Oregon State Still Has Questions Heading Into The Season

EL PASO, TEXAS – DECEMBER 29: Head coach Trent Bray of the Oregon State Beavers looks on during warmups before the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Beavers at Sun Bowl Stadium on December 29, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)

By 750 THE GAME STAFF

Oregon State has been in a state of uncertainty over the past two years or so. Where would they be playing? Who’s going to coach the team? Who’s going to play on the team? Now that the Beavers know they will have a Mountain West schedule while being in the Pac-2, we can start to look ahead to the actual games on the field.

I-5 Corridor’s Tyson Alger joined the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano and talked about what he thinks is going to be the biggest issue for the Beavers. The big problem is Alger doesn’t know if there’s a solution to the problem.

“I think quarterback play is going to be an issue for them,” Alger said on 750 The Game. “They had a rare year of stability last year with DJ (Uiaglelei) at quarterback, and while he wasn’t necessarily the perfect five star prospect that some people thought he was coming into Clemson, he was very effective, very physical veteran quarterback. There wasn’t anything that stood out at that spring game, and I know we have talked ad nauseum about the atmosphere of that spring game. You know from an Oregon State fan perspective I didn’t see anything specific from any of the quarterbacks that really makes me go this is what I want to get behind.”

No matter who is the quarterback there is going to be the issue where the team needs them to play well quickly.

“Unfortunately for them it gets real tough in week three in that Oregon game, that Civil War game, that early in the season,” Alger said. “That could be quite the mismatch if they don’t have a solid foundation.”

What is the real expectations for this Beavers team? They lost their coach, quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end, and that’s only the offense. Alger thinks the expectations are going to be less than they have been the past couple of seasons.

“Five wins? Six wins? I think if they can get that team back to a bowl game I think that would be a huge win for them. Any sort of thing where they can stake their claim and get some eyeballs on the program. I think you have to better than the schedule that you’re competing against. You have to prove that you belong as the outlier to the Mountain West. You and Washington State have to be that much better then the teams you are playing against. I think it’s really ahrd to gauge success of what this team is going to look like when there’s been so much turnover this offseason.”

Listen to the full interview with Tyson Alger by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.