This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's .
Please share your thoughts on the matter at on the page.
You are welcome to edit this article, but please do not blank this article or remove this notice while the discussion is in progress. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the .
If you created the article, please don't take offense. Instead, please join the discussion and consider improving the article so that it meets the .
In 1967, the Oregon State University Beavers' football team defeated an Associate Press ranked #1 and #2 and tied another #2. By doing so, they earned the moniker Giant Killers.
Prologue
Oregon State began the 1967 season going 3-2. Things had looked bright after a 3-0 start. However, a late touchdown by University Of Washington in the waning moments of their game cost the Beavers their shot at an undefeated season. The next game, the Beavers, perhaps still smarting from the Washington loss and looking past Brigham Young University to #2-ranked Purdue University , suffered a huge let down against BYU. After the BYU game, the players promised the coaches that they would not lose another game and played their way into immortality.
Oregon State @ #2 Purdue
The players' promise would suffer a major test against the #2 ranked team in the country. Purdue was the reigning Rose Bowl champion and riding a 10-game winning streak. The game was Homecoming in Lafayette, Indiana, where the Boilermakers enjoyed a 10-game home winning streak, as well. The first four games of the season, Purdue had taken down Texas A&M University , #1 University Of Notre Dame (whose only losses that year were to Purdue and the University Of Southern California ), Northwestern University , and Ohio State University , so they were no slouches. The star of their team was Leroy Keyes . Keyes would go on to finish third in Heisman balloting that year behind University Of California At Los Angeles 's Gary Beban and USC's O.J. Simpson . In 1968, he would finish second to O.J. Joining Keyes in the Purdue backfield was quarterback Mike Phipps , who would go on to finish second in the Heisman balloting himself in 1970.
Oregon State got the ball first at their own 18 and wasted no time, marching down the field 82 yards in eight plays for the score. Quarterback, Steve Preece , finished off the drive by throwing a 18-yard touchdown pass to wide open Roger Cantlon . Purdue quickly answered, driving 62 yards in seven plays, to knot the score at 7 less than five minutes into the game. Both defenses then took over. Oregon State went another 18 minutes without having a single first down; Purdue did not score again until the third quarter. The stalemate was broken when the Beavers' Jess Lewis and Jon Sandstrom came up with a fumble on the Boilermaker's 26-yard line. The Beavers got to the nine before they were forced to settle for the field goal. Mike Haggard 's kick was true, and the Beavers walked into the locker room, leading 10-7.
Much as they had done in the first half, Purdue came out firing. They drove 65 yards in six plays to retake the lead, 14-10. Keyes scored the touchdown on a seven-yard scamper. Purdue would not make it past the Beaver 40 the rest of the game. Late in the third quarter, the Beavers' offense came back to life, getting down to the Purdue 15 before having to settle for another Haggard field goal. With 6:35 left in the game, Lewis came up with his second fumble of the ball game at the Boilermaker 30. The Beavers fed the ball to their huge fullback, Bill Enyart , six times in the next seven plays, who blasted through the demoralized Purdue defense. The touchdown came on a four-yard blast by Bill "Earthquake" Enyart himself to put the Beavers up 19-14. The two-point conversion failed, but, with three minutes left and facing the stifiling Beaver defense, Purdue needed a miracle to win. They got their miracle when Haggard flubbed the kickoff, but good fortune quickly became bad as the flubbed kick was mishandled by Purdue, and Oregon State recovered. The Beavers drove down to the Purdue 21, setting up another Haggard field goal. Purdue's last drive failed on the first play, an interception by Mike Groff of Phipps' desparation pass.
Oregon State @ #2 UCLA
The week after the Purdue victory, the Beavers destroyed an outmatched was the head coach of the Beavers before he was hired away by UCLA, so there was a revenge in the Los Angeles air that day.
Early in the first quarter, Oregon State was forced to punt; however, it was bobbled by UCLA. Oregon State recovered at UCLA's 38. Preece went back to pass, then tucked the ball, and scrambled 35 yards on the designed draw. The Beavers then fed Enyart again, who blasted through the Bruin defense in two tries to put the Beavers on top 7-0. There was no scoring for the rest of the quarter, though the Bruins narrowly missed a 42-yard field goal. The quarter ended with the Beavers facing fourth-and-goal at the Bruin's one-yard line. The Beavers naturally gave it to Enyart, but he was stopped six inches short of the goal line. The Bruins, invigorated by the stop, marched 99 yards on 14 plays, capped off by Beban's three-yard keeper to knot the game at 7. The Beavers were unable to put together any offense in the second quarter and their defense was forced to endure the constant barrage of the Bruins' attack. Ultimately, the Bruins came up with two more field goals to take a 13-7 lead into the locker room.
Neither offense was able to put anything together in the third quarter, but late in the quarter, aided by two Bruin personal fouls, the Beavers were able to cobble together a five-play, 48-yard drive, capped off by a 9-yard scamper by Billy Main . Haggard came on for the PAT, but the kick carried a bit to far to the left, bouncing off the left right, no good, leaving the score tied at 13. The Bruins came to life in the fourth, driving 71 yards. There Beaver defenders pounded the Bruin ball carrier. The ball popped out and shot up 20 yards into the air, where the Beavers recovered, ending the Bruin threat. However, an official from the far side of the field ran over to call the play dead at the nine-yard line. Apparently, he had blown the play dead accidentally. The call gave the Bruins the ball back at the nine. The Beavers' defense would stiffen, however, and the Bruins would be forced to settle for the 26-yard field goal. The kick was good to put the Bruins on top 16-13. With just two minutes left and Bruins driving, the Beavers looked doomed, but Mark Waletich picked off a pass at in the end zone to keep the Beavers alive. It took the Beavers just 45 seconds to drive 69 yards down to the Bruins 11, where they faced a fourth-and-five. Dee Andros decided to play conservatively and sent on Haggard, who blocked out his miss on the PAT in the third quarter. The kick was true to knot the game back up at 16. However, the Bruins would not go away, driving down to the Beaver 23. The Bruins lined up for the game-winning field goal but were thwarted when Ron Boley was able to bat down the kick to preserve the tie, ending the Bruins' perfect season. After the game, facing a barrage of questions about the top-ranked (and media-darling) Trojans , Dee "The Great Pumpkin" Andros bellowed out his immortal words, "I'm tired of playing these number two ranked teams. Bring on number one."
#1 USC @ Oregon State
The Trojans coming to Oregon marked the first time the number one ranked team in the country was ever in the state of Oregon. The Trojans were the most dominant team in the conference in the 60s. They finished no worse than second in the decade. They made it to the Rose Bowl four times and won two national championships. 82 Trojans from the 60s were drafted into the NFL, five would make it to the Hall of Fame, and two would win Heisman trophies. The stars of the team, however, were future first overall picks and hall-of-famers: O.J. Simpson and the man most responsible for his holes, Ron Yary , who would go on to win the Outland Trophy that year, as the best lineman in the country. On defense, they started two all-americans in Tim Rossovich and Adrian Young . Their split end, Earl McCullouch , held a world record for hurdling. Their legendary coach, John McKay , guided the Trojans to four national championships in 15 years at USC, winning coach of the year honors twice.
Legendary governors, Tom McCall (though a Oregon alum) and Ronald Reagan, represented their teams in the stands. They even entered into a wager, Ronald Reagan offering up a box of oranges against Tom McCall's freshly caught silver salmon. The game also fell on November 11th, Veteran's Day, so it was well-represented by the military. 10 generals and admirals showed up along with three medal of honor winners, a full contingent of ROTC marching units, and the Air Force Academy Drum and Bugle Corp. The game wound out being a sell out, 41,494 people packing into the 40,000 seat stadium. It was the largest single sports crowd in Oregon's history.
O.J. Simpson started off running twice for 40 yards. However, the Beavers' defense stiffened, only allowing two yards on the next three plays. The Trojans lined up for a 36 yard, which sailed wide right. During the quarter, Simpson amassed 87 yards on 11 carries, but the quarter boiled down to a defensive stalemate, neither team really able to threaten the other. The start of the second quarter, the Trojans missed a golden opportunity. Simpson shook off a tackler at the Trojan 37 and found himself with three blockers with only one Beaver, Mark Waletich to beat. Waiting for his blockers to dispatch with Waletich, Simpson was caught from behind by Jess Lewis after making it to the Beaver 32. Three plays later, the Trojans were faced with fourth-and-two at the Beavers 24. McKay elected to go for it, but Steve Sogge was stuffed by Ron Boley on the keeper for no gain. Later in the second quarter, Sogge ran for what looked like a first down, but the ball popped out and the Beavers recovered at the Trojan 47. The Beavers drove it down to the 11 yard-line. Facing fourth-and-one, the Beavers elected to kick the field goal. Haggard came in and converted the 28 yarder to put the Beavers up 3-0 with 5:02 left. The Beavers forced a three-and-out, and took the ball from their own 40 down to the Trojan 11. Haggard's kick, however, sailed wide right, leaving the score 3-0 Beavers at the break.
Bill Enyart started the second half with a monster run, finding himself with no one left to beat but with a couple Trojans in hot pursuit. A leaping Trojan dove and managed to punch the ball out at the Beaver 19, where it was recovered by Adrian Young . Neither offense managed much of anything well into the fourth quarter. The Trojans managed to cross over the midstripe and made it all the way to the Beaver 42. Then, on third-and-one, Boley blasted through the Trojan lineman into the Trojan backfield taking down Sogge for the loss. The Beavers looked to break open the game on a Charlie Olds punt return, but he was hit and fumbled at the Trojan 35. Just before falling out of bounds, he managed to knock the ball out of bounds. However, the referees ruled that it was intentional and a personal foul, resulting in a 15-yard penalty and a change of possession. The Trojans could not do anything with the opportunity, however, going three-and-out. During the last 44 minutes, the Trojans only generated three first downs and crossed midfield twice. Simpson ended up fumbling away his final carry of the game. Lewis came up with the ball. The Beavers managed their only first downs of the second half to run out the clock and put the Trojans away.
Epilogue
All that was left was the Civil War against the University Of Oregon Ducks. The Ducks took an early 10-0 lead on the Beavers, who were still celebrating the monumental achievement of beating the top-ranked Trojans. However, in the fourth quarter, the Beavers put together an 80-yard drive and a 45-yard drive to beat the the Ducks 14-10 They ended up ranked #7 in the country, having defeated the #1 Trojans, who won the national championship despite the loss. However, they did something that no other team has ever done and no other team will ever do again, they defeated and tied two #2 teams and then defeated a #1 ranked team.
