Know The Enemy 2025: Oregon State Football

A friend answers our questions

We asked our friend to answer some questions about Oregon State football, and Andy Wooldridge graciously answered the call to be our go-to expert for the upcoming matchup.

1. What is top of mind for the Oregon State fan going into this year?

Yay, we finally have a QB, Duke (after Texas) transfer Maalik Murphy, that can throw the ball down the field again! Now, can the Beavers protect him enough to do so? Oregon State only returns 1 starter from last season on the offensive line, C Van Wells, and he had trouble staying on the field all game game after game last year.
Complication the matter, Oregon State’s #2 receiver, and best speed deep threat, Darious Clemmons, tore his left Achilles last week, and is done for the season.

2. What are your expectations for the OSU season? What constitutes a good year?

Pretty much the same thing most Cal fans have of the Bears, for similar reasons. Extensive roster turnover, some shakeups in the coaching staff, and a lot of inexperience, tempers loftier expectations that a favorable schedule and some really good pieces would normally warrant.

In my predict the season story, I called for 7-5 and a bowl trip. My colleague with the Corvallis paper, made the same call.

The team has enough talent, and the schedule has enough soft spots, and 7 home games, that if everything breaks right, 8 wins could be within reach. But while everything won’t go wrong, everything also won’t go right either. If the paper thin depth chart suffers the wrong losses, a scramble to match last year’s 5-7 record is quite possible.

Coach Trent Bray, in just his second season as a head coach, is also re-assuming the Defensive Coordinator role, after last year’s disaster. And OC Ryan Gunderson is in his second season as an OC, and hasn’t proven anything yet. This team is going to lose a game or two that they could have, and probably should have, won, because of the inexperience in lots of key places.

Any of that sound like anything Cal fans have any experience with?

3. What do you expect from this game? What are you hoping to see?

I expect a mixed bag, and I don’t really know what to expect from this game. Couple what I’ve discussed above with zero useful information from a nervous coaching staff that came out of camp, and I, and most fans, are hoping for the best, but really have no idea what we will see, and will be eagerly looking at everything.

The same high quantity of unknowns also applies to Cal; I’m sure even the most ardent of Oski Disciples are equally unsure of what they will see, and will be watching every move every Bear makes like a hawk.

Funny thing though, I’m not sure what we learn about the Beavers or the Bears Saturday night will necessarily translate to what we see from either team come mid-October.

4. Who are some standout players from your team you're looking forward to watching this year?

In addition to Murphy, Oregon State has a couple of very legitimate weapons returning on offense.
Trent Walker, who was the Beavers’ leading receiver by a mile last year, isn’t a flashy receiver, but he is the prototype and definition of a possession receiver, who can move the chains and pile up big numbers one first down at a time.
Running back Anthony Hankerson has both the power to pound thru small holes and speed to breakaway.
Defensively, Oregon State has, good health willing, a future NFL safety in senior Skylar Thomas. Tyrice Ivy Jr, who is actually a Senior, is not far behind. Whether 9 Beavers in front of them can keep the game under control is a question, but these safeties are going to be all over the field.

5. Which position group do fans feel most confident in heading into the season, and which one keeps them up at night?

In large part because of Thomas and Ivy, the secondary should be decent if the front 6 can make any strides from last season, when they were as a group the worst in FBS (5 total sacks). Injuries had a lot to do with that, but throwing players that weren’t ready for the the job in one way or another in the fire tends to result in that. (Probably sounds familiar to Old Blues that watched their offensive line last season!)

6. If Oregon State beats Cal, what does that game probably look like? And if Cal wins, what went wrong for the Beavers?

It probably looks the same way one way or another as it will for Cal. An Oregon State win means there were a lot of pleasant answers to the unknowns, and Cal has probably also struggled with their unknown factors to sustain production for full drives, and drive to drive, resulting in the game being settled well into the 4th quarter.

If the Bears click early and efficiently, it could turn into what happened last year in Strawberry Canyon, even though very few of the principals from that game for either team are still around.

How the Beavers handle this game mentally and emotionally will be more critical than how they do physically, and not just for the game, but the season. The opener against the Bears and the 2nd game against Fresno State (which looks more manageable than initially thought after what happened to the Bulldogs in Lawrence, Kansas last Saturday), are some of the biggest games of the season for Oregon State, because they are both winnable and losable without too much of a stretch.
And if the Beavers do not at least get a split of the first 2 games, they could be looking at an 0-5 start, as the next 2 games are against Texas Tech in Lubbock and Oregon in Autzen, followed by a visit by Houston of the BIG XII/XVI, on a short week. That would derail the team before a much more manageable October and November ever arrives.

Oregon State HAS to be ready for the Bears in the opener, or a typical Wilcox rockfight where the Bears are lobing boulders at Beavers armed only with gravel in their pockets could result.