Sept. 20, 2011
OSU vs. UCLA game notes 
THIS WEEK
Oregon State plays its inaugural Pac-12 Conference game Saturday by hosting UCLA at 12:38 p.m. The game will be televised live via Prime Ticket, Fox College Sports and available on Beaver Nation Online via osubeavers.com (not available in California this week).
"NEW" LEAGUE OPENERS
Oregon State last played its first game in a new league when then head coach Craig Fertig took the Beavers to Tucson to play first-year Pac-10 Conference member Arizona on Sept. 16, 1978, a 21-7 setback. OSU won its first Pac-10 game on Nov. 4, 1978 at Washington State, 32-31. Prior to that Pac-10 opener, the Beavers played their first Athletic Associates of Western Universities (AAWU) game on Oct. 10, 1964, a 9-7 victory vs. Washington in Portland - the AAWU became the Pac-8 Conference in 1968. In the '64 season OSU tied USC with a 3-1 (not every team played 7 conference games that season) mark for the league title and would represent the Pac-8 in the Rose Bowl via a vote of the league's faculty athletic representatives.
GAME 60
UCLA and OSU have played games in Los Angeles, Corvallis, Portland and even Tokyo (1980 Mirage Bowl). Through it all, UCLA has a 40-15-4 lead that dates back to 1930. The Bruins snapped OSU's two-game winning streak with a 17-14 victory in the Rose Bowl last season as Kai Forbath booted a 51-yard field goal on the last play of the game - Forbath missed two kicks previous in the game. Beaver QB Ryan Katz had 164 yards passing, including a touchdown toss to tight end Joe Halahuni.
STREAKS
Oregon State will be trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2002, and its first three-game skid to start the season since 1996. The Beavers did start the 2004 and 2008 seasons 0-2, but rebounded to post a 7-5 season in '04 and win the Insight Bowl over Notre Dame; 9-4 in '08 and defeated Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl.
HALAHUNI RETURNS ... MAYBE RODGERS TOO
Oregon State's depleted roster of starters for 2011 will get a bolster Saturday when senior H-Back Joe Halahuni returns to the lineup following offseason shoulder surgery. Halahuni has 879 career receiving yards on 66 receptions with 10 touchdowns ... Although at press time, head coach Mike Riley was unable to give a final answer to the elusive question of James Rodgers' return, all indications are that the 2009 All-American will return to action against UCLA. Rodgers is third on OSU's all-time receptions list and is fifth in career receiving yards and receiving touchdowns ... In addition, true freshman linebacker D.J. Welch will also be back from an elbow injury and will likely see action on special teams.
COACH TO CURE MD
Mike Riley and his assistant coaches will be among the many coaching staffs across the country who will be participating in Coach to Cure MD, sponsored by Learfield Sports and Beaver Sports Properties locally. The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) for the fourth year is sponsoring the initiative to raise awareness about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Coach to Cure MD patches will be worn by the Beaver coaching staff as well as most of the other FBS staffs across the country. Fans are encouraged to donate online at www.CoachtoCureMD.org or donate $5 by texting CURE to 90999."
ENYART TO BE HONORED
Representatives from the National Football Foundation, including Chief Operating Officer Matthew Sign, will be in attendance this Saturday for the ceremonies involving the NFF's Hall of Fame induction of former Beaver All-America running back Bill "Earthquake" Enyart. Enyart will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame as Oregon State's third member joining 1962 Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker and former Beaver, UCLA and NFL head coach Tommy Prothro, Dec. 6 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Enyart was an integral member of Oregon State's famed 1967 "Giant Killer" team and for his career rushed for 2,155 yards (1966-68) and 25 touchdowns. He still holds the school record for rushing in one game with 299 yards in a 1968 effort vs. Utah. A two-time Academic All-American, Enyart earned a bachelor's degree in economics with honors from Oregon State in 1969. He was chosen with the first pick in the second round of the 1969 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He played three seasons for the Bills and Oakland Raiders. Enyart currently works as a case worker for a Medicaid agency and resides in Bend, Ore. He is a member of the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame and the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
1949 TEAM
Oregon State will recognize its 1949 football team this Saturday. The '49 team went 7-3 overall and 5-3 in the Pacific Coast Conference. Head coach Kip Taylor's team beat No. 8 Michigan State as its signature win of the season and ended the year with four straight victories.
RING PRESENTATION
Members of the 2011 Oregon State gymnastics team will be honored at halftime, receiving their 2011 Pac-10 Championship rings. The Beavers, who dominated the conference championship meet, hitting 24 out of 24 routines scored a season-best 197.200 to secure the program's first conference title since 1996.
EXTREME MAKEOVER
ABC Network's Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition will be at Reser Stadium and the surrounding area for the second time in a year this Saturday, this time for the reveal of a former Beaver football player's weight loss journey. If you're interested in attending this filming please send an RSVP email to: OSUFinale@gmail.com. Include your full name, email address, phone number, and the number of people in your party and we'll forward all of the details for the shoot as they are available. Please dress nice/casual. NO logos (OSU logo is okay), DO NOT WEAR all black, or all white.
MANNION GETS START
At press time, redshirt freshman Sean Mannion is the Beavers' announced starting quarterback. Mannion, who played the entire second half of the season opener vs. Sacramento State and most of the contest at Wisconsin, becomes the first freshman quarterback to start for OSU since Jonathan Smith Oct. 31, 1998 vs. California (L 20-19).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
Oregon State has played 15 first-time starters to this point in the season, including running back Malcolm Agnew in the season opener - he is the first true freshman running back to ever start an opener for the Beavers. The number will rise to 17, most likely on Saturday. First time starters include Agnew, Josh Andrews (OG), Brandin Cooks (WR), Scott Crichton (DE), Michael Doctor (LB), Jordan Jenkins (RB), Colin Kelly (OT), Castro Masaniai (DT), Ryan Murphy (S), Jordon Poyer (CB), Colby Prince (TE), Rashaad Reynolds (CB), Andrew Seumalo (DT), Feti `Unga (LB) and Anthony Watkins (S). Sean Mannion (QB) and Grant Enger (OG) will likely start this week.
BEAVER GREAT, BRUIN ASSISTANT
First-year UCLA defensive line coach Inoke (ee-NO-kay) Breckterfield returns to Corvallis where he was a standout defensive end (1995-98) and was coached by Mike Riley during the 1997 and `98 seasons. In 1998 he was named the Pac-10 Conference's top defensive lineman (Morris Trophy) after a first-team all-conference and third team All-America season. Breckterfield left OSU as the school career record holder for tackles for loss with 55.5 (now second to Bill Swancutt, 59.5) and quarterback sacks with 19.5. Prior to arriving at UCLA he was an assistant coach at Montana and Weber State, and was a graduate assistant at OSU during the 2007 and '08 seasons. He also had a five-year CFL career with Toronto and Winnipeg. Other connections to UCLA include secondary coach Tim Hundley serving as OSU's defensive coordinator under Dave Kragthorpe from 1985-90, offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Mike Johnson was on Riley's first OSU staff (1997-98) and then with Riley with the Chargers. Current Beaver assistant Brent Brennan played at UCLA.
ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE
Never shy Mike Riley about playing a tough schedule has put together another challenging one in 2011, facing currently ranked No. 6 (AP) Wisconsin and a BYU team that is among the top vote recipients outside the top 25 - for non conference foes. In conference the Beavers have No. 3 Oregon, No. 7 Stanford and Utah (ARV). Including Saturday's game at Wisconsin, the Beavers have played six top-25 ranked teams at the time of the contest over the last three seasons in September (12 games).
RPI THIS
Since the 2003 season, when Mike Riley took the controls of the program for the second time, nine of the 11 road non-conference opponents have finished the season in the Associated Press Top 25 (Wisconsin TBD) 2004 - LSU (No. 16); 2005 - Louisville (No. 20); 2006 Boise State (No. 6) and Hawai'i (No. 24); 2007 Cincinnati (No. 20); and in 2008 Utah (No. 2) and Penn State (No. 8); 2010 TCU (No. 2) and Boise State (No. 9). Only Fresno State in 2003 and UNLV in 2009 failed to make the final poll. Thanks to Brooks Hatch formerly of the Corvallis Gazette-Times for this nugget. From the Wall Street Journal - OSU's FBS non-conference foes since Sept. 20, 2003 have a combined record of 196-65 (.751), the highest winning percentage in the nation.
EARLY PLAYING TIME
Oregon State has played a school record nine true freshmen to this point in the season. The freshmen are: Malcolm Agnew (RB), Brandin Cooks (WR), Kyle Egan (LB), Jabral Johnson (LB), Trevor Romaine (K), Terron Ward (RB), Josh Williams (LB), Dylan Wynn (DE) and Tyrequek Zimmerman (S). In addition, several other rookies have dressed for the games and could see action this season. In total, 17 true or redshirt freshmen have played in the first two games. D.J. Welch (elbow) has been cleared to play for the first time this fall and is expected to play, which would bring the total number of true freshmen to play in 2011 to 10.
