Beavers Back at Home to Host Buffaloes
October 20, 2015 | Football
UNIFIED FOR UCC: For the rest of the season, the Beavers will wear a black UCC ribbon on their helmets to honor the fallen from the tragic events of Oct. 1 at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. (115 miles south of Corvallis).
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS: The Beavers will also wear a pink ribbon on their helmets as well as pink wristbands, towels and training tape to help raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer.
THE SERIES/GAME FACTS
• Eighth game in the series that dates back to 1931.
• OSU leads series 5-2, including two straight victories.
• Colorado made its first trip ever to Corvallis, Sept. 28, 2013 – OSU won that game 44-17.
• Sean Mannion passed for 278 yards and Terron Ward added 102 yards rushing with two TDs in last season's 36-31 OSU victory at Boulder.
• Gary Andersen has never faced Colorado while serving as a head coach, assistant coach or player.
• OSU quarterbacks coach Kevin McGiven was on the same Montana State staff with Colorado special teams coach Tony Neinas – the Bobcats shared the Big Sky Conference title during that 2012 season.
• Beavers' wide receiver coach Brent Brennan was a player at UCLA when CU assistant coach Gary Bernardi was on the Bruins' staff.
• The last time OSU had a running back record 100-yards receiving was Terron Ward (103) against Colorado in 2013.
DON'T MISS STUDY HALL: Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre graduated from Georgia Tech in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in business management. His academic advisor was current Oregon State Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury, a 1984 graduate of the Atlanta school in industrial management.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE: A Friday night game, a bye week and two away games equals 29 days between home contests. The last time the Beavers went as long of a stretch was in 1998 when 35 days passed between home games. During the '98 season, OSU played four straight games on the road.
THE DRIVE: The Oregon State and Utah football programs will be featured in the Pac-12 Networks' The Drive: Pac-12 Football this fall. Episodes are scheduled for initial air dates as Oct. 21, Oct. 28, Nov. 4, Nov. 11, Nov. 18, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2.
BEST COACH: According to a recent ESPN.com survey, 99 college football players were asked who (other than their own coach) is the best coach in the country? Gary Andersen tied for third behind the likes of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer.
3-4: During the spring practice session, head coach Gary Andersen, assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake and staff made the decision to shift to a primary defensive alignment with three down linemen and four linebackers. It marks the first time the Beavers have lined up in a primary 3-4 since the Jerry Pettibone era when Bronco Mendenhall, current BYU head coach, directed the defense in 1996.
NO FREE PASSES: Opponents have had to earn their own first downs this season, for the most part The Beavers have allowed just eight first downs via the penalty through six games. Last year, OSU was among the worst in the conference for that dubious stat providing opponents with 31 free passes.
WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME: Over the last 143 games, Oregon State is 51-14 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 11-37 when committing more and 16-14 when even.
THAT'S ODD: OSU has accumulated more first downs rushing than passing, which to some extent is to be expected with the new offensive scheme. The Beavers have 57 first downs via the rush compared to 47 via the pass. Last year for the season OSU had 78 rushing first downs compared to 138 via the air. The last time Oregon State finished a season with more first downs on the ground than through the air was in 2000 when the Beavers rushed for 119 first downs and passed for 116.
2x1: Recently senior tailback Storm Barrs-Woods became the second player in Oregon State history to achieve 2,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving during his career. Barrs-Woods has rushed for 2,534 career yards, sixth in OSU history, and 1,079 receiving yards. He joins Jacquizz Rodgers (2008-10) as the only other 2,000 x 1,000 player in OSU history. Further, Barrs-Woods became just the fourth player with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards joining Pat Chaffey (1986, 88-89) and James Rodgers (2007-11).
QB ON THE MOVE: It didn't take freshman Seth Collins long to show his mobility and a very different skill set than Beaver fans are used to seeing at the position. Collins dodged, dipped, ducked, dived and dodged his way to 152 rushing yards against Weber State. It is the most yards an OSU quarterback has ran for since Tim Alexander set the school-record of 205 rushing yards against Northern Illinois in 1996 ... Through six games, Collins is averaging 81.0 rushing yards per game. At his current pace, Collins would finish the regular season with 972 rushing yards. Collins, who has rushed for 486 yards thus far in 2015, is more than two-thirds of the way to the Oregon State single season record for rushing yards by a quarterback which is held by Don Shanklin with 630 in 1994 (the Pac-12 single season record of 986 was set in 1997 by UW's Jake Locker ... Collins' start is especially impressive as he is the fourth leading rusher in the nation among quarterbacks ... Collins is also the second leading rusher in the nation among true freshmen (Myles Gaskin, Washington).
FRESHMEN QUARTERBACKS: Per a survey prior to the season, Oregon State entered the season as the only team in the nation that has no quarterbacks with playing experience and has only eligible freshmen signal callers. Prior to Seth Collins starting the season-opener against Weber State, the last Beaver true freshman quarterback to start for the Beavers was David Moran in 1996. Moran started three games in what was then a wishbone system, switched to cornerback prior to 1997 and before that season transferred to Northern Arizona.
NEW LOOK LINEBACKERS: Entering the season Oregon State needed to replace all three starting linebackers from 2014 - a group that had combined to start 91 games and make 628 tackles. The Beavers returned two players with starting experience, Rommel Mageo and Caleb Saulo, who combined to start 10 games in 2013. According to a recent survey, those 10 returning starts ranks as the sixth-fewest in the nation. Those two juniors plus sophomore Manase Hungalu have formed a new triumverate combining for 109 tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, 2.0 sacks, four interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Add Ricky Ortiz, who recently converted from H-Back to linebacker, and the linebacker corps has accounted for six of the seven turnovers the Beavers have forced this year.
APPLYING FOR MEDICAL HARDSHIPS: OSU head coach Gary Andersen announced two weeks ago that senior tight end Caleb Smith and true freshman running back Deltron Sands will miss the rest of the 2015 season. Because both players have played this year, OSU will apply for medical hardships from the Pac-12 Conference after the season.
SENIOR CLASS: The Beavers are one of the most inexperienced teams in the country entering the season. OSU possesses 13 seniors on the active roster, which ranks as the youngest team in the Pac-12 and is tied as the ninth-youngest team in the nation.
FRESH FACES: Oregon State has had 19 freshmen (true and redshirt combined) play already this season. Among those new guys are four true freshmen– QB Seth Collins, WR Paul Lucas, RB Deltron Sands and TE Noah Togiai. as well as redshirt freshmen OL Drew Clarkson, OL Kammy Delp, WR Datrin Guyton, DE Sumner Houston, WR Drew Kell, QB Marcus McMaryion, OL Trent Moore, RB/TE Ryan Nall, S Gabe Ovgard, S Adam Soesman, LB Bright Ugwoegbu, NT Kalani Vakameilalo, CB Dwayne Williams, DE LaMone Williams and LB Jonathan Willis. In addition, nine others have played for the first time with the Beavers including transfers CB Devin Chappell, CB Treston Decoud, LS Ryan Navarro, NT Kyle Peko, and P Nick Porebski. Juniors K Ian Crist and TE Brent VanderVeen and sophomore LB Manase Hungalu and CB Charles Okonkwo also have made their OSU debuts.
TRUE STUDENT-ATHLETES: Twelve of the Beavers' 13 seniors are on track to graduate this academic year: Gavin Andrews (June/economics), Lavonte Barnett (March/sociology), Storm Barrs-Woods (December/human development & family sciences), Kellen Clute (March/digital communications), Jalen Grimble (December/economics), Jaswha James (December/sociology), Josh Mitchell (December/sociology), Naji Patrick (December/human development family studies/public health), Ali'i Robins (December/sociology), Larry Scott (December/human development & family studies), Caleb Smith (March/liberal studies), Shane Wallen (March/exercise & sport science).
BEAVS AT 112: Oregon owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 150, followed by USC (145/121 with vacated wins), OSU (111), Arizona State (108), UCLA (106), Stanford (105), Cal (96), Arizona (92), Washington (90), WSU (79). Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 129 victories this century and Colorado has 75. 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).
UNDAUNTED BY RANKINGS: Since 2005, Oregon State is tied with North Carolina State for the most wins by an unranked team against an FBS ranked team with 12.
PLUS .500 NON-CONFERENCE SEASONS: Oregon State achieved its fourth straight non-conference slate with a 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 this season.
