The great lamentation about Oregon and USC in the Pac-12 football era
USC fans might hate Oregon, but there is a part of the shared story of USC and Oregon football which has left something to be desired. Neither USC nor Oregon fans like it when the other school succeeds, especially in this modern era defined by NIL and Phil Knight’s massive investment in Oregon athletics. However, even the most ardent Oregon-hating USC fans and the most resolute USC-hating Oregon backers can agree on one thing: This football matchup very rarely reached its full potential in the Pac-12 and Pac-10.
Oregon has had some great teams this century: 2001, 2010, 2014. USC has had some great teams this century: 2003-2005, 2008. Those listed years don’t include other Rose Bowl or Pac-10/12 championship seasons. Yet, you can see that Oregon and USC football have very rarely been great at the same time. It has usually been a case of one program being great one year and then the other program being great the next. Oregon had its fantastic 2001 season, then USC rose to prominence in 2002. Oregon made the national title game in the 2010 season, USC had a bounce-back year in 2011. Oregon made the title game again in 2014, USC then had its great two-year Sam Darnold burst in 2016 and 2017. It really is lamentable that these two programs, which have both had a lot of great teams this century, haven’t met on the mountaintop.
Ducks Wire editor Zachary Neel talked to us about this in our recent podcast:
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