Beavers Host Bengals in Home Opening Tilt

Photo by: Karl Maasdam/Oregon State Athletics

September 12, 2016 | Football

By: Oregon State Athletic Communications

WEAR WHITE: OSU fans are encouraged to don their white Beaver gear when they host Idaho State this Saturday afternoon. The Beaver Store (across 26th Street from Reser Stadium) will have an item of the game on sale for the wear white game.

THE SERIES/GAME FACTS
•   Second meeting between the two programs.
•   The Beavers won the only previous meeting 61-10 in the third game of the 2007 season in Corvallis. Sean Canfield threw for 353 yards and three scores with Sammie Stroughter (9 receptions, 160 yards, two touchdowns) and Anthony Brown (8-156-1) leading the receiving corps.
•   The Bengals enter Reser Stadium for their second straight road game against a Pac-12 Conference foe after facing Colorado on Saturday in Boulder. The Bengals fell to the Buffs 56-7.
•   Gary Andersen coached the defensive line at Idaho State 1992-93, his first job coaching on the defensive side of the ball.
•   OSU running back coach Telly Lockette played for Andersen at ISU. Lockette earned letters in 1993, 95-97 and was a two-time All-American at linebacker. He was a 2013 Idaho State Hall of Fame inductee.
•   Idaho State defensive coordinator Spencer Toone and defensive line coach Steve Fifita have history with OSU head coach Gary Andersen. Toone played for Andersen at Utah and then was a defensive graduate assistant for Andersen at Utah State. Fifita also played for Andersen at Utah earning Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP honors in 2004.
•   True freshman linebacker Luke Leonnig is OSU's only Idaho native on the roster in 2016 hailing from Eagle.
•   The Beavers have other Big Sky teams on the schedule for each of the next three years - 2017 vs. Portland State, 2018 vs. Southern Utah and 2019 vs. Cal Poly.

EXTRA YARD FOR TEACHERS: Mark your calendars! September 17–24 is the second annual Extra Yard for Teachers Week. As the primary cause of the College Football Playoff Foundation, the mission of Extra Yards for Teachers (@ExtraYardforTeachers) is to elevate the teaching profession by inspiring and empowering quality teachers. Oregon State Athletics donated through donorschose.org to help 10 teachers in 10 different Oregon communities - Bend, Coos Bay, Long Creek, Stayton, Crane, Hillsboro, Eagle Point, Portland, Amity and Lafayette - in supporting the following subjects: literacy, art, music, history, science, character education, Spanish language acquisition and math. Go to donorschose.org to help aid these schools in need.

REMEMBER THE "AIR EXPRESS?" Former Oregon State head coach Dave Kragthorpe (1985-90) was the head coach at Idaho State (1980-82) and he is most remembered by OSU faithful for leading the Beavers to an improbable 21-20 at Washington in 1985 — at the time it was the largest point spread (38) ever overcome in an NCAA game. Former Idaho State head coach Garth Hall (1988-91) was an assistant for Kragthorpe at OSU.

WATCH FOR NEW STUFF ON GAME DAY: Fans, keep an eye out for new things on game day!
•   Pre-game deejay inside Reser Stadium.
•   Watch for the new team entrance. The Beavers will enter the field from their new locker room directly behind the north end zone goal post.
•   New band uniforms.
•   New and improved fireworks.
•   New food options from Cheesy Stuffed Burgers and Cibelli's Pizza on the main concourse.

UNVEILING THE TERRACE: OSU Athletics opens the Terrace at Reser Stadium for the first time Saturday. The Terrace is a 13,000-square foot area located inside the stadium adjoining the expanded Valley Football Center overlooking the north endzone. Brewers, vintners and chefs showcase food, beer and wine that have direct ties to the state of Oregon and Oregon State University. The OSU Food Science and Technology Program, recently rated among the top five in the country, is also featured in the Terrace.

NEW HOME FOR THE BEAVS: The first phase of the Victory Through Valley Project was completed recently as the team moved into its new locker room in the newly expanded and renovated Valley Football Center. The completed additions include an expanded athletic medicine facility, expanded equipment operations, renovated offices for the coaching staff, and an academic/life skills office. Still under construction is a football hall of fame, lobby and auditorium. For more on the $42 million project go to www.ourbeavernation.com.

LATE START AT HOME: Sept. 17 marks the second-latest home opener in more than a decade for the Beavers. OSU kicked off its home slate on Sept. 18 in 2010, coming off a season-opening loss to TCU at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, when the 25th-ranked Beavers defeated Louisville 35-28 at Reser Stadium.

UNDEFEATED ANDERSEN: Head coach Gary Andersen seeks to stay unbeaten against non-conference opponents inside Reser Stadium. In his first year at the helm, Andersen's team defeated Weber State, from the Big Sky Conference, 26-7 in his OSU debut. Two weeks later, the Beavers returned to their home field to beat San Jose State, from the Mountain West Conference, 35-21.

PLUS .500 NON-CONFERENCE SEASONS: Oregon State is pursuing its fifth straight non-conference winning record. The Beavers won all three non-conference (non-bowl) games in 2012 and again in 2014 while they posted a 2-1 record in 2013 and 2015 season. This season OSU needs non-conference home victories over Idaho State (Sept. 17) and Boise State (Sept. 24) to continue the streak.

FRESH FACES: Oregon State had 18 players make their debuts in the season-opener at Minnesota including eight freshmen (true and redshirt combined). Among the youngsters were a pair of true freshmen RB Artavis Pierce and LB Shemar Smith, to go with DT Elu Aydon, OT Blake Brandel, CB Xavier Crawford, S Omar Hicks-Onu, CB Jay Irvine and S Jalen Moore. In addition, 10 others played their first snaps for the Beavers including transfers RB Tim Cook, QB Darell Garretson, WR Timmy Hernandez, DE Phillip Napoleon, S Landry Payne, LB Wesley Payne, DT Paisa Savea and CB Kyle White. Junior OL Sam Curtius and sophomore OL Yanni Demogerontas also took the field for the first in the opener.

NEW COORDINATORS: The Oregon State football program is one of five in the nation (Bowling Green, Hawai'i, UCF and Utah State) that has had a different offensive AND defensive coordinator in each of the last three seasons. On the offensive side, the Beavers have been led by John Garrett (2014), Dave Baldwin (2015) and Kevin McGiven and T.J. Woods will co-coordinate in 2016, while on the defensive side it has been Mark Banker (2014), Kalani Sitake (2015) and now Kevin Clune (2016). Bowling Green is the only team to have had four different coordinators on both sides of the ball in the last four years. In point of fact, Danny Langsdorf was the offensive coordinator for the previous 10 seasons before Garrett's stint under then-head coach Mike Riley.

SENIOR CLASS: The Beavers are once again one of the most inexperienced teams in the country. OSU enters the season with 15 seniors on the active roster, which ranks as tied with Washington State as the second-youngest team in the Pac-12 behind USC with 14. It is tied as the 13th-fewest seniors in the nation.

OFF TO A GOOD START: Junior QB Darell Garretson, who sat out the 2015 due to NCAA transfer rules, made his Oregon State debut at Minnesota completing 25 of 40 passes for 228 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. It is the best starting debut performance by an OSU signal-caller since Cody Vaz passed for 332 yards and three scores in a 42-24 victory at BYU in 2012. Garretson joined the likes of some of OSU's greatest quarterbacks in history with only Matt Moore and Erik Wilhem throwing for more TDs in a debut performance with four and other than Vaz, Derek Anderson is the only other to throw for three scores in the modern era.

TWO OF THE BEST: Starting wide receivers Victor Bolden Jr. and Jordan Villamin will spend the season climbing Oregon State's career receiving yards records list. Last week, Bolden Jr. moved past Tim Euhus (1,346 yards) and Greg Ainsworth (1,349) and is now ranked 16th in OSU history with 1,353 yards while Villamin is 22nd with 1,243 yards.

VIC AND VILLY: Victor Bolden Jr. and Jordan Villamin are the only teammates with receptions in 20+ games in the nation. Bolden Jr. has now caught a ball in the last 25 games in which he has played while Villamin has receptions in 22 straight.

LET'S DO IT AGAIN: Oregon State safety Kendall Hill has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. Hill missed his true freshman season (2012) due to a knee injury suffered during the spring of his senior year of high school. He then suffered a season-ending knee injury during the spring practice session in 2013 and missed a second straight year.

EARLY RETIREMENT: Oregon State went through a series of medically-forced retirements since the spring practice period in April. OL Drew Clarkson (3 starts), OL Leo Fuimaono, RB Damien Haskins and OL Mason Johnson opted to retire from football during the spring. Then following the first week of fall camp S Gabe Ovgard (2) signed his retirement paperwork.

TEAM CAPTAINS: The 2016 team is captained by seniors Victor Bolden Jr., Devin Chappell, Sean Harlow, Caleb Saulo, Dustin Stanton and junior Darell Garretson.

CAMP BEND: The Oregon State football program opened fall camp by trekking across the Cascade Mountain range 155 miles to Bend, Ore. for the first week of practice. The team worked out at Summit High School while living in the dorms of Central Oregon Community College. The squad was able to work on team-bonding as well as receiving the benefits of working out at an elevation of 3,623 feet.

IT'LL BE A BLEND: The Beavers' offensive line group is an interesting blend of aged veterans with youthful options. OSU returns seven players with starting experience and nine total linemen that are collegiate letterwinners (including Brayden Kearsley who lettered twice at BYU). But that group had combined to play zero snaps at center. Sophomore center Yanni Demogerontas made his OSU debut at Minnesota, while Trent Moore, Gavin Andrews, Kammy Delp, Miki Fifita and Kearsley have all taken reps at center during spring and fall practices. The Beavers are fortunate to welcome Andrews back to the fold after missing what should have been his senior season in 2015 due to injury. Andrews now has 11 career starts at both tackle spots as well as at guard. Unfortunately, senior Sean Harlow remains sidelined following a season-ending injury suffered in game 6 of 2015. Harlow, the Beavers' most experienced player on the team with 28 career starts, is working his way back to full speed but is expected to not play this season.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME: Over the last 150 games, Oregon State is 51-15 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 11-41 when committing more and 16-16 when even.

BEAVS AT 111: Oregon owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 157, followed by USC (151/127 with vacated wins), Arizona State (112), Stanford (112), OSU (111), UCLA (111), Cal (100), Washington (96), Arizona (95) and WSU (84). Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 135 victories this century and Colorado has 78. The Beavers hit the 100-win plateau this century in the Sept, 21, 2013 win at San Diego State. The previous 100-win stretch started during the 1966 season, ending with 1999 – nearly 34 seasons (365 games). This century's 100 victories were achieved in just over 13 seasons (168 games).

ONE OF EIGHT: Fifth-year head football athletic trainer Ariko (uh-REE-ko) Iso (EE-so) is one of only eight females in the FBS in charge of the athletic training function of their football programs. Jennifer Brodeur (Massachusetts), Sally Nogle (Michigan State) and Kelli Pugh (Virginia) also head football athletic trainers while Jennifer Brown (Eastern Michigan), Brandy Clouse (Georgia Southern), Mary Vander Heiden (UCF) and Dawn Hearn (UTEP) are sports medicine department heads.

300TH GAME IN RESER: The Beavers' will play their 300th game in Reser (formerly Parker) Stadium late this year against Arizona, Nov. 19.

60TH ANNIVERSARY: The 2016 season is also the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Rose Bowl season. The game will be commemorated Sept. 24 when the Beavers host Boise State. The game was the Beavers' second Rose Bowl berth, but first actually at the Rose Bowl. A crowd of 100,000 witnessed 10th-ranked Oregon State fall No. 3 Iowa 35-19. Joe Francis rushed for 73 yards and passed for another 130 yards in the loss.

75TH ANNIVERSARY: The 2016 season marks the 75th anniversary of the 1941 Rose Bowl season. The anniversary will be recognized Oct. 29 when the Beavers host Washington State for "The Men of Roses" game ... The game produced two important firsts. It was Oregon State College's first-ever trip to the famous New Year's Day classic, and it remains the only Rose Bowl played outside Pasadena. The reason the game was moved to Durham, N.C. due to the blackout of the West Coast that had followed the attack on Pearl Harbor. The host stadium was Duke University's home field in Durham, N.C., with the undefeated Blue Devils picked as 3-1 favorites. Oregon State's victory came as a big surprise to Eastern and Southern sportswriters, with Sid Feder of the Associated Press writing, "Probably never in the quarter century history of the Tournament of Roses had such a completely overlooked betting underdog jumped up to beat the big fellows. Oregon State came East to the wonderment of most of Dixie as to why the Westerners were going to show up at all." ... Oregon State won the game 20-16 and Jack Gunether of UPI wrote, "The Beavers skipped and slammed and flicked passes with an ease and finesse which completely baffled the record crowd." ... Beaver boss, Lon Stiner, at 38 and the youngest head coach in Rose Bowl history, led the Beavers and Dan Durdan passed and ran OSC to victory earning Player of the Game honors. The winning score came in the third quarter when Gene Gray scored on a 68-yard pass from Bob Dethman.