Beavs Set for Season Opener at Minnesota

Thursday, September 1

Minneapolis, Minn.

6:00 PM

Oregon State

Minnesota

Photo by: Karl Maasdam/Oregon State Athletics

August 29, 2016 | Football

Game Notes vs. Minnesota

By: Oregon State Athletic Communications

FINDING BIG TEN NETWORK
A channel finder for Big Ten Network can be found here. Fans interested in viewing the game on BTN can click on the link above and submit their zip code and cable provider to find how to access BTN.

In the Corvallis area, BTN can be found here:
Comcast - 403 - 726
DIRECTV - 610
DISH - 410 - 410

THE SERIES/GAME FACTS
•   Fourth meeting between the two programs.
•   The Beavers trail in the series 1-2 with their lone win coming in a 17-14 victory in 1978 in Minneapolis. All three games have been in Minneapolis.
•   OSU last played in 1981 in Minneapolis, a 42-12 victory for the Golden Gophers.
•   The Gophers are slated to trek to the Pacific time zone to play in Corvallis for the first time in next season's second week, Sept. 9.
•   Gary Andersen was the head coach at Wisconsin for the 2013 and '14 season. He went 2-0 against Minnesota Gophers with a 20-7 win in Minneapolis in 2013 and a 34-24 win over the 22nd-ranked Gophers in 2014.
•   Current sophomore offensive lineman Robert Olson is the Beavers' lone resident of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Olson hails from Eden Prairie.
•   OSU currently has Big Ten Conference foes on the schedule the next two seasons – 2017 vs. Minnesota, and 2018 at Ohio State.

GARY ANDERSEN ERA: Head coach Gary Andersen will lead the Beavers onto the field to begin his second season at the helm of the program on Thursday seeking his second straight opening week victory. Andersen and company defeated Weber State on opening night in 2015 26-7.

PLUS .500 NON-CONFERENCE SEASONS: Oregon State will pursue 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's non-conference slate sets up as at Minnesota (Sept. 1), Idaho State (Sept. 17) and Boise State (Sept. 24).

NEW HOME FOR THE BEAVS: The first phase of the Victory Through Valley Project was completed last week 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 and auditorium. For more on the $42 million project go to www.ourbeavernation.com.

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.

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.

YOUNG GUYS IN LINE FOR REPS: Oregon State's two-deep entering the season includes ... players who have yet to take a snap for the Beavers including: DT Elu Aydon, WR Trevon Bradford, OL Blake Brandel, RB Tim Cook, CB Xavier Crawford, OL Sam Curtius, QB Darell Garretson, WR Timmy Hernandez, CB Jay Irvine, OL Gus Lavaka, DE Phillip Napoleon, S Landry Payne, LB Wesley Payne, RB Artavis Pierce, P Daniel Rodriguez, DT Paisa Savea, LB Shemar Smith, CB Shawn Wilson, and TE Tuli Wily-Matagi.

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. Bolden Jr. enters the season ranked 18th in OSU history with 1,321 yards while Villamin is 22nd with 1,238 yards.

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.

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 with collegiate letterwinners (including Brayden Kearsley who lettered twice at BYU) in the trenches. But that group has combined to play zero snaps at center. Sophomore center Yanni Demogerontas is in line to make his Oregon State 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 has 10 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 be unavailable this week.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME: Over the last 149 games, Oregon State is 51-15 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 11-40 when committing more and 16-16 when even.

BEAVS AT 111: Oregon owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 155, followed by USC (150/126 with vacated wins), OSU (111), Stanford (111), Arizona State (110), UCLA (110), Cal (99), Arizona (94), Washington (94), WSU (84). Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 133 victories this century and Colorado has 76. 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).

THAT WAS WEIRD: OSU accumulated more first downs rushing than passing in 2015, which to some extent is to be expected with the new offensive scheme. The Beavers had 100 first downs via the rush compared to 89 via the pass. In 2014, for the season OSU had 78 rushing first downs compared to 138 via the air. Previous to last year, the last time Oregon State had 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.

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.

RULES CHANGES FOR 2016: The NCAA has made several rules changes for the 2016 season, here are some:
* Game Clock in the Last Two Minutes of a Half: If the game clock is stopped only to administer the penalty for a foul by the team ahead in the score inside the last two minutes of a half, the game clock will start on the snap, at the option of the offended team. — This provides consistent application of the authority of the referee in circumstances where the game clock is most critical. The exception verifies that the ten-second runoff rule takes precedence.
* Low Hits on the Passer: It is not a foul if the defender grabs or wraps this opponent in an attempt to make a
conventional tackle without making forcible contact with the head or shoulder.
   Clarifies the rule when a player makes a conventional tackle.
* Instant Replay: Broadened Authority for Review of Targeting Fouls: The replay official shall review all targeting fouls. The review includes all aspects of the targeting foul to ascertain whether there is at least one indicator of targeting action and:
   1. Whether the crown of the helmet is used to make forcible contact; OR
   2. Whether there is forcible contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent.
b. The replay official may create a targeting foul only in egregious instances in which a foul is not called by the officials on the field.
    Such a review may not be initiated by a
coach's challenge.
   Gives the instant replay official expanded flexibility to review all aspects of a targeting ruling. Also calls upon the instant replay official to make a ruling of targeting when an egregious targeting action goes undetected by the on-field officials.