Pontificating on one of the biggest Oregon State football victories this century …

• Every 61 years, the Beavers beat Southern Cal on its home turf.

The way they did it Saturday night in a 45-27 dismantling of the Trojans in LA Memorial Coliseum was impressive.

This isn’t a great USC team, and it seems in some disarray following the Sept. 13 dismissal of Clay Helton as head coach.

That doesn’t lessen the impact that the victory has on Oregon State’s program in the fourth year under Coach Jonathan Smith.

Before we discuss that, let’s harken back to the last time the Beavers won on the road against the Men of Troy — 14-0 before a crowd of 32,928 at the Coliseum in 1960 when, as Mike Parker is wont to say, Americans were living in the Eisenhower administration and it was a much more simple world.

The school was then known as Oregon State College; it would be changed to Oregon State University for the next academic year. It was still the era of single-platoon football, so most of the players went both ways. In 1959, Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State had been extricated from the Pacific Coast Conference and were in the second of five years competing as independents.

The trip to L.A. was the season opener for the ’60 Beavers, who entered as 18-point underdogs to the No. 6-ranked Trojans. It was the first game as USC’s head coach for Johnny McKay, who had spent one year as an assistant coach there after a nine-year run on Len Casanova’s staff at Oregon.

The Trojans were led by the McKeever brothers, Marlin and Mike, who became the first twins to earn All-America status. Marlin, who would go on to an 13-year NFL career, was a defensive end, fullback and punter. Mike was a guard and linebacker.

It was the beginning of an era at Oregon State, too — the first game of Terry Baker’s storied college career. The future Heisman Trophy winner was a sophomore southpaw who shared tailback duties with junior Don Kasso, the incumbent from the previous season.

OSC’s head coach, Tommy Prothro, worked the game from the press box that day. He had thrown his back out weeks earlier while picking up a newspaper on the porch of his Corvallis home. Wearing headphones, Prothro relayed the offensive play calls to assistant coach Ron Siegrist on the Beaver sidelines.

“I was a little taken aback by that,” says Kasso, who recalls Prothro wearing a back brace. “I remember thinking you need your coach on the field with you.”

It worked out just fine. Oregon State drove for a touchdown on its first possession, Kasso, who amassed 80 yards on the ground in the game, scored from 16 yards out for a 7-0 lead. Baker engineered a drive that produced the second TD in the third quarter. The Beavers nearly had a third score, moving 71 yards to the USC goal line in the final minutes. Wingback Gene Hilliard took it inside the one on the game’s penultimate play.

“I was about six inches from scoring,” says Hilliard with a laugh. “I thought I was in.”

Baker fumbled the next snap and fell on the ball at the USC 2. The Beavers then let the clock run out in a show of sportsmanship.

“Terry and Donny fought it out for the starting (tailback) job in camp,” says Hilliard, now 82 and living in Corvallis. “We thought at the time Donny was a little bit better than Terry. But Terry was so talented and such a smart guy. Early in the season, Donny got hurt. Terry came on and never gave up the starting spot after that.”

The Beavers had their share of good offensive players such as Baker, Kasso, Hilliard, halfbacks Art Gilmore and Amos Marsh and end Aaron Thomas. But the opener was a defensive victory for the Beavers, who allowed the Trojans only 197 yards total offense.

“Our defense was very good that year, and we really kicked their ass that day,” says Rich Brooks, then a sophomore reserve defensive back. “We had some really good players like (linebackers) Dick DeBisschop and Tim Ankerson and (defensive back) Chuck Marshall. It was a hell of a game for us.”

Players such as DeBisschop, Neil Plumley, Mike Kline, Doug Bashor and Ross Cariaga helped Oregon State dominate the line of scrimmage, though the Beavers went in unsure about their capabilities to pull off the upset.

“We were probably a bit intimidated going into it,” says Kasso, 81 and living in Sonora, Calif. “We ran a trick play on the first play of the game and I had so much open space ahead of me, I nearly broke it for a touchdown. We moved the ball well in that first drive, and that gave us some confidence that we could play with them.”

“The Trojans were damn good, no doubt about it,” Hilliard says. “We had a decent team, but didn’t know if we’d be able to compete with them. We probably played over our heads that day.”

It turned out to be Oregon State’s first road win against USC since 1935.

“Frankly, you’re not expecting to win when you’re going down there,” says Plumley, now 81 and living in Monmouth. “(The Trojans) had a lot of good talent. They always did. They were tough. We had lost to them the year before up in Portland (27-6). You always wanted to beat SC because they were so darn strong. We had a pretty good defense that year. We more than held our own with them. That was all you could ask.”

Says Hilliard: “We had to play well, and we did as a group. It was quite rewarding.”

McKay would go on to win a national championship two years later in 1962, his third year at the USC helm. But that season was a challenge for the Trojans, who went 4-6. The Beavers, meanwhile, were 6-3-1 while negotiating a very difficult schedule as an independent. Their losses all came against ranked teams — 22-12 to No. 10 Iowa, 14-6 to No. 15 California and 30-29 to No. 8 Washington. OSC tied No. 19 Oregon 14-14 in the final game.

The players from the 1960 OSC team watched Saturday’s win over USC with pride.

“It was very impressive,” Plumley says. “This is one of the best Oregon State teams in a long time.”

“Always happy when the Beavers win,” Kasso says. “My wife (Joan) is a bigger fan than me. She’ll try to find their games, and we’ll record them and watch them.”

Hilliard says he had 17 text messages from friends after the game, noting his involvement in the last Beaver road win against the Trojans.

“It’s great to be remembered in that sense,” Hilliard says. “I’m happy for those kids. They earned it. They played well.”

Brooks calls the progress in the OSU program under Smith “phenomenal.”

“You look at the last five games they’ve played,” says the long-time Oregon coach, 80, now retired and living in Eugene. “In the last game last season, they beat Oregon. Now they’ve beaten SC. They’re 3-1 this year and might be undefeated if they’d started (Chance Nolan) in the opener (against Purdue).”

“They’re a very a well-coached team. Jonathan has a good staff under him. They have done a great job of developing players. They have identified talent and developed talent, too. That’s the old-fashioned way of doing it instead of getting all the five-star recruits, which not every program can do.”

“(Smith) is very knowledgeable and he doesn’t lose his cool,” says Hilliard, who served as an assistant at OSU for many years under Dee Andros. “He maintains his dignity and commands respect. All you have to do is look at the performance of the athletes. A player commits to playing the best you can for a coach you really respect. He has established an attitude and a belief in those kids. If you don’t believe in yourselves, it’s doubtful you’re going to be successful.

“He is doing a fantastic job. Oregon State had better commit to keeping him or he won’t be here long. We’d better dig in and hang onto him.”

• Oregon State had good success against Southern Cal in Corvallis during the Mike Riley era, losing to the Trojans (then ranked No. 1) 28-20 in 2004 while beating them (No. 3) 33-31 in 2006 and (No. 1) 27-21 in 2008 and burying them (No. 20) 36-7 in 2010.

There were some missed opportunities to end the road streak, too. In 2001, Ryan Cesca blew field goal attempts of 35 and 29 yards over the final seven minutes of regulation in a disheartening 16-13 overtime defeat during the Dennis Erickson era. In 2009, SC (ranked No. 4) beat Oregon State in a 42-36 shootout in which Sean Canfield threw for 329 yards and three TDs.

Meanwhile, the road losing streak continued to mount. After 24 games and more than six decades, the Beavers finally got the monkeys off their backs, securing a win that ranks on a short list for importance over the past two decades. With an athletic department budget deeply in the red amid a move to complete the renovation of Reser Stadium, Oregon State needs an influx of interest in its football program. A succession of victories can expedite that. What happened after the 2001 Fiesta Bowl season is proof.

“It’s a big deal for this school,” Smith told the media after the game. “This is a road win to start conference play, which is huge. The guys went out and earned it, recognizing there is still a long season ahead of us.”

I’m in a pool with some friends and was the only one to pick them to win Saturday. Why? I figured this OSU team was going to L.A. expecting to win, and capable of doing it, too.

“Coach Smith told us, ‘Respect all but fear none,’ ” says junior running back B.J. Taylor, who leads the Pac-12 with 422 yards and seven TDs rushing after four games. “That’s what we did today. We respected them, but we didn’t fear them.”

I thought the difference would be something like 27-21, though, not the blowout it turned out to be. It was the most points an Oregon State team has scored in the history of the rivalry, which spans 79 games dating to 1914.

Quarterback Nolan was superb, completing 15 of 19 passes for 213 yards and four TDs with two interceptions. Nolan (60 for 83 passing for 847 yards and nine TDs with two picks this season) leads the league in pass efficiency.

“His passes were so accurate, they almost fit through my facemask,” cracks Tyjon Lindsey, who caught five passes for 102 yards and two scores. “Chance played his butt off.”

Nolan — the best running quarterback at OSU since Tim Alexander during the “wishbone” years of Jerry Pettibone in the mid 1990s — scrambled five times for 57 yards.

“The guy wanted it tonight,” Smith says of the 6-3, 205-pound redshirt sophomore from Menifee, Calif., an hour southeast of Los Angeles. “He continues to progress. He is competitive out there and accurate throwing. He made some great decisions and had some guys make plays for him. He kept his eyes downfield and extended with his feet and threw it on time.”

The Beavers owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Led by Baylor (158 yards on 23 carries), they rushed for 324 yards and amassed 31 first downs and 537 yards total offense. OSU’s veteran offensive line — tackles Brandon Kipper and Jake Levengood, guards Joshua Gray and Nous Keobounnam and center Nate Eldridge — got considerable push on most running plays and protected Nolan superbly (no sacks).

“We have the best offensive line in the Pac-12,” Baylor offers

“We talked about it all week, we wanted to make it physical,” Smith says. “It started up front. The O-line and the way the backs ran the ball — I was really happy.”

In the face of a flush of penalties — 14 for 154 yards, including 10 for 122 in the first half — the Beavers never blinked. That reminded me of the 2001 team against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

“There is going to be plenty for us to clean up,” Smith says, “but I was really pleased with the way our guys continued to respond. There was no panic on either side of the ball. Just reload and play the next snap.”

Lindsey says the underdog roles “always gives us more motivation.” That may not be the case for awhile, though. The next five opponents are Washington at home, at Washington State, Utah at home, then California and Colorado on the road. If the Beavers can keep rolling, they might be favorites in all of them.

That’s a big if, though. This team isn’t good enough to grow complacent. It has to play near the top of its game to win in the Pac-12. The want-to was there Saturday night in LA Memorial Coliseum, but there can be no resting on laurels. The fall down the ladder comes much more easily than the climb toward the top.

• On Saturday night after the USC win, Steve Hall was beaming down from heaven at Beaver Nation. I’m sure of that.

Hall, who died Sept. 18 at age 84, was an OSU football season ticket-holder for 58 years (1962-2019). A former tennis letterman at Oregon State in the ‘50s, Hall also attended many basketball and baseball games in Corvallis and was a generous donor to Beaver athletics through the years. He couldn’t have been more proud of his grandson, Austin Hall, a football special-teams stalwart for Mike Riley from 2006-08.

Hall continued playing quality tennis into his 80s. In March 2019, I watched as Hall lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to top-seed Ron Reynoldson in the 80s singles quarterfinals of the Oregon State Senior Men’s Indoor Championships at The Irvington Club. It was a two-hour, 10-minute slugfest between a pair of octogenarians with the energy of men half their age. Hall would team with Larry Nelson to win the state doubles title later that week.

https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/12-sports/422741-327714-for-seniors-tennis-is-timeless-sport

“Dad could paint the lines,” said his son, Scott Hall. “He was all about ball placement, and he was always in great shape. He ran three marathons, numerous half-marathons and countless 10-Ks.”

Our paths first crossed during my time covering tennis for The Oregonian in the 1980s. Hall loved other sports — he was a Trail Blazers season-ticket-holder for many years — but tennis was his first love. He was past president of The Irvington Club, spent 16 years as manager of the Charbonneau Tennis Club until he retired from the post earlier this year and had served as chair of of the USTA/PNW historical committee since 2000.

Hall was pals with broadcasting legend Bill Schonely. They were next-door neighbors in the Westlake section of Lake Oswego for a decade, then lived two houses away from each other in Charbonneau for another 20 years. They were regular golf partners and attended many OSU games in Corvallis together through the years.

Steve and I had become good friends after my move to Charbonneau almost a year ago. He welcomed me to the neighborhood and extended a hand with several favors in the short time we lived across the street from each other. That was the type of person he was.

“If he could help somebody, he was glad to do it,” Scott Hall says. “He was as loyal as a golden retriever — a sweetheart of a guy.”

Steve Hall was in excellent physical shape until the last few months, when he developed scar tissue in his lungs and ultimately succumbed to pulmonary fibrosis. I’m disappointed he couldn’t have reveled in the joy of the Beavers’ ending their losing streak to the Trojans in L.A.

As son Scott puts it, “Dad would have been one happy camper.”

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