A lot on line at Autzen.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

FROM AN EAST Coast perspective, the Civil War doesn't have the allure envisioned last August, when the Beavers were picked No. 1 by Sports Illustrated.

Then again, that was a Washington Post reporter on Mike Bellotti's media conference call the other day, asking the Oregon coach to describe the Duck offense to folks who've never seen it before. In 25 words or less, give or take.

What strikes me is that Saturday's game in Autzen Stadium is not an anticlimax, even with Oregon already assured a share of the Pac-10 Conference title for the second straight year and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl, which once upon a time would have been the Rose Bowl.

Back when ABC agreed to pay both schools $600,000 to move the Civil War to the first day of December, and back when the season began in late summer, it was thought that this game would be a very big deal, greatly transcending the usual bragging rights stuff. (Which in itself is a lot more important now than in most of the previous 30 years because of the Beavers' improvement over the past few seasons.)

In fact, this game Saturday will be a very big deal.

It's important to Oregon and Oregon State, certainly, but offers enough compelling storylines to be interesting in time zones other than Pacific. Here are some of them:

The Ducks are still in the hunt for a berth in the national championship game, the Rose Bowl, on Jan. 3. Yes, a lot of things have to break their way, and their chances of vaulting from No. 5 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings to No. 2 are very slim, at best.

But it could happen, if Oregon wins Saturday. And it's significant that the Ducks have reached the final weekend of the regular season still in the chase for college football's biggest prize. That's truly remarkable; Oregon has never come this close before, and when it's over you won't be able to say that the Ducks didn't give themselves a chance or have a chance.

Quarterback Joey Harrington is still very much in contention for the Heisman Trophy, an award no Duck has ever won and that a Pac-10 player hasn't won in 20 years.

When that billboard of Harrington unfurled on the side of the building in Manhattan last summer - 10 stories and $250,000 worth of hype, controversy and vision - only Oregon's wildest dreams had Harrington actually winning the thing, yet unless Harrington has an awful game Saturday and the Ducks lose, he's certain to be invited to New York City as a finalist for the Dec. 8 award ceremony.

INDEED, ESPN analyst Lee Corso has predicted that Harrington will win the Heisman, contending that the off-field problems of UCLA running back DeShaun Foster have left Harrington as the only viable West Coast candidate; that Nebraska's loss to Colorado will erode the support for quarterback Eric Crouch; and that Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey and Florida's Rex Grossman will split the influential vote on the East Coast.

Much as he did on that touchdown run against UCLA, when he seemingly had no chance, Harrington could emerge triumphant. As with Oregon's national title quest, Harrington's kept himself a contender until the final game, and with only a handful of Heisman ballots already cast, that final game, the Civil War, could have a decisive impact.

The Ducks can win 10 regular-season games for the first time in school history and win the Pac-10 title outright. When your program has won only six other football titles in school history and won outright just once before (in 1994), this is a very big deal, especially winning it in a season the Ducks weren't Cinderella but were picked to win it.

The Beavers are 5-5 but closer to 7-3, because they should have defeated USC and could have defeated Arizona State. If running back Ken Simonton rushes for 113 yards, he'll become the first Pac-10 running back to ever record four 1,000-yard seasons and one of only five Division I ballcarriers ever to do so.

And if the Beavers win, they'll claim the Northwest title at 2-1, with wins over Oregon and Washington and a loss to Washington State, which lost to the Ducks and Huskies.

More important, the Beavers will most certainly gain their third straight bowl berth for the first time in school history. They will be a great draw for the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise to play Louisiana Tech, and they could come out of this season with seven wins. The Humanitarian Bowl has other at-large teams under consideration - UCLA, Iowa, Clemson, North Carolina State, Ole Miss - but won't meet on the matter until Sunday evening.

Interestingly, the executive director of the Humanitarian Bowl is Gary Beck, the former Oregon football player who is the husband of former UO track star Lexie Miller Beck and who understands all about this rivalry. Beck was a Civil War hero as a freshman in Oregon's 28-16 victory in 1977, rushing for 131 yards and throwing a 66-yard pass.

A big deal? Only to the Ducks and Beavers then; they finished 1-6 and 0-7 in the Pac-10. Suffice to say, the game's a bigger deal now.