If there’s one thing we can all expect to be true, it’s that Oregon State football is going to have an exciting season this year.
Last year, the Beavers record was 7-6 after their bowl game. While we could have done better, it was still a great season. This year we have lost wide receiver Brandin Cooks to the New Orleans Saints, but we also have gained many promising new recruits, such as sophomore kicker Garrett Owens. This season the team is focusing on improving their game, and we got our first look at the Beavers football team during the 2014 preseason.
Football season started on August 30th for the Beavers when they played the home opener against Portland State. While the end result was a 29-14 win for us, the Beavers had a tough start; they were trailing 14-13 at the end of the first half. After half time, however, the Beavers came back strong, forcing five turnovers and one interception. The game definitely showed that the team needed more practice, even if they did come back strong after halftime.
The next preseason game for the Beavers was against Hawaii at Aloha stadium on September 6th. We definitely had a strong start to this game – Oregon State entered the fourth quarter leading 38-7. It was in the fourth quarter that Hawaii gained 23 unanswered points, before the game ended with a 38-30 Beaver win. Even still, the Beavers held onto the lead the entire game. It would have been better if the Beavers were able to finish as strong as they started, but a win is still a win. Quarter Back Sean Mannion threw for a total of 300 yards during the game, which moved him into 4th place on the Pac-12 Career Passing Yardage List. This game showed some improvement from the previous game against Portland State, as the Beavers had a stronger defense up until the 4th quarter.
The final game of Oregon State’s preseason was against San Diego State on September 20th. They had a bye week before the game, allowing them to recover from the previous games and to grow stronger as a team. During the game, the Aztecs scored the first touchdown on their opening drive. After that, however, the Beavers took control and finished the game by winning 28-7.
The Beavers record was 3-0 coming out of the preseason, and things were looking optimistic as they were about to start their Pac-12 conference games.
Despite the Beavers’ decent effort in the first half of their first conference game of the season, the Beavers fell short to the #18 USC Trojans 35-10 after a game-making “Hail Mary” touchdown from the Trojans. Although there was possibility of an upset, it didn’t seem too likely since the last time the Beavers defeated USC in Los Angeles was back in 1960. The Beavers will continue the season at 3-1 moving forward to next week, where they will once again play away at Colorado University.