Monday was a major day for the In-State rivalry between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers. While conference realignment left the Beavers behind, and the Ducks have moved to the Big Ten, fans in the state still care about the rivalry. College baseball gave the fans the perfect chance to get bragging rights over the other team coming up this week in the Eugene Regional.
When the NCAA Tournament committee revealed Oregon as the 11th National Seed, it seemed as if the Ducks were ranked too high to face the Beavers. Instead, Oregon State was ranked much lower than everyone expected coming into the reveal, and the NCAA Tournament committee clearly had a sense of the dramatics, putting the Beavers in the Eugene Regional along with Washington State.
The news of the looming potential matchup in the Eugene Regional came with even more exciting news provided by Oregon Baseball Head Coach Mark Wasikowski. After the bracket was revealed, Wasikowski told the media that Oregon State agreed to a 3 game series for 2027 with a home game for each side, along with a neutral site game in Hillsboro.
Mark Wasikowski said Oregon and Oregon State have agreed to 3 games next season, home-and-home plus Hillsboro.
— James Crepea (@JamesCrepea) May 25, 2026
Oregon Vs Oregon State should return to the gridiron
On the basketball side, Oregon State and the Ducks have continued to faceoff with the Ducks winning in 2024-25 as well as 2025-26. The baseball teams will continue to face each other with the new agreement to play again next season. The lone teams left to face each other in future matchups are the football programs.
This past season was seemingly the last matchup, at least for a year or so with the Ducks demolishing Oregon State 41-7. Moving into the future, the two In-State rivals don't have a game scheduled against each other which is becoming a trend in this current era of college football after conference realignment and with the expanded 12 team College Football Playoff.
Unless the teams find each other in the College Football Playoff or a bowl game, the two sides won't face off again in 2026 with the schedules set. The soonest the two sides could schedule each other is 2027, but the Ducks would have to cancel a game as they already have games scheduled against Eastern Washington, Baylor, and Western Kentucky.
The next week, and even next year should open everyone's eyes to the fact that an In-State rivalry should live on regardless of conferences. The Pac 12 is now back with new teams joining the league, and Oregon is more than settled into the Big Ten.
The biggest key to getting the matchup back may be College Football Playoff expansion as teams appear to be shying away from Non-Conference matchups against Power 4 teams in this 12 team format. Expanding to 24 teams may lead to that changing, and it may be more appealing for both parties.
For now, fans will be left waiting for the rivalry to be renewed, but the ultimate bragging rights will for now be determined in the Eugene Regional.
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