College Football: 25 most underappreciated team rivalries of all time

20. Oregon Ducks vs. Washington Huskies

When you think of the two dominant college football programs in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Ducks and the Washington Huskies likely come to mind. Given that the two teams also play in the same Pac-12 conference, it only stands to reason that the two squads battling it out each year have created a great rivalry between the two schools — one filled with several wild instances.

Possibly the craziest moment of any game mentioned on this list came in 1962. The game played at Husky Stadium was tied late in the action. Oregon running back Larry Hill was about to break the tie and potentially win the game for the Ducks when Washington fans rushed onto the field and tackled him to break up the play. Talk about not wanting to see your rival win — that’s a new level of doing what you can as a fan.

Meeting for the first time in 1900, the Huskies and Ducks have played 111 times since then and almost continuously as well. On the whole, though, Washington has a 60-46-5 advantage over Oregon in these meetings. There’s no doubt that an 18-4 stretch from the early 1970s to the early 1990s plays a big part in that.

Why this rivalry has become a bit underappreciated, though, is two-fold. First, the Pac-12 as a whole has taken a hit in recent years, simply not stacking up well against other Power 5 conferences. On top of that, though, Oregon won 12 consecutive games in the rivalry from 2004 to 2015, which made things feel one-sided. Now that Chris Petersen has Washington back rolling, though, let’s hope the rivalry is reinvigorated.