Much like Arizona, UCLA, and Arizona State the Oregon State Beavers are also in their second year of a coaching change that started off in the most dramatic way with the mid-season firing of Head Coach Gary Anderson after a horrible 1-5 start in 2017. Assistant Head Coach Cory Hall took over as Interim and for a little while it seemed as though the change was immediately for the better as Oregon State, in their next two games, almost upset Colorado 33-36 and lost to Stanford by only a single point, 14-15. But futility reigned supreme and they finished out the season 0-6 giving the Beavers an overall record for the year of 1-11 and a conference record of 0-9.
Enter Jonathan Smith in 2018, a former Beaver QB (1998-2001) who threw for 9,500+ yard and 55 TD’s, stayed in Corvallis a year as a graduate assistant, and was then hired by Idaho as a QB coach from 2004 to 2009. Following that he worked at Idaho for a couple of year’s as their Offensive Coordinator and was then hired by Chris Petersen at Boise State. He followed Petersen to Washington and was the Huskies Offensive Coordinator for the prior four seasons which included 2016 when they made a run on the national title, ranked 15th in total offense, and ended the season ranked 4th in the Final AP Poll. Needless to say, Smith was a great hire for Oregon State and should, if given the time, be able to bring that program back to respectability in a really tough division.
Over the prior two years prior to Smith’s arrival Oregon State ranked 11th out of 12th in recruiting in the PAC-12. In 2018 and this year they ranked dead last. Going back to that Jon Joseph article entitled, “The PAC-12 Can’t Recruit . . . Here’s the Fix,” he poses the question: “Why is the [PAC-12] lagging behind the rest of the country so much in recruiting?” He also provides the following answer: “In short, the game has changed. Prior to the BCS and the CFP, and before Oklahoma won its anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA, college football was a regional sport. Yes, Left Coast denizens watched Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas and Oklahoma on occasion, but the focus in the West was on the Run for the Roses. Outside New Year’s Day in Pasadena, no one gave a lick about which conference was better than the other. Today, college football has such a national reach that recruits aren’t factoring in local pride or proximity to home like they used to. Their primary goal is to make the College Football Playoff and find a program that will get them to the NFL in three seasons. Thus, the Left Coast, with a dysfunctional network, late start times (even when broadcast by its FOX and ESPN media partners) and no team being nationally relevant in LA, is leaking recruiting oil.” With that in mind one has to wonder if even a really great coach can turn around a program like Oregon State.
In 2017, the year Gary Anderson was fired, the Beavers ended the season with an overall record of 1-11 and a conference record of 0-9. Last year in Jonathan Smith’s first season they faired only slightly better, 2-10 overall and 1-8 in the conference. Bill Connelly in his SBNation review of Oregon for 2019 comments that, “Oregon State remains a work in progress. That’s the nicest way I can put it.” And he along with most other folks are sure that Smith is still a couple of years away from digging out. In Connelly’s analysis the Beavers ranked as the No 1 Worst Power Conference Defense in 2018. The best thing that happened for Oregon State last year is that they ended a 22 road game loosing streak. Ironically that win came at Colorado which helped lead to dismissal of their head coach about two weeks later. I guess loosing to arguably the worst team in the conference was the last straw.
On the offense Oregon State’s QB Jack Luton returns a little lighter and faster than last year. Luton is primarily a pocket passer, with little mobility, who is fairly accurate with a strong arm. Last year he completed 140 passes against 224 attempts for 1,660 yards and 10 TD’s against 4 interceptions. The fact that he was sacked 16 times tells you that he could be a lot more productive as well as experiencing fewer injuries that take him off the field if only the offensive line could step up. According to Nick Daschle at the Oregonian/OregonLive; “The Beavers have at least four legitimate Pac-12 receivers in Hodgins, Bradford, Irish and Lindsey,” with 6’ 4” Hodgins who pulled in close to 900 yards last year their tallest target at 6’ 4 [and] if Oregon State can protect the quarterback, the Beavers’ passing game should be among the top half of the PAC-12 in 2019. In what could be the most productive part of Oregon State’s Offense, the Beavers bring back a wealth of talent at Running Back, including B. J. Baylor, Artavis Pierce, and Jermar Jefferson who rushed for just shy of 1,400 yards his freshman year.
On Defense Oregon State has a lot of folks returning to a squad that Bill Connelly at SBNation called, “a master work in awfulness.” It’s interesting as I looked at the starters and thought about the players Chip Kelly has been recruiting on the defensive side for UCLA. In comparison the Oregon State Beavers are about 20 to 30 pounds lighter on average which could be a reason why according to Nick Daschle; “Last year, this group went straight backward, as opposing offensive lines manhandled OSU’s defensive front almost weekly.” Apparently the size difference hasn’t gone unnoticed as Smith picked up two 315+ DT’s as well as a 6’ 4” 300 lb OG in addition to a 6’ 4” 330 lb OC in this year’s recruiting class. A couple more years of that should help stiffen both lines up.
Oregon State starts off at home in Corvallis on Friday, August 30th, against Oklahoma State before traveling to Honolulu to take on Hawaii. They’ll return home to take on Cal Poly on Saturday, September 14th, and begin conference play on Saturday, September 28th, against Stanford. If they’re going to get some wins they need to grab them early as they’ll end the season against Washington and Arizona State at home, and then on the road against Washington State and Oregon-yikes!