It's time for a new football term

The nature of WSU's loss to Colorado State in the New Mexico Bowl brought out heavy use of an old term for which my good friend and CougCenter founder Jeff Nusser reserves a special kind of hate (many on the end of a Twitter block recently know this all too well).

And apparently it isn't just Coug fans using that particular term, Beavers fans have taking a liking to employing it recently as well.

Like Nuss, I'm not particularly fond of the term and would love to never see it again. But I'm a pragmatist, I know that if that word is taken out of the English language, thousands of folks with limited vocabularies will be forced to find some other way to describe teams that lose games in which they held a late lead.

After some research, I've come up with the perfect substitute in honor of our Oregon State fans who apparently have really needed the term this bowl season:

"Beav'd it."

Now, I'm not one to just assign a term for no reason. As you know, we here at CougCenter value things that are backed up with cold, hard facts. So, to support this new phrase, I dug into Oregon State's last five years of football for some real instances of "Beav'n it." It starts with a situation that WSU fans might find a little familiar.

Oregon State vs. Utah, 2008

The Beavers were sitting pretty, and looking to grab a second-straight big win as they led 28-20 with less than two minutes to play. But by the time the last second of regulation ticked away, the Utes were sending a game-winning field goal through the uprights.

Oregon State vs. Oregon, 2009

Probably the most painful result on the list. In a winner-take-all Civil War match-up, the Beavers held a 30-21 lead with less than six minutes to play in the third quarter. Before the fourth quarter had even started, OSU had blown its lead. It wouldn't recover, and Beav'd away a chance at the program's first Rose Bowl since 1965.

Oregon State vs. Sacramento State, 2011

It was actually the Beavers making a late comeback in this game -- needing to overcome a 21-6 deficit to force overtime. OSU had the ball first and took a 28-21 lead...before allowing a touchdown and 2-point conversion to FCS Sacramento State, adding a new twist to "Beav'n it" that would soon be repeated.

Oregon State vs. Stanford, 2012

The Beavers were primed to knock off the Cardinal, leading 23-14 late in the third quarter. But 23 points and a 9-point lead were not enough, and OSU gave up the winning Stanford score with 5:07 remaining.

Oregon State vs. Texas, 2012

Hey, it's a bowl game! The Beavers were in control midway through the fourth quarter, holding a 27-17 lead over the Longhorns. But the 10-point lead soon evaporated, and the "Beav'n" was completed as Texas put up the winning score with 2:24 to play.

Oregon State vs. Eastern Washington, 2013

EWU has taken Pac-12 teams to the wire in recent years, eventually seeing game-winning drives thwarted in Seattle and Pullman. But Oregon State had established a history of "Beav'n it" against the FCS, and the Eagles scored a game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds to play.

Oregon State vs. Oregon, 2013

Remember when OSU started the 2013 season 6-1 and 4-0 in Pac-12 play? Well, the Beavers were 6-5 and 4-4 coming into the Civil War. But that didn't stop Oregon State from taking the lead over the rival Ducks with 1:38 to play. It took Oregon just 1:09 to regain the lead with the winning score. A fitting way to finish off the "Beav'n" of an entire regular season.

So there you have it, plenty of evidence to support the new term "Beav'd It." These seven instances were so easy to find, it's almost as if every program suffers losses in games they seemingly had won, even those that seem infallible.