by Kyle Golik
Most college football fans across the country know of feudal rivalries that exist in Red River, The Iron Bowl, or even with The Game.
The Cascade Clash, also known as The Border War between Oregon and Washington, is entering its 115th edition Saturday in Seattle, marking the first time both teams have been ranked in the Top 10.
The rivalry is fueled by hatred of the fallout from the 1948 Rose Bowl vote when Washington led a coalition to vote California into the Rose Bowl over Oregon, a transgression no Ducks fan will ever forgive. Oregon returned the favor nearly half a century later when Washington coach Jim Lambright lobbied for Washington to get the Cotton Bowl over Oregon. When Oregon was selected, Seattle Post Intelligencer columnist Bud Withers wrote, “invited at least another half-century worth of bile from Oregon fans.”
A rivalry noted for streaks, exchanging some of the most lopsided blowouts – 58-0 by Oregon in 1973 and 66-0 by Washington in 1974 is believed to be the largest points swing in consecutive games in NCAA history, nasty recruiting wars, notably Bobby Moore (Ahmad Rashad), and good old fashioned hate.
Here are my Top 5 moments in the Cascade Clash:
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5. 2018 – Peyton Henry’s Miss
Chris Petersen had revived the Washington Huskies program, guiding them to the 2016 College Football Playoff. It was the 2016 encounter, which will be reviewed later on, that had snapped The Streak. The 2017 encounter was a second consecutive decisive win for the Huskies over Oregon 38-3.
With Washington ranked in the No. 7 and jockeying to return to the College Football Playoff against No. 17 Oregon, it was head coach Mario Cristobal’s first foray into the rivalry.
The Huskies started sloppy and turned the ball over on its first two possessions. Once both teams settled down and drew even in the fourth quarter tied at 24.
Washington had a chance to win the game, as it began its drive from its eight yard line with 5:05 to go. The Huskies worked the ball all the way down the field to the Oregon 20 yards with three seconds remaining, and Henry had an opportunity to win the game.
On the 37-yard field goal, Henry hooked the kick as time expired. While Henry redeemed himself in overtime by connecting on a field goal, the Husky defense could not stop Oregon as CJ Verdell scored the game-winning touchdown.
While Washington made it to the Pac-12 Championship Game, in hindsight, the Petersen Era, which had so much promise, ran out of gas the next season. Who knows — if Washington wins this game and avoids the shocker at Cal, would that have given Petersen more motivation to continue in Seattle?
Henry’s miss gave Mario Cristobal the momentum for his program that would go onto win two Pac-12 Championships during his time in Eugene.
4: 1962 – Oregon gets denied by Washington’s “12th Man”
Can you imagine if social media existed in 1962 and captured what transpired with Larry Hill in that game?
Hill was a running back under coach Len Casanova at the University of Oregon. In 1962, he was named the recipient of the Dudley Clarke Trophy, awarded annually to the Most Improved Duck in a vote by the Oregon coaching staff. During his senior season, he was co-captain, along with future NFL Hall of Famer, Mel Renfro, but it was what transpired in the 1962 game that Hill will forever be remembered for.
The Washington Huskies entered the 1962 seeking a third Rose Bowl berth in four seasons. After an opening week tie against No. 7 Purdue, the Huskies rattled off four in a row off entering Oregon week.
Washington had jumped to an early lead, but the Ducks, then known as the Webfoots, started to rally back behind the running of Renfro and Hill.
Down 21-13, Hill got an 18-yard touchdown to get the game within two points, and electing to go for two to tie the game with over three minutes to go, Oregon quarterback Bob Berry located receiver Dick Imwalle to tie the game at 21.
The Webfoots made a final defensive stand and got the ball back with 49 seconds to go on the 19-yard line.
Renfro had a big gain on a 36-yard reverse, and Hill had another big gain to get to midfield. Berry hit receiver Duane Cargill to the Washington 27-yard line with the final second ticking away, Oregon was penalized with an illegal man downfield that moved the ball back to midfield.
On the game’s final play, Washington fans began to storm the field prematurely, and Berry was able to locate Hill in the end zone, but as Hill went to play the ball, the fans in the end zone interfered on the final play, by tackling Hill preventing him from making a play on the ball, ending the game on a 21 all tie.
The Hill incident personified the rivalries’ hate for each other for years to come, and something that many can’t imagine happening today. Consider how we have glorified “The Band is on the field” with Stanford and Cal. It was way more innocent than this encounter, and one that will live forever in this rivalry.
3. 1972 – Fouts Near-Comeback
As we enter this weekend’s showdown between Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix, we have to pay obeisance to truly the first hyped quarterback matchup in this rivalry between two seniors who were record-breakers at their schools.
Dan Fouts, who would go on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the San Diego Chargers, broke Oregon’s records held by Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Berry. Across the field for Washington was one of the most popular Huskies of all time in Sonny Sixkiller, who would finish his time with the Huskies with 385 completions for 5,496 yards, 35 touchdowns, and held 15 school records.
The Huskies were ranked No. 11 and undefeated at 4-0, hosting a downtrodden Oregon team that was 1-3 and coming off a 65-20 loss to Southern California. While many Husky fans thought this would be an easy win, it turned out the exact opposite after Oregon challenged a 16-0 deficit in the second half.
Fouts rallied the Ducks to 23-17 with a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. After a defensive stand, Oregon, in the final minutes, drove to tie the game.
With their backs against the wall, Washington’s defense stepped up and slowed a hot Oregon offense, and on a fourth down pass play with 12 seconds left, Fouts’ pass was batted down to secure the win.
Sixkiller did not have one of his more prolific days, completing 10 of 24 passes for 144 yards. But the most important numbers were three touchdowns and no interceptions. Fouts, meanwhile, completed 21 of 47 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted three times.
“Fouts was great,” Sixkiller lauded his opponent, after finishing himself 10 for 24 passing for 144 yards and three touchdowns and no turnovers, “I expected this. I thought, we wipe ’em off the map, or it could be exactly like this. I’m glad it’s my last game against Oregon.”
2. 2016 – The Point & Ending The Streak
The Oregon and Washington rivalry has had many streaks in the rivalry. Washington won six in a row between 1908 to 1914 and did so at the beginning of the Jim Owen era from 1955 to 1960. The “Dawg Father” Don James had two six-game streaks, winning 12 of 13 between 1974 and 1986.
But in this rivalry, there is one run known as “The Streak,” and it was the 12 consecutive wins Oregon had against Washington from 2004 to 2015 that defined the rivalry and saw the ascension of Oregon being a regional power to a full-fledged national power.
Washington was looking to reverse course by luring Chris Petersen to Seattle from Boise State. Petersen had Washington ranked No. 5 and undefeated at 5-0 traveling to Autzen Stadium.
Oregon turned to the prodigy Justin Herbert, who would be making his first career start for the 2-3 Ducks.
The tone of the game was set on the first scoring play. Washington got an early interception against Herbert, setting the Huskies up at the Oregon 30. After a five-yard loss by running back Myles Gaskin, Washington, looking to pass, saw a broken coverage that Browning connected with Dante Pettis for a 34-yard gain to set the stage for Browning’s iconic moment.
On first and goal, Browning, on the quarterback keeper, darted into the end zone, but what was caught was The Point. On the way into the end zone, Browning pointed at Oregon linebacker Jimmie Swain and immortalized himself in this rivalry.
The moment galvanized a Washington Huskies team and spurred the team on to hang 70 points against the hated Ducks, the most ever allowed 70 to an opponent in Autzen Stadium.
Washington had snapped The Streak, but there was a price to The Point. Because Chris Petersen had a 500 pushup penalty to any unsportsmanlike penalties, Browning and his six-touchdown performance was not exempt.
1. The Pick
You can debate either The Point or The Pick as the greatest moment in this history. Usually, who you side with determines that ranking.
It is, by and large, the greatest play in Oregon’s history, and if you ever visit Autzen Stadium, the large cheer before the game is always the reaction to The Pick.
It is a play Damon Huard wishes he would never see again, and one Kenny Wheaton loves to see over and over again.
Both Oregon and Washington were vying for a Rose Bowl berth in 1994, and this game gave the biggest edge to the winner. Oregon had jumped ahead 24-20, but Washington was attempting for the comeback win and had a lot of confidence going in, winning five consecutive games against Oregon and coming off the epic win at Miami, snapping the Hurricanes 58 game home winning streak at the Orange Bowl.
With a minute to go, Huard passed the ball toward the sideline that Wheaton made a great read on and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown to secure the 31-20 win over Washington.
As a neutral party, the greatest play in Oregon’s history is also the greatest moment in this rivalry because of what momentum this play gave Oregon’s program. Oregon, between its 1958 Rose Bowl appearance and 1995 Rose Bowl appearance against Penn State, appeared in only five bowl games.
After that season, Rich Brooks left Oregon to coach in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, but Mike Bellotti took over and was able to capture the magic of that season and play and build the foundation of a national power, and one that would win 20 of 27 matchups in this historic rivalry.
