Changing Beaver Nation

CORVALLIS — This just doesn’t seem fair.

In my first fall term at Oregon State University — back in 1971 when I was a freshman — the Beaver football team finished 5-6 overall. And it just got worse with the Beavers finishing 2-9 in both the ‘72 and ‘73 seasons and 3-8 in ‘74. In those four seasons, they were 9-18 in Pacific 8 Conference games (this was prior to Arizona and Arizona State joining the league to make it the Pac-10).

Now jump ahead a few years because I don’t want to age myself too badly and in my son Mason’s first fall term as a freshman at OSU, the Beavers are already 7-3 overall and are 6-1 in league. The Beavers’ latest win came Saturday in front of a home Reser Stadium crowd of 45,969 with a 34-21 Pac-10 win over the California Bears.

It was Dad’s Weekend so there were many fathers in the crowd with their student children. Tickets were hard to come by.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only dad who once upon a time as a student took his dad to a Beaver game at what was then Parker Stadium on this annual special weekend. I know tickets were never a problem back then as a Beaver home game was lucky to draw 30,000.

If the Beavers are fortunate enough to win their final two games — at Arizona Saturday and then home against Oregon — they would have eight conference wins in one season. We never dreamed of such a record back in the ‘70s.

There’s been numerous other changes over the years: The grass field that was usually a slick muddy mess by mid-season is now an artificial surface, the wood benches are gone, club suites have been added and the Valley Football Center has been built. Most other major universities made these type of changes well ahead of OSU. Understand they were slow coming to Beaver Nation because the football team itself didn’t turn the corner and become a winning program until 1999, ending an almost 30-year slump.

Another change — there was never any talk of a bowl game back during those years, even as the number of bowl games increased to where half the Pac-10 teams were getting a post-season invite. But on Saturday with still three games remaining on the Beaver schedule, there were representatives from the Holiday, Sun and Emerald bowls in attendance.

What a difference!

As I sat in the press box Saturday afternoon and watched the game as I did in the past during many losing efforts, I visited with retired OSU Sports Information Director Hal Cowan. He admitted in his 20-plus years with the university he began to wonder if he would ever get to enjoy a bowl game.

“Thank goodness for the basketball team,” he said of coach Ralph Miller’s hoop squads that were Pac-10 contenders through those years.

The football drought finally ended in 1999 when the Beavers went to the Oahu Bowl, but they lost 23-17 to the home Hawaii team. They proved, however, their improvement was no fluke as they went 11-1 the next year and dominated Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, 41-9.

“Going to the Fiesta Bowl was the ultimate of my career,” said Cowan. “To me it’s been very rewarding to see the progress of the program since.”

He also complimented the Beavers’ steady, loyal base of season ticket holders through the losing seasons and added they are very deserving of enjoying winning football now. And now many of them are dreaming about the very ultimate — the Beavers playing in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

While the fans and media may be talking about the possibility of OSU winning two more games, at Arizona Saturday and then at home against Oregon Nov. 29, to earn the Rose Bowl berth, Beaver head coach Mike Riley and his coaching staff are working hard to maintain the one game at a time approach.

“If you keep winning games, they all get bigger as you go forward,” he said after the Cal win. “These games are special. We just want to practice hard during the week, be well prepared and then come out and have fun on Saturdays.”

When pressed a bit by media members, he did admit he’s human so it’s hard not to think about the Rose Bowl. But he remained reluctant to say those two words.

“We all know when the season starts out what the goal is,” he said, “but instead we talk about getting better each week. We preach it, we pound it between their (players’) ears.”

This whole scenario is so different than when I was a freshman. These Beavers are fun and exciting to watch.

So that fairness thing? Who cares.