Oregon State football: Major disrespect will fuel the Beavers in 2023

When the news broke a few weeks ago that the Pac-12’s four corner schools were leaving the conference for the Big 12, the move shook the entire college football foundation. Now, weeks later, four schools are left to pick up the pieces of the damage done by Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah and stitch things together.

Stanford, Cal, Washington State, and Oregon State football are now trying to figure out what the future holds for them. It seems pretty uncertain, but the one thing that’s for sure is the current Pac-4 is not sustainable.

Cal and Stanford have options. They flirted with the ACC, but the door appears to be closed if not altogether locked. They could go independent, especially Stanford, one of the best athletic departments in the NCAA. Things aren’t so easy for Cal, whose commitment to athletics hasn’t been on par with the rest of the country. During COVID-19, Cal dropped a few sports and claimed it was due to budget restrictions. While I doubt they would drop football, it wouldn’t shock me if that was at least discussed. A move to the FCS can’t be ruled out either, although also unlikely.

Or, they could join Washington State and Oregon State and say Aloha to the likes of Hawaii, Boise State, and the rest of the Mountain West gang, where it looks like things are headed. But that’s 2024. There’s a lot of football to be played in 2023, and one of those four remaining teams is very dangerous.

Oregon State football is a sneaky threat in 2023

All the talk in the Pac-12 surrounds USC, Washington, Oregon, and Utah. Admittedly, those four deserve all the hype. But how about Oregon State?

If you’re a college football fan with no ties to the Pac-12, Oregon State should be your favorite team in 2023. Let me tell you why.

Off the field, the Beavers have an even bigger chip on their shoulder than usual. Rival and neighbor Oregon up and left the conference (along with Washington) after it seemed like they were going to stay. That move opened the flood gates opened and three more bolted. On the other hand, Oregon State was left in no-man’s land and was never offered an invite anywhere. As a matter of fact, the Pac-12 commissioner outright excluded Oregon State (and Washington State) from conversations with the Big 12.

Talk about a slap in the face.

Oregon State has every right to feel slighted and disrespected.

What better way to stick it to everyone involved than winning the conference in its last year of existence while at the same time showing the Big Ten and Big 12 what a bad investment they made?

On the field, don’t laugh this off. The Beavers are legit this year.

Oregon State won 10 games last season in what was its best year since 2001. The Beavers’ three losses came against three aforementioned teams: USC, Washington, and Utah. The Utes took it to Oregon State 42-16, but those other two losses were decided by six combined points. This year, Oregon State hosts Utah and Washington and misses USC on the schedule together. And don’t forget, the Beavers beat arch-rival Oregon in 2022 following a 22-point comeback.

The Beavers need to improve their passing offense in 2023, and to do so, Oregon State brought in DJ Uiagalelei from Clemson. DJ was highly touted coming into Clemson but hasn’t lived up to what Clemson thought he could be. Now he heads out west where there will be significantly less pressure. If Uiagalelei can perform to the levels he’s shown he can on a consistent basis, it will make Oregon State a dangerous offense considering they have an electric run game and one of the top-10 offensive lines in the country.

Defensively, they were solid most of the year but will be losing a ton off the 2022 defense. The Beavers only return 52 percent of production on that side of the ball after ranking 16th in scoring defense and 15th in rush defense. Six starters are gone, including Omar Speights who transferred to LSU. There’s some depth and good players remaining on the defense, as well as some quality transfers led by former Illinois linebacker Calvin Hart, who started ten games for the Illini in 2022. Hart could be the breakout star across the entire team.

Oregon State will have some time to figure things out. They start on the road in a potential future conference game against San Jose State, a team with one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the nation that will be sure to test the Beaver defense early. They then return home to UC Davis and San Diego State. They host Utah on Sept. 29, and if Oregon State can come away with a victory in that game, there’s a chance we’re looking at an undefeated showdown when the Washington Huskies go to Corvallis.

It sounds crazy now, but so did saying last year that Oregon State was a dark horse in the conference. The main difference today versus a year ago is then they were a dark horse, but now they’re legitimate contenders.