Great (and not so great) moments in WSU vs. Oregon history

The Washington State Cougars have a two-game winning streak over the Oregon Ducks as we approach Saturday's prime time meeting in Eugene.

Those two wins came after nine consecutive losses to the Ducks. Overall, WSU is 40-47-7 against Oregon.

There have been some ugly losses, some satisfying wins and some fireworks when these two teams meet, including a game that set each team on the course they're on today.

*As always, feel free to discuss games I did not include.

Great!

Oct. 10, 2015: WSU 45 Oregon 38 (OT)

WSU was 2-2 coming into this game. We really didn't know what to think: They gave us a dud against Portland State to open the season, had a wild win at Rutgers the following week, beat Wyoming at home and lost on the road at Cal.

At the time, the Ducks were coming off a National Championship Game appearance and years of sustained success. But they didn't have Marcus Mariota anymore, and had to rely on an FCS quarterback (Vernon Adams of Eastern Washington) to run the offense.

Everybody seemed to just assume since they were the Ducks that they'd simply reload. But they began to show some cracks. They allowed Eastern to put up 42 points and lost to Michigan State and Utah.

Then they decided to wear Oregon Trail-themed uniforms for this game, for some reason.

It wasn't until this game that people began to realize that this isn't the Oregon that we're used to. Adams was out injured and the Oregon defense allowed Falk and Co. to move the ball effectively.

You know the rest: Falk finds Dom Williams on a fade to send the game to overtime, and the Cougs prevail in double overtime after Shalom Luani intercepted Jeff Lockie.

Both teams finished 9-4 that year, but you could tell which direction each team was trending.

And we'll always remember this game for this:

Sept. 27, 2003: WSU 55 Oregon 16

Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images

The Ducks were the darlings of college football. They had just graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and were ranked 10th in the nation.

But they turned the ball over seven times in the first half alone. Matt Kegel was just 13 of 33 but it didn't matter—the Ducks were in the giving mood.

Oct. 27, 1984: WSU 50 Oregon 41

This is known as the Rueben Mayes game. Mayes, the Cougs' Canadian running back, ran for a then-NCAA record 357 yards in the win.

After the WSU win and Mayes' record, the next best thing about the video here is a young Rick Rizzs doing play-by-play.

Oct. 21, 2006: WSU 34 Oregon 23

This is the Jed Collins coming out game.

Oregon came to Pullman ranked 16th in the nation and WSU was 4-3 and we really didn't have a solid idea of what this team was.

Collins caught a touchdown and ran for one in the win, and Tyrone Brackenridge had a pick six. Alex Brink was 20 of 23 passing. Brady Leaf replaced Dennis Dixon at quarterback for Oregon.

The students rushed the field and nobody was assaulted. Win-win!

The Cougs moved to 5-3, won at UCLA the next week to become bowl-eligible. The next three games seemed to be opportunities to get into a better bowl game so, hey, we could at least win one, right?

Nope! They lost the remaining three games and were left out of the bowl picture in an overcrowded field.

Sigh.

Not so great :(

Sept. 20, 2014: Oregon 38 WSU 31

Electric atmosphere, all-whites, five sacks.

And a missed pass interference call that would have given WSU an opportunity to tie the game.

Let's move on.

Oct. 27, 2001: Oregon 24 WSU 17

Watch the video here, since it won't embed for some reason.

This is the other non-pass interference game.

WSU was 7-0 and ranked no. 14 heading into this game. Oregon—ranked 11th—made sure WSU left the game at 7-1.

Anyway, Onterrio "The Wizzinator" Smith ran for 285 yards and three touchdowns for Oregon. WSU was at the eight yard line with three chances to win in the closing seconds. Jason Gesser threw three incompletions, and the last one was knocked out of Mike Bush's hands, though Gesser had this to say:

"It was unbelievable to me that the ref didn't call anything. From where where I was standing, it looked like (Bush) got (assaulted)."

He went on.

"I'm not one to make any excuses, or anything. But Oregon's crowd was right down there on the ref's (butt). I don't know if he has the (guts) to make that call or what."

You be the judge:

Oct. 9, 2004: Oregon 41 WSU 38

Kellen Clemens threw for three touchdowns and ran for three touchdowns. Holy cow, I didn't realize he was so dominant. And the Cougs had the lead before punting the ball away with a little more than three minutes to play! What a frustrating loss.

Josh Swogger was dreadful, going just 13 for 36 and two picks (oh yeah and three touchdowns). This kicked off WSU's four-game losing streak, instead of giving them a 4-1 record.

And Michael Bumpus returned a punt for a TD in this game. He was good at that.