Commentary

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

HONOLULU — Don’t call the Hawaii trip a vacation, but there was plenty of time for reflection between business.

Soothing sounds of the waves crashing onto the North Shore and palm trees leaning in the wind set the backdrop to where the Oregon State football team stayed in preparation for a game. It was a quiet getaway to take a deep breath.

The Beavers finished the longest regular season in their history late Saturday night here in Aloha Stadium against No. 24 Hawaii.

With a Sun Bowl invitation already in hand for the Beavers, the teams were playing for pride and recruiting respect in the area. However the game turned out, the 2006 season goes down as one of the most memorable for all the right reasons.

“Some of the wins are memorable,” coach Mike Riley said. “From where we came from, from the initial preseason ranking and a relatively bad start to being where we are now, it’s a story of perseverance. We weren’t prefect.”

This team wasn’t supposed to accomplish much and was picked to finish seventh in the preseason Pacific-10 Conference media poll.

However, back in 2004 the signs pointed to this being a successful season if the Beavers could survive last season. It was a year of growth, and those are frowned upon in our what-have-you-done-for-me-lately culture.

“It’s great to fight through adversity,” safety Sabby Piscitelli said. “We didn’t give up, even though some people did on us. As a team we didn’t. We knew what we are capable of doing and we showed that.”

Since last season, the Beavers endured an external quarterback controversy. Matt Moore turned out to be the man to lead the program to the second-most prestigious bowl game in the modern era.

Early blowouts this season fueled the bench-Moore and fire-Riley campaigns. Both have had the last laugh as Riley’s confidence in his athletes and staff proved to be the right approach.

Riley knew the character of his players and he counted on that to make a difference.

“I’m never going to doubt my team,” running back Yvenson Bernard said. “We knew we had to step it up. When the Pac-10 poll came out it said we were going to be (seventh). We didn’t want to go by that. We wanted to show we are a better team than that.“

OSU began its turnaround by defeating Washington and Arizona, but those were games they should have won over inferior teams. The Southern California upset shocked the world.

Riley will remember all his national interviews after that game with outlets such as USA Today, the New York Post and ESPN. They all wanted to know what was the secret to toppling the giant. It was symbolic pebbles Sammie Stroughter passed out to his teammates.

In reality, it was old-fashioned desire.

Ending the Pac-10 season with a dramatic come-from-behind win in the Civil War topped it all off. The Beavers finished third in the conference.

With the exception of the nation’s favorite kicker, Alexis Serna, the Beavers are a bunch of no-names on the national level. They learned their roles and played them well.

“We are still not a really dynamic offense, but we are pretty balanced,” Riley said. “We have guys making plays and the quarterback is playing efficiently. You put that all together with a good kicker, that’s pretty good.”

A comparison could be made with the 2004 team that started 1-4, but won six of its last seven games.

Riley thought that also was a satisfying season. With that team’s talent, the slow start was surprising and the turnaround was expected.

“It’s a similar year as the team has gotten better,” Riley said. “This is a little more dramatic. This team is playing its best football. We’ve practiced long enough in the season we ought to get better. It’s not always the case though. A lot of things enter into it. I was disappointed last year’s team didn’t get better at the end.“

With this business trip over, the Beavers can relax for the first time in 11 weeks. The Sun Bowl awaits on Dec. 29 with either a Big 12 or Big East opponent, to be determined later today.

The next goal is to build on the memorable season. Beating a prestigious program on national network television in the bowl game would do the trick.

“This team has been formed from very hard times early on and has fought through all of that to get to this point,” Riley said. “They’ve established a pretty good identity for themselves. Sometimes those things forged through adversity are the most satisfying. We’ll remember this year. I will because of the character of the team and what the coaching staff did.”

Cliff Kirkpatrick covers the Oregon State football team for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. He can be reached at cliff.kirkpatrick@lee.net.