Oregon State Football Season Staff Predictions

With the Oregon State football team preparing to kick off the 2025 season against the Cal Bears on August 30th at Reser Stadium, BeaversEdge gathers our staff and gives you our season predictions for this year’s Beaver squad!

Making predictions are Publisher Brenden Slaughter, Senior Writer Ryan Harlan, Recruiting Analyst Dylan-Callaghan Croley, and writer Brogan Slaughter!

BeaversEdge Oregon State Season Staff Predictions

Why We Think Oregon State Will Finish With X-Wins

Brenden – Coming off a 5-7 campaign, I might be a little out over my skis thinking that Oregon State could be in the range of nine wins, but I think it’s entirely possible with how the team has rebuilt over the offseason.

Looking at the schedule, the only two games that you don’t feel great about are the road matchups with Tech and Oregon. Cal, being a power-four team to open the year, is a little iffy too, but I still give the Beavers the narrowest of edges in the opener. Houston is another 50-50 game that I went with the Beavers in, but I still feel good about their chances to bounce back after two potential losses.

App State is a potential landmine game, but the Mountaineers are going through a coaching change/rebuild, and I still give the Beavs the edge there as well. Sam Houston and Tulsa should also be wins for the Beavers, and then the home-and-home with Washington State, which I see the Beavs and Cougs splitting.

All in all, I think there’s some ambiguity here, as I could see anywhere from 6-10 wins depending on how the season shakes out, how opponents look, team health, etc., but there’s no question I see the Beavers getting back to the postseason. Now just how good a postseason destination that is will be the question…

Dylan – This is a tough schedule to predict, but I’ll take everyone through my thought process.

To start off, I think there are five games I absolutely like the Beavers to win. Houston, Lafayette, the home game against Washington State, Sam Houston, and Tulsa. That puts the Beavers at five wins already. On the opposite side, I have them falling to Texas Tech and Oregon while also falling to Washington State in Pullman. It’s tough to beat the same team twice in one season, just ask the Ducks about Ohio State.

That already puts us at a 5-3 record and gives us a handful of “toss-ups” and general projected closer matchups; Cal, Fresno State, App State, and Wake Forest.

To start off, I like the Beavers to start off strong with a 2-0 record. Hosting Cal and a true freshman quarterback starting for the Bears. It’s a favorable matchup for Oregon State. I think it will be close, but they get the job done. They do the same in week two against Fresno State, another challenging opponent, but one I think they get past to get 2-0.

App State is one that I’m actually going to project a loss for. Traveling cross-country is not going to be easy for the Beavers, and while they will have already traveled to Texas, traveling to North Carolina is much, much different. What could make matters even worse is if this gets a noon local time kickoff. But Kidd Brewer Stadium is a tough place to play, even for teams that don’t have to travel cross-country, and the Mountaineers are always a threat to pull off upsets. I have them getting revenge on the Carolinas, however, as they bounce back against Wake Forest with a win. If all goes well, the Beavers should enjoy a nice stretch in the middle of the season.

All in all, I think an 8-4 season is the most likely. But in reality, the only games that I truly have a hard time seeing them win this year is Texas Tech and Oregon. While I’m projecting losses to App State and Washington State, I do think both are winnable games for the Beavers, so 9-3 or 10-2 is very much within the realm of possibility. I think a key to the early part of the schedule is, even if they lose to Texas Tech and Oregon, what type of fight do they put up in those games? What we learn about them coming out of those games, win or lose, should give us a strong idea how the remainder of the 2025 season will go.

Ryan – The Beavers in the 2024 season left a lot of meat on the bone when it came to last year’s schedule, which they easily could’ve won more than five games, but didn’t, with all the turnover on the roster and piecing together a schedule on the fly. However, this year proves to be very different from years past, with a proper independent schedule in 2025.

Now, I’ve gone back and forth on how many games this team wins, as it could be either eight or nine wins, but I think this ceiling is nine to ten wins, depending on how the Beavers perform this year with Maalik Murphy under center.

I have the Beavers taking care of business against Cal and Fresno at home to open up a 2-0 start to the 2025 campaign. The first loss, I think, will come at Texas Tech, with another loss the following week to the Ducks in Autzen Stadium, which never say never, with it being a rivalry game, but it’s been so long since the Beavers have won down in Autzen that I would have to give the nod to Oregon. I have the other loss being at Appalachian State due to the travel schedule of going from the west coast to the east coast, but a game where I think that’ll be a trap game for the Beavers this year. 

Other than that, the schedule is pretty favorable after that, I think the Beavers handle business against two power four opponents in Wake Forest and Houston. The 2-PAC Championship series I have the Beavers winning both games where I think this is the year where Oregon State wins at Pullman for the first time in a few years. I think with that final game of the year will be a tough one but, expect the Beavers to handle business against a rebuilding Cougars team. 

Overall, the Beavers land somewhere around 9-3 in my book should they win the games they’re supposed to and drop a game either to Appalachian State, Wazzu, Houston, or Wake Forest. However, for this team to get to that record, they’re going to need to be able to start fast against Cal and Fresno to ensure that they can get to nine wins and improve on the 2024 campaign

Brogan – The 2024 season could be summarized as lackluster after the team achieved at least 7 wins in each of the previous three seasons. The 2025 schedule is vastly different from the regularity of inner Pac-12 play, instead showcasing games across the country.

I believe that Oregon State can get back over to the other side of the six-game bowl eligibility line with the help of the newly constructed roster with proven talent and some opponents that should prove easier than previous Pac-12 foes.

My prediction lies with the Beavers taking some time to adjust to the growing pains of a new offense and what I see to be a difficult first four games. I predict this team will catch its stride in the latter part of the season with what I think is the easier half of the schedule, finishing the season winning five straight, including both games against Washington State.

The way that the talent of this team combines with the set up of the schedule makes me want to believe a 10-11 win season is possible, which it is but I’d more realistically say that a 7-9 win season is where they’ll end up as an improvement over last year and another bid to a bowl game. A second season under 6 wins seems unlikely with the prospects of this team.

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