Slaughter's Take: Oregon State Finally Gets Over The Hump

It's been since 2013, but following a 35-14 win over the Stanford Cardinal at Reser Stadium, the 2021 Beavers will hear their name called during postseason selection.

The win pushed the Beavers to the all-important six-win mark, and perhaps more impactful, established the notion that they're over the hump.

It's often said that it's the journey, not the destination that describes a trip, and that couldn't be more accurate for this football program.

After reaching the Hawaii Bowl in '13, the future seemed bright for OSU as Mike Riley reaching the postseason with regularity had become commonplace in Corvallis.

Sure, there would be a few seasons here and there where things wouldn't come together for Riley and Co., but those were far and few between compared to what would be ahead.

Starting with Riley's 5-7 season in 2014 (his last), it's been a downhill slide for this program in terms of wanting to get back to the postseason.

The real damage was done with Gary Andersen's tenure as the Beavers never reached more than four wins during his three and half seasons... ultimately, that brings us to when Jonathan Smith inherited this program in November of 2017.

Because of the severe limitations Andersen had hamstrung this program with, making a bowl game during Smith's first season when the average margin of defeat was 26 points seemed as far away as the next galaxy.

However, brick by brick, Smith, his staff, and the players went to work building this team.

" A lot of heavy lifting," Smith said with a smile of relief. "A lot of belief and optimism early on that we could push through. I think about it being a team effort, with these guys believing in this coaching staff and continuing to go. There are so many people that support and contribute to football teams (admin, training staff, equipment, training room), you dive into this stuff and it's a team effort to build a program that can have some success. I'm greatly appreciative of the people around here."

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When Smith and the players were able to reflect upon the big moment, I took a little time for self-reflection myself. If it hadn't been for Mike Riley and those Oregon State teams in the mid-2000s, I'm not sure I would have found the passion and drive to call this my career.

I eat, breathe, and sleep Oregon State athletics for a living, so naturally, I was just as invested as everyone else in seeing them have success. My first year on the beat was the 2014 season and while writing my postgame stories this evening, it hit me just how long of a journey it's been since I started covering this program.

Having been here since guys like Andrzej Hughes-Murray, Trevon Bradford, & Jaydon Grant were true-freshmen, it was extremely rewarding to see the never-ending hard work pay off for those three in their final campaign. I also think back to the numerous other upperclassmen that played a part in getting here by helping Smith build the program along the way.

OSU wouldn't be in this position without the effort that the '18, '19, & '20 Smith teams put in and that's why we saw him credit far more than just this particular group of young men on the roster this year.

Rebuilding a program from the basement takes supreme confidence, belief, and effort from everyone involved, and seeing all that come to a head in a big-time win over Stanford proves that this team has finally gotten over the hump.

That's not to be confused with "arriving", because I know this program wants more and is capable of achieving more, but given that a bowl game was the top priority for this program since 2014, getting that last monkey off your back officially puts the past to bed.

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While there were plenty of special moments on Saturday night, one stood out personally as being special amongst the rest.

About an hour after Smith concluded his press conference, only yours truly and two other media members remained working in the Valley Football Center media room.

Typically, once the press conference is over, we'll see waves of players leaving over the next 30 minutes before we see no one but the custodial staff for the rest of the evening.

However, something different happened tonight.

Fresh off getting changed out of his gameday attire, which was soaked from his Gatorade bath, the Beavers' head man poked his head inside the media room to say hello to those of us still working away.

Smith had a big grin as he came in, saying he was a bit surprised to see us as no one is typically here when he leaves the building, and that we all shouldn't stay working too late.

I quipped to Smith that he gave us plenty to write about and that I had been on the beat since '14, so I'd been awaiting this moment for some time. He turned his head and gave me a big smile of relief, and was thrilled we got to experience it too.

On the night that Smith earned the biggest win of his coaching career, he took time to come back to the media room to make sure we enjoyed the evening too, and that's a moment I'll never forget...