Since the Pac-12 expanded to 12 teams in 2011, the annual showdown between Oregon and Stanford hasn't been as much a North Division game as an annual coronation. Four of the last five times these teams met, the winner would go on to win the Pac-12 championship.

And once they got to the league's title game, they typically dominated their South brethren. The first five Pac-12 championship games have been won by either Oregon or Stanford by an average of three touchdowns. It was a shared dynasty that was the envy of the league's 10 other programs.

Oregon has a 3-6 record and may miss playing in a bowl game for the first time in a dozen years. Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire

Stanford travels to Oregon on Saturday, only this time the duo's monopoly on conference titles was broken up weeks ago. Regardless of the outcome, neither will win the conference. And neither will win the North. Both programs have yielded to the gentlemen from the great state of Washington … or the great Washington State. The Cougars and Huskies swept the Cardinal and Ducks in blowout victories, effectively marking the end of one epoch and trumpeting in the Pac-12's Age of Apples.

The Oregon-Stanford matchup has traditionally influenced playoff and BCS tides. But this year it wouldn't make a ripple in a kiddie pool. The once-ordained have been reduced to ordinary.

Yet while there are no national stakes at play for either team, there is still plenty worth investing in. The Cardinal (6-3, 4-3) -- despite their injuries and stilted offense -- still have a shot at a nine-win season and a mid-tier bowl game.

Oregon (3-6, 1-5) needs to win to keep its slim hopes of making the postseason alive. The Ducks have lost six of their last seven and are in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2004.

This has traditionally been a game of competing philosophies: Oregon with its up-tempo, high-scoring brand of offense against Stanford's stalwart defense. And that still holds true. The Ducks are No. 4 in the league in scoring offense at 38.2 points per game. Stanford has the league's No. 3 scoring defense, yielding just 18.6 points per game.

But there's another contrast this year. Oregon's defense can't stop hemorrhaging points. Stanford's offense can't find any. The Ducks are 11th in the league in scoring defense. Stanford is last in offense.

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It's the stoppable force versus the movable object.

Last year was the only time the winner of this game didn't win the league title. Oregon pulled out a tight 38-36 victory at Stanford, eliminating the Cardinal from playoff contention. But Stanford still went on to win the conference and roll through the Rose Bowl.

That's been a theme in this matchup -- one knocking the other out of something significant. In 2012, it was the Cardinal who topped the Ducks in Eugene in overtime, spoiling an undefeated season and paving the way for that barn-burning Notre Dame-Alabama BCS championship. A year later the Cardinal again topped an undefeated Oregon team. And then in 2015, it was the Ducks who bounced the Cardinal from playoff consideration.

Oregon has won the last two, but three of the last four meetings have come down to one possession.

This game also features two of the league's preseason Heisman favorites -- running backs Christian McCaffrey from Stanford and Royce Freeman from Oregon. Both were coming off outstanding, record-breaking seasons in 2015. But injuries have slowed them statistically and negatively impacted their teams.

It's a situation neither of these teams wanted to be in Week 11. This is the game that's always been circled as an exhibition of the Pac-12's best and brightest. Heismans have been won and lost in this game. Opinions have been molded. National landscapes have been altered.

But not this year. Every game is important and every game matters. You won't find a player in either locker room who doesn't care about the outcome. This is just the first time in a long time that the rest of the country won't be watching. Because this time around it's not a coronation. It's just another North Division game.