Jacob Thorpe: Buddy-buddy time is over. Washington State-Oregon State is now a real rivalry.

Congrats to the Oregon State Beavers. They deserve to beat the Cougars once a decade.

You see, that’s how we talk about the Beavers around these parts now. No longer a plucky partner in TV scheduling, but a hated rival. All those joint appearances by university officials amounted to naught. The era of good feelings is over.

Leading up to the game, Washington State coach Jake Dickert made some waves with the following quote: “I’ve never gotten into ‘they’re our buddy.’ Oregon State is not our buddy. They would have left us as fast as we would have left them.”

The words fell like rainfall in the desert to those of us who put bread on the table by listening to college football coaches talk. So refreshingly candid, so starkly honest. A little bit funny.

In the age of canned and empty statements, Dickert’s words were a little bit of trash talk, and they reset the relationship between the two programs. These schools had adopted a framing as the only two moral members of the previous Pac-12 conference, holding hands while embarking on a noble quest to rebuild a marquee college football conference out west.

Dickert recast the schools as the last left-behinds, suspiciously eyeing each other. It was an honest statement, if not a particularly popular one.

Readers of the Oregonian, whose undergraduate education left them soft as Charmin, sent whiny little letters to their columnist, calling Dickert’s comments “offensive.” This columnist would have sent them back.

Dickert’s quote also suggested a far more interesting relationship for the two programs: a legitimate rivalry. These two programs will be closer to each other than any other conference opponents going forward. They’re both land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest, and they recruit many of the same players.

OSU’s breakout player on Saturday? It was Gabarri Johnson, a freshman quarterback from Tacoma. When Washington and Oregon were in the conference – the rich kids in-state – it made sense for OSU and WSU fans to feel some type of kinship because of their shared experience as the plucky underdogs. Now they’re just dogs fighting for scraps.

The players sure seemed to think so. Saturday night’s game featured no shortage of shots after the whistle, trash-talk, chippy play and unsportsmanlike penalties on both teams.

So did the fans, who filled Reser Stadium despite OSU’s paltry 4-6 record and embarrassing shutout at the hands of Air Force last week.

And it was a memorable first game in the rivalry, with both teams making timely turnovers in the fourth quarter and the game in doubt until the final minutes. WSU entered with twice as many wins this season and favored by 11.5 points. Hey, that’s how rivalry games go.

No doubt Dexter Foster’s forced fumble of star WSU receiver Kyle Williams at midfield with less than two minutes to play will be remembered for years by OSU fans. As will Trent Walker’s tough fourth-down catch on the game-winning drive. OSU’s students rushed the field when it was over, inarguable proof that for them this was the biggest game of the season.

So, we have a rivalry game. What should we call it?

The War Across I-84? The Columbia River Rivalry? The Battle of the Big Teeth?

There will need to be a trophy. Perhaps the Cascade Cup?

With the future of their conference yet unsettled, and surely no end in sight to conference realignment once it is, these two programs are stuck together. The friendly façade fell apart, so let’s embrace the hate.

Their relationship may be forged out of necessity rather than camaraderie, and that’s just fine. It’s certainly more interesting.