Beavers Ready For No. 24 Hawaii

A win by Oregon State could move it into the top-25 for the first time since it appeared No. 22 in the Oct. 19, 2003 Associated Press Poll.

Jeremy Perry, a first team All-Pac-10 selection, returns home. Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - The longest regular season in Oregon State history concludes Saturday night at Aloha Stadium against the No. 24 ranked Hawaii Warriors.

Both teams are headed to postseason, Oregon State accepted a conditional invitation last Friday to play in the 73rd Brut Sun Bowl Dec. 29th in El Paso, Texas while Hawaii will play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Dec. 24th at Aloha Stadium.

THE SERIES:

Hawaii has won two in a row to even the series at three wins each.

The Warriors defeated Oregon State 23-17 at the 1999 O’ahu Bowl at Aloha Stadium -- the game marked the first bowl appearance for Oregon State since the 1965 Rose Bowl game.

All six games in the series have been played in Honolulu, but UH will make the trip to Corvallis for a Sept. 13th, 2008 game.

HOMECOMING:

Eleven Hawaiian’s are on the Oregon State football player roster -- Al Afalava (So., FS, Laie), Naymon Frank (Jr., DE, Honolulu), Aaron Nichols (Fr., WR, Honolulu), Lahaina Olsen-Kuroda (Fr., WR, Aiea), Jeremy Perry (So, OG, Hau’ula), Ryan Pohl (Fr., OL (Waipahu), Steven Rodenhurst (Fr., OL, Kailua), Mana Silva (Fr., QB, Hilo), Micah Strickland (Fr., RB, Honolulu), Tavita Thompson (So., OL, Honolulu), and Suaesi Tuimaunei (FR., S, Laie).

RED ZONE IMPROVEMENT:

Oregon State has traditionally been strong under head coach Mike Riley for red-zone offense, except last year when the club finished last in the Pac-10.

This year the Beavers are fifth at 84.4 percent and are first for red zone scoring defense allowing 69.7 percent. Over the last seven games OSU has scored on 25 (15 tds) of 27 (.923) drives when penetrating the opponents 20-yard line.

Over that same stretch, opponents have converted 13 (8 tds) of 23 (.565) of their opportunities.

RILEY IS THE FIRST:

Head coach Mike Riley is the first Oregon State coach to lead the program to two winning marks in the conference since 1970.

Riley guided the 2004 program to a 5-3 mark and a victory over Notre Dame in the Insight Bowl, and this year’s club to 6-3.

THIRD-PLACE FINISH:

Oregon State will at least finish in third place alone in the Pac-10 Conference and could finish tied for second with California, if the Bears lose Saturday at home to Stanford.

The third-place finish would be its second best placing since the conference expanded to 10 members in 1978 -- the ‘04 team finished tied for third with Arizona State and the 2000 team tied for first with Washington and Oregon.

10-WIN SEASON?

It’s a tall task, but Oregon State has an opportunity to win 10 games this season, which would be the second-highest total ever for the program.

The Beavers won 11 in 2000 when they shared the conference title and defeated Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

WAC-KY SCHEDULE:

Not only is it the 13th game of the season for Oregon State, it’s the program’s third contest against a Western Athletic Conference program.

The Beavers lost Sept. 7th at still undefeated and No. 9 Boise State 42-14 and defeated Idaho 38-0 Sept. 23rd at Corvallis.

The win over the Vandals marked the first shut out for OSU since 1983.

ARV:

Oregon State received 17 votes in this week’s Associated Press Poll and 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll -- both are the third-most in the “also receiving votes” category.

The Beavers also were in the “ARV” category following their victories over USC, Arizona State and Stanford.

OSU checked in this week in the BCS rankings (24) for the second time this year and Hawai’i is in at No. 25.

ALMOST FIRST, DEFINITELY LAST:

Oregon State’s 13-game regular season schedule ends Saturday, starting at 9:06 PM PST at Hawaii. The game marks the final contest of the 2006 college football regular season.

The Beavers also participated on opening day, Thurs., Aug. 31st.

OSU, Connecticut, New Mexico State, Louisiana-Monroe, Florida International and San Diego State are the only programs to play on the first and last days of the season.

Oregon State is taking Hawaii too lightly. Their quarterback is going to break the Division 1 NCAA single season record for touchdown passes.They are awesome.

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