Graham Kislingbury

I read all the stories about the Oregon State-Washington State and Oregon-Arizona games yesterday, but what really captured my attention was the standings.

After 11 games, the standings had a rosy look to them. It’s not often in the life of an Oregonian that Oregon and Oregon State find themselves in first and second place in the Pac-10 football standings, but that’s what the agate on Page C7 revealed Sunday.

Oregon, 9-2 overall, 7-1 Pac-10
Oregon State, 8-3 overall, 6-2 Pac-10

What the standings didn’t tell is that 10th-ranked Ducks and the 16th-ranked Beavers will play each other for the right to go to the Rose Bowl, and that’s never happened. How incredibly exciting!

In addition to the Civil War of the ages on Dec. 3 at Autzen Stadium, there are five other Pac-10 games left to be played between now and Dec. 5. The Ducks could fall to second place with a loss to the Beavers, who would then be the Pac-10 champs. If Oregon State loses to Oregon, the Beavers could tumble to fourth place, and the Ducks would fly south to Pasadena.

I still liked what I saw yesterday, so I clipped out the six-games-to-go standings. I’m either going to find a small frame for the clipping or glue it on a Christmas tree ornament in another week or so. Make that two ornaments — one green, one orange.

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