At 8-2 (5-2) on the season, Jonathan Smith has a dam good football team up in Corvallis. The former Oregon State quarterback is doing extraordinary things back leading his alma mater. It may have taken a few years to wash out all that Gary Andersen mess, but these Beavs are utterly fantastic. Although they are not in contention for the College Football Playoff, they can totally win the Pac-12.
Of course, the Beavers have to beat undefeated Washington at home on Saturday, as well as clip arch-rival Oregon in what the cool kids are calling the Strife Aquatic these days the week after that. If Oregon State has the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cougars and Ducks, dam right they are playing for a Pac-12 Championship. A win there absolutely gets this team to a New Year's Six bowl.
That being said, this is sort of feeling like untrodden territory for the Beavers. I mean, they had some great teams not that long ago under Mike Riley and Dennis Erickson before that. Although they have won conference championships before, have the Beavers ever played in the Pac-12 Championship Game? It has not been around all that long, but it has been around long enough for them to get there.
Unfortunately, the Beavers have never been to Las Vegas or Santa Clara before that to play in the conference title bout. They are one of only three teams in the Pac-12 to never accomplish this feat.
Have the Oregon State Beavers ever played in the Pac-12 Championship?
The Pac-12 Championship Game first came into existence in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined the league. The 12-team league was split into two divisions, North and South, with the Beavers obviously in the Pac-12 North. Although the Pac-12 went away with divisions last year, only Oregon, Washington and Stanford ever sent a team to the conference championship game out of the North.
Cal, Oregon State and Washington State never played for a conference title under the previous championship game format. Conversely, all six former members of the Pac-12 South got to play for a league championship in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC and Utah. Last season saw No. 1-seeded USC lose to No. 2-seeded Utah for a second time that season in the title bout in Las Vegas.
To be frank, I don't know if there is a way for Oregon State to get to Las Vegas this year besides winning out. It may take a lot of chaos with either Oregon or Washington losing out. That would require the Ducks falling to Arizona State and Washington losing the Apple Cup to Wazzu. Don't count on either of those situations happening, in addition to the Huskies and the Ducks losing to the Beavers as well.
The last time Oregon State won the Pac-12, Smith played quarterback for Erickson back in 2000. Smith threw the ball to future Cincinnati Bengals legends Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Oregon State went 11-1 that season and 7-1 in Pac-10 play. Their only loss was a three-point defeat to Washington in early October. Oregon State would later throttle poor Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
That team finished No. 4 in the AP Poll. This year's Oregon State team could finish inside the top 10.