Washington football coach Jimmy Lake on Monday talked about Oregon as a top on-field rival but doesn’t think the rivalry extends to the recruiting trail.
Lake, whose team hosts No. 7 Oregon on Saturday, cited differences in the two schools’ academic profiles.
“That is way more pumped up than it is,” Lake said of a Washington-Oregon recruiting rivalry. “Our battles are really, the schools that we go against, have academic prowess, like the University of Washington, Notre Dame, Stanford, USC. We go toe to toe, all the way to the end, with those schools. So I think that’s made up and pumped up in [the media’s] world. In our world, we battle more academically prowess teams.”
Washington and Oregon are charter members of the Pac-12 (then the Pacific Coast Conference), and both schools are in the American Association of Universities.
Oregon, which has won the teams’ last two meetings and 14 of the past 16, recently has had an edge in recruiting rankings. The Ducks have signed ESPN top-10 classes in two of the past three years, while Washington ranked 15th in 2019 and 2020 before slipping to 23rd for the 2021 class. Washington’s class last ranked ahead of Oregon in 2018 (No. 15 vs. No. 17).
Oregon has won consecutive Pac-12 championships, and the Ducks and Washington are the only Pac-12 teams to make the College Football Playoff (2014 for Oregon, 2016 for Washington).
Washington had to cancel last year’s game against Oregon because of COVID-19 issues, and Oregon replaced Washington in the league title game because of the same COVID-19-related problems.
“This rivalry has been about championships,” Lake said. “Usually, the winner is going to represent the Pac-12 North [Division], or they’re hunting for a Pac-12 championship. It’s just been more on a higher level in terms of a lot of things are at stake in that way. … It’s a little bit more heated because of the championships we’re going after.”
Washington leads the all-time series with Oregon 60-47-5.