Jhop Ranks: Oregon Football's Biggest Rivals

I’ve decided to start doing some rankings of my own. Because let’s be honest, everyone loves to dispute/discuss rankings.

And what better way to start than to go with a rival ranking. Now keep in mind, I’m keeping this related to actual football. Not recruiting. That would be a completely different ranking. Which I can do later on.

This is specific to football.

Now one more caveat here. This isn’t just what we’ll call rivalries. It will be more like a ‘most hated opposing teams’ list related to football. Outside of UW and USC the rivals list gets semi-boring. So this is kind of an all-encompassing list.

And now, onto said list.

10. Miami – No actual rivalry on the field. But let’s just say I’m confident Oregon fans are openly rooting against Miami every week they play. Maybe Cristobal can turn them around and the Ducks can meet the Canes in a bowl game. That might be a ways off, but boy would that be quite the matchup.

9. Washington State – I went back and forth on this one. If Mike Leach was still at Wazzu, this would be like 4th on the list. But he’s long gone and his replacement Nick Rolovich is also gone. And even he provided a few soundbites on playing the Ducks in his short tenure. Oregon has won the last 3, but lost 4 in a row prior to that under Leach’s watch. This rivalry seems to be fading so we’ll see who steps in place of the Cougs on the next go-round.

8. Cal – Just like with UCLA, this one really has more meaning only due to the current head coach, Justin Wilcox. I kind of think former Oregon football alum make this into a bigger rivalry than it really is but I understand why. Oregon has won 2 of the last 3 and 4 of the last 5. Not really much of a rivalry. But again, there are ties and at times, Cal has played Oregon close.

7. Auburn – It’s a much smaller sample size but Oregon fans have a really, really bad taste in their mouth with regards to Auburn. Dyer was down, Bo Nix rallies an epic comeback win in 2017. It’s only a two game series. But they are probably two of the hardest/most painful losses in modern Oregon football history.

6. ASU – These two teams don’t like each other. Coaching battles and just some general dislike for one another. Playbook gate. Since 2017, Oregon is actually 1-2 against the Sun Devils. Now prior to that, Oregon rattled off 10 straight wins. ASU seems to be floundering at the moment with rumored sanctions looming and a lot of coaching turnover. But Oregon fans would delight all the same with another 10 win run.

5. UCLA – Let’s be real, if Chip wasn’t at UCLA, this probably doesn’t make the list. And I don’t think many Duck fans hate Chip or UCLA by any means, but there is certainly a little something extra on the line when these two face off. Even though Oregon has won 3 of the last 4 meetings, 2 of those wins were only by 3 points.

4. Utah – This one seems to be climbing up the list due to recent clashes. Last year the Utes got better of Oregon, twice. In a pretty emphatic fashion. Coach Kyle Whittingham doesn’t have a problem talking a little smack during game weeks as well. But it’s hard to argue he hasn’t earned a little after winning 3 of the last 4 meetings. Since 2015 he’s 4-3 against the Ducks. Prior to that it was fairly lopsided.

3. Oregon State – Look I know this series hasn’t been very competitive of late. Although the Beavs snuck in a good win during the Covid season. (2020) The last win prior to that was back in 2016. They seem to be trending up under Jonathan Smith, who frankly inherited a mess. And the “Civil War” still generates a buzz every year.

2. USC – I would say a pretty easy call here at No. 2 in my mind. Duck fans love nothing more than beating UW and USC. And some could even flip-flop the order although not too many. Oregon and USC don’t play every year which almost adds to the rivalry. They clash on the recruiting trail often and I think there will be some all-out brawls in the Lanning-Riley era. When/should they meet.

1. Washington – Absolutely without a doubt, 100-percent no-brainer here. If you ever see a list like this and UW isn’t at the top, you can stop reading. Ducks hate Huskies, Huskies hate Ducks. It’s wired in at birth. And I know there are some great rivalries in college football. But this one is right up there with the best of them.

It will be interesting to see how two first-year head coaches with no ties to either program handle ‘Hate Week’ this season.