12/5/2021 football Edit

Oregon State To Face Utah State In LA Bowl

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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Following a 7-5 (5-4 Pac-12) campaign, the Oregon State football team officially knows its postseason destination as they'll be squaring off with the Utah State Aggies (10-3, 7-2 Mountain West) in the LA Bowl at Sofi Stadium.

The game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 4:30 p.m. PT. It will be televised on ABC.

Oregon State, at 7-5 overall this season, will be making its 18th trip to a bowl and first since the 2013 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl. The Beavers defeated Boise State, 38-23, in that game.

The Beavers are 11-6 all-time in bowl games, and won five consecutive games from 2003 to 2008. Head Coach Jonathan Smith played in two bowl games with the Beavers, including the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, which saw OSU defeat Notre Dame, 41-9. The Los Angeles Bowl marks the first for Smith as a head coach; he has served as an assistant coach at eight previously.

The 2021 Beavers head into the matchup with one of the most potent offenses in the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon State ranks first in the Pac-12 averaging nearly 218 rushing yards per game and is third averaging just shy of 33 points a game.

Utah State advanced to the bowl game by virtue of winning the Mountain West Conference after a 46-13 victory over San Diego State on Saturday.

Oregon State and Utah State have met just three times previously: 1904, 1997 and 1998. The Beavers have won all three matchups, most recently via a 20-16 final in Logan. Smith was on the Beavers’ roster that season but did not play in the game.