Beaver Redemption

It's never a good thing to be the team that plays an opponent the week after said opponent suffers a disastrous loss.  Pity the USC Trojans!  Not only did the Trojans have this going against them, USC also has not won the last three times they've played the Beavers in Reser Stadium.  Most famously, in 2008, the Beavs beat then-No. 1 USC at home in Reser, a giant upset.

Roger and I are bundled up for the game

With that in mind, Saturday night's football game vs USC promised to be exciting.  I again traveled to Corvallis for our 3rd of three games in the ticket series.  The weatherman forecasted cold temps (but thankfully no rain!) so Roger and I bundled up before we headed to the stadium.

The OSU band waits for the team to take the field

Denise's ticket was in the student section again.  All of her friends were busy that night, so she was sitting by herself.  We promised to let her know of any empty seats near us, hopeful she could join us at halftime.

Football action near the end zone

After last week's blowout loss to WSU, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I was afraid the Beavs would give a repeat performance.  But when the team took to the field, they had their game faces on.  A couple of plays later, I could tell we had our old team back.  The Beavs scored a field goal, turned an interception into a touchdown, and  scored one more touchdown before the end of the second quarter.  The score was 17-0 when the band took the field for the halftime show.

The band's halftime show

As a former band mom, I love to watch marching bands perform.  The OSU band came out and entertained us with some lively music and interesting marching drill.  Then the band stood in place and played a portion of the "1812 Overture." The music was quiet, the band didn't move, and I commented to Roger that this wasn't much of a college halftime performance.  It was kind of boring.

The band played "The 1812 Overture," complete with fireworks!

Oh, but the band had a couple of tricks up its sleeve!  All of a sudden a loud BOOM erupted from two cannons.  That woke up the crowd!  Then fireworks began to soar skyward, bursting into glittering light.  What began as a quiet, sleepy performance finished as a loud, crowd-pleasing show.

Denise joined us after halftime

We ended up with empty seats on either side, so we texted Denise and invited her to sit with us.  Denise found us at the beginning of the third quarter.  So our family ended up together after all!

Family self portrait, courtesy of Denise

The second half of the game was just as exciting.  There were more touchdowns, a field goal, a bad call, (against the Beavs) and a USC score.  The crowd was really into the game. Their enthusiasm was contagious.  It's much more fun to be cheering when you're surrounded by fired-up fans.

The ESPN cameraman kept getting in our field of view

The game was broadcast on ESPN.  Every once and awhile, they'd wheel a cameraman on a elevated platform in front of our section.  He kind of blocked our view, but luckily didn't linger very long in any one place.

End zone celebration after another OSU touchdown

Our seats for this game were in front of the north end zone.  We had excellent views when the action moved towards this side of the field.  We got to see the Beavs score a couple of touchdowns right in front of us!

RRRRRR!!!  Third down chainsaw!!

In Reser Stadium, they broadcast a chainsaw noise during the opponent's third down.  Only last week, did I notice the cute graphics on the jumbo-tron that accompany the chainsaw.  This week I thought to take a photo.

This would be the final score.  Yahoo!

The Beavs completed their final touchdown with two minutes left of the game.  This made the score 36-7 OSU, which was the game final. 

Beaver fans storm the field after an important win

Beavs win!!!  As time expired, overjoyed fans stormed the field.

During the final minutes of the game, the crowd began to chant "beat the Ducks!"  The Civil War is two weeks away.  After last week's game, I figured the Ducks would kill us in the Civil War.  But if the Beavs play the way they did tonight, I think we might stand a chance.

GO BEAVS!!


:)