6 Most Memorable OSU-UW Football Games

We list the the most unforgettable match-ups of this Northwest rivalry.

Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

There have been more blowouts in this series than anyone would care to remember, but Washington and Oregon State, college football opponents this coming weekend in Corvallis, have played it closer that most on the football field.

They've been separated by a second on the clock, a blade of grass, a total breakdown at the final gun.

The Huskies might not have another opponent across the college football ranks in which they've taken, or been taken, more times down to the final quarter, minute or even the very last play as often as this has happened with the Beavers.

Here are 6 games of the 105 played pulled from this annual neighborhood exchange between Northwest rivals that basically have been a shock to everyone's systems and demonstrate what football entertainment is all about. 

1969

OSU 10, UW 6 — With 5 seconds left and the Huskies ahead 6-3, Oregon State quarterback Steve Endicott took the snap at the UW 49, dropped back, then stepped up in the pocket and heaved one deep for Jim Scheele. In traffic, the receiver caught the ball on the 4 and his momentum carried him into the end zone for a shocking ending in front of 52,000 disbelieving fans at Husky Stadium.

For Endicott, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore from Grants Pass, Oregon, this Hail Mary was redemption for him getting intercepted 5 times. The final drive began at the Oregon State 18 with 60 seconds remaining. Three passes, a pass-interference call and an out-of-bounds run later, the Beavers took and made their last shot.

The visitors actually scored all 10 of their points with no time on the clock. OSU's Mike Nehl's 34-yard field goal came as the first half pulled to a close.

"When you have been in football long enough, I guess everything happens to you," Husky coach Jim Owens said. "But I never dreamed anything like that could happen."

1998

UW 35, OSU 34 — Down 14 at Husky Stadium, the Beavers rushed back with two touchdowns in the final 8:02, the last one coming on a 33-yard desperation pass from Jonathan Smith to Tim Alexander with all zeroes showing on the clock. 

With so much momentum at hand, OSU coach Mike Riley chose to go for a 2-point conversion and the win right there. Smith, then the Beavers quarterback and today their coach, fired a hard pass to the back of the end zone for Roddy Tompkins, who got his hands on it but couldn't control it. 

Tompkins earlier in the quarter caught a 90-yard scoring pass to get the comeback started. At his best, Smith completed 17 of 32 passes for a stunning 469 yards and blitzed a UW secondary that featured Nigel Burton, now a Pac-12 Networks analyst. 

"I just remember him putting his hands up and I was just doing anything I could," Burton said of the final pass to Tompkins. "Biting, scratching, kicking, clawing and pushing."

2010

UW 35, OSU 34 (2 OT) — This game ended at 10:59 p.m. in a second overtime at Husky Stadium with linebacker Cort Dennison doing all he could to break up the Beavers' 2-point conversion pass from Ryan Katz to H-back Joe Kalahuni for the win.

Thus ended a 3 1/2-hour battle at Husky Stadium that featured UW quarterback Jake Locker at his career best. He threw 5 touchdown passes to tie a school record, with 4 of them going to Jermaine Kearse, including a pair in the overtimes. 

OSU battled back to make it a game after falling behind 21-0 through a quarter and a half, tying things up in third quarter. Running back Jacquizz Rodgers scored 4 TDs, as well. Yet the Beavers needed to complete that 2-point pass and didn't.

"I thought we had the right play," said Riley, who had initially sent the kick team out to force a third overtime. "We were on the road. They were pretty hot and I thought we were having a hard time with them and so we thought we could win the game right there."

2000

UW 33, OSU 30 — With 14 seconds remaining, Beavers kicker Ryan Cesca hustled onto the field at Husky Stadium to launch a 46-yard field-goal attempt for the tie and overtime. He didn't hit it well and the ball fell off to the right, making the UW the winner in the most competitive match-up of the more than century-old series before the biggest crowd to attend one of these rivalry games at 73,145.

Together on the same field, these teams have never been better. Each finished 11-1 that season. The UW went to the Rose Bowl and beat Drew Brees and Purdue 34-24, and a Dennis Erickson-coached Oregon State team settled for the Fiesta Bowl and destroyed Notre Dame 41-9. 

With 7:22 remaining, Oregon State made it a 3-point game when Jonathan Smith found Chad Johnson with an 80-yard touchdown pass, part of his 314 game total. In two Husky Stadium appearances, Smith piled up 783 passing yards. He just couldn't beat the UW.

 1985

OSU 21, UW 20 — Oregon State was a 37-point underdog at Husky Stadium and so inept that Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Steve Rudman called this team "the Barney Fife of college football" in his game-day column. Well, it appears that every bumbling fictional deputy sooner or later has his day. 

With 1:46 left to play at the UW 30, the Beavers sent 10 guys after Husky punter Thane Cleeland and Andre Todd got there first to block the ball into the end zone, where teammate Lavance Northington recovered for a score. Jim Nielsen converted the difference-making extra-point kick and 56,544 really upset fans immediately made a move to the exits.

"Nothing is any better than this," first-year OSU coach Dave Kragthorpe said. "Nobody gave us a chance."

This time, the Huskies were so inept and so Barney Fife themselves they had a first down inside the OSU 10 three times and failed to score, giving up the ball on a pair of interceptions and a fumble. 

1960

UW 30, OSU 29 — Down 15 points at halftime and playing for the first time without All-America quarterback Bob Schloredt, out with a broken collarbone, the Huskies pulled this one out with 2:07 left in the game.  Bob Hivner, Schloredt's replacement, scored on a 2-yard keeper and George Fleming converted the deciding extra point at Portland's Multnomah Stadium.

"It was the greatest comeback I ever saw," Husky coach Jim Owens said.

This game had an interesting cast of characters with Beavers coach Tommy Prothro working from the press box rather than the sideline; Rich Brooks, OSU defensive back and future Oregon coach, hitting Husky running back Charlie Mitchell so hard he gave him a concussion; and UW defensive end Ben Davidson, a future NFL villain, putting a late hit on a Beavers back and driving him so far out of bounds he was flagged for a personal foul penalty and had half the OSU team wanting to fight him. 

  

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