Oregon State Taking This One Seriously

Oregon State may feel it learned a valuable lesson at bowl time last season, a lesson it expects to use when it takes on Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 in Tempe, Ariz.

“We kind of enjoyed the week before the Oahu Bowl last year, maybe enjoyed it too much,” quarterback Jonathan Smith said. “I don’t think that’ll happen this year. We know we have a job to do.”

It would be understandable if Oregon State was a little giddy before its game against Hawaii--a 23-17 loss, as it turned out--last Christmas Day. It was the first bowl appearance for the Beavers since the 1965 Rose Bowl.

“It might be that, the week before, we played a little hard in Hawaii,” said Greg Newhouse, a Long Beach native and former Chaffey College assistant coach who is one of Oregon State’s assistant coaches. “I know that Coach [Dennis] Erickson has mentioned that to the team.”

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Notre Dame and Oregon State have never played before. Once the Irish face the Beavers, the only Pac-10 team they will not have played is Washington State.