The scouting report this week on the Oregon State Beavers football team discussed the players, but not their new coach Jonathan Smith.  He will have a big impact on the game this Saturday.

Smith replaced Gary Andersen, a former assistant coach of Urban Meyer at Utah, who resigned after two dismal seasons at Oregon State. Andersen was previously the head coach at Wisconsin, and was on the losing end of the 59-0 shellacking that propelled the Buckeyes into the 2014 playoffs.  So this fall, after 21 years of losing seasons, there is expected to be dramatic changes from the coaching staff in Corvallis, Oregon.

Smith worked with the highly regarded Chris Petersen for two years at Boise State as the quarterbacks coach and then for four more years at Washington as the co-offensive coordinator.  So we can expect some offensive fireworks with their new coach.

Also Smith is a winner and a giant killer.  He was brought on board as a 5’10” walk-on at Oregon State by coach Mike Riley.  He became the starting QB of Oregon State and took the team to an 11-1 record under coach Dennis Erickson. 

And Smith ran the offense that destroyed Notre Dame 41-9 in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl.  So Smith is not going to be intimidated by playing Ohio State— he is probably looking forward to it with the Buckeye head coach sidelined for a month—and sidelined means more than not on the sidelines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Smith_(American_football_coach)

https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2018/08/jonathan_smith_alwa...