and Ohio State as well. Just because they view themselves in the same class system, and all those past Rose Bowl matchups.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by GatOrlando

Great thread!

In the new world order as it stands today UW/USC/UCLA should be our conference rivals (imo) that we play every year, throw in Beavis for now. This is assuming a stable landscape, that doesn’t exist imo.

If we keep beating Beavis by 30+ every year (and we will imo), there’s a real chance that game goes away on an annual basis. I personally don’t think any other B1G will have the time needed to elevate to a true rival…too many to pick from and the history just isn’t there imo. I’m sure we will hate tOSU etc eventually if nothing changed with alignment. But how do you pick between tOSU, Michigan, PSU? I don’t think any of them, will ever think of us as a rival, let’s not do the one sided rival thing 😆

The rub, I think there will still be a massive realignment before we become full share members of the B1G. In a super league nothing really would differentiate tOSU from Alabama as far as rivals are concerned. I don’t think we will have the decades needed to make any traditional B1G members into true rivals.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by JabbaNoBargain

Terrific post, Gat, thank you.

Washington is public enemy No. 1. Oregon State is a baseball rival but does not have the money to assemble the talent to compete against Oregon in other sports.

Today's mega conferences without divisions make it difficult to play Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, etc., enough to create a true rivalry. In the Big Ten, the Oregon football team misses eight conference members every season. And it's football that delivers rivalries.

Playing Ohio State twice in 2024 and Indiana twice last season was the exception and not the rule. (One game would have been enough 🤬)

The Big Ten has been around for a long time, as evidenced by all of the trophy games in football. But many of these trophy games are no longer annual events.

Teams no longer battle to send the top team to one of the precious few bowl games. Have a successful season in today's SEC or the B1G, and you're one of three to five teams playing for a title.

Even in a more regional conference like the SEC, 16 teams have made a difference. Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012; Georgia has yet to play a game in College Station.

With mega conferences, NIL, unregulated free agency, and conferences extending coast to coast, college football is very different from when I grew up watching the one game broadcast on Saturday while anxiously awaiting the New Year's Day football four-game bonanza.

The economics of football changed dramatically when the NCAA lost its broadcast monopoly, compounded by SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, who convinced the other conferences that college football needed one true champion. Capitalism and NFL-Lite happened.

I miss a lot about the 'good old days,' but I do not want to go back to watching one college game on the weekend.

Best of luck to the Gators and Coach Sumrall.

A quick Friday graphic. Interesting to think about how preserving some long standing rivalries hasn't remotely popped up.