The 1961 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State University as an independent during the 1961 college football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Tommy Prothro, the Beavers ended their third season as an independent with five wins and five losses, and outscored their opponents 198 to 192. Four home games were played on campus at Parker Stadium in Corvallis with one at Multnomah Stadium in Portland.

Prior to this season, the university's current title, Oregon State University, was adopted by a legislative act signed into law by Governor Mark Hatfield on March 6, 1961, and became effective in the summer.^[1][2]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 23	No. 10 Syracuse	Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	L 8–19	35,279
September 30	Stanford	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	L 0–34	13,727	[3]
October 7	Idaho	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	W 44–6	9,329	[4][5]
October 14	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 20–23	45,274	[6]
October 21	at Arizona State	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 23–24	32,231	[7]
November 4	Washington State	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	W 14–6	13,716
November 11	at Washington	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 3–0	51,500	[8][9]
November 18	BYU	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	W 35–0	8,495
November 25	at Oregon	Hayward Field Eugene, OR (Civil War)	W 6–2	21,300	[10]
December 2	at Houston	Houston Stadium Houston, TX	L 12–23	12,000	[11]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[12]

• QB Terry Baker, Jr.
•  E   Don Kasso, Sr.
•  T   Mike Kline, Sr.
• HB Hank Rivera, Sr.
• HB Leroy Whittle, So.
• FB Bruce Williams, So.

Source:^[13]

Source:^[14]

Source:^[15]

• Oregon State Football 1961. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, Sports Information Department, 1961.

• WSU Libraries: Game video – Washington State at Oregon State – November 4, 1961