The 3-2-1: Beavers Eye Pac-12 Restart

With the Oregon State football team preparing to restart the football season the weekend of Nov. 6th, BeaversEdge.com Managing Editor Brenden Slaughter gives you the latest on their return in this edition of the 3-2-1.

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MORE: Quick Hits From Jonathan Smith & Scott Barnes | The EDGE POD: Fired Up About The Pac-12 Restart

Three Things We Learned

1. Oregon State should have no trouble easing into the six-week ramp-up

-> One of the positives that head coach Jonathan Smith brought up in regards to getting his team ready in six weeks for gridiron competition is that he feels really good about where the team stands currently.

He said that the team (about 95 percent of the players) have been working out together for about the last month. Nothing like a full practice, but Smith said the team has been able to be around each other as far as a scheduled regiment goes, so he’s optimistic that cohesiveness will allow the Beavs to ease in to this ramp-up period with little to no issues.

Coaches around the conference lobbied for a full six-weeks as opposed to just four, and Smith was very happy about that decision. He feels that six weeks is the perfect amount of time to have the team ready for Pac-12 competition.

2. The Pac-12 didn’t work off anyone else’s timeline but their own

-> While the Pac-12 has received a lot of negative press for how it’s handled the postponement and restart over the past several months, I do have to give them kudos for all being on the same page each time and sticking to no one else’s timetable than their own.

Sure, there could be some potential ramifications from waiting to play as long as they did, but they’ll be the conference that can hold their heads high once we’re through this current pandemic for being the only conference that always put player health and safety at the top of their priority list.

Hearing UO President Michael Schill say the decision to return wasn’t about money somewhat rings hollow in my opinion, but regardless, I don’t believe it was their sole objective.

The health and safety of the student-athletes was always the No. 1 priority for this conference and whether or not you agree with the outcomes and ramifications of taking that firm stance, you have to respect the fact that they never went away from making sure everyone was healthy during this pandemic first and foremost.

3. Playing a seven-game schedule will allow OSU to collect television revenue

-> While the top brass at the Pac-12 didn’t have a ton to say about the potential positive revenue shift in the wake of the season being back on line, but Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes did.

He noted that he hasn’t yet had the time to dive into the exact specifics, but that playing a seven-game schedule would allow the conference to collect nearly all of the TV revenue from ESPN and Fox.

When the season was postponed back in August, Barnes said that if football didn’t happen this year, the revenue loss for OSU would be roughly north of 50 million dollars. If the games were able to be played and the tv revenue collected, the Beavers would then just have the loss of revenue from the home games not having attendees which is closer to the 15-20 million dollar range.

While final figures haven’t yet been ironed out, being able to collect the television revenue for a relatively small athletic department like Oregon State is a life raft in this current climate.

Two Questions

1. What will the next six weeks look like?

-> While we have a rough blueprint of what the next six weeks are going to be based on Smith saying the first two would be ramp up and the final four would be closer to a typical training camp.

What I’m curious about is what will this exactly look like? It hasn’t been explicitly stated, but I anticipate having no in-person presence at any sort of practice this year, so it’ll really be in-house in terms of what happens and what goes on.

2. How will the schedule shake out?

-> Arguably the most important piece of information yet to be released by the Pac-12, all eyes are going to be on the conference as the schools and fans alike wait to see which games and teams they draw.

What we do know is that it’s going to be a seven-game schedule that features matchups with everyone in your division, followed by one cross-over game with a team from the opposing division. Then, all teams will re-seeded in the final week for the last contest.

That means Oregon State will play Oregon, Washington, Washington State, Cal, & Stanford from the north, and then will have two teams from the south that are still to be determined.

All in all, this schedule will likely be quite different than the one that was released prior to the postponement, so I’m excited to see how it all shakes out.

One Prediction

Oregon State's proactive approach to fall camp will boost overall player health

-> One of the most important pieces of information that Smith noted in his press conference was that the Beavers and the Pac-12 schools at large were very concerned with the massive number of NFL injuries in week two.

Because of this potentially being correlated to the NFL having shaken up it’s offseason and preseason schedule, the Beavers are going to take an overly cautious approach in regard to player health over the next six weeks.

Smith says there’s a fine line between getting your guys ready for the physical rigors of the game and making sure you’re not pushing too hard. Especially this year, with a lot of the off-season training not being what it typical is.

With all that being said, player health was one of the first things on my mind when the Pac-12 announced a restart because it’s been a long time since the players were pad-to-pad in the trenches.

Oregon State is very aware of the potential injuries that could happen if they don’t handle the ramp up and practices properly following such a massive off-time, and they’re taking concrete steps to ensure they’ll be putting their student-athletes in the best spot to return to the field in full health.