While days are bright for the Oregon Ducks, the team that’s about an hour north, in Corvallis, has been stuck in a rut of mediocrity. The annual game, formerly called the Civil War, will be played Friday between two programs in vastly different conditions.
The Oregon State Beavers haven’t had a winning season since 2013, and they went 3-21 between 2017 and 2018. They showed some improvement last year, though, as they went 5-7, ending the year in a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 North.
But whatever sliver of momentum they built up in 2019 came to a screeching halt in 2020 when the Beavers lost their first two games.
“You work all week, you put in countless hours studying an opponent and working in practice, working after practice,” redshirt junior quarterback Tristan Gebbia said. “To come up short is really difficult.”
Gebbia, now a redshirt junior, beat out junior college transfer Chance Nolan, freshman Ben Gulbranson and redshirt junior Nick Moore for the starting quarterback job this season. Prior, he had just one career start, completing 26 of 40 passes against Oregon in 2019.
Gebbia threw for 329 yards in Oregon State’s season opener against Washington State, but only 85 yards in their second game against Washington.
“Just getting back to the drawing board,” Gebbia said. “Getting back to work and not letting one bad performance turn into two. Focusing on the little things and studying film. I think the process I have is right. Just got to keep working and trust my teammates. And hopefully they have trust in me.”
To Gebbia’s credit, he improved in the Beavers’ third game of the season against Cal, where he threw for 147 yards to help Oregon State end their four-game losing streak with a 31-27 victory. He was also sacked only once compared to six times in the first two games.
Still, with a completion percentage just under 62% on the season, Gebbia’s passing game has left something to be desired.
“We’ve got to find a way to be more productive in the passing game,” Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith said. “A lot of things contributed to that… contested balls, guys weren’t wide open that often. When we did have a couple opportunities, we missed them.”
Running back Jermar Jefferson has been the true star of the Beavers’ offense thus far, rushing for 449 yards, the most of anyone in the Pac-12 by more than 100. No one else on the team has run for more than 49. As an offensive unit, they have the third-fewest yards per game in the Pac-12, ahead of only Utah (who have only played one game) and Cal.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Beavers have performed much more respectably, with the fifth-fewest points allowed per game in the Pac-12. Linebacker Avery Roberts leads the way with 32 tackles, while linebacker Omar Speights, defensive lineman Isaac Hodgins and defensive back Akili Arnold have been among the other major defensive contributors. Star linebacker Hamilcar Rashed Jr. also has nine tackles so far.
“It’s usually a mutual effort defensively,” Smith said. “There’s 11 guys out there having to do their job, and we rotate a bunch at D-line, outside linebacker, we rotated a little bit in the secondary.”
Smith was hired when they were really struggling in 2017. Under his leadership, the Beavers will look to make the most out of what they have and build their way back to being a competitive program. While the Ducks are certainly favored in Friday’s game, they shouldn’t discount what this Beavers team can still do, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
“These guys are resilient, and they understand it’s tough to win,” Smith said. “This league is tough.”
