NCAA TITLE GAME LOOKS LIKE OREGON AND AUBURN ON JANUARY 10!

When I used to go to the University of Oregon I never would have imagined the Ducks as having a chance to play for a national football championship. Sitting through the infamous 0-0 "Toilet Bowl" Civil War game in 1983 made me think such things would never happen. That was played in the rain, in 38 or 39 degree cold, and nobody could hang on to the ball! By the end of the game, the home fans were booing the Ducks!

But over the last 25 years, Oregon's program has gradually elevated itself. How it has done this is a matter of debate, but it seems a pretty solid thing to suggest now that each year, when people talk about the top 10 or 15 teams in NCAA football, the Ducks will be part of the discussion.

There are two sports things I have wanted to see during my lifetime. One is the Seattle Mariners playing in a World Series, and the other is the Oregon Ducks playing in a national title game of any sort. Looks like I will get to watch one of those two things, at least!

I don't know how much of a chance the Ducks actually have of beating Auburn... I think the SEC is a tougher conference than the Pac-10 this year from top to bottom, and I can see Auburn winning by a couple of touchdowns.

But you just never know!

As for having in-state bragging rights over the Beavers for a whole year in football, it is hard to put a price on that. It would have been hell to have to put up with all the needling from my OSU friends during the next couple of decades over this one, had the Beavs won today and deprived the Ducks of a chance at a national championship.

I do feel badly for OSU because they won't be going to a bowl game this year... for that to have happened, they needed to beat Oregon today. But more than that, what they needed to have done to be bowl eligible this season was to have beaten the teams they *should* have beaten (Washington State and UCLA, and probably the University of Washington too) in games earlier this season. Instead of being 5-6 going into this game, I think the Beavers should have been 7-4 or even 8-3 (and I do wish they could have been), but such are the breaks.

Beaver fans can at least look forward to OSU kicking Oregon's butt a couple of times in basketball this year. That might be kind of ugly! LOL!

For the next five weeks, I will be anticipating the title game but it will be not be a pins-and-needles wait like it was for the Civil War game. I'm glad the Civil War is over! Now it's time for some fun!