Slaughter's Take: Beavers Vanquish Trojans In LA For First Time Since 1960

Not since the days of the Eisenhower Administration had the Beavers tasted victory against the Trojans on their home turf, but on Saturday, September 25th, 2021, that streak came to a crashing thud.

Fittingly, it happened on September 25th, which also happens to be the same date back in 2008 where the Beavers shocked the college football world by upsetting No. 1 USC in Corvallis.

For the first time in what feels like years, the OSU football program has optimism, excitement, and faith that something meaningful can be achieved, and that's an astounding development for head coach Jonathan Smith.

There have been notches in the belt along the way, such as beating Colorado in year one, reaching five wins and nearly reaching a bowl in year two, or upsetting the Ducks last season, but not since 2013 have the Beavers started the season 3-1 with the realistic notion that a bowl game and more was within reach.

Coming into the contest as 11-point underdogs, the Beavers made oddsmakers look silly for establishing such a line as they proved from the opening kick that they are better coached, and can execute at a higher level for four quarters than a team with significant talent advantages.

How often have you been able to say that over the past decade?

When Smith inherited OSU from Gary Andersen following the '17 campaign, the program resembled a car that had been driven off a cliff, partially exploded, and was in pieces.

Yet, just four years later, Smith and his staff have that same car, albeit with largely new parts, beating one of the Pac-12's finest programs in a drag race by a country mile on I-5 with a national television audience watching.

Those sorts of impressions matter.

Those sorts of statements matter.

Oregon State football is starting to matter again.

The Beavers have now won in Los Angeles (at UCLA in '19 & USC in '21) each of the past two times they've visited the west coasts' most fertile recruiting ground and those results are going to make Smith's already solid recruiting pitch even more resounding.

A game like this has the potential to lead to so much more, and that's what's so exciting about what's next, the unknown...

For far too long, the unknown has largely been met with pessimism and doubt about the programs' ability to climb out of the cellar of the conference and compete to get back to marquee bowl games.

Now, you can tell that notion is starting to fade and the faith that the Beavers can be relevant is returning. There are eight games left in the regular season for OSU and they only need three more wins to reach the postseason.

As we sit a month into the season, breaking that seven-year postseason drought (2013 Hawaii Bowl) seems more than doable, it seems realistic.

The Beavers made a resounding statement at the Coliseum on Saturday night, letting out 61 years of frustrations on the Trojans and perhaps, more importantly, signaled to the Pac-12 that Beaver football is starting to matter again and that you'd better be paying attention.