Nate Costa News

Arizona-Arizona State, UCLA-USC and Washington-Washington State all play rivalry games today, while Oregon and Oregon State fans wait impatiently for the biggest Civil War in history, five days from now in Autzen Stadium.

The Civil War is three days away, and the energy is building. "You see more flags and banners and cars and stuff,'' said Nate Costa, Oregon's backup quarterback and college football's most famous holder.

In Nate Costa's opinion, ABC announcers Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit deserve some of the credit for his Pacific-10 Conference special teams player of the week honor.

EUGENE - There will be an assortment of adjectives used to describe the magnitude of the 2009 Civil War.

No. 10 Oregon has made a mission this season of defying first impressions. After a disastrous opener, the Ducks regrouped and now sit atop the Pacific-10 standings, with a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line next Thursday in the Civil War game against No.

Oregon and Oregon State are trying to keep preparation for the Civil War completely normal, even though the game itself is anything but ordinary.

Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winning touchdown.

Some are crying foul over the University of Oregon's reaction to a humorous rap video paying homage to the No.

Yeah yeah yeah, it's not the more visible or the most talked about, but the long snapper position is huge in college football.

Arizona was clinging to a 31-24 lead when the Ducks started mounting a final drive in the final minutes.

Nick Foles had just thrown an interception in the end zone, giving the Oregon Ducks one last chance to trudge toward the Rose Bowl.

The LeGarrette Blount Story got plenty of print and video in the media this week, but LaMichael James starred again as Oregon's top running back Saturday night as the Ducks maintained their place at the top of the Pac-10. Redshirt freshman James, Oregon's starter since Blount went ballistic after the Boise State game and got suspended, rushed for ...

First, Chris McCain described his visit as "Off the scale" and gave it a 100. DeWitt Stuckey was his host and he got to spend a lot of time with both Jeremiah Masoli and Darron Thomas.

If it weren't for all the new faces, there would be definite a deja vu feeling this week.

The rivalry has been one-sided in recent years, but make no mistake. There's still something special about the Oregon-Washington game.

Through it all this season, Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has put his head down and gone to work.

Word of his old teammate's exploits filtered back to David Paulson. That, or he demonstrated that he knows how to research college football statistics on a computer.

Welcome to today's homecoming edition of the GameDay Blawg! We'll do our best to bring you the sights and sounds of today's 12:30 p.m. Oregon at Washington rivalry game! So, check back early and often.

This past Saturday, the Oregon Ducks traveled to Seattle, Wash. to face one of their bitter rivals in the Washington Huskies.

UW GETS ON BOARD --- The Huskies finally get in the end zone recovering a muffed punt and going 28 yards in seven plays capped by a 1-yard run by Polk on fourth down.