Corvalis, Oregon – When we catch California at Oregon State, we’ll attend our second of two FBS games in one day. Last time we did this came back in 2021. On that Saturday, we recorded our first two games in the state of Utah. At our early afternoon game in Logan, Utah State defeated Hawaii in a Mountain West contest, 51-31. The Aggies of USU finished their season ranked No. 24. Afterward, we trekked down I-15 to Provo. There, we attended a game determined to be Virginia Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s final season. As an appropriate farewell, he brought his Virginia Cavaliers to Provo to face his former charges, the Cougars of BYU.

The Cougars and Cavs went at it hard with the home team winning, 66-49. BYU finished the season at No. 19. Funny though. It did not turn out to be Mendenhall’s’ final season as a collegiate HC after all. Matter of fact, we saw him start up again in his return debut in 2024 as new HC for the University of New Mexico. After a 5-7 improvement at UNM last season, Mendenhall left for – of all schools – Utah State! Oh, what a tangled web we weave! And we seem to get entangled without even trying.

We plan to get back to Provo eventually to see a day game there to enjoy the impressive scenery surrounding Lavelle Edwards Stadium. Of course, we plan to pull it off by attending a Utah Ute home game in Salt Lake City afterward! Timing is everything.

Four games with Cal and OSU in all; almost five

Combined, we’ve seen these two programs play four times. The Golden Bears participated in three. Our first came in late 2001, as the game was postponed until the final week of that season due to the horrific attacks on the World Tade Center on September 11. Read about my personal experiences regarding trips before and after 9-11 from Atlanta and to the West Coast for a game a few weeks later in my book, Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.

In that final game of 2011, Cal avoided a winless season defeating Rutgers, 20-10. In 2007, my 12-year-old son Eric and I saw them defeat Air Force in a thrilling game at the Military Bowl, 42-36. It was one of four bowl games we attended in Texas in five days. Finally in 2016, I attended a game at Berkeley compliments of a Stanford friend who refuses to step foot on her rival’s campus ever. In the Big Game, the No. 12 Cardinal defeated the Golden Bears, 45-31.

Cross Country challenges from and to Oregon football games

Regarding Oregon State, in September 2002, they came all the way out to Philadelphia to meet Temple at historic Franklin Field, home venue of the University of Pennsylvania. With Juniata friend and former trainer for our football team, Ned Ehrlich, we watched 6′-5″ Beaver QB Derek Anderson and team crush the Owls, 35-3. Anderson went to the NFL for a few years. Ned stayed around the NFL much longer, as a Lawyer. In 2008, I was on my way to see Oregon State at Penn State. While crossing the Delaware River into PA from New Jersey, a bolt in the wheel well of my recently purchased, pre-certified Malibu let loose and locked up my front wheels. With my then 13-year-old son, got towed, gave the dealership “hell” and missed the game. Never had another problem with the car after repairs, thankfully.

Funny thing, with my son Eric once again, another road trip to see a team from Oregon got waylaid by a car problem. With Eric strapped into a back seat at the age of 5, we hopped on to the Jersey Turnpike in November 2000 on our way to see Portland State at Delaware in an 1AA playoff game. After the Ford Escort stalled in a toll booth, we got it pushed off to the side and towed back home for service. UD won the game we missed, 49-14. Hope we don’t run into any car problems on our Oregon Trail this season.

California Golden Bears face mass exodus

Last season, the Golden Bears won six games for the second year in a row. They played their best with Fernando Mendoza at QB. After a season with 3,004 yards and 16 TDs starting the first ten games, he jumped ship for a better opportunity supposedly. We will see him play in another game this season for Indiana. Enter Devin Smith, a QB from an overloaded but talented Ohio State Buckeye QB contingency. He performed primarily as a running QB at Columbus the last two years. The question is, how good will the new players around him be? Certainly, HC Justin Wilcox in his ninth season here starts from scratch to build an offense in 2025.

Since last season, Wilcox’s roster basically fled from Berkeley. Only WR Trond Grizzell returns among the top 12 receivers from a season ago. As for their top ten rushers, none also no longer play for the Bears. Three experienced offensive linemen replace open spots upfront. Several transfers look to step in, but will they mesh in time to play as one unit early this season? In addition, Cal hired Bryan Harsin to take over as OC. Previouslyly, he coached at Boise before getting booted from Auburn as HC. A lot of meshing needs to occur in summer camp to have this offense ready for this game. Last season, the Golden Bears had the Beavers number evidently, as indicated by their 44-7 thrashing at Berkeley.

Bear question marks in secondary

Defensively, eight experienced staters return. Several transfers among them will need to step up. MLB Cade Uluave returns from last season as the second leading tackler with 71 stops. DE Aidan Keenaaina and DT Nate Burrell contributed upfront for the Bears last season. The secondary will be looking for good coordination among transfers from Florida International, James Madison and Montana. Should be interesting to see how well this team full of players who have never worked together before will perform in their first game together.

QB Maalik Murphy, Oregon State – Deja vu

Last year, we witnessed the improvement of Duke football under new HC Many Diaz, his defense, and QB Maalik Murphy – transfer from Texas. We head 2,400 miles west early this year, and once again, Maalik Murphy shows up at QB. With a reputation as a strong-armed quarterback, we never witnessed that in the three wins we watched Murphy perform in last season. He threw for 2,933 yards, 16 TDs and 13 INTs for the Blue Devils. However, his penchant seemed relegated to a very short passing game. “Big arm” to us means one has the arm to go long effectively. We never saw that. Will this change at Oregon State under HC Trent Bray and OC Ryan Gunderson?

They will be depending on Murphy to turn around a passing game. Last season, OSU totaled only seven TD passes and 11 INTs. Should be attainable, but will they show that Murphy has the capability to put up the long ball more often? WRs Trent Walker and Darrius Clemons return as primary targets gaining 901 and 292 yards respectively. Both led the team in TD receptions recording only two each.

Oregon State seeks defensive strength upfront

The Beavers (5-7 in 2024) welcome back RB Anthnony Hankerson who ran for 1,113 tough yards and 15 scores. Upfront, only C Van Wells returns, and the transfers coming in alongside him possess little experience. Defensively, leading tackler Skyler Thomas returns at SS. LBs Nikko Taylor and Dexter Foster finished third and fifth overall. Some newcomers need to step up. Others transferring in need to make stops before their secondary gets called on to lead in making tackles.

Down to the final minute or the final mistake

Both teams seem to bring back comparable experience in the numbers of returnees and transfers. The defenses will be ahead of the offenses in this game. Both O-Lines undergo major personnel changes, and this determines how the game will be won. Whoever blocks better upfront will have the advantage. However, with experience at the skill positions surrounding Murphy, we see the Beavers possessing the edge at home.

The vocal OSU fans have a solid reputation for filling 35,000-seat Reser Stadium to the hilt. Against a former PAC-12 rival they meet for the 78th time, they seek revenge following last season’s 44-7 loss at Memorial Stadium. Key Golden Bear players from last season moved on during the off-season. Devin Brown and company will have lot of on-the-job-training to figure out how the Bears can work together offensively. Brown will not have the skill sets surrounding him he had at Ohio State. It should be a fun and competitive meeting. However, we expect it to be filled with mistakes by both squads in the opener for both.

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Edited by and photos taken by Steve Koreivo – Member of Football Writers Association of America and Author of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.