The 1940 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State College—now known as Oregon State University as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1940 college football season. Led by eighth-year head coach Lon Stiner, the Beavers compiled an overall record of 5–3–1 with a mark of 4–3–1 in conference play, placing third in the PCC. Oregon State scored 128 points and allowed 80 points on the season. The team played home games at Bell Field in Corvallis, Oregon.
The 1940 Oregon State squad finished the season ranked at No. 36 (out of 697 college football teams) under the Litkenhous Difference by Score system for 1940 and at No. 51 according to the Azziratem System favored by Illustrated Football Annual magazine.
Schedule
Rankings
Background The 1940 college football season marked the 46th year of competition for Oregon State College (OSC) — formerly known as Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) and known today as Oregon State University (OSU). The season was the eighth led by head coach Lon Stiner (1903–1985). It was also the final year of limited substitution in the NCAA, under which a player removed from the game for a replacement was lost to his team for the duration of the quarter by rule.Walter R. Okeson (ed.), The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide, 1941: With the Official Rules. New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1941; p. 226. N.B. This fundamental change would be briefly reversed for economic reasons by the NCAA in 1953.
The Beavers were coming off a highly successful 1939 season, crowned by a resounding 39–6 victory over the University of Hawaii in the Pineapple Bowl on New Years Day, with the team making its triumphant return to the port of San Francisco aboard ship on January 12, 1940."Beaver Football Team Now in San Francisco," Corvallis Gazette-Times, Jan. 12, 1940, p. 7. The 1940 team was heavily hit by graduations, however, with the leather helmets of two ends, three tackles, and two guards giving way to the mortarboard in June.Charles O. Voight, "Beavers May Make Trouble: Forward Wall Strong as Last Year's," Bend Bulletin, Sept. 19, 1940, p. 6.
Head coach Stiner announced a full slate of 30 spring practices, as permitted under Pacific Coast Conference rules, in preparation for the fall 1940 campaign."College Gridders Open Spring Drills," Eugene Guard, March 28, 1940, p. 14. The six weeks of spring practices were to be culminated with a full intersquad game, Stirner announced.
Preparation for the 1940 season began in earnest on September 12, with just 39 players showing up for two-a-day practices in an attempt to make the team."39 Beavers Out for Fall Season: Heavy Work at Once is Dished Up by Coach Lon Stiner," Corvallis Gazette-Times, Sept. 12, 1940, p. 7. In addition to having to face a small number of participants,United Press, "Football Tabs," Klamath Falls Evening Herald, Sept. 14, 1940, p. 10. Stiner expressed misgivings about having too many "green" players to justify the top ranking ventured by some preseason analysts, but hoped that with further development the team would eventually merit such consideration.
A preseason pundit writing for Illustrated Football Annual touted two Beaver seniors as potential stars who were "ripe for recognition from All-America pickers."Braven Dyer, "The Pacific Coast," in Eddie Dooley (ed.), Football Illustrated Annual, 1940. New York: Fiction House, 1940; p. 77. These were tackle Vic Sears, who "dishes out a terrific exhibition of football every time he goes into action," and fullback Jim Kisselburgh, reckoned as "one of the best all-around backfield men of the (Pacific Coast Conference) circuit." Both of these players would later be selected in the 1941 draft by teams of the National Football League (NFL)."1941 NFL Draft," Pro Football Reference, www.pro-football-reference.com/
Game summaries Idaho Oregon State began the 1940 season in style with a resounding 41–0 shutout victory over the Idaho Vandals at Bell Field in Corvallis. The Beaver victory was the most lopsided in 27 years of gridiron competition between the schools.Dick Strite, "OSC Romps Over Hapless Vandals: Beavers Run Wild to Score Convincing Win," Eugene Guard, Sept. 29, 1940, p. 15.
A crowd of 6,500 watched OSC score twice in the first quarter — once on a 56-yard scoring drive and again two minutes later on a 76-yard fake punt. The Beavers made effective use of a 6-2-2-1 base defense, adjusting to a five-man front in passing situations, in holding the visitors to a net of -7 yards in total offense. Senior fullback Jim Kisselburgh led OSC with 105 yards on the ground, while the Beavers went 4-for-6 passing for 33 yards and a touchdown. "The Vandals, using sophomores in key positions, weren't in the same class as Oregon State," one observer noted, adding that Idaho "played poor fundamental football and made repeated mistakes."
USC Thirty-seven year old Lon Stiner — still the youngest head coach in the Pacific Coast ConferenceJ.W. Forrester Jr., "Lon Stiner: Head of the House of Orange," The Pigskin Review: Oregon State vs. Southern California, October 5, 1940, vol. 19. no. 2 (Oct. 5, 1940), p. 5. — led his outnumbered squad to the lion's den on October 5, to do battle with the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. While the contest was not the stuff of legend, as was the 1933 OSC–USC contest in which eleven Beaver "iron men" each played a full 60 minutes in battling the Trojans to a scoreless stalemate, the end result was the same — another zero-zero tie. Southern Cal outgained the visiting Orangemen 298 yards to 236 on the day, but OSC nevertheless managed to provide several "anxious moments" for the 40,000 assembled fans.Rube Samuelsen, "USC, Oregon State Play Scoreless Tie: Late Bid by Troy Falters," Pasadena Post, Oct. 6, 1940, pp. 18-19. As the first half was coming to a close, reserve quarterback Bob Olson flipped a pass to Gene Gray for an apparent touchdown — only to have the play nullified by an offensive off-sides call.
The Beavers also coughed up the ball twice to the Trojans on interceptions inside the USC red zone, once at the 13-yard line and once at the 5. With 90 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, with attrition from substitutions and injuries making itself felt, OSC's Olson was intercepted near midfield. Fourth-string USC quarterback Ray Woods marched the Trojans into position for a game-winning 27-yard chip-shot field goal with seven seconds on the clock — but the kick sailed wide, leaving another 0–0 tie in the books. This marked the fourth time in eight games under Coach Stiner that OSC and USC had battled to a deadlock.
Portland
The Beavers made it three consecutive shutouts to start the 1940 season with a 26–0 drubbing of the University of Portland Pilots on a clear Friday night in front of 6,000 fans at Bell Field in Corvallis."Orangemen Drub Pilots by 26–0 Margin: Third Stringers Star as Beavers Warm Up for Huskies Next Week," Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oct. 12, 1940, p. 7. It was the first night football game played in Corvallis in several years. The home team scored their first points just 2:35 into the first quarter on a fumble recovery, adding a second touchdown before halftime on a 25-yard run by reserve halfback Joe Day."Oregon State's Machine Rolls Over Portland," Oregon Statesman, October 12, 1940, p. 1.
The game was blown open in the fourth quarter with two interception returned for touchdowns, with reserve linebacker Bob Rambo and reserve defensive halfback Frank Chase scoring for the Orangemen on pick-6 returns of 25 and 35 yards, respectively. The game was a sloppy affair, with Oregon State fumbling a mind-boggling ten times, recovering their own drops all but twice. But the Beaver defense was once again wilting, with the visiting Pilots held to just 7 yards gained from scrimmage on the night.
Oregon State substituted with full line-ups, with the starters playing the first and third quarters and a "second deck" of reserves handling matters in the second and fourth periods of play.
Washington
With two wins over lesser opponents and a tie with USC under their belts, the Orangemen headed north to take on the University of Washington Huskies, headed by 11-year veteran coach Jim Phelan. The Beavers arrived hoping to continue a three game winning streak against their opponents from Seattle, highlighted by their 1939 performance, when a squad of just 19 players managed to tame the Huskies, 13–7.Bud Forrester, "Today's Opponents: Beavers," Washington vs. Oregon State, October 19, 1940 [game program], Seattle: University of Washington, 1940, pp. 2, 17. This was not to be OSC's year, however, as the team's Rose Bowl dreams would come crashing down in a 19–0 shellacking in a heavy rain.Gail Fowler, "Huskies Shatter Oregon State Rose Bowl Hopes: Beavers Lose 'Crucial' Tilt," Eugene Register-Guard, Oct. 20, 1940, p. 8.
Fumble-itis returned for OSC, who put the ball on the ground for turnovers four times. With the game scoreless at halftime — making 14 consecutive quarters for the Beavers' defense. Washington came out in the third period highly motivated and ready to play. The "Statue of Liberty" play — already regarded as a hoary relic in 1940 — was dusted off and used with great effect, with halfback Ernie Steele picking up a 23-yard chunk to take the ball to the OSC 17. Three plays later Steele broke an 11-yard run to paydirt through the middle of the OSC line, and the Beavers' scoreless defensive streak was at an end. A mishandled punt snap by Jim Kisselburgh accentuated by a personal foul set up Washington at the one-yard line for an easy touchdown plunge by halfback Dean McAdams.
Desperation passes by the Beavers got the ball to the Washington 31 with a minute remaining — their deepest penetration of the contest — but a Bob Dethman pass was picked off, ending all hope for the visitors. On the final play of the game Washington substitute halfback Gene Walters broke free around end and danced 61-yards to cap the scoring.
UCLA
With the season record sitting at 2–1–1, Oregon State again made the long trip to Southern California to face the UCLA Bruins at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Beavers managed to add to winless UCLA's woes with a 7–0 victory in front of a sparse crowd of 25,000 in the massive sports stadium. The game's sole score came with a 57-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, capped by a 31-yard scoring pass from left halfback Bob Dethman to left end John Leovich.Ronald Wagoner, "Bruins Beaten Again: Oregon State Puts Over Touchdown by Air to Triumph, 7–0," Pasadena Post, Oct. 27, 1940, p. 20. On the play, Leovich grabbed the pass on the 15 and fought his way to paydirt. The play was just one of two OSC completions on the day out of ten attempts. The Beavers outgained the Bruins, 225 yards to 194, and could have extended their lead if they had managed to convert second half field goals attempts of 20 and 30 yards. Kicker Len Younce missed one kick low and the other wide.
Oregon State's "huge line," led by Younce, star tackle Vic Sears, and guard Bill Halverson, "smothered the UCLA backs most of the afternoon," in the words of one local sports reporter. UCLA's star halfback, Jackie Robinson, did manage to break two good runs, however, for 20 and 12 yards respectively — the Bruins' longest-gaining plays of the day. Robinson also connected on a couple throws to sophomore end Milt Smith, later giving up a big interception in his own end of the field.
The game marked the fourth time in five outings that the rugged OSC defense had pitched a shutout.
California
For the first five weeks of the season, Lon Stiner's Orangemen had either shut out their opponents or been shut out, or both. Finally, in the sixth week of a nine week season, Oregon State played a game in which both teams scored points — with the favored Beavers coming out on top.