Jacob Thorpe: Rivalry game wins are meaningful, no matter who the opponent is

It may not be an Apple Cup, but I don’t know why Washington State’s Thanksgiving Weekend win over Oregon State should mean any less.

What’s missing? A title and a trophy. The schools should start thinking about the second issue – here are some ideas for the first.

The Columbia Cup. The Pac-2 Championship. My personal suggestion is The War of I-84.

And what about the trophy? A farmer’s scythe? A Cascade Cup?

If a rivalry game is about the players, well, the Beavers and Cougars seem game. The pregame jawing turned into pushing and shoving throughout Saturday’s contest – having these teams play twice in one season appears to have created some legitimate bad blood.

For years, Oregon State and Washington State have been perceived to have more affinity than rivalry. In the old Pac-12, they were the two land grant universities, educating and enabling the robust agricultural economies of their respective states. Both schools built identities around punching up against better resourced opponents, which brewed a lot of shared respect between the fanbases.

This sense of camaraderie was understandably strengthened by the dissolution of the old Pac-12, when OSU and WSU were the only schools left without a new conference to call home. The administrations worked together well and rebuilt a conference that will debut next season.

Now it’s time to formalize that relationship. WSU needs a rival that plays in its conference. While the annual game against Washington has been scheduled through 2028, I have a hunch there will start to be some gap years in the rivalry, before eventually it ends up like the Holy War between Utah and BYU or the old rivalry between Texas and Arkansas – great games when they happen, but not an every-year affair.

But OSU? If these schools are still playing after all that’s happened over the last five years I’d say you can bet they’ll be joined at the hip for as long as colleges are playing football.

And unlike their previous rivalries against Oregon and Washington, there is no David vs. Goliath component to this rivalry. Rather than cherish the occasional upset against a better funded opponent, OSU and WSU can relish winning a fair fight.

Both teams have young, exciting coaches who can excite the fan base. OSU just hired Jamarcus Shephard, an engaging, highly-regarded assistant coach who coached inside receivers at WSU under Mike Leach in 2016.

Shephard coached many of college football’s best wide receivers over the last ten years and is likely to build an identity around prolific passing offenses in Corvallis, a good contrast to what Jimmy Rogers is trying to do in Pullman.

Despite some first-year funkiness, Jimmy Rogers’ debut as WSU head coach was an unqualified success. It took a while, but by season’s end, the Cougars are a team that runs the ball effectively and plays great defense.

In my book, a team undergoing as much change as WSU did this year and still managing to be competitive in most games against some of the country’s best teams and qualifying for a bowl game is a successful season, and one that sets Rogers’ program for more success in years to come. Best yet?

They won the rivalry game at the end.