Levitre at combine

Andy Levitre turned in the ninth best vertical jump at 30.5 inches and the fifth best 20-yard shuttle time among offensive linemen.

For updates on Oregon State player performances visist NFL.com.

Oregon State’s Yankee Stadium connection

(Found this in my draft folder.  I wrote it last year)

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Yankee Stadium is being closed at the end of this year (2008).  Stories abound from young and old alike in realation to the stadium. 

Heck, I even have one (I attended a three game series between the Red Sox and Yankees where a friend and I sat in the bleachers…wearing Red Sox gear in a sea of blue and gray fanatics.  We got a picture back and lo and behold it’s my friend and I, with Yankee Stadium in the background and a big middle finger from a Yankee fan.  Now that’s good stuff), but I bet you didn’t know that Oregon State has a Yankee Stadium connection.

After head coach Tommy Prothro helped guide his team to a 6-3-1 record that included a schedule with four nationally ranked teams Oregon State College was invited to play in the inaugural Gotham Bowl to be held in Yankee Stadium.

The team wasn’t expecting to receive a bowl bid as just one assistant coach and a student helper was on campus when the invitation was extended.  The rest of the coach staff were gone on recruiting trips.

The two accepted the bid with the game to be played on Dec. 10.  When Gotham Bowl director Robert M. Ready was asked by OSC Athletic Director “Spec” Keene who the opponent would probably be, Ready replied that they were going to invite Holy Cross.

For unknown reasons Ready renigged on their deal with Holy Cross and invited the Colorado Buffaloes, who politley declined saying they had too many injuries and their 6-4 record didn’t deserve a bowl bid.  Kind of ironic considering the state of today’s bowl game qualifications.

With Colorado not accepting the invitation Ready quickly re-invited Holy Cross, who rejected the offer feeling slighted.

Due to the scheduling nightmare Keene pulled the Beavers out of the game stating in his telegram:  “We were honored to receive the invitation…but information received since that time indicates preparations are incomplete…and perhaps plans for the year are premature. For this reason, Oregon State regretfully withdraws from the Gotham Bowl. REF: http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/eclips/newsletter/index_20051123.html“

As a result, the inaugural Gotham Bowl was called off.

The Gotham Bowl was played twice though with Utah State defeating Baylor in 1961 and Nebraska beating Miami in 1962 for its first bowl win.  If your interested in reading more about the Gotham Bowl, the New York Times has a nice piece on it.

Oregon State Super Bowl connections….there are several

AT FIRST GLANCE there doesn’t seem to be any connections to Oregon State and the two teams playing in Super Bowl XLII, but there are actually quite a few, although I am stretching on some of them.

• Ryan Delvin is a video intern for the Arizona Cardinals. Devlin graduated from Linefield in McMinnville, OR.   Jay Locey coached at Linfield where Devlin got his start helping Locey’s teams. Locey is the current assistant coach at Oregon State.
• Troy Polamalu is one of Pittsburgh’s starting safeties. Polamalu played at USC in college. USC plays in the same conference as Oregon State. Polamalu’s father, Joe, played at Oregon State from 1986-88.
• President Barack Obama will be rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Obama is the brother in law of current Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson whose team is on a four game winning streak.
• Pittsburgh Steeler’s trainer Ariko Iso, the only woman to work as a full-time trainer in the NFL, is an Oregon State graduate.
• Arizona starting left guard Mike Gandy played college ball at Notre Dame. Gandy started on the 2001 Fiesta Bowl team which the the Beavers defeated on New Year’s Day.

Remember Dutch Baughman?

He was Oregon State’s athletic director in the late 90’s and is now the exeutive director of the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association.

Baughman is quoted in this article about the esculating salaries of assitant coaches depsite the country being in a recession.

FYI – After Baughman came Mitch Barnhart, who is now the AD at Kentucky, from 1998-2002 and then Bob De Carolis in Aug., 2002 to current.

More notes on Levitre, Lewis at Senior Bowl practices

From DraftBoardInsider.com on Levitre: “Oregon State OL Andy Levitre takes on NIU DE Larry English, probably the last time these guys will ever line up against each other.  Levitre’s game is on the interior and English is the closest thing to a pass rusher in the mold of Colts Dwight Freeney on this field, and it showed with English using his speed to the outside on the first snap, and like Freeney, after biting outside, Levitre gets beat when English spins back to the inside.  Levitre taking on Illinois DL Will Davis and the results are a much more even exchange.”

 

From NOLA.com on Lewis:   “Oregon State’s Keenan Lewis has flashed good skills for the North squad. Lewis, the subject of my column in Friday’s editions of The Times-Picayune, is a New Orleans native with excellent size (6-1, 198), speed and agility. He could be a solid pick in the third round. Harris isn’t the fastest corner out there but he has excellent instincts. He made two interceptions in Thursday’s practice. Plus, he’s got a cool name, it sounds like a football player’s name.

Accomplishments in 2008

Straight from the OSU Sports Information department:

• Won its fifth consecutive bowl game – second-longest streak in the nation.
• Finished No. 18 in AP and No. 19 in USA Today Polls – one of 10 programs to be in the AP Top-25 in each of the last three seasons (USC, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia Tech, BYU, Penn State, Ohio State, Georgia).
• Tied for the most Pac-10 Academic Selections in the Pac-10 (15).

• Mike Riley is now 5-0 in bowl games as a head coach, only Howard Schnellenberger (Florida Atlantic/Miami) has more wins (6) without a loss for active coaches.
• Riley third-winningest coach in OSU history with 56 victories.
• Riley earned his first Pac-10 Coach of the Year honor.
• Riley is under contract through 2015 season.
• 22-5 (82%) in games played in October, November and December over last three seasons.
• Eight bowl games in last 10 years - tied with USC for second-most in the Pac-10 during that time frame.
• First seven-game Pac-10 win streak ever.
• Beat No. 1 USC - one of only 10 teams to beat a top-ranked team when unranked since 1988.
• Finished higher than Pac-10 media predicted in each of the last three years.
• Reser Stadium record average attendance at 44,931.
• OSU had the Pac-10s leading receiver (Sammie Stroughter) and tackler (Greg Laybourn)
• Defensive end Victor Butler broke the single season OSU record for sacks (12) and tackles for loss (21.5).
• Played three BCS bowl teams and had one of the toughest schedules – 8 bowl teams in 13-game schedule.
• OSU had the second-most Pac-10 Players of the Week (8).
• OSU is 6-4 over the last 10 games against top-25 teams.
• 48 wins since 2003 – when Mike Riley returned
• Three of the Pac-10s top-11 rushers in the history of the league.
• 19 of the 20 seniors on the 2008 team have or will graduate by the end of spring term.
• ESPN GameDay features three times during the season.
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Team of the Week after USC win
• Jacquizz Rodgers first freshman ever to be named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.
• Jacquizz Rodgers and Andy Levitre earned All-America honors.
• Every game on live national television – first time ever.
• Pac-10 won the Bowl Challenge Cup (ESPN) by going 5-0. The Conference is second for all-time winning percentage in BCS bowl games at .692 – the SEC is .706.
• Oregon State has a .667 (8-4) bowl winning percentage – third among teams that have played in at least 10 bowl games – Utah (.786/11-3) and Toledo (.700/7-3).
• Victor Butler, Brandon Hughes, Sammie Stroughter and Al Afalava are playing in the East-West Game.
• Keenan Lewis and Andy Levitre are playing in the Senior Bowl.
• Team ranked fourth in the nation and first in the Pac-10 for sacks and tackles for loss per game.