Veterans Gameday
It’s Game Day at Reser again. Finally. After a 3 weekend hiatus, the Beavers return to Reser, for the penultimate Pac-12 Game Day at home.
Any Veterans Day game that’s actually on Veterans Day evokes memories of the greatest of all Oregon State Veterans Day games, the 1967 win over USC, which was a game day that changed the course of football on the west coast, not just Corvallis.
But the memory of that game, which marked the first time the Beavers and Corvallis were deemed worthy of a visit from the Trojans, also adds energy to the game on the same day.
Not that ending a month’s absence, and a day game, in a game that is necessary to set up an even bigger Game Day, and a possible visit from Game Day, to make a run at the final Pac-12 Conference Championship game, needs any added energy.
A win would give the Beavers a 3 game winning streak over Stanford to probably conclude the series, something that hasn’t happened since the 2004 win extended that run to 4 games in a row. That’s how long ago, and how rare, any sustained success against the Cardinal has been for Oregon State.
The Beavers are around a 3 touchdown favorite, but the Cardinal have a 1 game road winning streak coming in, the same dimension as the Beavers current run.
And that there even is a winning streak against relatively recently lowly Stanford only exists because Tre’Shaun Harrison and Anthony Gould made consecutive catches in the last minute last year on the Farm to setup Harrison’s miracle catch over the head of a Cardinal defender and subsequent sprint to the end zone for the 28-27 win with only 13 seconds left in a game the Beavers had not controlled at any time.
The shadowy memory of that miracle in dimly lit Stanford stadium that was as #Pac12LooooongAfterDark as any loony lucky win by anyone in the last decade should be plenty to produce plenty of a sense of urgency today. After all, it will be after dark in the Pac-12 footprint when this one ends.
It’s also the next to last home game for well over a dozen Beaver players in their last year of eligibility, and who knows how many other players, or coaches, given the uncertain future schedule and recruiting the team is facing. Time grows short for much of what we know of as Beaver game days.
It’s going to be a chilly day, and maybe a damp one. But it’s November, and a game that, given all that’s gone on this year, will be remembered. One way or another. In November, they always are.
Go Beavs!