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1962 Oregon State Beavers football team

1962 Oregon State Beavers football
Liberty Bowl champion
Liberty Bowl, W 6–0 vs. Villanova
Conference Independent
Ranking
Coaches No. 16
1962 record 9–2
Head coach Tommy Prothro
Home stadium Parker Stadium
Seasons
← 1961
1963 →
1962 NCAA University Division independents football records
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Southern Miss         9 1 0
Memphis State         8 1 0
Oregon State         9 2 0
#9 Penn State         9 2 0
West Texas State         9 2 0
Boston College         8 2 0
Utah State         8 2 0
Villanova         7 3 0
Buffalo         6 3 0
Oregon         6 3 1
Houston         7 4 0
Miami (FL)         7 4 0
Army         6 4 0
Holy Cross         6 4 0
Louisville         6 4 0
Xavier         6 4 0
Florida State         4 3 3
Air Force         5 5 0
Montana         5 5 0
Navy         5 5 0
Notre Dame         5 5 0
Pacific (CA)         5 5 0
Pittsburgh         5 5 0
Rutgers         5 5 0
Syracuse         5 5 0
Texas Western         4 5 0
New Mexico State         4 6 0
Colgate         3 5 1
Idaho         2 6 1
San Jose State         2 8 1
Boston University         2 7 0
Dayton         2 8 0
Detroit         1 8 0
Hardin–Simmons         1 9 0
Colorado State         0 10 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1962 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State University in the 1962 NCAA college football season. The Beavers ended this season with nine wins and two losses.

Quarterback Terry Baker won the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding collegiate football player in the U.S. Baker also won the Maxwell Award and was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. The team captain was George Gnoss.

The Beavers scored 279 points and allowed 148 points. Led by head coach Tommy Prothro, the Beavers won the Liberty Bowl.

The Pacific Coast Conference dissolved in 1959. That year California, Southern California, Stanford, UCLA, and Washington formed the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), or Big Five. In 1962, Washington State began play in the AAWU, which became primarily known as the Big Six. Oregon State thus entered 1962 in its fourth year of independent football.

The Beavers' quarterback was Terry Baker. Baker was heavily recruited to play football, basketball, and baseball, but came to Oregon State on a basketball scholarship. He walked onto the football team in 1960 after head coach, Tommy Prothro invited him to drop baseball and attend Spring drills. He was the backup halfback in 1960 but still amassed 302 total yards in a 30-29 loss to Washington and 1,473 total yards in 1960, both Beaver records. In order to maximize Baker's talent, Coach Tommy Prothro made Baker the quarterback and scrapped the single wing in 1961 in favor of the T formation. Because of an injury to backup, Rich Brooks, in 1961 Baker was instructed not to run until the final 10 minutes of any game. As a result, Baker wound up gaining fewer yards in 1961 than in 1960 but was still 11th in the nation in total yards.

Because of injuries, the line only averaged 205 pounds, more than 35 pounds less than some of the other lines that they squared off against. The line was nicknamed "the Charge of the Light Brigade."

A rule change in 1962 allowed teams to down the football after a punt inside the opponent's 10. Previously, doing so resulted in a touchback.

The Iowa State-Oregon State game featured three intriguing story lines. The first was that the Cyclones' coach, Clay Stapleton, was an assistant coach under Tommy Prothro from 1955–1957. Prothro had changed Oregon State's offense from a single wing to a T formation in 1961. In 1962, Stapleton installed a winged T at Iowa State. The second story line was the battle between two potential all-Americans: the Cyclones' Dave Hoppmann and the Beavers' Terry Baker. The game was a passing of the torch, of sorts, as Hoppmann led the nation in total yardage in 1961 and Baker would lead the nation in total yardage in 1962. Despite finishing 11th in total yardage in 1961, Baker still led Hoppmann by seven career total yards. Baker entered the game 161 total yards short of the Oregon State career record, held by Ken Carpenter. The third was junior Vern Burke making his first start at split end for the Beavers.


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