Beaver Bowl Game Flashbacks
Image courtesy of Oregon State Athletics
Not since the Alamo in 2012 has there been this kind of excitement for a bowl. A bowl game, for that matter. That year, the Beavs started 6-0 with wins over ranked Wisconsin and UCLA along the way. The Beavs were ranked in the top 20 for three straight months and played Texas in the Alamo Bowl. The combination (nine-win regular season, quality bowl that OSU had never been to, good destination, prestigious opponent) fueled fan fervor and made it a “must attend” event for many Beaver fans.
Since then, we’ve been to two bowl games - The Hawaii Bowl in 2013 and the Los Angeles Bowl in 2021. For various reasons, neither of those games really tickled the fancy of Beaver Nation at large. While OSU historically has no reason to ever turn their nose up at any bowl game, playing Group of 5 opponents (Boise St. and Utah St. respectively) in bottom-tier bowl games didn’t really excite the fan base. Of course we were happy to be there, but we didn’t have to BE THERE.
This year, we’re in the Goldilocks Zone of bowl matchups. A game on a weekend in an easy to fly to (if you can find a ticket) destination. An SEC opponent. One of the premier sports stadiums in the world. A team ranked in the top 15. Short of a Rose Bowl, could we have asked for anything better? I know the old school Beaver fans still hold a candle for a Holiday Bowl someday, but the combo of Vegas and an SEC blueblood is just so juicy. (I will admit, playing Drake Maye and the Tar Heels in San Diego is a pretty close second).
I’ve attended two bowl games in my lifetime. One was the 2002 Seattle Bowl between Wake Forest and Oregon. In terms of atmosphere, that sucker was a dud. Duck fans hated being in the Seattle Bowl against also ran Wake Forest, who got stuck with a bowl game about as far away from their campus as possible. I had a great time, however, as Wake beat the crap out of the Ducks 38-17.
The other one, however, was the 2001 Fiesta Bowl between Oregon State and Notre Dame. I’m sure going to a Rose Bowl would be amazing, but let me tell you, being a college student in Tempe for the Fiesta Bowl was about as good as it could ever possibly get.
I remember finding out we were going to the Fiesta Bowl in my grandparent’s kitchen on a 13” TV. Immediately, I called my roommates to figure out how many tickets we would need. The next call was to my aunt and uncle, who had season tickets, to see if they were going or if they would request tickets for us through their account. I remember the tickets were $75 each, which made me chuckle when I saw what the seats at the Vegas Bowl were going for this year.
One of my roommate’s brothers was already a family man, so we borrowed his minivan for the drive down. I’ll never forget the look on my brother’s face as we drove away. He was a high school senior who, in some sort of weird rebellion against the family, vowed he would never go to Oregon State. I think he felt that everyone just expected him to end up there, as the majority of our extended family has, and he wanted to see what else was out there. As we drove away, the look of “oh shit, maybe I DO want to go to Oregon State” was priceless. (He’d play baseball at a junior college for a few years before coming to his senses and transferring to OSU).
The drive down was a meandering one, as we needed to pick up another brother of my roommates in Boise. We stayed the night at his place in Boise, then made the 15 hour drive to Tempe to stay at yet ANOTHER brother of the same roommate’s house. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to be smuggled across the American West, I know a family that can help you out.
The night before the game, we did what any college aged kids would do: We ate at the local Hooters. Normally, this wouldn’t merit a mention, but it was noteworthy because our server saw our Beaver gear and asked if we were on the team…hilarious because none of us looked like we had any prayer of being part of one of the best college football teams in the country. We said no (probably a mistake, in hindsight) but she said that she’d served our quarterback last night. “Oh, Jonathan Smith?” we said? She said “no, his name was Matt.” Obviously we didn’t have a quarterback named Matt. Eventually we determined that she had served backup placekicker Matt Stanwood. While we all found this hilarious, our server definitely did not. A quick Google search for Matt Stanwood just now produced this gem, written in the OSU media guide:
“in the weight room, Matt has produced personal bests of 185 pounds in the hang clean, 255 in the bench press, 255 in the back squat and 230 in the incline...has a vertical jump best of 21.00 inches...tested for 8.3 percent body fat.”
After that it was off to the Fiesta Bowl block party, featuring a concert by Hootie and the Blowfish. Notre Dame fans were everywhere, and were as condescending as you can imagine. A group of middle aged Golden Domers came up to our group and asked us to pray with them. It seemed rude to turn down a request to pray, so we did. The prayer went something like this: “Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us all together this New Year’s Eve. We ask for health and happiness in the new year, and an Irish victory tomorrow night!” at which point all these grown ass men started laughing like they had just pulled off the greatest prank in the history of the world. Someone in our group shouted something like “you’re gonna need God on your side tomorrow!” and the interaction turned a little testy, but everyone went on their way without further incident.
Later on in the evening around midnight, a female Notre Dame student grabbed me on a crowded street, spun me around and kissed me. She smelled like Jagermeister. She said “That’s four!!!!” as her friends squealed. My buddy Dave yelled “how about number five??” Time has robbed me of the memory of if she accepted his offer or not, unfortunately, but my guess is that she did without any hesitation.
The game, of course, was the perfect capper to the experience. An absolute beat down from start to finish. Darnell Robinson, who sat near me in a sports psychology class that semester, was named defensive MVP. He was always my MVP, but for a different reason. He used to flirt with the girl that sat on the other side of him in that class, and his line of “you have a demeanor about your character that I find appealing” resonates with me to this day. It’s a big regret of mine that I never had the gumption to use that one myself ever.
Right now, I’m in the stage of my life where everything revolves around my children, so bowl travel will have to take a backseat for now. I’m definitely jealous of those of you making the trip to Vegas next weekend. Enjoy it. Do all the rallies and events you can. Maybe you’ll get kissed by a Gator. I went to the OSU-UNLV game in 2009, a non-conference game played in Sam Boyd Stadium. I stayed at the Excalibur. I don’t recommend going to either of those places. Your experience will be much better, I’m sure.
Live it up, Beaver Nation, this is what Bowl Games are supposed to be.
