A couple of weeks ago, when Hawaii opened its season with a victory over Arizona, the Warriors got a small assist from the state troopers in paradise.
The troopers never arrived at Arizona’s team hotel. Mysteriously, the escort was canceled. That threw off the schedule. The team was left to scramble toward the stadium, wading through freeway traffic on its own. And so this is how the Wildcats ended up arriving 45 minutes late for the 2019 season.
It may not be why Arizona lost to Hawaii, or why it trailed 14-0 to start the game. But the island locals will tell you, it’s not the first time this has happened. Long-time rival Fresno State had it happen in a couple of big games at Hawaii as well. Maybe the troopers are football fans.
Oregon State’s veteran director of football operations, Daniel Van De Riet, is likely already tuned into the possible issue. But I asked coach Jonathan Smith about it anyway.
“I know DVD will be on it,” Smith said. “We’ve got to prepare for whatever is going to happen. If they get us safely to the stadium and we have 10 minutes to warm up, I feel confident we’ll be ready to go.”
Great to hear. Because while I hadn’t circled the Hawaii game on the schedule as a “make-or-break” for Oregon State’s season, the more I think about what a victory on Saturday night would do for the Beavers, the more I believe OSU badly needs this one.
The season opener against Oklahoma State is long gone. Oregon is too talented and the Civil War is too far away to qualify as the biggest game.
As I scan the rest of Oregon State’s schedule, there’s the home game vs. Cal Poly (a likely win). There are few conference games (See: Stanford and ASU at home and the game at UCLA) the Beavers will be competitive in. But this week’s visit to Hawaii, a state Smith said he wants to recruit, now feels huge. It just doesn’t get any more important to the Beavers, does it?
A must win?
No.
We’re not there. But I think a big part of Smith’s program trajectory hinges on him getting a few key victories that help fuel the enthusiasm. Every rebuilding program needs them. OSU’s wild comeback at Colorado last season reinforced the message he was preaching. It was a road win in conference play, a feat Smith’s predecessor, Gary Andersen, never even pulled off.
Andersen went 0-11 in conference road games.
Mario Cristobal at Oregon is now 2-3 in Pac-12 road games.
It’s tough to win on the road, period. It’s even more difficult to do it against decent college competition. Arizona found that out on the islands in Week 0 of the season. Now, Oregon State gets a chance at Hawaii in a game that has to have the Pac-12 headquarters a little nervous.
Smith is saying a lot of the right things. His offense looks competitive. His defense looks again abysmal. But the job of a good football coach is to help hide the team’s deficiencies. And I’m curious to see what Oregon State looks like against a Hawaii team that turned the ball over six times and still won the game.
Was the loss to Oklahoma State indicative of what the Beavers will be on defense this season?
“I do think there were some bright spots," Smith said. “We were in the backfield definitely more than last year. We had some guys playing in their first game and hadn’t played in a while. It’s like I told my staff, ‘We’re not going to overreact, but we’re not going to under-react.’”
Smith added: “Oklahoma State, they’re good on offense, I get that, but I thought we made them look way better than they were.”
Oregon State fans may take the fact that I’m calling the game at Hawaii the biggest on the schedule as a slap. It’s not. Last season’s early loss to Nevada was a downer. OSU had the game won. If Smith is going to show proof of progress, winning at Hawaii would be a great place to start.
In fact, it would make the Nov. 2 road game at Arizona feel like another opportunity.
I’m convinced Oregon State isn’t as bad as it looked in Week 1. Maybe I’m missing something, but I think Oklahoma State might just have an elite offense. Also, I’m betting on the Beavers’ coaching staff to foster big-time improvement. But I keep thinking about this Hawaii game and how important it suddenly feels.
I’ll be interested to see whether the police escort shows up.
Also, whether the Beavers do, too.