Bowl Gameday
For the second year in a row, Oregon State gets a 13th game day. Which means a bowl game. It's a pre-Christmas one, which means an expensive, hard to fit into the schedule one, and it gets (in the minds of some) relegated to those bowls no one thinks of that are mostly relegated to the MAC, Sun Belt, and Conference USA.
And a morning game, the antithisis of most of the season for Oregon State.
But it is a bowl game! And never fear, being a team from the west, Beaver fans are not alone. People we know from Pullman and Fresno and Boise are all playing today too, which means lots of watching recorded fooball.
Most importantly, its a chance for a very rare (for OSU) 10 win season. This would be only the 3rd ever, and all have come this century.
Not coincidentally, Coach Jonathan Smith will be centrally involved in 2 of them, should it come to pass this afternoon, having QBed the winningest season ever, which ended in a Fiesta Bowl win 22 (already!) ago.
It's a notable landmark, and would help wash away the miscalculation in Seattle that would have meant a post-Christmas date in San Diego or San Antonio instead. A win over any SEC team, even if its one that winds up with a losing season, as Florida will be should thngs go better for the Beavers than they did last year down I-15 in LA, is also a notable, and rare for Pac-12 teams, accomplishment. It's nearly impossible to get an SEC team out of the southeast, where they always have a HUGE home field advantage (see the Gators upset of Pac-12 Champion Utah back on opening weekend).
But the Beavers have finagled it. And wouldn't it be great to beat a 2nd team that beat the conference champions? That doesn't happen often for any Pac-12 team, or anyone from any conference!
Great day to see a couple of all-time favorites, Jack Colletto and Jaydon Grant, strap on the black one last time.
So there is ALL KINDS od reason to get excited about Gameday! (Not that there isn't every Gameay!)
Go Beaves!
Cue the Fight Song!
andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com