2009 Oregon State Football Schedule
Date	Opponent	Result/Time	TV	Record/Tickets	Travel/Lodging
9/5	Portland State	W, 34-7	FSN NW	1-0 (0-0)
9/12	@ UNLV	W, 23-21	CBS C	2-0 (0-0)
9/19	Cincinnati	L, 18-28	FSN	2-1 (0-0)
9/26	Arizona	L, 32-37	Versus	2-2 (0-1)
10/3	@ Arizona State	W, 28-17	Versus	3-2 (1-1)
10/10	Stanford	W, 38-28	FSN	4-2 (2-1)
10/17	BYE
10/24	@ USC	L, 36-42	ABC/ESPN	4-3 (2-2)
10/31	UCLA	W, 26-19		5-3 (3-2)
11/7	@ California	W, 31-14	FSN	6-3 (4-2)
11/14	Washington	W, 48-21		7-3 (5-2)
11/21	@ Washington State	W, 42-10		8-3 (6-2)
11/28	BYE
12/3	Oregon	L, 33-37	ESPN	8-4 (6-3)

Bold denotes Conference Game

Oregon State Beavers 2009 Football Schedule Overview

It took three straight top 25 seasons, but the Beavers are finally being shown some respect. The Pac-10 media voted the Beavers 4th in its pre-season poll, despite major question marks and a smaller group of returning starters. It seems the media won’t be fooled again, though, as Oregon State continually puts itself in contention for the best Pac-10 bowls each season.

The thing that always bites the Beavers is their poor play early. Dismal starts have left the national media unimpressed and turned off to the team’s overall quality. Even though UNLV doesn’t feel like a big game, a win for OSU would be a huge momentum builder for a team that just can’t win in September. 3 of the next 4 after that road game in the desert heat are at home, all against team OSU should beat, though the program has typicall struggled at Arizona State. It seems impossible given past history, but a 5-1 start for this team is not out of the question. Giving how strong the team typically finishes, the Pac-10 would be on notice.

The Beavers will get the national spotlight in a game at USC as the Trojans try to exact revenge for a loss that denied them a national title shot a year ago. It will again shine on the black and orange for the Civil War in December when the Beavers try and make up for the humliation of a 65-38 thrashing that kept them out of the Rose Bowl a year ago.

This team feels like an 8-4 squad, but if they can get rid of their September struggles, 9 wins is realistic. Anything more probably isn’t likely given the schedule that has them at Oregon, Cal and USC, the conference’s consensus top three.