Oregon State University Athletics

GAME 1: OREGON STATE AT COLORADO STATE
Date: August 26, 2017
Time: 11:36 a.m. PT
Location: Fort Collins, Colo.
Stadium: Colorado State Stadium
Television: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Beaver Sports Network (TuneIn)
Satellite Radio: XM Channel 84, Sirius Channel 84
Series History: Tied, 1-1
Live Stats: OSUBeavers.com

The Game —

Oregon State opens the 2017 season when visiting Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo., on Saturday, August 26. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:36 a.m. PT (12:36 p.m. in Colorado).
The game is slated to air on the CBS Sports Network. The CBS Sports Network can be found on DirecTV (channel 221), Dish Network (158), Charter Spectrum (452) and Xfinity/Comcast (458) in the Corvallis area.
Every game this season can be heard live via the TuneIn application, which is available online and on smartphones and tablets. To find the game, once the app has been downloaded, search "Beaver Sports Network."
The game is the first of the 2017 NCAA FBS season to be played. It is one of five across the globe on Saturday, including one game in Australia.
Oregon State is 1-1 in season openers under head coach Gary Andersen. The Beavers defeated Weber State, 26-7, to open 2015, but were edged by Minnesota, 30-23, last season.
The Beavers and Rams are meeting for the first time since 1975, and just the third time overall. Colorado State won the last meeting, 17-8, with Oregon State taking a 1962 matchup, 25-14.
Just one Oregon State player hails from Colorado - redshirt sophomore Jalen Moore, who was born in Denver. Moore opened his high school career at Denver East High School, where he was named as the third-best safety in the state of Colorado. He did, however, end his high school career at Upland High School in Southern California.
Assistant Coach Dave Baldwin was the Offensive Coordinator at Colorado State from 2012-14. Baldwin also served as the Interim Head Coach at CSU in 2014 for the Las Vegas Bowl.
Oregon State last played a MWC team in 2016, losing to Boise State.

More Vs. Colorado State —

Gary Andersen is 1-1 as a head coach against Colorado State, both games while at Utah State. The Aggies defeated the Rams, 31-19, in Fort Collins in 2012. The previous season, in 2011, Utah State lost 35-34 in two overtimes.
QB Darell Garretson went 1-1 against Colorado State. He was 8-of-18 in a 13-0 win in 2013. In 2014, a 16-13 loss, he was 14-of-19 passing for 132 yards.
Chuckie Keeton, GA/Quarterbacks at OSU, played quarterback in both games for Andersen in 2011 and 2012. He was 9-of-15 for 86 yards passing in 2011, adding 42 yards rushing. In 2012, he finished 23-of-32 for 178 yards and one touchdowns with 58 yards rushing.
Lily Callan, the daughter of OSU sideline reporter, Ron Callan, attends Colorado State.
Rob Slaman (2015-16) and Jeff Schmidt (2016-17), two previous athletic communications assistants at Oregon State, serve in the same department at Colorado State.

Season Openers —

Oregon State is 64-48-8 (.567) in season-opening games dating back to 1893 when defeating Albany College, 62-0.
Oregon State has gone 10-7 in season openers dating back to the 2000 season.
The August 26 start is the earliest season opener in Oregon State history. OSU had previously started on August 28 twice - in 2008 at Stanford and 2003 at home versus Sacramento State.
Saturday's game against Colorado State will give OSU two consecutive season openers on the road, after debuting 2016 at Minnesota. The Beavers last opened on the road in two consecutive seasons in 1993 and 1994, defeating Wyoming (1993), 27-16, before losing at Arizona State, 22-16.

At QB —

Oregon State is expected to have its third different quarterback start the opening game in as many seasons as Jake Luton is the announced starter.
Seth Collins started in 2015 and was 10-of-18 for 92 yards and two touchdowns, with 17 carries for 152 yards, in a win over Weber State.
Darell Garretson started in last season's opener at Minnesota. He finished 25-of-40 for 228 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to the Golden Gophers.

Three Experienced At FBS —

Three of the four quarterbacks on Oregon State's roster have experience at the FBS level.
Newcomer Jake Luton, from Ventura CC, played in nine games for Idaho in 2015, starting against Arkansas State, and also appearing against USC and Auburn. Luton is listed as the starter on the OSU two-deep for the game at Colorado State.
Darell Garretson started six games for the Beavers in 2016 before being sidelined due to injury. He has played in 19 games between Oregon State and Utah State, starting 17 overall.
Sophomore Conor Blount played in four games as a true freshman in 2016. He was voted as the most athletic QB on the roster by the other signal callers on the team.

30 Sacks, 30 Turnovers —

The goal at the start of the season is for the Beaver defense to make 30 sacks and force 30 turnovers. That would be a significant production hike from the two previous years of the current coaching regime that resulted in 18/20 in 2016 and 17/12 in 2015.
Utah and Washington were the only teams in the Pac-12 to achieve the 30/30 mark last year.

Saturday Brunch? —

Oregon State's first two games are scheduled to start in the morning, with week two against Portland State earlier than the matchup with Colorado State (which is a 12:36 p.m. local start).
The 11 a.m. game with Portland State will be the earliest kick ever at home.

From Hawai'i —

Twelve players hail from the state of Hawai'i, which gives Oregon State the most players to hail from the islands, aside from the University of Hawai'i.
Hawaiian natives Moku Watson, Kesi Ah-Hoy, Alexander Skelton, Keli'i Montibon and Onesimus Clarke joined the program in 2017.

Wrecking Nall —

Junior running back Ryan Nall tied for second in the Pac-12 Conference in 2016 averaging 9.0 points-per-game, most amongst players who did not kick a field goal.
He was also third with an average of 95.1 yards per game on the ground.
His 6.4 yards-per-carry average is first in school history.
Nall needs one 100-plus yard game to give him seven for his career, which would move him into a tie for 10th-most in OSU history. He is also one of six players in school history with four rushing touchdowns in one game, doing so against Oregon to close out the 2016 season.

Speaks Volumes —

Senior linebacker Manase Hungalu averaged 7.5 tackles per game in 2016, which is the second-highest mark among returning players in the Pac-12 in 2017, trailing only Oregon's Troy Dye (8.3).
Hungalu's 7.5 tackles per game ranked fifth overall in the Pac-12 in 2016, and second on OSU, behind Caleb Saulo's 7.9.

New To The Staff —

Head Coach Gary Andersen welcomed two new coaches to the staff during the spring.
Jason Phillips came to Corvallis from Kansas and is serving as the Passing Game Coordinator and Wide Receivers coach. Prior to one year at Kansas, Phillips had been with the Denver Broncos (2015), SMU (2012-14) and Houston (2008-11). He played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons from 1989-94.
John Rushing joined the staff as an assistant coach with the safeties. He worked on special teams and as a defensive consultant with the Los Angeles Rams in 2016. Prior to that, he had been with the Green Bay Packers in various roles since 2009.

The Schedule —

Seven of the Beavers' first eight games of the 2017 season feature opponents who played in a bowl game last season.
Those seven opponents combined for a 66-27 (.710) record last season.
The stretch concludes with four 10-plus win teams: Washington (12 wins), USC (10), Colorado (10) and Stanford (10).
Oregon State opens Pac-12 play Sept. 16 at Washington State. The first five league opponents OSU will face combined for an overall record of 50-17 (36-9 Pac-12) last year, a winning percentage of .746. The final four opponents combined for an overall record of 17-31 (8-28 in Pac-12) last season, a winning percentage of .354.

11 Strong —

During the team's trip to Bend, Oregon State staff unveiled to the team an alternate uniform.
The uniform, primarily a dark gray with silver numbers, features a silver Beaver Head on a black helmet, with a single orange stripe.
The uniform was unveiled prior to the team's screening of Planet of the Apes, via a "movie trailer" at Regal Old Mill Stadium 16. That trailer is available by visiting YouTube.com/OSUBeaversAthletics.
The uniform is slated to be worn Sept. 9 against Minnesota.

Speaking Of Bend —

The Beavers worked out in Bend for nearly one week - five practices and a scrimmage - at the end of July and early August.
It marked the second consecutive year the team traveled to Central Oregon.
The team stayed in newly-built dorms on the campus of Oregon State University-Cascades, and practiced at Summit High School.
The team was able to work on team-bonding as well as receiving the benefits of working out at an elevation of 3,623 feet. Fort Collins, site of the 2017 season opener, is listed at an elevation of 5,003 feet.

Trending —

Oregon State's defense trended in the right direction in 2016 under first-year defensive coordinator Kevin Clune.
The team's scoring defense jumped three spots in the Pac-12, from 11th to eighth. The 2016 Beavers allowed 6.5 less points per game than in 2015, from 37 to 30.5.
Total defense also improved three spots to eighth. The 2016 team allowed 429.2 yards per game, a better than 50-yard improvement from 2015's 481.5.

One Of Two —

Oregon State is one of two Power 5 programs to have two byes this season. The other is Stanford, which also opens the 2017 season during Week Zero, playing Rice in Australia.
Twenty teams will have two byes, with the Sun Belt accounting for better than 50 percent - 12 in all. Its schedule allocates two byes for each of its teams.
Oregon State was originally scheduled for one bye - Oct. 21. The second, Sept. 23, came when the game against Colorado State was moved to the season opener. That announcement came June 1.

What's In A Number? —

A handful of Oregon State players changed numbers prior to the season. They include:
Trevon Bradford to 8 from 19.
Xavier Crawford to 5 from 22.
Tyler DeLashmutt to 17 from 89 (WR to safety).
Andrew Iademarco to 61 from 98 (OL to DL).
Jay Irvine to 6 from 24.
Ricky Liuchan to 98 from 44 (LB to DL).
Bright Ugwoegbu to 1 from 47.
Shawn Wilson to 2 from 28.

Seniors —

Seventeen seniors dot Oregon State's roster this season, which is close to the fewest in the Pac-12 Conference.
USC, UCLA and Washington lay claim to the fewest, with all three having 16 on their respective rosters.
Stanford (25), Utah (24) and Colorado (23) have the most in the Pac-12.

Honoring Giant Killers —

The 1967 "Giant Killers" will be honored during Oregon State's Oct. 14 game against Colorado at Reser Stadium.
The "Giant Killers" went 7-2-1, defeating No. 1 USC, No. 2 Purdue and tying second-ranked UCLA.

Watch Lists —

The following players earned placement on watch lists prior to the start of the season:
Ryan Nall: Doak Walker Award and Maxwell Award.
Manase Hungalu: Butkus Award and Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award.
Sumner Houston: Rimington Trophy.
Gus Lavaka: Poynesian College Football Player of the Year Award.
Nick Porebski: Ray Guy Award.

Win The Turnover Battle, Win The Game —

Over the last 160 games, Oregon State is 52-17 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 12-44 when committing more and 18-18 when even.

Oregon State Opens 2017 Saturday At CSU