Oregon State Football: How much progress will Beavers make in 2019?

BOULDER, CO – OCTOBER 27: Head coach Jonathan Smith of the Oregon State Beavers walks the sideline during a game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field on October 27, 2018 in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

How will the Beavers fare in 2019?

Week 1: Oklahoma State (Aug. 30)
Week 2: at Hawaii (Sept. 7)
Week 3: Cal Poly (Sept. 14)
Week 4: BYE
Week 5: Stanford (Sept. 28)
Week 6: at UCLA (Oct. 5)
Week 7: Utah (Oct 12)
Week 8: at Cal (Oct. 19)
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: at Arizona (Nov. 2)
Week 11: Washington (Nov. 8)
Week 12: Arizona State (Nov. 16)
Week 13: at Washington State (Nov. 23)
Week 14: at Oregon (Nov. 30)

For the sake of sounding terribly cliché, the Beavers’ record won’t be a measure of their wins and losses. Statistical improvement and the good old eye test will measure the on field improvement of the Beavers.

For example, a win for the Beavers will be surrendering fewer than 48 sacks this season.

A win will be the number of opponents they hold under 30 points. They were practically blown out of every game last year except for Nevada — a Group of Five team — and a 5-7 USC squad.

Prediction: 2-10, 0-10 Pac-12

Most important, a huge win will be the Beavers looking like they have a Power 5 level defense. Those are key because they might not see many wins on the field this year. Beaver fans better gear up for lots of moral victories.