Last time Oregon State and Stanford met...

Oct . 27, 2007 - Oregon State 23, Stanford 6
QB Sean Canfield threw for 142 yards and PK Alexis Serna kicked three field goals in to lead Oregon State to a 23-6 win over Stanford Saturday.

RB Matthew Sieverson ran for 68 yards after replacing injured tailback Yvenson Bernard for the Beavers (5-3, 3-2 Pac-10). Bernard ran for 62 yards before leaving at halftime with a shoulder injury.

Led by linebacker Derrick Doggett, the Beavers' stout run defense held Stanford to 5 yards rushing ... more from BF.com

Last time Stanford played in Palo Alto...
Nov. 18, 2005 - Oregon State 30, Stanford 7

Oregon State and Stanford met late in the season at Palo Alto with the Beavers clinching a winning record and a bowl berth with a 30-7 victory. OSU TB Yvenson Bernard carried the load with 36 rushes for 168 yards to put him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive season.

That dovetailed with a dominant Beaver defense that limited the Cardinal to 12 first downs and 210 yards total offense (85 rushing, 125 passing) and posted five second half QB sacks to keep Stanford at bay ... more from BF.com

Last time Stanford played...
Dec. 1, 2007 at Stanford, CA - Stanford 20, California 13
California bottomed out in the Big Game, and Stanford was left holding The Axe.

T.C. Ostrander passed for 151 yards and an early touchdown to Mark Bradford, and Stanford snapped its five-game losing streak against Cal with a 20-13 victory, the Golden Bears' sixth loss in seven games during an incredible collapse by the former No. 2 team.

Nick Sanchez intercepted two passes in the 110th Big Game for the Cardinal (4-8, 3-6 Pac-10), who earned its first home conference victory under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh ... more from GoStanford.com

Last time Oregon State played...
Dec. 28, 2007 - Oregon State 21, Maryland 14
Yvenson Bernard and James Rodgers couldn't be stopped, and Oregon State's defense never let Maryland get started.

Bernard rushed for 177 yards and a touchdown in his final college game, and Oregon State pounded out a 21-14 victory over Maryland on Friday night in a rain-soaked Emerald Bowl.

James Rodgers rushed for 115 yards, caught an early TD pass and recovered Bernard's fumble for the second half's only score as the Beavers (9-4) won their fourth consecutive bowl game under coach Mike Riley and snapped Ralph Friedgen's three-game postseason winning streak at Maryland ... more from BF.com

Series history (Stanford leads 47-24-3, 23-14-1 in Oregon, 17-12-1 in Corvallis, 24-10-2 in California).
Stanford and Oregon State have met 74 times dating to 1919 with the Cardinal leading the series 47-24-3.  Stanford has had more success vs. Oregon State (.664 winning percentage) than any other team in the Pac-10. 

Stanford leads the series in California 24-10-2.  But the Beavers have won six of the last seven, eight of the last eleven and the last three in Stanford Stadium. The Cardinal's last victory (20-17) was in 2005 in Corvallis.

From 1969-95, Stanford went 23-3-1 vs. Oregon State; since then, the Cardinal are 3-8 vs. the Beavers. In those three wins, Stanford has won by margins of three (27-24 in 1997), four (21-17 in 1999) and three (20-17 in 2005).

Part of the recent success in the series for Oregon State has been its ability to stop the Cardinal rushing game. Over the last five contests, Stanford has averaged 40.4 yards on the ground, including minus-8 last season and one in 2004.

Some quick notes about games with Stanford:

• Oregon State's 23-3 victory in 1998 was Mike Riley's first Pac-10 win.
• The last time a Beaver football player blocked a field goal was in 2007 against Stanford by LB Derrick Doggett.
• The last time a lineman scored a touchdown was in 2005 against Stanford by Jeff Van Orsow.
• The 2005 victory by Stanford in Reser Stadium helped keep the Beavers from postseason play.

Stanford connections.
Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback for the San Diego Chargers when Oregon State head coach Mike Riley was leading the team. Harbaugh played 21 games during the 1999 and 2000 seasons for Riley, passing for 18 touchdowns and 4,177 yards.

Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh will face his son, Jay Harbaugh, this Thursday. Jay is a freshman (undeclared major) at Oregon State and is on the coaching staff as a student assistant.

Jay became acquainted with Mike Riley when Jim was the quarterback for Riley with the San Diego Chargers during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Stanford fullback Owen Marecic played his prep ball at Jesuit High School where he earned All-State honors while being named Oregon Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

Rise and shine!
This is the first time the Beavers have started the season on the road since traveling to LSU to open 2004 — the Tigers were the 2003 co-national champions (USC). The Beavers lost 22-21 as Alexis Serna missed three extra points, his only extra point misses of his career.

For the first time since the 1994 season (Arizona State, a 22-16 loss) the Beavers begin the year with a Pac-10 Conference road game. The last time the Beavers won a conference opener on the road was in 1989 with a 20-16 victory over Stanford.

The Beavers have opened its season against the Cardinal on two other occasions. In 1939, the Beavers shutout Stanford, 13-0 in Palo Alto and in 1967, Stanford dropped a 13-7 decision to Oregon State in Corvallis.

Stanford has lost its last two season openers but have a 5-3 season opening record dating back to the 2000 season. Oregon State has won four of its last five season openers under Mike Riley; all four wins were at home, the lone loss on the road.

Tough schedule.
Phil Steele’s Preview selected the team’s schedule the fifth-most difficult — Washington is rated with the most difficult and UCLA the sixth-hardest.

The 2008 home schedule features five of six games against ’07 bowl participants (USC, Hawai’i, Arizona State, California and Oregon). The three non conference opponents for the Beavers combined for a 30-9 record in 2007.

Oregon State is the only “Big Six” team that opens with back-to-back road games. The other Football Bowl Subdivision schools that open with two consecutive road games are Akron, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Northern Illinois, Ohio University, Toledo, Troy, Tulsa and Utah State.

The Beavers have not opened the season with two road games since 2004 when they traveled to LSU and Boise State during the opening weeks of the season; the team lost both tilts.

Road warriors.
Oregon State has won three of its last four road games within the league, including at No. 2 California and No. 18 Oregon last season. In fact, OSU has fared well in conference away games, posting an 11-6 mark over the last four years.

The Beavers have won their last seven games in the Bay Area, four straight at Cal and three straight at Stanford - the last loss was in 1999 at Stanford.

On the plus side.
Over the last 49 games, Oregon State is 21-2 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 6-14 when committing more turnovers and 3-3 when even. Since 2001 the Beavers have forced the sixth-most turnovers in the nation with 203, trailing USC (237), Virginia Tech (214), Washington State (209), Oklahoma (208) and West Virginia (208).

Sibling rivalry...to the fifth degree.
Last year a website called College Football Live! chose the Oregon State program as the most family-friendly program in the country. Since then OSU’s family atmosphere has gone to an entirely new level. In 2008, five sets of brothers — Krebs’ (Kameron & Kaulin), Norris’ (Slade & Zane), Pankey’s (Keith & Kevin, who are twins), Rodgers’ (Jacquizz & James) and Watkins (Anthony & Brian) — practice with and against each other each day.

In addition, Brennan Sim’s father, Tim, starred for the Beavers in 1978, ‘81 & ‘82 AND Bryant Cornell’s brother, Jared, and Will Darkins’ brother, Andy, are also former OSU letterwinners ... in addition to all of the similar names, there are four other sets of guys who share the same last name but bear no family connection — Henderson (Marcus & Patrick), Johnson (Chris & Grant), Perry (Jeremy & Marcus) and Ross (David & Rory).

Additional notes.

• OSU had the most first and second team All-Pac-10 Conference members in the league in 2007.
  
  
• The Beavers have played in seven bowl games in nine years — the third-most over that period in the Pac-10.
  
  
• Mike Riley has never lost a bowl game as a coach — 4-0 at OSU and 3-0 as offensive coordinator at USC.
  
  
• Oregon State enters the season having won seven of its last eight games with the lone loss on the road to USC.
  
  
• 2008 marks the first time since 1989 that Oregon and Oregon State have opened the season with Pac-10 Conference games.
  
  
• Oregon State is 41-6 when it leads after three quarters with Mike Riley as the head coach. Starting with the 2004 season, the Beavers are 27-2 (losses to LSU - 04 & UCLA - 07) when they head into the fourth quarter with the lead.
  
  
• Oregon State outscored its opponents 134-30 in the first quarter in 2007 and over the last 22 games has a margin of 214-54 in the opening period. Oregon and Maryland (2) were the only teams to score touchdowns in the first quarter in ‘07.
  
  
• The Beavers posted 6-3 Pac-10 records the last two years.
  
  
• Mike Riley has won five of his last nine games vs. top-25 opponents.
  
  
• 43 letterwinners, including 24 on offense, 18 on defense and one specialist including 20 returning starters, nine on offense and 11 on defense, return for the Cardinal.
  
  
• Stanford was the least penalized team in the conference last year.