Lookie here! These two little'uns from Texas are lookin' to stir up a heap 'a trouble Thursday after suppertime in this here Civil War game in that there rainy state 'a Oregone.

Apologies for the poor effort at a colloquial introduction, but it's difficult to not get into the spirit of the Civil War for the Roses potentially turning on which diminutive underclass running back from East Texas plays better.

In this corner, we have the Lightning Yellow Rose of Texarkana, Oregon's LaMichael James. The redshirt freshman, thrust into a starting role after LeGarrette Blount melted down at Boise State, is 5-foot-9, 180 pounds and has rushed for 1,310 yards -- a Pac-10 freshman record -- and 11 touchdowns.

He's very fancy.

And, in this corner, we have the Pride of Richmond, Jacquizz Rodgers. The sophomore, who just last year set the Pac-10 freshman rushing record, is 5-foot-7 and a muscular 191 pounds and has rushed for 1,313 yards and 19 touchdowns.

He's tough and versatile.

"When you're talking about running backs who are as productive as these two guys, it's hard -- and there's no need -- to separate them," Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. "They are both really good players who impact their teams with what they do in the games."

Oh, but the Ducks and Beavers fanbases have spent much of the the season tweaking each other over who is better.

Suffice it to say, both are very good and the debate figures to continue through at least the 2010 season.

James leads all FBS players with 18 runs over 20 yards. Every hear coaches talk about "explosion plays"? James is like a dynamite wholesaler.

Rodgers, the 2008 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, is second in the Pac-10 in with 67 receptions. Yeah, receptions.

Those additional touches makes this factoid even more amazing: Rodgers has never fumbled. In 595 career touches, he's treated the football like he's transporting the Hope Diamond.

While it's likely those selecting an All-Conference team will just throw up their hands and create a wishbone backfield with Stanford's Toby Gerhart -- said Toby, "I am not playing freaking fullback!" -- it's also possible that whichever back turns in a better performance in this high-stakes rivalry game will step ahead in the first-team pecking order.

Both backs, who recently became Facebook friends, have been asked about the other relentlessly during the buildup for the game, but neither has seemed too eager to trash talk the other or claim -- or hint at -- superiority.

Both are young men of few words in any event, though Rodgers is known to be fairly chatty during games. The following qualifies as a paroxysm of verbosity from the typically laconic James.

"Everyone wants to make it out to be a competition," he said. "I don't look at it that way. As long as my team comes out on top, I can lose the individual battle because that's really not important to me. But I welcome all challenges. I'm not going to take anything away from him because he's a great player. I'm just going to go out and play hard for my team."

A footnote to last year's Civil War -- a 65-38 bludgeoning delivered by the Ducks that knocked the Beavers out of the Rose Bowl -- was Rodgers standing on the sidelines with a grumpy expression and a shoulder injury. He was joined early by his fabulously productive receiver brother James, and for many Beavers fans that absence was under-represented in post-game analysis.

The Rodgers brothers are the engine of the Beavers offense, and a vehicle needs an engine. Both are healthy and available this go-around, and they should at least help keep the ball away from James and dual-threat quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who masterfully led the 694-yard offensive charge in 2008.

So how do you best compare these two backs? James offered some insight.

"We're similar in a lot of ways," he said. "And in a lot of ways we're different."

Similar, in that they are very good. Different, in that one of them will be going to the Rose Bowl.