The ending of Oregon State’s heartbreaking 17-14 defeat against USC certainly left us feeling unfulfilled, but I think Beaver Nation will someday soon look back at what happened Saturday night at Reser Stadium as the start of something special. 

First, some historical context against USC we should all keep in mind. In the eighty meetings between the Beavers and Trojans, OSU has only won twelve times. The Beavs have only won back-to-back games vs. USC one time, and it was during World War I. Even since the start of the Riley I era (1997), OSU has only won five of the nineteen contests. So rare are wins against Southern Cal that OSUBeavers.com invented a game in 2020 (called “2020 Fiesta Bowl Flashback” and credited the Beavers with an additional win against USC. That was just the 20th time the Trojans have been to Corvallis (“home” games vs. USC were always played in Portland until 1967 to attract larger crowds). In 2019, the Wall Street Journal did a study to determine the “value” of every Division 1 football program. USC was worth $320M, with revenues of $74M. Oregon State was valued at $127.5M with revenues of $48M.

This is not, and really never has been, a fair fight.

Of course that doesn’t matter. I guarantee you not one Beaver strapped on a helmet Saturday night thinking they didn’t belong, and they spent three hours proving it to the rest of the world. They made a Heisman hopeful in Caleb Williams look average at best. They held reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison to just three catches. Only once in his brilliant college career has he had fewer. The Trojan offense came in averaging over 520 yards per game. They needed a brilliant final drive late in the 4th quarter to crack the 300 yard mark. 

So while it shows up as just another one of the 64 losses in the series history in the record books, this was anything but. Beaver Nation, with one hand tied behind its back due to stadium renovations, forced the Trojans to use all three first-half timeouts. The fan base was incredible from the pre-kickoff Tail Slap to the final whistle. I’m sure I’ve been to games that were louder, but in terms of sustained noise and energy, this may be one of the best performances by a Reser Stadium crowd. Ever….and they did it for an unranked team that has more double-digit losing seasons this decade than they’ve had double digit winning seasons in the 100-plus seasons OSU has had a football program. 

That kind of energy has been missing from Reser Stadium for far too long, and I hope that we see it again on October 15th vs. Wazzu and beyond. Games like Saturday’s are what make die hard fans out of casual observers. Crowds like that are what convince people it’s worth it to battle traffic on I-5 six Saturdays a year, far more so than a fancy new scoreboard (it does look great though) or LED lights. Those might get someone to come check out a game once, but it’s what the Beaver team on the field and the announced attendance of 28,678 did in the stands on a warm September night in 2022 that is going to get them to keep coming back for years on end. 

Things for Beaver Fans to Gnaw On

• Football wasn’t the only OSU sports program to enjoy massive support from Beaver Nation in the last week. Women’s soccer saw over 1,000 fans for the first time in the Sinacola era (long may she reign!!). A record 1,989 students packed Gill for the volleyball match vs. Oregon on Wednesday.

• That may be the last time we ever play USC in Corvallis. The 1967, 2006 and 2008 games vs. USC rank as some of our greatest wins in program history. It’s a shame we couldn’t add one more before the Trojans nuke relationships and rivalries over a century old for some extra money they don’t really need. JP, please play five seconds of JoJo’s “Leave (Get Out)”

• Speaking of music, we’re 8-0 when the 4th quarter sing-along song was “Party in the USA.” For whatever reason on Saturday, game operations seemed hellbent on dethroning it in favor of “All the Small Things,” going so far as to use amplified sound effects through the speakers when asking the crowd to vote with their voices for that song and that song only. If you want to play it, then play it, but don’t ask the crowd then. I may be the only person that cares about this, but you gotta give the fans what they want. #FREEMILEY

• While OSU’s fans were awesome from before kickoff to the final whistle, what happened after that was not great. I understand being upset that we lost a game we only trailed in for the final 73 seconds. I even understand booing the several Trojans who chose to “swim” on the Beaver logo at midfield before heading to the locker room. But throwing bottles (I saw one chucked that didn’t hit anyone, but others have said that USC personnel were hit) and the one fan who decided to try and dole out some vigilante justice by rushing the field towards the departing Trojans should not (and really cannot) happen. Actions like that are what result in us having to go back to longer concession lines due to drinks being poured into cups rather than conveniently being handed bottles or fans no longer being allowed on the field after games. Bottom line…if you wouldn’t do it after a win, don’t do it after a loss. It only takes one person to get sideways to ruin it for everyone else.

• Congrats to OSU freshman golfer Collin Hodgkinson, who finished fifth in his first collegiate tournament last week. Hodgkinson finished tied for the tournament lead with 15 birdies over his three rounds.

• It’s been a rough couple years for the Beaver volleyball team, but with a victory over Cal on Friday night, the Beavs have already eclipsed their win total (5) from each of the last two seasons. Keep grinding ladies!

• Jade Carey doing Jade Carey things: she won gold on the vault and silver on the beam at the Paris World Challenge Cup.

• Thoughts are with OSU women’s soccer players Skylar Herrera and Abby Schwartz, both of whom had to be helped off the field following injuries vs. Washington State.