Report: Oregon, Oregon State Rivalry to Continue After CFB Conference Realignment

Oregon and Oregon State are "finalizing" an agreement to reprise their Civil War rivalry game in "2024 and beyond" despite the two schools heading to different conferences next season, per reporter John Canzano.

Oregon, heading to the Big Ten, will face an Oregon State program set to play a Mountain-West-heavy schedule next season on Sept. 14 at Reser Stadium.

It isn't the only Pac-12 rivalry game set to be preserved.

The Apple Cup—played between Big Ten-bound Washington and a Washington State team that has remained attached to Oregon State and will play six Mountain West contests next season—has been extended through the 2028 campaign, per Canzano.

The Civil War has been contested since 1894 and the 127 meetings between the teams has only been topped or equaled in FBS history by Minnesota vs. Wisconsin (133 meetings, first contested in 1890), Auburn vs. Georgia (128 meetings, first contested in 1892), North Carolina vs. Virginia (128 meetings, first contested in 1892) and Cincinnati vs. Miami (Ohio), which dates back to 1888 and has been contested 127 times.

Oregon leads the all-time series, 68-49-10.

Keeping the Civil War intact, then, is preserving college football history, even with the Pac-12 dissolving after this season as teams head to the Big Ten (USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington), Big-12 (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State) and ACC (Cal, Stanford).

It will be strange seeing the game contested early in the season rather than the traditional rivalry slot later in the year. But with conference realignment happening at a feverish pace in the past year or so, it was unclear if many of these old rivalry matchups would be preserved.

At least two, the Civil War and Apple Cup, appear safe for now. And that's a good thing for college football.