Commentary

The concept is simple.

Win early and let the rest of season fall in place.

It’s no secret that the teams landing BCS bowls win most, if not all, of their games at the start of the season.

Too many losses will leave a team fighting for a bowl berth, no matter how big an improvement it makes as the season wears on.

Stumbling through the first month of the season can erase rankings and lower respect, particularly if a there’s a big TV loss or two.

Few programs are more aware of this than Oregon State.

Slow starts have plagued the Beavers in recent years.

In 2004, the Beavers began the season with a heartbreaker at LSU and lost big at Boise State the next week. Both games were on ESPN. The Beavers started 1-4 and recovered to go 7-5.

In 2005, the Beavers beat Portland State and Boise State at home, but were blown out at Louisville in another ESPN game and lost 42-24 to Arizona State.

In 2006, there was a 2-3 start to overcome, including another ESPN massacre at Boise State and a 41-13 throttling by Cal in Reser Stadium.

Last year the Beavers had their regular ESPN disaster, losing at Cincinnati 34-3. They capped September with losses at Arizona State (44-32) and UCLA in Corvallis (40-14) for another 2-3 start.

“Yeah, the past two years we’ve been like that,” OSU receiver Shane Morales said. “We’ve ended up finishing strong. So I think it’s fair (to say the Beavers have been slow starters), but this is a new year, so we’ll see how it ends up.”

Yes, the Beavers have bounced back. Yes, they’ve won 19 games the past two years and topped them off with bowl wins.

Yes, they were great seasons.

Obviously, a fast start is worthless with a weak finish.

Yet how many 9-4, third-place Pac-10 teams wind up in the Emerald Bowl against an eighth-place team from the ACC?

How many teams finish third in a conference two years running, have gone to seven bowl games in nine years and are consistently picked as an also-ran by the preseason prognosticators?

For the most part, the Beavers have made barely a blip on the national radar.

Those bad early season losses, most often on ESPN in front of a nationwide audience, have been a big contributing factor.

The reasons for the slow starts are difficult to pinpoint. Some years began with the Beavers breaking in a new quarterback. There were defensive breakdowns and loads of turnovers.

Road trips are almost always tough, but the Beavers have shown they can beat good teams in any venue later in the season.

They need to find a way to put it together during the first few weeks.

“You don’t go out and say you want to lose early games, it just happens to have happened that way,” OSU cornerback Brandon Hughes said. “We practice every day to win, so I don’t think that there’s anything that we need to do, it’s just a matter of putting Ws on the board when the time comes to put the W on the board.”

Most early games tend to be nonconference matchups. A few losses aren’t going to cost the Beavers a shot at the Pac-10 title and wins don’t guarantee a good run through the conference. But they definitely help.

Success against strong teams certainly can springboard a team to a great season.

“Starting fast, it’s good for any team,” Hughes said. “It gives you momentum going into the rest of the season and the faster you start, the more confidence the team gains as the season rolls along.

“It’s all about momentum. If your team gets a little momentum behind them, then everything’s a little looser, everyone’s happier, everything’s more exciting.”

This schedule provides a perfect opportunity for the Beavers.

After Thursday’s game at Stanford, there’s a trip to Penn State, home games with Hawaii and Southern California and then Utah in Salt Lake City.

Tough? Of course.

Necessary? Without a doubt.

National recognition only comes to programs unafraid to schedule some big games.

Of course, respect only comes with wins.

The TV cameras will be rolling. If the Beavers can start October with a winning record, they’ll be in a good spot. If they start 5-0, they’ll have the chance to finish out a special season.

Struggle, and there’s always hope for a fast finish.

Kevin Hampton is a columnist and covers Oregon State sports for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at kevin.hampton@lee.net.