Admit it: When Arizona came into Corvallis and beat Oregon State 37-32 on Sept. 26, you wrote off the Beavers’ chances o.jpeg)
f a decent season, didn’t you?
Good teams don’t lose at home, except to great opponents. So while OSU still had a realistic shot at a low-rung bowl game after losing to the Wildcats, the big prizes – a Rose Bowl, a BCS at-large berth, a Holiday Bowl – seemed gone.
The Beavers do this to us every year, don’t they? Show us they’re vulnerable in September, then turn into a dream-wrecking nightmare for the Pac-10’s upper crust in October and November.
Here we go again, part deux cubed.
If not for a fourth-quarter meltdown against UCLA, Oregon State would have won four of its past five games by double digits. That’s the sort of dominance you expect from a Pac-10 champion.
Oregon State runs one of the Pac-10’s two most classically balanced offenses, along with Stanford. Gang up and stop the run, as California tried last Saturday, and Sean Canfield beats you senseless with a 29-of-39, 342-yard passing performance. Limiting Canfield means a steady diet of the Rodgers brothers on the ground.
As per OSU custom, the team people watched in September isn’t close to the version currently making a run for the Rose Bowl. Joe Halahuni was a whoozat during preseason camp. During the past three games, he’s a tight end every bit as prolific as the Pac-10 gold standard, Oregon’s Ed Dickson. Cameron Collins, Lance Mitchell and David Pa’aluhi were all special teams players in 2008. Now, they’re sophomores who are among OSU’s top five in tackles.
The best thing Oregon State has going is most of the heavy lifting is over. The Beavers (6-3, 4-2) have already played most of the Pac-10 title contenders. With Washington and Washington State up the next two Saturdays, OSU is a cinch to get to 6-2 with 12 days to prepare for the Civil War.
I’m not certain Oregon State can beat Oregon in Eugene, but I’m positive the Beavers will put on a much better showing than they did a year ago in Corvallis. That 65-38 whipping has been forefront of the minds of the coaches and players for a year. They know that score like their Social Security number. It was motivation any time the bar bell looked a little heavy on a Monday morning, or the stadium steps seemed too steep.
Just about everyone during the past 10 days, including myself, has written Oregon’s name in the Pac-10 portion of the Rose Bowl bracket. It wouldn’t be that far-fetched if we have to add “State” to that in four weeks.
Nick Daschel covers the Pac-10 for Buster Sports, and can be reached at ndaschel@bustersports.com
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