Monday Morning Tail Slap: Flowers for Fenwick
Deshaun Fenwick deserves his flowers; ESPN College Gameday deserves nothing
As far as college football storylines go, Week 11 gave us a lot to gnaw on. The coaching carousel is in full swing with Texas A&M moving on from Jimbo Fisher (and giving him a small fortune to not work), Mississippi State firing Zach Arnett, Boise State canning Andy Avalos, and San Diego State’s Brady Hoke announcing he’ll retire at the end of the 2023 season.
The University of Washington held on by the skin of their teeth once again to beat Utah in Seattle by a score of 35-28 and remain undefeated, setting up a historic matchup with Oregon State in Corvallis this Saturday. When the game kicks off between the No. 5 ranked Huskies and the No. 10 ranked Beavers, it will mark the first game in the history of the rivalry—that dates back to 1897—that both teams meet as Top 10 programs in the land.
Shortly after Washington’s win on Saturday, and just a few minutes after halftime in Oregon State’s 62-17 annihilation of Stanford, ESPN’s College Gameday announced the location where they would be heading for Week 12.
Sidebar: I’m proud to have a number of readers who aren’t fluent in college football, but just enjoy really, really good writing/supporting me despite all of the reasons I’ve given you not to. To those unfamiliar, this is what you need to know about ESPN College Gameday:
It has been the flagship pregame show for college football Saturdays since it first aired in 1987.
Since 1993, it has been filmed on location at college campuses around the country. Each week it travels to a different campus to produce the show.
A variety of factors contribute to the campus they choose, but it almost always goes to one hosting a nationally relevant matchup featuring two great teams. Because of this, getting the chance to host Gameday is seen as a badge of honor and a source of recognition for having a great season and community. A badge of honor that would be no small thing for a place like Corvallis that still doesn’t know what conference it will be playing in next year.
The show itself has always been partly a circus, but it still used to be amazing. Now it’s mostly just a circus, but the recognition it imparts still carries some weight.
The show has only been to Corvallis, Oregon once, in 2010, ahead of Oregon State’s matchup with eventual National Championship participant Oregon. There’s a rumor that then-ESPN reporter Erin Andrews said Gameday would never return to Corvallis because the Beaver fans were too drunk. I don’t believe that for a second, well, I do believe the Beavers fans were drunk as hell (I was there, but can assure you I was tastefully tipsy), but I don’t believe Andrews or anyone else said such a thing.
What else? Oh yeah, people hold up signs behind the set and get really, really into it.
ESPN College Gameday tweeted that they will be heading to Harrisonburg, VA for the matchup between 10-0 James Madison University and 6-4 Appalachian State and not Corvallis for Week 12. Then, on the very next play, this happened:
I personally would like to thank Oregon State running back Deshaun Fenwick for reminding us that not only is he awesome, but college football is also awesome, and Oregon State is awesome at playing it.
As word spread through cyberspace that television networks (the main villains in college football’s realignment saga) were once again refusing to acknowledge Oregon State, Beaver fans quickly set a record for unabashed rage felt by a fanbase during a 45-point victory. I shared in this rage as well and even took the time out of a victorious evening to share my thoughts with The Athletic’s Until Saturday voicemail line, which was graciously featured and responded to on the ‘Sunday Soundoff’ podcast episode by Ari Wasserman, David Ubben, and Alex Kirshner. It starts at the 31:19 mark in the video below (don’t worry, Dad, I didn’t swear):
Thanks for including the voicemail in the show, guys, and thanks especially for not making me sound too crazy.
The hard feelings the Oregon State community currently harbors for ESPN and its flagship clown show has been covered beautifully by John Canzano, and others, and will be featured on this week’s episode of the Belligerent Beavs Podcast. I could go into full rant mode here, but I’m going to save that energy for another time and another space. The rest of this space is dedicated to something fun, something joyous, something awesome. Deshaun Fenwick.
Holy buckets let’s see that run again!
There’s so much to unpack here. Keep in mind, Fenwick is OSU’s No. 2 running back. Damien Martinez rushed for 146 yards and joined the ranks of great Beaver running backs who rushed for four rushing touchdowns in a single game. He of course deserves his flowers and plenty of them as well, but Fenwick has been an unsung hero for the Beavs since he transferred to OSU from South Carolina ahead of the 2021 season.
My fellow co-host on Belligerent Beavs, Benny Wehage,immediately texted our podcast group chat with JP Bertram and I declaring it the greatest football play in Oregon State history from purely an eye test standpoint. My inclination whenever I’m on the receiving end of such a declaration is to be contrarian, but I had to admit, I couldn’t immediately think of anything that was more visually impressive than Fenwick’s display of brute strength and ballerina-like grace as he galloped 37 yards to the endzone.
That’s some serious triangle-button into x-button action in real life.
The only run that came to my mind as being even remotely close was Adrian Peterson’s 64-yard-touchdown run against the Cleveland Browns in 2009. Check it out:
That might be my favorite Adrian Peterson run ever, but it’s at least one hurdle/triangle-button shy of matching Fenwick’s effort from the other night.
All three Belligerent Beavs will be heading to Corvallis to see Fenwick and the rest of Oregon State’s fantastic football team take on the high-powered Huskies and Heisman hopeful Michael Penix Jr on Saturday. The last Pac-12 game ever at Reser Stadium is gearing up for one hell of an atmosphere and has been sold out for weeks.
It’s going to be an incredible day and an incredible opportunity for Jonathan Smith and the Beavers, even if ESPN College Gameday doesn’t want to acknowledge that Oregon State exists. Their loss.