With the 2019 season on the horizon, BeaversEdge.com is introducing all 12 of Oregon State's 2019 opponents in July. Today, we dive into the Beavers' Pac-12 opener against Stanford.
Following the Pac-12 opener against Stanford, Oregon State will hit the road in week six for its first away conference game of the season against Chip Kelly's UCLA Bruins.
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The Game
Date: Saturday, October 5th
Time: TBA
Location: Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl)
TV: TBA
Betting Line: N/A
Oddshark Prediction: N/A
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Oregon State 2018 record: 2-10 (1-8 Pac-12)
UCLA 2018 record: 3-9 (3-6 Pac-12)
UCLA 2018 Recap
If Chip Kelly's first season as head coach of UCLA was any indication, it's not going to be the instant-Oregon type of success right away.
Kelly's first season as UCLA's head man was also his worst as a college head coach as the Bruins started the season 0-5 before ultimately finishing with a 3-6 mark overall. All three of the Bruins' wins came in conference play, and their best win of the season came against Cal.
Kelly's squad entered Berkeley without a win, but in somewhat shocking fashion, handed Justin Wilcox's Cal Bears their most lopsided loss of the season. So, the talent was clearly there for the Bruins a season ago, the issue was consistency and putting it all together on regular basis.
It appeared that UCLA might turn a corner following the Cal game as they defeated Arizona the following week to up their win streak to two games. However, UCLA's worst game of the season ensued as the Bruins were clobbered by Kyle Whittingham and Co. 41-10.
Despite the subpar overall season, Kelly and the Bruins' greatest individual achievement was likely beating hometown rival USC in the second to last game of the season. It's often said that as long as you win your rivalry games, you'll earn some leeway and patience from the fanbase and athletic department despite losing games.
Given that the Bruins have invested a gargantuan amount of resources behind the football program and giving Kelly the tools to succeed, it might not be long before the Bruins are the most dominant team in L.A.
Best win: Saturday, October 13th - @ Cal 37-7
Worst loss: Friday, October 26th - vs Utah 41-10
2019 Outlook
With the Pac-12 clearly having a pecking order that's quite hard to climb up, it might be another season or two before UCLA is playing at their peak under Kelly.
Unlike Oregon, where he had the benefit of walking into a team that was on the cusp of greatness, Kelly had to rebuild the Bruins from scratch, which as all fans of rebuilding teams know, it takes time and patience.
Offensively, the Bruins figure to have a bit of a quarterback derby heading into fall camp as incumbent true-sophomore Dorian Thompson-Robinson (1311 yards, seven TDs in 2018) will look to fight off sophomore Austin Burton and highly-touted freshman Chase Griffin. Early indications are that UW transfer Colson Yankoff won't be eligible this season, but with the NCAA, you just never know.
There's a lot of unknowns still at receiver as UCLA will be looking for several young guys to step up, but they'll have the benefit of having a 1,000 rusher a season ago in senior Joshua Kelley anchor the backfield.
Defensively, the Bruins are hoping that their young group that struggled mightily in 2018 will take a big leap forward in 2019. Armed with talented youngsters in the secondary, UCLA's defensive strength will likely come from the back end as Quentin Lake, Darnay Holmes, and Elijah Gates all showed great promise a season ago.
Up front is a bit of a question mark for the Bruins as they weren't good at getting pressure on the opposing QB last season, but hope that internal development will lead to more playmaking and defensive pressure this season.
UCLA Season Prediction: 5-7
Early Prediction
Like the Stanford game, I see this as a winnable game for Jonathan Smith and Co.
UCLA likely presents Oregon State one of its best opportunities for Pac-12 road win this season and if the Beavers are able to show improvement that we're expecting, there's a good chance they could win this contest.
There's always a lot of variables when you're predicting games this early, but given that UCLA is still finding their footing as a program, and don't boast one of the more intimidating road environments despite the Rose Bowl size, there's a chance that Oregon State could sneak a win in Pasadena.
The Bruins have a brutal start to their season, facing Cincinnati (11-2 last season), San Diego State (always solid under Rocky Long), Oklahoma (enough said), Washington State, and Arizona before facing the Beavers in week six.
UCLA has their first bye of the season after facing Oregon State, and given the amount of talented teams they'll have to play before facing the Beavers, I like OSU's chances to win in Pasadena for the first time since 2012.
Oregon State 31, UCLA 28