Ivan Maisel: Riley And The Beavers Face An 'Uphill Fight' This Upcoming Season

To put it mildly, the offseason has not been very kind to the Oregon State Beavers.  If you feel down in the dumps about any adversity that the college football team you root for has faced, check this out.  It may just make you feel a little bit better about things.

Senior WR James Rodgers had his knee taken out playing against Arizona on October 9th of last year, and still hasn't even started to run on his repaired knee.  His little brother, Jacquizz, the unquestionable star of the team, decided to take his talents to the NFL and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons this past weekend.  Star defensive lineman Stephen Paea graduated and was drafted this past weekend as well.  Starting QB Ryan Katz has missed most of spring practice so far with a nagging wrist injury.  And two key returning starters, WR Jordan Bishop and TE Joe Halahuni, are both down and out and likely won't be back until the start of the season in September.

ESPN's Ivan Maisel, as part of his touring around college football, recently spent some time in Corvallis.

Of course, when you're Riley, every down is third-and-long. Oregon State is a little guy in a conference that keeps getting bigger. Disadvantage is as commonplace as raingear around here.....Oregon State football is the guy who lives down the street from the guy who won the lottery. Oregon used to be a regular Joe, too. The two schools used to never stray too far from one another in the basement of the league.

Until recently, the Ducks and Beavers have always been pretty neck and neck as far as winning and success go.  Lately though, the Ducks have taken that next step and joined what you could call college football elite, with programs such as Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Texas, LSU, and Boise State.

In Maisel's article, he contrasts just how different the programs at Oregon and Oregon State are at the present time.

Take last summer, when the Pac-10 season preview for the media concluded after a dinner in Los Angeles. Riley booked a commercial flight for the following morning.

"Why don't you just come back with me in the private plane?" Oregon coach Chip Kelly said.

As he told the story, Riley's lean, angular face broke into a grin.

"The people who unloaded the stuff at the Eugene airport did a double take when I got off the plane after Chip," Riley said. "It was kind of funny. I like him. He's a good guy."

There's no question the Ducks and Beavers are currently on two different levels, both financially and competitively.  The Beavers are now commonly known as Oregon's "little brother".  And part of why Mike Riley is so gall darn likeable is that he's okay with that.  And so are the rest of his coaches.  And, for the most part, his team is okay with it too.  Even the majority of Beaver fans understand and accept the underdog role.

It's hard to pin down where the Beavers will finish at the end of the upcoming season.  There's still a lot of time left before we really have to worry about it, but we don't see last year's 5-7 record as an accurate indication of how good the Beavers will be this year.  Mike Riley's teams always seem to have a knack of making some national and local experts look pretty foolish in their predictions.

Maisel also noted that Riley only needs 6 wins to become the winningest coach in Oregon State history.  We think they'll get those 6 wins for Coach Riley this upcoming season, but anything beyond that, at least at this point, is anything but a lock.