Cougars, Beavers at Qwest would liven up rivalry

Back in the bygone days of the Pacific-8 Conference, some of the league's richest lore was buried in the escapades of Washington State coach Jim Sweeney and his counterpart at Oregon State, Dee Andros.

At conference meetings, or any other flimsy excuse to get together, the Montana Irishman Sweeney and the Greek Oklahoman Andros would take off for a night of revelry, and well, good thing there was no Internet gossip in those days.

This isn't confirmed, but it's on pretty good authority: After one such night in Corvallis, Sweeney was piloting Andros' car with the Great Pumpkin navigating. After dropping him off, Sweeney plotted where best to deposit Andros' ride.

The next afternoon's edition of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, in a small story buried inside its news pages, described Sweeney's choice: The vehicle, identified as being owned by Andros, was found inside a railroad boxcar.

Funny thing, though, about Sweeney's and Andros' old programs. In the football matrix of Northwest schools, there isn't a lot of natural sizzle between the Cougars and Beavers, who meet again Saturday at OSU.

Oregon versus Washington became a trendy pairing as one of the nation's underrated rivalries, after Oregon's ascent and before Washington's decline in the early 2000s.

Traditionally, Washington's three Northwest neighbors work up a froth over the UW, believing Washington not only invented the Wave but the word haughty. Recently, Oregon, with all of its nouveau richness and Phil Knight's checkbook, inspires disdain from the other three.

WSU and OSU, not so much. They're kindred underdogs, agriculture and engineering schools with bigger agendas — despising their rivals.

So their series needs something to spark it, and we have the perfect solution: Play the game annually at Qwest Field.

Texas and Oklahoma play every year in Dallas. Georgia and Florida meet in Jacksonville. Maybe WSU-OSU would be only a ripple compared to those surf-crashers, but it would bring a distinct flavor to the game.

Clearly, it's going to take some campaigning. Jim Sterk and Bob DeCarolis, athletic directors at the schools, reacted the other day to the idea like car keys dropped down a port-o-john.

"To me, you move a game to a place like that because you're either not drawing in your current location and you have a fan base in that particular area, or you're bringing in a team that won't play in your backyard," said DeCarolis, the OSU AD. "For me, the dynamics just don't work."

And Sterk: "As athletic directors, we'd be hung. I don't think there's any motivation for Oregon State to do it. I just don't think there are enough positives to make it worthwhile."

How about money? The Beavers are charging $36 for a reserved seat Saturday, compared to $60 for the USC game. Make it $50 or $55 at Qwest — maybe the best football stadium in the country — split the ticket allotment down the middle and you'd easily recoup the roughly $100,000 stadium rental and forfeiture of $40,000 or so in home concessions revenue. (The Cougars say the high-end tickets for their annual Qwest game are an easier sell than the lower-priced.)

To work for the Beavers, it would have to be a boon financially, because with their renovated stadium, they're capitalizing on seat-license money.

So you need to sweeten the pot by a couple of hundred grand per school? Make it an annual season-opening Labor Day game. The Pac-10 loves to entice ABC or Fox with a league game that weekend. That's a prime reason Oregon-Stanford was switched to that slot this year.

For the Cougars, it's more political. They seem to want to continue playing a game in Seattle, and will do so at least three more years. But with their fortunes having backslid since 2003 and less-attractive opponents at Qwest, attendance has fallen from the 63,000 range in 2002 to about 41,000 this year.

WSU had contracted to have Ohio State at Qwest in 2009, but the Buckeyes said "Nah" and bought the game out for $450,000. The next three opponents are San Diego State (2007), Utah (2008) and possibly Hawaii in 2009.

Those are worthy teams coming up, but not necessarily gate attractions. You'd think a conference game would automatically draw 50,000, maybe sell the place out.

DeCarolis expressed concern that there are more WSU alumni around Puget Sound than OSU has. True, but there are some key Oregon State donors here, it's an easy three-hour drive from Portland, and OSU wouldn't have to make the tough trip to Pullman again. It could help both schools edge into UW recruiting territory. It could even be merely a two-year experiment.

So what's not to like? Well, coaches hate to give up home games. Students are against it. Hometown businesses would squawk.

But fans would embrace it. So would the schools' bean-counters. And of all the colorful trophies in college football, nobody else has a Boxcar Battle.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com