By
Bryan Rosenbaum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
This past Saturday was bittersweet for the Oregon State football team and its fans, who have suffered through years of being the conference doormat.
While we here at Arizona may not know what it's like to have been so pathetic in every sport for so long, Wildcat fans should have sympathy for the 10-1 Beavers, currently ranked No. 5 in the nation.
Look closely, Arizona fans - the 2000 Beavers and 1998 Wildcats are eerily similar.
In 1998, Arizona also finished the season 10-1 and ranked No. 5 in the country. UA's only blemish was a 52-28 loss in October to eventual Pac-10 champion UCLA, a loss that wasn't as bad as the scoreboard indicated.
As the season went on, UCLA only got worse; Arizona only got better.
Because a Hurricane postponed UCLA's game with Miami from September to December, a guy named Edgerrin James ran wild over a non-existent Bruin defense.
Had that game been played in September, UCLA probably would have won that game and found themselves in the Fiesta Bowl playing for the national championship instead of Pasadena.
As a result of the Bruins' ineptitude against Miami, Arizona was kept out of its first Rose Bowl appearance and not chosen for a Bowl Championship Series bowl because - despite its ranking and record - UA fans don't travel well and the Wildcats weren't great for television ratings, among other things.
This season, Oregon State suffered a 33-30 loss at Washington on Oct. 7. Since then, the Huskies have not played like the best team in the Pac-10. Close calls on the road against Stanford and Arizona State and at home against Arizona and UCLA seemed to have chipped away at UW's confidence as the season wore on.
Meanwhile, Oregon State built up steam towards the end of the conference season and finished November with a masterful performance here in Tucson against the Wildcats and Saturday at home against Oregon in the "Civil War."
The Beavers finished the season 10-1 and are highly deserving of a BCS bowl, but will most likely get left out because the men in suits don't think the Beavers are good enough to make them money.
While the '98 Wildcats and '00 Beavers certainly don't have a case that they should have been in the Rose Bowl , both UA and OSU hold the distinction of losing to the team that eventually smelled roses.
The Huskies won this year's tiebreaker with OSU and Oregon because of their 3-0 non-conference record. Oregon State was only 2-0, as a win over Division I-AA Eastern Washington doesn't count. Why teams even bother playing I-AA teams is an entire different column.
Isn't it fitting that the Wildcats of yesteryear and the Beavers of today find themselves in this predicament? The Pac-10 struggles one year, then has a number of teams suddenly 10-1 or 9-2 the next year.
Do you think the Ducks are happy about going to El Paso, Texas for the Sun Bowl?
It s time for the Pac-10 to re-evaluates its relationship with the bowls. At the very least, more than one team should play on New Year 's Day - it's only fair. If the Big Ten and SEC's fourth-place team can celebrate the new year on the road, then so should another Pac-10 team.
Bring back those ties to the Cotton Bowl, at least.
So Beaver fans, Arizona feels your pain. On one hand, you have had an incredible season. On the other hand, you're getting slighted for playing out West.
And the Pac-10 calls itself the "Conference of Champions?"
The Pac-10 is slighting itself out of national exposure, money and a just reward for having three great teams in the conference this year.
It 's only fair that the Beavers get more than a Holiday in San Diego, and the Ducks should get more than the Sun Bowl.
Fix the system quickly, before something like this happens again.
