Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes joined me on The Bald Faced Truth radio show (weekdays 12-3p on Portland's 102.9-FM and Eugene's 95.7-FM and 93.3-FM in Klamath Falls) to talk about the state of the union in Corvallis.

Barnes said the $1.7 million pay-day game that the Beavers played at Ohio State in the season opener -- a 77-31 loss -- isn't how he wants to do business.

"We won't do it this way," Barnes said. "This game was scheduled several years ago... it was a one-off, payday against a perennial top-five team. That's not our philosophy. Our philosophy is that we'll play the middle of the Big Ten, the middle of the Big 12, we'll play a group of five team and a FCS team... building momentum means everything right now."

Oregon State will play Oklahoma State, at Hawaii and home vs. Cal Poly in 2019 non-conference games. In 2020, the Beavers play at Oklahoma State, home vs. Colorado State and home vs. Portland State. And in 2021, Oregon State is at Purdue and home vs. Hawaii and Idaho in its three non-conference games.

(NOTE: I agree with Barnes. If you're OSU, why in the world would you schedule difficult non-conference games? Your goal is to get bowl eligible with some form of consistency again. Makes no sense to play a payday game against a perennial power. It's about bowl eligibility now. That's how you raise a season-ticket base that is feeling flat off a 1-11 season. You play a soft non-conference schedule, you aim to go 2-1 or 3-0 in those games, and then take your chances with nine conference games.)

On the challenge of getting fans into the stadium on game day:

"It's about how our fans consume. Even if you think about how they consume it when they're sitting at home it's different than it was. To get them in the stadium is a challenge for all of us. Creating a better experience... it's something we can continue to focus on. Making sure the experience warrants them coming back."

On how OSU can grow its fan base:

"There's a loyalty. It's grandma and grandpa down to kids. But our base needs to be bigger and we need to cast a wider net... our key to future success is retaining those that we have and showing growth."

On his message for Beavers' football fans:

"If you haven't been on board, now is the time. It's the return of Jonathan Smith... the offense is just different. It's exciting, it's different, it's better. We're making it an excellent experience... come out and take a look."

Listen to more with Barnes here: