ROSE BOWL SHOWDOWNS : Anything Goes, but Will the Trojans? : A Not-Too-Civil War : There Will Be No Neutral Corners in Oregon Today When Ducks and Beavers Meet With a Pasadena Trip on the Line

Fathers and sons stop speaking. Friends eye each other warily. All over the state, in coffee houses and bars, in restaurants and book stores, Oregonians rekindle allegiances forged in their cradles and savor an old rivalry that has taken a new twist.

Since the football teams of Oregon and Oregon State first met in 1894, their annual game has been called the “Civil War.” It’s said without a hint of exaggeration. Who you root for says who you are. You’re us or you’re them and there’s no room for neutrality today.

“It’s unlike any rivalry in the nation,” Oregon guard Eric Reid said. “We hate each other. We’re two way different schools. We’re a liberal school and they’re an agricultural college. They hate everything we do; we hate everything they do.

“I’m sleeping less and less each night. I go to sleep and wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming I’m out there on the field.”

Said Duck flanker Cristin McLemore: “It’s different from USC-UCLA because there’s a limited population here (and) everyone focuses on this. It’s for the year after, who has the bragging rights.

“But to me, this week is not so much the Civil War as the Beavers standing in the way of our destiny. It’s going to be a war, and it’s not going to be civil.”

That destiny, he says, is the Ducks’ first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1958. To get there, they must fend off the resurgent Beavers today at Parker Stadium in Corvallis. It might be only a pit stop on the road to Pasadena, or it might turn out to be a U-turn back to a past replete with failure.

If they win--or if they lose and USC loses, or if they tie and USC loses or ties--the Ducks will win the Pacific 10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth. If the Ducks (8-3, 6-1 in the Pac-10) lose to the Beavers (4-6, 2-5) and USC wins, it won’t matter to the Ducks that they’ll still go to a bowl game. For them, it will be a lost season.

“I grew up a Duck fan and I’ve been watching the Civil War since I can remember,” said free safety Jeff Sherman, who grew up here in Eugene, home of the Oregon campus. “Nobody appreciates this more than me.”

He’s the Ducks’ top tackler and linchpin of their conference-leading “Gang Green” defense, which has yielded only 95 points in Pac-10 play.

“When teams in the past six or seven years would start out good, people would start saying, ‘Rose Bowl,’ and they’d go 6-7,” Sherman said. “Until this week, nobody on the team would even say the words Rose Bowl. Now, we can finally say it. We’re tired of not talking about it. We want to put it out there. Everybody has been hesitant, but we’re not hesitant anymore.”

Coach Rich Brooks, who was urged to quit after the Ducks’ 1-2 start and still might resign after the season, understands the doubts.

“I know there’s a theory out there that we’d find a way to screw it up,” said Brooks, who played for Oregon State and was also an assistant coach there. “We haven’t finished the job yet, so we may still find a way to screw it up, but I think we’re past the point where we can screw it up now. If we don’t get it done, it will be because Oregon State outplayed us and took it away from us.”

The Beavers would love to do precisely that. Running back J.J. Young took offense when he heard friends talk about watching the Ducks in Pasadena.

“I said, ‘Hold on, don’t waste your money,’ ” Young said, smiling.

Middle linebacker Rico Petrini also wants to complicate the Ducks’ travel plans.

“As a little kid, you always dreamed of playing in the Rose Bowl,” he said. “We don’t have that opportunity, but we’ve got the next best thing. We’re playing a team with a chance to go to the Rose Bowl.”

This is the first time in 30 years the game will determine the Rose Bowl representative. It last happened in 1964, when the Ducks lost to the Beavers in Corvallis, 7-6. Oregon State, coached by Tommy Prothro, went to Pasadena and lost to Michigan. Neither has been there since.

“I would like to beat Oregon (today) and I’d like UCLA to beat USC so Oregon can go to the Rose Bowl,” said Oregon State Coach Jerry Pettibone, who is 2-1 in previous Civil War matchups. “Having an Oregon school in the Rose Bowl is healthy for both our programs.”

Outside of Portland, which remains fixated on the NBA’s Trail Blazers, fans talked of little else this week besides the Civil War.

“The schools are so close--we’re only 30 miles apart--and most grads stay in the state, so that adds spirit,” Pettibone said. “It touches families. The husband is a Beaver and the wife is a Duck. Brothers and sisters go to opposite schools. It becomes a matter of pride.”

Every other week of the year, James Daily and his co-workers at Sandino’s, an espresso bar on East 13th Avenue here, enjoy a pleasant camaraderie. But this was Civil War Week, and Daily, who grew up in Corvallis, was ridiculed for defending his hometown team.

“I’m a die-hard Beaver fan, and I’m living in the wrong territory,” Daily said. “There’s so much hoopla, with the ‘Gang Green’ signs and T-shirts and everything else. Emotions are running very high around here. . . .

“If neither side wins a game all year long, as long as the Ducks beat the Beavers or the Beavers beat the Ducks, they say they had a winning season.”

At Guido’s, a bar-restaurant here, Tuesday is 25-cent beer night and Thursday is Mug Night. But every night leading up to today’s skirmish was special, as fans began to believe the Ducks might be headed to Pasadena.

“The whole town is just ecstatic,” said Becky, the manager and sometime peacekeeper who wouldn’t give her last name. “We’ve been packed and everyone is really jazzed. They’re a good team and everyone thinks they can do it this year.”

She’s glad for the business, but also glad the game is in Corvallis.

“Last year we had a home Civil War and that was not pretty,” she said. “The testosterone level was a little bit high.”

Spirits were high all week in Corvallis, where fraternities stood 24-hour watch on the bronze Beaver mascot at Parker Stadium in case a Duck fan tried to steal it. At a pep rally Friday, Clodfelters, a restaurant, served black, orange and white hors d’oeuvres labeled “Beaver spread.” T-shirts with black and orange Beaver logos brightened store windows, including one that read, “My two favorite Pac-10 teams are Oregon State and whoever beats the Ducks.”

Civil? Hardly.

“There’s a lot of hate between these two teams,” Duck tailback Dino Philyaw said. “It’s a love-hate kind of thing. You love to hate them and you love it when they hate you. It’s going to be a game where you’re fighting for every inch.”