Beavs, Bruins Set for Showdown

Photo by: Karl Maasdam/Oregon State Athletics

November 08, 2016 | Football

By: Oregon State Athletic Communications

THE SERIES/GAME FACTS
• Saturday's contest marks the 63rd game in the series that dates back to 1930.
• UCLA leads the series 42-16-4.
• Four of the last five games have been decided by eight points or fewer.
• Games in the OSU-UCLA series have not only been played in Los Angeles and Corvallis, but also in Portland and Tokyo - the former Mirage Bowl in 1980 was played before 86,000 specators.
• The teams have not met in football at the Rose Bowl since 2012.
• OSU won the last meeting in the Rose Bowl 27-20, Sept. 22, 2012 - the Bruins were ranked No. 19 at the time.
• In the last meeting in Pasadena in 2012, Beaver QB Sean Mannion (Los Angeles Rams) passed for a then-personal best 379 yards, 150 of those to Markus Wheaton (Pittsburgh Steelers) and 175 to Brandin Cooks (New Orleans Saints).
• OSU outside receivers coach Brent Brennan played wide receiver at UCLA 1991-94.
• UCLA associate head coach Adrian Klemm began his coaching career at SMU on a staff that included OSU safeties coach Derrick Odum.
• Bruins wide receiver coach Eric Yarber held the same position at OSU 2000-02, after serving as the Beavers' RB coach in 1999.
• Oregon State has had 15 games in which a running back has rushed for 100+ yards against the Bruins with the most recent coming in 2009 when Jacquizz Rodgers (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) picked up 112 yards on 24 carries in a 26-19 win in Corvallis.
• The Beavers have had 300-yard passers seven times against UCLA with the most recent coming in in the previously mention 2012 game when Sean Mannion passed for 379 yards on 24-35 passing with two TDs in the win.
• OSU has had 15 100-yard receiving games against UCLA as well, with the most recent being in 2012 when Brandin Cooks (175) and Markus Wheaton (150) each hit triple digits.

THE DRIVE: The Oregon State football program will be featured on the Pac-12 Network's The Drive: Pac-12 Football show this week. This week's episode was filmed during the run-up for the Beavers' "Men of Roses" game against Washington State which honored the Oregon State team that won the 1942 Rose Bowl. First airing is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 11 at 11 p.m. PT. It will re-air several times during the course of the next week.

TOUGH SLEDDING: Oregon State's schedule through nine games ranks as the third-most difficult in the country per USA Today's Sagarin Rankings. The top 15 most difficult schedules features a who's who of the Pac-12 Conference with Stanford (4), UCLA (6), Arizona (9), Oregon (10), California (14), and USC (15).

ONLY THE BEAVS: Oregon State is the only team in the nation that has played five current Associated Press top 25 teams (No. 4 Washington, No. 13 Utah, No. 16 Colorado, No. 23 Washington State and No. 24 Boise State).

ONE EYE IN THE REARVIEW, ONE ON THE ROAD: The combined record of OSU's eight FBS opponents thus far in the season is 48-15 with a winning percentage of .762. The three remaining teams on the schedule are 7-20 having won at a clip of .259. The disparity is even greater in conference contests with the first six Pac-12 foes the Beavers have faced with a 27-10 record (.730) and the three left on the schedule holding a record of 2-16 (.111).

ZERO: That's the number of times OSU opponents have converted a first down on third and more than 10 yards (0-17).

CREATING HAVOC: The Oregon State defense has shown marked improvement creating big plays in 2016. The Beavers have created 15 turnovers (five interceptions & 10 fumble recoveries) through nine games. In 2015, OSU caused just 12 turnovers (eight INTs & four fumble recoveries) all season.

MISSING IN ACTION: Every football team suffers injuries as the season wears on. For Oregon State 12 players that began the season as expected starters OR became starters due to injury have combined to miss 41 starts. Among the starters to miss at least one game are: OL Yanni Demogerontas (4), LB Titus Failauga (5), QB Darell Garretson (3), OL Sean Harlow (3), LB Manase Hungalu (1), CB Jay Irvine (5), OL Fred Lauina (2), RB Ryan Nall (1), TE Ricky Ortiz (1), LB Joah Robinett (3), TE Noah Togiai (7) and CB Dwayne Williams (6).

M.A.S.H. UNIT: With the injury bug once again biting the Oregon State football program, the Beavers were only able to suit up 63 players due to injury and illness, seven fewer than allowed for a visiting team per Pac-12 regulations, at Washington three weeks ago. Entering the game with the Huskies, OSU was missing players who had accounted for 74% of the team's total rushing yards and 91% of the team's total passing yards.

DONE FOR THE YEAR: The list of Beavers considered out for the season has grown to 10 including: OL Sam Curtius, S Jonas Dahl, QB Darell Garretson, CB Jaydon Grant, CB Jay Irvine, DL Thor Katoa, OL Bobby Keenan, S Landry Payne, TE Noah Togiai, TE Kenny Turnier and DE LaMone Williams. In addition, injuries and illness have prevented several others from playing through the first half of the season including: OL Gunnar Braden, CB Charles Okonkwo and OL Robert Olson.

THAT'S GONNA HURT: The loss of sophomore linebacker Bright Ugwoegbu to injury for this week's game will be another blow to an already injury-depleted defensive unit. Ugwoegbu has been a different player in 2016. He earned a spot on the first string at outside linebacker in 2015 in what turned out to be a part-time role. He tallied 17 tackles including 2.0 tackles-for-loss and a sack. In 2016, Ugwoegbu was one of the Beavers' biggest playmakers with 54 tackles, including a team-leading 11.0 tackles-for-loss and squad-best 5.5 sacks. In addition, he forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pair of pass breakups. His 11.0 TFLs and 5.5 sacks exceed the team-highs from last year.

BECOMING THE NORM: OSU has accumulated more first downs via the rush than the pass for the second straight season. The Beavers have converted 70 first downs on the ground versus 65 through the air. Prior to 2015 the last time Oregon State had finished a season with more first downs on the ground was 2000.

RUSHING THE BALL: Last month, against California, the Beavers rushed for 474 yards - the most in the Gary Andersen era. It was the fourth-most rushing yards in school history and the most-ever against a conference opponent. The old record was 470 yards at Idaho in 1942 when both teams were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. The record against a current conference opponent in a league game was 428 at UCLA in 1994. OSU entered the game with 557 rushing yards through four games.

READY OR NOT: The OSU rushing attack through eight games has been effective to the tune of 5.5 yards per carry (309 carries for 1,705 yards). That is a record-setting pace for a full season. The current record is 4.9 ypc (474 for 2,336) set in 1960. The Beavers have spread the rushing gains around as well with four different players exceeding 100 yards in a game – Ryan Nall, Victor Bolden Jr., Darell Garretson and Tim Cook.

THE WRECKING NALL: Earlier this season against Cal, sophomore running back Ryan Nall rushed for 221 yards on 14 carries, the 10th-best performance in school history. His former personal-best was 174 yards at Oregon in 2015. With 131 yards against Washington State, Nall has two 100-yard performances this year and four in his career. In addition, he has scored nine touchdowns via the rush in the last nine games in which he's played and 10 total touchdowns in the same span. Nall averages 7.2 yards per carry in 2016 leading the Pac-12 and ranks 10th in the nation.

FIRST ONE, NOW TWO: Entering the game against Washington State two weeks ago, Victor Bolden Jr. was the only OSU player with two rushes of 75 or more yards - 92 vs. Boise State & 75 at Washington) in the same season since Steven Jackson in 2002 (75 vs. Fresno State & 80 vs. UCLA). Now, after gashing the Cougars for an 89-yard touchdown jaunt Ryan Nall has joined the fray. Nall ran 80 yards to paydirt against California as well.

TWO OF THE BEST: Starting wide receivers Victor Bolden Jr. and Jordan Villamin have been spending the season climbing Oregon State's career receiving yards records list. Currently Bolden Jr. moved up to 13th all-time at OSU with 1,798 receiving yards while Villamin is 19th with 1,328 yards. In addition, Bolden Jr. is seventh on OSU's all-time like with 162 career receptions.

MR. DO-IT-ALL: Victor Bolden Jr. has quietly moved up to third on Oregon State all-time career all-purpose yards list. Bolden Jr. has accounted for 4,948 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, punt return, kickoff return and interception return) trailing only OSU greats James Rodgers (2007-11) and Ken Simonton (1998-2001).

QUICK SIX: Senior Victor Bolden Jr. has been all over the field for the Beavers through four games - as a wide receiver, running jet sweeps and reverses, and returning punts and kickoffs. In 2016, Bolden Jr. has punished teams for failing to account for him resulting in big plays for the Beavers. Bolden Jr. is the only player in the NCAA with two plays of 90+ yards - 92-yard jet sweep (second-longest rushing play in OSU history) against Idaho State and a 99-yard kickoff return against Boise State. He now has four plays of 75 yards or more this year with a 75-yard touchdown run (at Washington) and a 75-yard touchdown reception (at Stanford).

AIMING FOR THE CYCLE: Senior do-everything player Victor Bolden Jr. is one of 12 players in the nation to have scored touchdowns rushing, receiving and as a kick returner in 2016. Bolden notched a receiving touchdown in the season-opener at Minnesota, had a 92-yard touchdown run against Idaho State in Week 2, and returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown against Boise State in Week 3. Others that have accomplished the feat are Antonio Callaway (Florida), Keion Davis (Marshall), Carlos Henderson (New Mexico), Darrell Henderson (Memphis), Quadree Henderson (Pittsburgh), Adrian Killins (UCF), T.J. Logan (North Carolina), Tim McVey (Air Force), Joe Mixon (Oklahoma State), Charles Nelson (Oregon), Rashaad Penny (San Diego State), Tony Pollard (Memphis), John Ross (Washington) and Aregeros Turner (Northern Illinois).

VIC IS ON A STREAK: Victor Bolden Jr. is tied for 15th in the nation for receptions in consecutive games played. Bolden Jr. has caught at least one pass in 33 games in a row in which he's played. Only Nate Phillips (UA) with 42, River Cracraft (WSU) with 38, JuJu Smith-Schuster (USC) with 37 and Christian McCaffrey (Stanford) with 34 have longer streaks in the Pac-12. Robert Davis (Georgia State) leads the nation with receptions in 46 straight games.

OWENS TIED FOR SEVENTH: Beaver kicker Garrett Owens has quietly moved up the record charts for field goals at OSU. He enters Saturday with 32 made field goals. Owens is tied with Kieron Walford (1976-79) who converted 32 out of 56 in his career. Owens has made 32 of 45 field goals for a .711 percentage. Ryan Cesca (1999-2002) is next on the list for Owens with 34 career field goals.

TRUE STUDENT-ATHLETES: Eleven Beavers either have or are on track to graduate by January. Juniors Kendall Hill, who was recently granted a sixth year of eligibility, graduated following summer term with a degree in human development and family sciences, and Garrett Owens, received his degree in sociology in the spring. In addition, Gavin Andrews (economics), Devin Chappell (economics), Ian Crist (economics), Rahmel Dockery (sociology), Sean Harlow (human development and family sciences), Caleb Saulo (sociology), Dustin Stanton (business administration), Noke Tago (human development and family sciences) and Sosaia Tauaho (liberal studies) are scheduled to graduate in December.

SENIOR CLASS: The Beavers are once again one of the most inexperienced teams in the country. OSU entered 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.

FRESH FACES: So far in 2016 Oregon State coaches have called on 19 young players to make their OSU debuts. Nine true freshmen have played so far in 2016 including: QB Conor Blount, WR Trevon Bradford, LB Andrzej Hughes-Murray, OL Gus Lavaka, RB Artavis Pierce, LB Joah Robinett, K Adley Rutschman, LB Shemar Smith and LB Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson. In addition, redshirt freshmen DT Elu Aydon, WR Andre Bodden, Ol Blake Brandel, CB Xavier Crawford, S Omar Hicks-Onu, LB Hamilton Hunt, CB Jay Irvine, S Jalen Moore, CB Shawn Wilson and TE Tuli Wily-Matagi have seen playing time for the first time in their careers.

12 MORE FIRST TIMERS: Nine transfers have also been called upon to contribute including: RB Tim Cook, QB Darell Garretson, WR Timmy Hernandez, OL Brayden Kearsley, DE Phillip Napoleon, S Landry Payne, LB Wesley Payne, DT Paisa Savea and CB Kyle White. Juniors OL Sam Curtius and RB Marcus Greaves as well as sophomore OL Yanni Demogerontas have also taken their first college snaps this season bringing the grand total of 2016 first-timers to 31 players making their collegiate debut for the Beavers.

FIRST TIME STARTERS: Fifteen Oregon State players have registered the first starts of their careers. First-time starters include sophomores OL Yanni Demogerontas and LB Adam Soesman, redshirt freshmen DT Elu Aydon, OL Blake Brandel, CB Xavier Crawford, CB Jay Irvine and S Jalen Moore. True freshmen LB Andrzej Hughes-Murray, OL Gus Lavaka, LB Joah Robinett and LB Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson have also made starts in 2016. Junior college transfers RB Tim Cook, WR Timmy Hernandez, DE Phillip Napoleon and DT Paisa Savea have also registered starts in recent weeks. In addition, juniors QB Darell Garretson and OL Brayden Kearsley have also made their first OSU starts. Both players had started at their previous schools, Garretson arrived at OSU with 11 starts under his belt at Utah State and Kearsley had four starts at BYU.

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

SCHEDULE QUIRK: The Beavers have two separate two-game stretches at Reser Stadium - one is complete (Cal and Utah) and the second closes out the season for the Beavers (Arizona and Oregon). The last time OSU played a pair of league two-game home stands in one season was 1991.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME: Over the last 157 games, Oregon State is 52-17 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 12-44 when committing more and 16-17 when even.

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