Last week, the Beaver football team earned their first home win at Reser Stadium in a dominant 55-7 win over the UC Davis Aggies.
The matchup against UC Davis marked the first game with the new west side of Reser, which had undergone $162 million in renovations. The project was completed prior to the start of the Beavers 2023 football season.
The win over UC Davis was also the most points scored by Oregon State in a home game in the tenure of head football coach Jonathan Smith.
The Beavers stayed stagnant in the Associated Press college football top-25 rankings at No. 16 but moved up to No. 17 in the coach’s poll after their win against UC Davis.
The game between the No. 16 Oregon State Beavers (2-0) and the San Diego State Aztecs (2-1) will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.
The Beavers and Aztecs are meeting for the first time since 2014, in the matchup the Beavers walked away with a 28-7 win at home. The Beavers have won the last three meetings against San Diego State and Oregon State leads the all-time series 3-2 against the Aztecs.
The Beavers enter this week with a nearly healthy roster ahead of their matchup against the Aztecs. Both wide receiver Anthony Gould and inside linebacker Calvin Hart are expected to play after missing last week due to injury.
“He’s chomping at the bit, Anthony is a guy that you have to protect from himself,” said Oregon State wide receiver coach Kfense Hynson. “He’ll run until he can’t and so you have to protect him from himself and as a coach that’s our job, he wants to play and I’m excited for him and he’ll get an opportunity to this week.”
Gould missed the game against UC Davis due to an undisclosed injury suffered in practice. Hart missed time due to recovery from a stinger suffered against San Jose State in week one of the 2023 season.
“Feeling confident that this weekend he’ll be good to go, final call by the end of the week, projected to be fine unless we take a turn for the worse,” Smith said.
Oregon State kicker Everett Hayes continues to deal with a groin issue and has not seen any action the past two weeks. If an injury occurs to starting kicker Atticus Sappington, then punter Max Walker would be the backup if Hayes can’t play.
The only new injury for Oregon State this week is a high ankle sprain to defensive back Jack Kane. According to Smith, Kane likely won’t play in the matchup against San Diego State.
The matchup also has some familiar faces on the San Diego State sideline for Beavers fans as SDSU head coach Brady Hoke coached Oregon State’s defensive line and inside linebackers in 1989 and 1991-94. Aztecs defensive line coach, Bojay Filimoeatu, served as a defensive quality control coach for the Beavers back in 2016.
“I know Brady Hoke well and he’ll have those guys ready to play, they’re a physical group and play with pride and we know we have a challenge ahead of us,” Smith said.
The Aztecs enter this week coming off a 35-10 loss to the University of Los Angeles California Bruins. Oregon State has their full attention on being well-prepared for the Aztecs on Saturday.
“I thought they looked good on tape, they can go toe to toe physically on both sides of the line of scrimmage with anyone and they got our respect and attention,” Smith said. “Schematically and defensively they give you a lot of movement at the line of scrimmage and challenge you in the back end. So that’s what we have seen on tape.”
The Aztecs have a 7-5 record against PAC-12 teams and have plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball that can pose challenges for the Beavers.
“You’re not going into anything worried about the competition, competition is going to be who they are and they’re going to be good,” said Oregon State Cornerbacks Coach Anthony Perkins. “We’ve got to lock in and hone into what we do, we just have to compete, and I’m not worried about who we’re playing. We just have to be the best at what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Aztecs quarterback Jalen Mayden threw for 169 yards and a touchdown in their loss against the Bruins and has thrown three touchdowns passes on the season. Mayden has also rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns in the past two games for the Aztecs.
San Diego State tight end Mark Redman has 102 receiving yards and two touchdowns so far in the 2023 season for the Aztecs.
On the defensive side of the ball, Aztecs linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu leads San Diego State in tackles with 18, and four tackles for loss. Aztecs cornerback Cedarious Barfield through two games has 15 tackles and two interceptions.
For the Beavers, they look to improve to 3-0 in non-conference play for the second consecutive season. The Beavers won all their non-conference games back in the 2022 season.
Oregon State also looks to win seven straight games for the first time since 2000, when Smith was the quarterback of the Beavers.
For the Aztecs, they look to bounce back after their loss to UCLA the week prior and have a win under their belt before Mountain West Conference play.
The Beavers also look to have another win under their belt before they travel on the road to Pullman, Washington against Washington State University to open PAC-12 Conference play.
