Conference realignment has changed the entire college football landscape over the course of the last several decades, but it has been particularly drastic over the last offseason.
The Pac-12 dissolved and was absorbed by the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC, leaving Washington State and Oregon to fend for themselves.
The Cougars and Beavers look like buddies to most college football, as the two schools have had to stick together to survive. However, WSU head coach Jake Dickert argues that that isn’t the case. In fact, Dickert says that Oregon State is one of their biggest rivals now.
“First thing, I’ve never gotten into, like, they’re our buddy. Oregon State’s not our buddy. They would have left us as fast as we would have left them,” Dickert said. “This is what it is. It’s one of our biggest rivals now. That’s the way I looked at it. That’s not bulletin board material. I hope they would say it the same way, let’s go compete.
“We’ve been waiting to compete with these guys. They’ve dealt with a lot of adversity. We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity. I think it’s going be an energized. Their stadium is going to be packed, and there’s going to be a lot of Cougs there.”
Since Dickert took over the program in 2020, Washington State vs. Oregon State has been a “battle.” The Cougs are 3-1 in that time, but two of their wins have come by one possession and their loss was by multiple scores in 2022.
“To know that this is going to be opponent that we’re going to play for a long time, let’s go do it. Because all the ones I’ve been in my four years here, they’ve all been heck of a ball games.
“I’m trying to think back to 2020 and ‘21 last second on the 2-yard line. In ‘22, last time we went there, we kind of laid an egg. ‘23 last year, what a game that was. So, it’s been a battle.”
