There should be group therapy sessions for college football fans this time of year.

You'd certainly see traumatized Oregon and Oregon State faithful in the circle this week, huddled together clutching coffee and trembling beneath the weight of their shared experience.

A surprise unraveling amid a sudden, poorly-handled coaching change - sound familiar?

For Oregon State, the nightmare began with an gut-wrenching one-sided loss to Colorado State, 58-27, continued with Gary Andersen's midseason escape and ended with a historic 69-10 dismantling in the Civil War - each touchdown digging the hole a bit deeper.

Oregon's slide may have been crueler still, as the program put together a promising 7-5 season and the nation's No. 1 recruiting class only to see the latter crumble bit by bit following Willie Taggart's move to Florida State.

Loss after loss, or decommit after decommit. Wave after wave of disappointment.

Can it get any worse?

Oregon State has begun its climb, hiring a well-respected program hero in Jonathan Smith, who is already set to host a key recruiting weekend in a few days.

Oregon, however, remains in the heart of darkness - no permanent head coach and no answers to stop the recruiting bleeding.

Frankly - and cruelly - that's good news for Beaver Nation.

Forget "building a fence" around the state, Taggart had quickly constructed a 15-foot wall with assistant coaches poised as armed guards.

He was an in-state recruiting force and had more than half of the top recruits in the historically deep Oregon high school class of 2018 leaning in his direction.

And suddenly, he's gone.

Oregon's uncertainty is Oregon State's opportunity, and no one gained more from Taggart's quick exit than the Beavers.

After going 0-for-10 with the top in-state recruits during the current 2018 recruiting cycle, Smith should be able to capitalize.

He may not have time to lure any heavy hitters to Corvallis out of this group, but he can certainly make in-roads with overlooked 2018 prospects and the top players in the 2019 and 2020 classes.

There's work to do.

Oregon State is ranked 12th in the Pac-12 Conference in stars per commit, and hasn't consistently competed for elite in-state prospects in some time.

But they have an opening.

And quite possibly the right man to capitalize on it.

In the in-state recruiting game of Risk, the Ducks still control the board, but they just lost a stronghold.

Your move, Beaver Nation.

-- Andrew Nemec

anemec@oregonian.com

@AndrewNemec