Gameday (and Gamenight) To End An Era
It's Gameday, soon to be followed by Gamenight (again; but hold out hope, next week the game in Salt Lake City will be at high noon in Rice-Eccles), and its the end of an era.
It's probably the last time USC and Oregon State will play, much less play in Corvallis, with the Trojans not on the Beavers' schedule next year, and leaving for the B1G 14/10ths in 2024.
Though the rivalry goes back over a century, to the only time Oregon State ever won consecutive games against USC, in the first 3 meetings ever, the modern era of the rivalry goes back 55 years, to 1967. I was there for the first time USC ever came to Corvallis, and I'll be there the last time, tonight. It's as emotional for Beaver fans as any rivalry they have, which says a lot given there have been more games against nearer neighbor Ducks and Huskies. Mostly because a number of the most notable wins in OSU program history have been the rare wins, all in Parker/Reser in this modern era until last year's first Beaver win in the coliseum.
But the reality is most of the lopsided rivalry has been one of misery for Oregon State. And chasing USC players to the end zone; see the lead photo from the Trojans' last visit 4 years ago.
Mostly because much of the time, USC has been one of the best teams in the country, much less the conference, at the same time OSU was often one of the worst teams in the county, much less the conference. But there have been exceptions, where the difference dimished, and Oregon State sprung some upsets that turned those games into nightmares for the Trojans. So much so they have referred to Parker/Reser (and hopefully being rebuilt Reser will be too) as a house of horrors. Or even flipped the narrative; Oregon State got USC in Corvallis in the magical 2000 year, and that was a sub-.500 Trojan team.
A couple of those horrors were named Rodgers, players so small they were easy to overlook until it was too late. But then a couple of those horrors were named Lewis and Van Orsow, and its impossible to imagine anyone ever overlooking either of them.
But until last year, the Beavers hadn't beaten the Trojans for 11 years, not since the remarkable win in 2010 (more on that shortly).
Part of that is for the most part, the trips to the Benton county "House of Horrors" have been few and far between. Tonight is just the 3rd trip to Corvallis for the Trojans since that night in 2010. In the last decade, its a product of the congerence's unbalanced schedule, and guaranteeing annual games against both the LA schools to the Bay Area schools.
Also, there was a time in the 70s when USC insisted OSU play 3 games in LA between Trojan trips to Corvallis. And the Beavers and the conference went along with it.
But whether someone mostly respects the Trojans, or hates them, the reality here and elsewhere in the conference is the USC game is another animal. Everyone knows that USC is the winningest program in the history of the conference, and will renain so for quite a while after they leave it. And even when a given Trojan team isn't one of the better ones, everyone nationwide still knows the Trojans, and the tune to Fight ON!, and pays attention.
And even though both ESPN and FOX would rather save their limited USC games for later in the season, when both regionally and nationally more football fans will choose to take in the USC game, later tonight and first thing in the morning, lots of people will be checking their phone for a scoreboard update on this one. The monstrous amount of money bet on this game confirms that.
Of the several but not numerous notable Oregon State wins over USC, different Beavers have different favorites, for various reasons. For many, it was the Jacquizz Rodgers breakout game on a Thursday night, because no one saw him, or that coming. Oregon State had already blown the season opener at Stanford, a debacle that started a losing streak in Palo Alto that remains to be broken, and then been blown out at Penn State, in another of Athletic Director at the time Bob DeCarolis' Beavers in a body bag for pay games. A blowout win over Hawaii was a good bounce back, but didn't inspire anyone to think the Beavers were going to beat the 2 time defending conference and Rose Bowl Champions (who it turns out was headed for a 12-1 season), those on the heels of what would have been 3 consecutive National Championships had it not been from another Texas freak.
And being the logistics nightmare weeknight games on campus are, more people were trying to get out of Corvallis than into it that evening. Myself included. Not because I didn't want to be there; it was the first game my daughter was going to perform with the OSUMB. But a newspaper sports editor, anticipating it was going to be a blowout, assigned me to cover a local highschool volleyball rivalry game instead. I saw the end of the game on a tv at a fire department meeting I was late for after filing the volleyball report, and couldn't believe what I saw. Or how it came to be that way, given the Beavers had opened an early lead, and essentially held on.
I went home and watched the recorded game (still have that VCR tape in the cabinet), trying to pretend I didn't know the outcome, so that I could try to get the game experience. I also never missed another of the games my daughter performed at in the following 5 years, and haven't missed an Oregon State game anywhere in the state (or the northwest, except for the Icy Road Bowl the next year in Pullman) since then. And I still regret missing that piece of history.
But because of that debacle at Stanford, and a 3 point loss the following week in Salt Lake City, to a Ute team that gave fair warning to the conference they were coming with an unbeaten season, the loss to Oregon in the game that would have qualified the Beavers for the Rose Bowl (when a win over Stanford would have meant the win over USC would have meant Oregon State would have already been qualified for the Rose Bowl before the Ducks even came to town) meant the Sun Bowl season was still a disappointing one in some ways.
It reminded me that even the high points in the series against the Trojans were sometimes a mixed bag. For that reason, my most memorable win over USC is (so far) the win 2 years later. Prior to that, it had been that 3-0 win in 1967, the first time I had ever seen USC in person (never saw them play in Portland, where they insisted games "at" Oregon State be played until '67), and because the game saving play of the game was Jess Lewis' tackle of a breaking awayb OJ Simpson, already generally acknowledged to be the best RB in the country. Jess was a recent graduate of the the neighborhood high school I would soon be attending, and therefore already a local legend.
The 2010 game was known as the "War of 1812 Game", because of the theme of the marching band's halftime performance, which included artillery effects. It turned out USC had as much chance as the BRits did in that war. Jordan Poyer had a pick 6 or Oregon State's first touchdown, Ryan Katz threw a pair of TD passes, and Jacquizz ran for another score, and the Beavers got their most lopsided win over the Trojans, a 36-7 blowout.
It was another completely unexpected event, as Oregon State, after DeCarolis had bitten off more than the Beavers could chew with road games against TCU & Boise State, who went a combined 25-1 that year, were in the midst of one of many late season meltdowns that marred Mike Riley's career. Except for the #Pac12LongAfterDark destruction before that became a thing of USC, Oregon State didn't play well at any other time after Halloween, and didn't win any other game down the stretch. A week later, the Beavers were a complete no-show at Stanford, in a 38-0 loss, and would wind up 5-7, and wind up wishing for another Las Vegas Bowl. Despite the loss in Reser, USC still put together an 8-5 season.
But the most vivid memory of that night that didn't involve ordnance was the image of James Rodgers, already out for the season after the career altering knee injury in the landmark win ar unbeaten at the time Arizona, and USC quarterback Matt Barkley, who suffered an ankle injury that had knocked him out of the OSU game earlier in the evening. The 2 stars were both on crutches, near the ramp in the north west corner of the stadium, having a cordial conversation, and comparing notes on orthopedic specialists.
At the same time Beavers everywhere were celebrating one of those great and unexpected wins over USC, the mixed bag of emotions that came with the game and season were right there.
Tonight, I'll be doing my journalistic best to cover the contest objectively, which also hoping as much as ever for one more signature win for the ages for the Beavers over the Trojans. And as much as I'm looking forward to the first in Reser show of the season for the oldest band in the Pac-whatever, I'll also listen and appreciate hearing Fight On 50 final times in Reser.
At least at the beginning, with the unbeaten Beavers having won twice as many games away from Reser in 8 days than they had in the prior 2 years, and the Trojans ranked and also unbeaten, the energy in Reser will be incredible and unbelievable, even with only 2/3 of a stadium. Hopefully, it will stay at that pitch until the band plays "Carry Me Back To OSU" to wrap up the evening some time after 10 o'clock.
It's all a part of what makes every Game Day/Night special, and being the end of an era I saw the beginning of, it will be even more special. And doubtless bring back a multitude of other memories. I can hardly wait.
Go Beaves!
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
(Photo by Andy Wooldridge)