Some mildly interesting facts about Oregon State's 2024 football opponents. (2024)

Welcome to my (Travis Johannes) first article here. Some Beavs fans may remember me from my time at Building The Dam. For those who may not be familiar, you should expect to leave my articles having learned very little, but hopefully had some fun along the way.

Without further ado, here are some mildly interesting tidbits about each of Oregon State's opponents for the 2024 football season.

Series Record: Beavers lead 2-0

• Cody Hawkins has had an odd journey to becoming the Bengals' head coach. Following a year at Ohio State, Hawkins had a short stint at Westview High School in Beaverton, Oregon. Cody Hawkins is of course the son of the somewhat-infamous Dan Hawkins, current UC Davis head coach and former Colorado head coach.
• When I first started this article I was going to note that they played in the Kibbie Dome and the Kibbie Dome is weird. Turns out I got my Idaho schools mixed up and the Bengals play in an even weirder dome.

RELATED: Oregon State Football: New Post-Spring Jersey Numbers and Number Changes For 2024

September 7 - @ San Diego State

Series Record: Beavers lead 4-2

• San Diego is of course German for... actually this joke is played out, I'm not getting canned after my first article.

• There was a point in time where San Diego State was slated to join the Big East conference. San Diego is not in the East. Turns out they were the canary in the coal mine of conference realignment stupidity.

Series Record: Ducks lead 68-49-10

• Fun facts about this series could, and have, filled books. For now, let's note that there was a sort of unofficial trade (a coincidence, really) via the transfer portal. Kicker Atticus Sappington transferred from the Beavs to the Ducks and defensive lineman Tevita Pome'e went from Eugene to Corvallis.

September 21 - vs. Purdue

Series Record: Tied 1-1

• Several years ago when Oregon State hired Tim Tibesar as Defensive Coordinator, a Purdue SB Nation site sent their condolences. Little did we know the pain we had in store. The Beavs had more than two wins in a year on just two occasions during those five seasons But, if he hadn’t been so terrible, we don’t end up with Trent Bray, who has a sense of hope about the program at a very weird time.

Series Record: Rams lead 2-1

• Colorado State helped put the nail in the coffin of the Gary Andersen era at Oregon State. The 2017 season opened with a 58-27 loss in Fort Collins. Anderson would last five more games (four losses and a weirdly depressing win over Portland State) before leaving a stupid amount of money on the table to leave. What a wild time to be alive.

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October 12 - @ Nevada

Series Record: Beavers lead 3-1

• They will be rolling with first year head coach Jeff Choate, who helped guide the Texas Longhorns defense last year. Jeff is somewhat familiar with the Pac-2 as he has made a previous stop at Washington State in 2012 under Mike Leach.

• They are located in Reno, which is the Kirkland version of Las Vegas. I contend it would be a great place for an annual bowl game between the two worst teams in college football.

Series Record: Rebels lead 3-2

• UNLV head coach Barry Odom was on the 2006 Missouri coaching staff. Why is that noteworthy, you ask? The 2006 Missouri football team went to the Sun Bowl, where they would face the Oregon State Beavers. Missouri would go on to lose in heartbreaking fashion when Yvenson Bernard scored a last second two-point conversion behind the block of fullback Andy Stewart. On the sidelines for that game was a student athletic trainer who would go on to write this mildly interesting fact.

• Did you know that Oregon and Nevada share a border? Because I forget that all the time.

October 26 @ California

Series Record: Bears lead 39-37

• California now plays in the ACC, arguably the worst example of how conference realignment has thrown geography to the wolves.
• Justin Wilcox enters his eighth season with the Golden Bears with a 36-43 overall record.

RELATED: Can Oregon State Football Win 8 Games in 2024? FanDuel Says...

Series Record: Beavers lead 5-2

• If this game was a year ago, I could write about all the connections between Oregon State and the San José State staff. Then Nick Saban retired, and the butterfly effect ended up sending much of the that staff to Arizona, who now plays in the Big-12. Thanks a lot, Nick.

• Ken Niumatalolo did retain a few former Beaver coaches in Derrick Odum, Greg Burns and Kevin McGiven.

November 16th - @ Air Force

Series Record: First Ever Meeting

• According to Winsipedia.com this will be Oregon State's first ever game against a military academy. Can't wait for the games against Space Force, too!
• Air Force doesn't regularly host teams from the former Power Five conferences either. If you include Notre Dame, this is only the third time they have done so since 2004.
  

Series Record: Cougars lead 57-48

• Like Oregon State, Washington State will play eight opponents from the Mountain West Conference this season.

• On a personal note, Washington State is rad. They are that sibling you love and root for until you play against them. They are our Pac-2 brethren and together we will rebuild! Go Cougs.

November 30th - @ Boise State

Series Record: Beavers lead 6-4

• Is there a law on the books in Idaho that bars teams from having normal football fields?

• The Broncos enter their first full season under Spencer Danielson in 2024. Danielson was promoted to interim head coach after Andy Avalos was fired late in the season. Somehow, he still managed to win the Mountain West title.