73 Comments

My observation is that Washington's fortunes did not really hit the skids when they lost Chris Peterson, but rather earlier when HE lost Jonathon Smith as his O.C.

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author

You're not far off...

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Great observation!

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Much appreciated perspective. Good guys do win sometimes!

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author

Well put.

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They Pat Riley is a winner and a great guy . Jonathan, is the right guy

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

I enjoy what you do with words, facts, and figures. Just as that photograph summons emotions, so does your story. Hmmm. Blind people see. The deaf hear.

It was a grand day, wasn't it? Yesterday?

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author

Great day for both programs in our state.

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Great column. I remember Bill Enyart outplaying OJ way back when I was first at OSU. I saw the Fiesta Bowl win in 2001. My daughter studied at OSU with Jonathan Smith. Learned to never give up even tho so many times the underdog. Love what I'm seeing from Coach Smith and the team. Building Beaver Nation back up.

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Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Thank you, John, for promoting such a positive vibe about the Beavs. There have been times …and years…where it’s just been flat out tough being a Beaver fan. Losing seasons, tough losses on games we shoulda/coulda won, the media’s love of the team down the road in Eugene, etc. But today it feels good to be a Beaver fan. There’s a lot it look forward to with Coach Smith at the helm. Amazing article and photo of Reser. Thanks again.

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author

I've always believed both teams needed coverage. It's why I make a point to write about both every Saturday/Sunday. Thanks for being here.

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Don't forget the Huskies and Cougars.

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Excellent, just excellent. It’s important for the league that the WSUs, OSUs, etc are not only competitive but darn good.

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

John, this certainly captures the spirit of the situation. Last night, near the end of the game, my grandson in law texted us that he was trying to slip out a bit early ahead of the traffic, then sent a video of our great grandson, eight, cheering the Beavers on with the band. Not sharing the Beaver heritage myself, I still always observed that Beaver fans feel a strong sense of school and community, enjoy winning but appreciate the presence of the Coach Smiths of the world, and the sense of group he fosters.

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author

Love that scene...

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Thanks, John. You captured the Beaver spirit quite well. Keep on truckin'

Charlie

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Oct 24, 2022·edited Oct 24, 2022Liked by John Canzano

You note that Jonathan debuted @Washington. IIRC he came in for Terrance Bryant the game prior. Possibly Cal? Terrance was noted for a high completion rate but very few yards. And a very hard thrown ball at all times. When Jonathan came in it was very apparent that he threw a soft catchable ball & he could throw downfield. My seat partner & I both remarked on his throws. I don't remember his stats but knew this is "the guy" He showed the Huskies the next week

edit: it was AZ not Cal that JS debuted

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

(Note: Doing 2 comments due to the different subjects):

It is possible for the Beavs to get to the P12 champs game, though they need a lot of help. This is the easiest scenario I found:

Oregon State must win out.

Utah must win out.

Oregon can only lose to Utah and Oregon State.

UCLA must lose 2 more

USC must lose 1 more

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author

Lots of ball left to play. Best case for OSU... win every game, look up, see what happens.

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Please clarify if in your scenario we are the #1 or #2 in the league. It seems to me that you might be trying to figure out how to get to #1 when we only need the #2 position to go to the championship. If not, who is #1 in your scenario?

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Utah is number 1 in this scenario, since they have 1 loss (they win out).

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Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022

with ucla schedule very doubtful they will lose 2 but if they do i've been sketching out some scenarios and even under your scenario we end up with 3 teams all at 7-2 with equal 1-1 records against each other but the next tie breaker would be record against the highest opponent (utah) and then neither USC or OSU beat UTAH so we would go to a 3rd tie breaker

"the next tiebreaker is the winning percentage against all common conference opponents, "

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I put UCLA must lose 2 more losses (they have 1), that would make them 6-3. Otherwise I agree. And I recognize this is extremely unlikely. Less likely than Portland getting 75 inches of snow in a winter (never happened since 1880)

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yes, but the three teams at 7-2 would be usc, osu, and oregon. in your scenario oregon has to lose to utah so none of those 3 teams would have beaten utah.

then we go the next tie breaker against common opponents. difficult to say at this point in the season? beavers must continue to win and then let the proverbial chips fall where they may.

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Super difficult, but the fact that this is the easiest scenario makes me think that OSU doesn't have a chance to go, unless everything falls in their favor. I think how I had it would be USC either loses off of a common opponent (eliminating them) or conference SOS (projected 36 wins to Oregon State's and Oregon's 39 wins, by nature of USC skipping UW and U of O for bowling teams, and OSU skipping UCLA, U of O skipping Oregon). The only thing I could go off of is that except for the chokes listed, favorites win out. That is super sketchy at best.

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yes, i agree but its super fun to think about! that loss to USC haunts us.

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

The Beavs are still going strong and will continue to do so.

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author

Well positioned. Needs a QB.

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you are not sold on Gulbranson? I think an improvement over Nolan already and as a redshirt freshman he has a lot of upside still.

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Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 24, 2022Liked by John Canzano

I love sports history. A more in-depth review of Reeser's history might be in order when the renovations are complete. 😎 (THERE--I finally corrected the autocorrect spelling goof).

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I wish the renovations would have taken more care to make a cohesive stadium. I think the new side looks out of place in the renderings I saw.

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Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Great photography! Bald Faced Truth 'Illustrated'?

This team is getting stronger every week and the players exude total confidence. They did not 'play down' to their competition yesterday and easily handled Colorado, who had some momentum coming into Reser and were given a first play fumble.

The bye week will put us in great position to extend our winning streak in Seattle. You're right. Jonathan Smith and company are building something special!

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Remember the symmetry in the coming Washington game. The 2000 Beaver juggernaut was upset by Washington in the final minutes of their October game. It was their only blemish in what otherwise would have sent them to the Rose Bowl where they would have competed to be #1 and national champion. The trashing of Notre Dame at the Fiesta Bowl is an indication how Coach Smith can focus his retribution. I expect the Beavs to win in Seattle. Smith does not forget and now has the talent to do something about that 22 year ago loss

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Oct 24, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Such a great picture! Great Article on JS. Coaches like he played. Great to see his success with all the arm chair coaches on Facebook quieting down.

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Oct 24, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Spoiler Alert: November 26!!!

Go Beavs

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author

Be there.

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Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Those of us who have followed the Beavs for years are loving this fall of games. Smith seems like a natural for the job. So glad he has been so well received by his team, the fans and the sports world in general. Look forward to every game.

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Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022Liked by John Canzano

For long time Beaver fans, I found this great story about the 2000 Jonathan Smith football team and how close we came to a national championship behind Smith. You will love it. https://medium.com/@MattSBN/what-if-2000-oregon-state-beat-washington-569311bd9d57

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