Northwest passage.(college football)

Overcoming financial obstacles and a small local talent base, Oregon and Oregon State have taken wild rides to elite status. Now, they face the challenge of sustaining their runs.

It flashed on the scoreboard: 41-9, 41-9, 41-9.

But it's not as if Oregon State fans at the spring game had to be reminded of the final score of the Beavers' win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. After all, it was the greatest win in school history.

As the final seconds of the methodical exhibition ticked down, Beavers athletic director Mitch Barnhart stood on the sideline and glanced toward the stands of Reser Stadium. It had rained. It had hailed. Now. the sun was shining on the 6,000 people in attendance.

"A player next to me said. `I can remember when we didn't get many more than this for regular games,'" Barnhart says.

So, it's official: Corvallis is well on its way back to being a college football town. And Eugene, home of the Oregon Beavers, has closed the gap on Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Lincoln, Knoxville and Austin, among others. Perhaps not even the state of Florida can match the college football that now is being played in Oregon. The crazy thing is this isn't supposed to be happening. Oregon State and Oregon have no business hanging out with the big-shouldered gang, but here they are.

"I feel comfortable, I feel good," Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington says of the coming season. That's understandable, since the Ducks' season opener against Wisconsin is still four months away. "I'm a little nervous, but I don't feel pressure. That comes from other people."