It’s certainly the last time Oregon and Oregon State will meet in baseball in the Portland area for quite a while. As you know, PGE Park becomes a soccer/football-only venue after this summer and it’s not likely either school would give up a home game to come to Portland to play in a venue that doesn’t seat way more people than their own ballparks.

And I don’t see any ballpark plans on the horizon anytime soon for this city. Baseball was the last Civil War sport being played outside Eugene or Corvallis and is a major attraction here. It should be even bigger this time with the Ducks seemingly already having nailed down an NCAA tournament berth and the Beavers still having a shot at one.

My big regret for tonight is that the weather is probably going to be a pain. It will certainly hold the attendance down a little, along with the game being telecast locally on Comcast Sportsnet. If you can’t make it to the ballpark, catch Joe Giansante and me on the broadcast at 6:30.

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What a great game. As a guy once said around here, “Both teams played hard.”

By playing so well, the Beavers gave the Ducks even more credibility as a powerful team. Sean Canfield was terrific, but I felt the Beavers wore down on both sides of the ball as the game went on. Oregon seemed to be the better conditioned team and you must credit Chip Kelly’s practice regimen for that.

Jeremiah Masoli’s skill at the helm of the option is a beautiful thing to see and really, LaMichael James was the best running back on the field.

I have to say one other thing — it took a ton of guts to run LeGarrette Blount onto the field in the second half of that game. I know I wasn’t the only person whose first thought was, “Man, he hasn’t had game contact in months, it’s cold out and the chances of him fumbling …”

Well, all I can say is that it was a very gutsy move to use him.

Now, sit back and glory in your Pac-10 title, Ducks. And make your arrangements for Pasadena early. After all those years loyally showing the colors at those lousy secondary bowls Oregon has attended, you deserve this trip.

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Glad I was wrong in thinking that it couldn’t ever happen — Civil War with the Rose Bowl on the line. Further than that, we’ve got almost two weeks to talk about it. Just enjoy it for now. Bathe in the sweetness of Pac-10 domination.

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An Oregon sports fan’s dream. All that has to happen is for the Ducks to do their job next week at Arizona. And of course, the Beavers to take care of business in the virtual bye week game at Washington State.

Then, it would set up the dream match. If the Beavers were to win, it would mean a three-way tie with the Ducks and probably Stanford — and since Oregon State would have beaten both of them, on it goes to the Rose Bowl.

The Ducks, as we know, go if they win out.

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There go the Trojans, right back to the Rose Bowl again.

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. . . finding out Tim Neverett, Glenn Parker and Ann Marie Anderson are your broadcasting team. That’s who is doing the Civil War tonight. Man, Versus is setting a record for technical glitches. Neverett, the play-by-play man, is a well-known sportstalk host who works out of Denver these days.

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Here’s the thing, I’m not one of those people who believes that fate is going to decide this football game. You’ve heard the premise — that no matter who plays for Oregon State, whether Jaquizz Rodgers is healthy or not, no matter who plays at quarterback, no matter what the Ducks do, the Beavers are destined to win this game. It’s just that kind of season for them.

Well, maybe. Possibly. But I think not. Two factors are greatly influencing the outcome of this year’s Civil War: the Ducks have had an extra week to prepare for the game and Quizz probably will not play. It would not be wise to downplay either factor.

First, Oregon has already proved over the years that given an extra week of preparation, it uses the time wisely. The Ducks almost always win after a bye week. Most teams, in fact, are more effective with extra time to prepare for a game. I think OSU’s extra week of preparation was a key in last year’s victory at Eugene. It will be huge this year. Oregon’s offense is difficult to prepare for, given the number of things the Ducks can do out of their spread. Plus, given some extra time to solve the Beaver defense, I think Oregon will game plan very well on offense.

Second, Quizz not playing is a very big deal. He’s the cornerstone of what OSU does on offense. He’s been willing and capable of a lot of carries in a game and gets better as the game goes along. He’s the big reason the Beavers have been able to control the clock and control games. He eats up yards and minutes. Those would be key attributes in beating the Ducks. I think Oregon State must get ahead, control the ball and keep it away from Oregon’s offense. If the Ducks get behind, it would put pressure on UO quarterbacks and receivers to make things happen. Oregon hasn’t proved it can handle such situations well and we all know what a huge advantage Oregon State has at wide receiver.

But without Quizz, I’m not sure OSU can control the ball for long periods.

At the same time, I’d expect to see Oregon stack the line of scrimmage and try to make the Beavers throw deep. Neither OSU quarterback is a deep thrower. Canfield, especially, seems to have a very short arm — almost every deep ball he’s thrown, other than the one James Rodgers dropped in the end zone last week, has been underthrown.

By the way, another thing I would expect is that with Quizz out, James Rodgers will be positioned more often in the backfield. He’s an outstanding runner and while you can’t run him much off the tackles, he’s still an effective running back in small doses. I’d expect to see him back there more often.

I believe it will be a great game and I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes down to the kicking game for a decision. That’s shaky for both teams because we haven’t seen a lot of clutch kicking out of either of them.

Unless the weather gets nasty, I expect a lot of points. And in a high-scoring game, I’m not certain OSU can keep up. Unless Quizz plays.

Let’s say something like 41-40, Ducks — with somebody missing a short field goal along the way. But the Beavers have one very important thing going for them Saturday: I’ve picked the Ducks. In fact, I’ve been expecting Oregon State to lose for three weeks now and wouldn’t want to change things for them now by picking them to win. In the past, I’ve usually been pretty good at picking winners but the Beavers just have me bewildered. I watch it every week and still can’t figure out how they suddenly got so good.

Maybe everyone else is right — it’s just the Beavers’ year. You can’t stop it, you can’t contain it, you just sit back and watch in disbelief.

One other small thing: There is going to be a tremendous amount of emotion in that stadium Saturday. It’s going to be close to the boiling point. So everyone please behave. No fights in the stands. No stupid behavior. No riots after the game. Treat your rival and the game of football with respect. I hate it when innocent people get hurt because of the actions of idiots. Try not to be that idiot.

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As we wrote yesterday, there is a lot of money at stake Saturday in the Civil War. If the Ducks win and knock Oregon State out of the Rose Bowl, it will deprive the Pac-10 of $17 million in BCS money, which would be divided equally among conference members.

This is a conference where the football stadiums, outside of Oregon, are largely ramshackle, run down and decrepit. Now I realize a million and a half bucks won’t even make a down payment on stadium renovation, but it might at least kick-start a campaign.

So do the right thing Ducks, take a dive Saturday. You’re still going to go to one of those Pac-10 also-ran bowls — but do it with some extra money in your pocket. Everyone in the conference could use the dough, even you guys.

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I’m sure most of the other schools in the Pac-10 would like to see USC beaten out of a Rose Bowl berth. Everyone loves an underdog and seriously, Oregon State, by winning, would stand as a symbol to other schools in the conference that, yes, it CAN be done on a smaller budget.

But that’s a chump-change reason to root for OSU compared to this – there is a lot of money riding on a Beaver win. BCS bowls come with a very big payout. And the Beavers are the Pac-10′s last hope of getting two teams in BCS bowls this season. The Trojans should grab one of those berths, even if they don’t go to the Rose Bowl. Oregon State would sneak in by virtue of its Rose Bowl berth. But if the Beavers lose to the Ducks, there’s not another BCS team in the conference.

What does that mean in a conference where bowl payouts are divided equally? Near as I can tell, it’s more than $1.5 million per university riding on an OSU win Saturday in Corvallis. BCS bowl payouts are about $17 million. And when you get down to it, if the Ducks win the game they’ll cost themselves a million and a half bucks!

Not that they care.

And yes, even in the high-stakes world of college football, $1.5 million accounts for a lot of video games and plasma screens in your locker room.

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