Will 2022 see Oregon State bounce back in rivalry with Ducks?

The Oregon State Beavers have struggled greatly against the Oregon Ducks in recent memory. Will 2022 show fans that a change of pace is on the horizon?

The Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers have one of the oldest rivalries in all of college football, and 2022 might remind us that it hasn’t gone anywhere.

A matchup previously referred to as the “Civil War,” the Ducks and Beavers have been facing each other on the gridiron since 1894 with very few interruptions. Both powers have gotten their fair shares of wins in that span, with Oregon currently leading the series, 67-48-10.

But sadly, the last 14 meetings have seen a noticeable drop in the rivalry’s historically-competitive nature, with the Ducks winning all but two of them. And of those 12 wins, 10 have been decided by two scores or more (six of which have managed to be decided by at least 20 points).

However, could the upcoming 2022 meeting between the pair of Pac-12 foes see the start of a turnaround for Oregon State? The chances of such a thing happening are perhaps much stronger than folks might think.

Looking at the Ducks, they are not exactly in a “bad” place right now. The only concerns surrounding them are their head coaching situation and the visible weakening of their grip in the rivalry.

Former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is the new HC for Oregon, and while he is a promising choice for the job, he has never been a head coach anywhere else. With that in mind, him having to take a few seasons to truly get settled into the position would not be a surprise.

When it comes to Oregon’s slipping superiority over the Beavers, it is most noticeable in the last three matchups between the two teams. The Ducks won by two touchdowns in 2019, lost in 2020, and won by only nine in 2021. Those outcomes are rather underwhelming when compared to the beatdowns Oregon unleashed between 2011 and 2018.

But the questionability of the Ducks can’t take all of the credit here, as the Beavers have given off a new vibe, themselves. This is mainly in regards to how well they did last season (at least by their standards).

In 2021, Oregon State finished its regular-season stretch with a record of 7-5. The program hasn’t seen a regular season end on a note as good as that one since 2012 (9-3).

That goes without even mentioning the fact that seven of Oregon State’s last eight wins in the rivalry have been won in Corvallis–where the 2022 meeting will be taking place.

Now similar “signs” were also seen entering the 2017-18 season: the Ducks had struggled in their 2015 win over the Beavers and were coming off of a 2016 loss. But through it all, Oregon won the next match, 69-10 (the rivalry’s most lopsided outcome to date).

The formulation of a comeback is still on the table for Oregon State, though. The pieces to the puzzle are there once again; all the Beavers have to do is successfully put them together this time around.