Oregon State Beavers football


The Oregon State Beavers football team represents Oregon State University in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team first fielded an organized football team in 1893 and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. Jonathan Smith has been the head coach since November 29, 2017. Their home games are played at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Oregon.

History

Early history

Football at Oregon State University started in 1893 shortly after athletics were initially authorized at the college. Athletics were banned prior to May 1892, but when the strict school president, Benjamin Arnold, died, President John Bloss reversed the ban. Bloss' son, William, started the first team, on which he served as both coach and quarterback. The team's first game was an easy 64–0 victory on November 11, 1893, over visiting Albany College.

Conference affiliations

The university has been in several athletic conferences. Prior to 1902, and in-between the Pacific Coast Conference and Pac-12 Conference, OSU played as an independent school.
Oregon State has won five conference titles, done through three different conferences, although two of them have links to the current Pac-12 Conference, as the conference claims the history of the PCC as their own, and the Athletic Association of Western Universities was the first name for the conference that later became the Pac-12 Conference.
† Co-championship

Bowl games

Oregon State University has played in 17 postseason bowl games. The Beavers have also played in the Mirage Bowl, but this was a regular season game and a "bowl" in name only, not a post-season invitational bowl game. The 17 bowl game total does not include an invitation to play in the Gotham Bowl in 1960, when no opponent could be found for Oregon State. The Beavers are 11–6 in bowl game appearances.

Home stadium

The Beavers play their home games at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Oregon. It was originally called Parker Stadium when it was constructed in 1953, and had a capacity of 25,000. Parker Stadium was renamed Reser Stadium in June 1999. Major renovations from 2005–2016 increased the stadium's capacity to 43,363, which is the current capacity.

Rivalries

Oregon

Oregon State University's primary rival is the University of Oregon. The two schools enjoy a fierce and long-standing rivalry due to the proximity of the two campuses. The University of Oregon is in Eugene, Oregon, about south of Corvallis. The teams first matched up on the gridiron in 1894 and have been playing each other almost every year since. The rivalry game between the two schools is called the "Civil War" and is traditionally the last game of each season. They have played each other 121 times which makes it the seventh-oldest college football rivalry game.

Notable players and coaches

Individual national award winners

Players
Coaches
†Shared Award

All-Americans

Oregon State has had 42 first team All-Americans in the history of the program as of the end of the 2019–20 season.
† Consensus Selection, ‡ Unanimous Selection

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

The Beavers have had two players and one coach inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Notable former players

Radio flagship: KEX 1190 AM in Portland

Broadcasters: Mike Parker, Jim Wilson, and Ron Callan.

Oregon State also has an extensive network of broadcast affiliates.

Controversy

On June 4, head coach Jonathan Smith announced on Thursday the dismissal of redshirt freshman tight end Rocco Carley. An audio clip surfaced on Wednesday of Carley making racist, bigoted, homophobic, and Islamophobic remarks while speaking in a Southern Accent in light of the recent George Floyd protests happening in the country. Carley said he made the audio clip while in high school and apologized on Twitter. It is unknown if Carley is still attending Oregon State University following this controversial audio.

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of January 17, 2020.