In the hour after No. 8 Oregon State beat No. 5 Oregon 23-13 on November 18, Beaver football players, coaches, staff members and fans drifted away from Reser Stadium to watch the Apple Cup being played in Pullman.
That week's Sports Illustrated magazine – whose cover featured Oregon State wide receiver Chad Johnson making his diving catch in the game – included a lengthy story on the Civil War, and reporter Austin Murphy described the postgame events:
"Once the 10-1 Beavers had stopped dancing in the locker room – even coach Dennis Erickson let his hair down and boogied briefly – they tuned in to the Apple Cup, Washington's season-ending Armageddon against Washington State," Murphy wrote. "An upset by the Cougars would have propelled Oregon State to the Rose Bowl. The Beavers didn't watch for long; the Huskies were in the process of routing Washington State 51-3. Though Oregon State, Oregon and Washington have identical 7-1 conference records and share the Pac-10 championship, the Huskies will play in Pasadena, thanks to a complicated tie-breaking formula."