in 1941, the beavers football team won the pacific coast conference and a berth in their first rose bowl. in 1940, oregon state had finished 5-3-1 and third in the pacific coast conference, the beavers' third consecutive third-place finish in the pacific coast conference. they opened with a last minute 13-7 loss at usc. a 9-6 win over washington set the beavers on the path to the conference championship. the beavers next played the defending national champion and #2 stanford indians in california. the indians were nicknamed the wow boys, because they implemented the seldom-used t-formation, forerunner to the modern football offense. oregon state shut out stanford, 10-0, snapping the indians 13-game winning streak. oregon state was shut out against eventual second place washington state 7-0. but the beavers shut out idaho, ucla, cal and montana in consecutive weekends, outscoring the four a combined 85-0. the final game in the civil war series with oregon had the rose bowl on the line for the beavers, and a possible 5-way tie for first place if the oregon ducks won. all five teams would have 3 losses. oregon state would have the most conference wins and also the best overall record. the argument was moot as oregon state defeated oregon and stanford lost at cal, leaving the beavers with 2 conference losses. the rest of the pcc had four teams with three losses and five teams with four conference losses. oregon state compiled the 7-2 record despite only scoring 20 points twice, against idaho and montana. the beavers' defense only gave up 33 points all year, less than four points per game. oregon state's coach was lon stiner, only 38 years old. he became the youngest coach ever in rose bowl history.