Home Football Oregon State @ Wisconsin (2nd Half)

Oregon State @ Wisconsin (2nd Half)

190

This loss is on the coaches and offense. The QB circus killed all momentum.

I'm having a hard time understanding why both the coaches and fans (who have seen him in person) rave about Mannion. The guy throws a wobbly spiral, holds the ball high near his ear, has a long delivery (was told he compacted this…yet another pre-season hype/lie) and short arms it. He looked okay on short passes, but I'm left wondering what people saw in practice that I am not seeing in the game.

The performance component is Mannion's fault, but to be fair he's been put in a position to fail.

I feel bad for the defense. They're playing well for the most part (i.e. 1st and 2nd down). Given the offensive performance, they must know it's futile, so you have to wonder how long they can keep it up. As always, they can't get off the field on third downs. Appeared to be demoralized as the half approached.

After the game, the ardent Pollyannas will rave about the first half run defense, latch onto Fernando's sack, and whatever other positives ensue. Post game, Riley will talk up Russell Wilson and say the team needs to find their identity. It's predictable, just like "run left, run up the middle, pass short of the sticks" is predictable. Everything is predictable.

Urban Meyer & crew are all over Riley, having an aneurysm watching the Beavers. If a Hall of Fame coach criticizing the program is not a sign to the delusional Pollyannas, then nothing will be.

For me it's not about winning and losing. I could deal with loses if the team looked like a D1 team; if the team was prepared; if the team was fun to watch; if the coaches played their best players; if the coaches adjusted schemes, etc. I am not sure I can make it through this season. Not because of the loses, but because of the coaches stupidity and my ensuing frustration. The Beavers absolute failure to execute basic football.

Riley has dropped the ball, folks. The circus is officially in town.

190 COMMENTS

    • i don’t understand why any beavers football fan would actually say that they hope the beavs get shutout. Tired of Riley, Langs and Banker? I get that. But even with all the frustrations of the poor coaching and leadership, I still want to see the Beavers win.

      I did notice that the DBs actually turned their heads today. Now I read earlier that if the DBs turned their heads the Beavs would win. That’s nonsense. Mannion looked ok and had some nice throws. I was begging for some more deep passes though. In fact, I always beg for deep passes, it just puts more pressure on the d. All this hype of Brandin Cooks and how fast he is, why not send him deep.

      Another thing, I was upset with the final drive of 1st half. Drove down field and then with 5 seconds left, just let the clock run out instead of throwing a hail mary. Bad coaching doesn’t make me want the Beavs to lose……EVER.

      • Beakerdo – it’s the Tea Party/Republican mentality. Hope the President fails, hope the stock market tanks, hope people are unemployed. Maybe they hope, with it being so bad we’ll elect these clowns.

  1. I never jumped on the Mannion bandwagon. And this is why, he is not that great. He looked serviceable vs FCS. And looks below decent vs a good team.

  2. God damn, this is painful to watch. Beavs look so sloooowww on BOTH sides of the ball. Also, someone needs to work on Mannion’s mechanics. Maybe we were all spoiled with Katz’s quick release. I can’t concievably see us getting anywhere near the endzone in this game or future game for that matter.

  3. Urban Meyer’s sees an opportunity to take underdog OSU to a winner and comes out of retirement taking Riley’s spot as head coach… sorry just morning dreaming.

  4. PLEASE. CAN WE GET RID OF RILEY. HE HAS ZERO CONFIDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN AGAINST SAC ST.!!!!!!!!!!!! OSU NEEDS A FRESH START. RILEY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!

  5. The beavs’ floundering doesn’t have just one source but ground zero is definitely Riley. Riley is like the CEO of a company who put in the wrong people into the top positions and frittered away all revenue. I agree with angry in that the beavs failure is due to Riley’s mismanagement and poor leadership. Listening to an interview with Riley it is so obvious he has checked out. Not to mention he has that infuriating “let’s just see what happens! I have no expectations!” attitude which you can clearly see it rubbing off on the players. Yes, the players abilities aren’t top notch but when you couple that with riley’s mismanagement we get what we are seeing here and at the Sac St game.

  6. With how badly this team is coached and how badly Riley has handled everything, is this team going to win a game? Is there 1 game anyone feels the Beavers will win?

  7. I already wrote this game a loss once we placed it on our schedule…I say we win 2 maybe 3 games this year, but it will be claimed an upset because we suck this year. Even Wazzu’s rebuilding years teams’ look better than our rebuilding team this year! That’s just SAD!!!

    • I think OSU can get to 4 wins, but only based on potential and not on actual performance. Bring back Katz, hopefully get Agnew, Rodgers, and Halahuni back and give this offense a boost.

      Not only are the fans, media, and opponents in our QB’s heads, but the coaches have messed with them completely. I get that Mannion might be a better suited QB for passing the ball around, but then why keep running? Why not put in 4-5 receiver packages and let the athletes make plays? Put him in shotgun on every pass play.

  8. Is our coaching staff secretly on hand giving West Virgina tips?

    Norfolk St has outgained West Virgina 179-19 & is up 3-0 in the 2nd quarter.

  9. Did Riley really tell the sideline reporter Mannion has a quicker release?! He has to be on crack. I love Mannion but he does not have anything close to a quicker release than Ryan Katz.

    • quick release as in throwing motion-no, but as far as making a decision and getting rid of the ball yes. Katz has struggled with that.. On TV I couldn’t see receivers running their routes but there didn’t appear to be a lot of guys open and as we had no running game he had to get rid of the ball quickly. I see potential with Mannion.

  10. Parker is optimistic, I’ll take optimism and excitement on the radio over “OOOO if he had just missed that tackle he would have been gone all the way!!” Jerry Allen! Parker will now start saying, “And another touchdown by Wisconsin. What happened to this team?”

  11. I’m trying to think how many “too baaad’s” we’d have had from Aune by now if he was still our announcer. Several would be deserved I’m sure.

  12. Poyer apparently had decided he’s going to make sure they get yards no matter what. He must have better job security than government workers. Wow….

  13. There’s the second half adjustments for Wisconsin and our lack there of with our adjustments…Isn’t football like a game of chess? You anticipate your opponents move 3 moves ahead? Ya, we’re all about reaction…if you’ve ever played chess, that’s a losing strategy.

  14. Jordan Poyer has been such a disappointment this year. Thought he would be a the most reliable guy in the secondary, but he’s actually been the worst through the first 7 quarters. Burned twice by Sac St, and now this performance today. I don’t get it, the guy was a ball hawk last year. Under OSU tutelage, players get worse?

  15. Another Riley blowout on national TV. Has he ever done anything good for us in 11 years besides USC at home and a not very good Cal team on the road?

    Hoping we lose 55-0 so the call to can Riley will grow deafening. Riley is not an inspring leader, has no confidence and brings no energy to the team. I will donate $5000 to can the guy.

  16. The D is wore out since they have been on the field the whole game. Even tougher to then watch wobble balls being thrown into double coverage while the junior with big game experience is sitting next to you.

      • Are you serious with that? All the time in the Afghan must have taken it out of you. If you watched the sidelines you would have seen the defense behind Katz for about 30 seconds until they had to take the field again. And if I was on the sidelines, I wouldn’t be on an internet message board…no offense Angry.

  17. I remember when football was fun under Erickson. Could actuallt take pride in the team and know they would compete angainst anyone. They never got blown out and usually made the most of national TV because it is Erickson’t personality to show up most for the big games. Riley shrinks EVERY TIME in the biggest game and has OSU one of the biggest national jokes. People must be tired of watching us on TV. This cannot continue. Riley is HORRIBLE!!!

  18. 100% sure riley isn’t going to put katz back in anytime soon either. he will want mannion to “grow and learn” + he won’t want to look like complete retard obviously. too late, riley!

  19. So the strategy is, “Let’s bring Katz in and telegraph a run play”??

    I love these announcers humiliating the staff on National TV. So deserved.

  20. Another 2 yard dump pass…I think we’re setting Katz up for a pass play…oh wait..nm…we have langsdorf as our OC..he doesn’t think about set ups.

  21. What’s sad is we CHOOOOOSE to go to these tough non-conf venues and stink on nat’l tv. Its not like anyone forces us to.

    Ironic comment of the game from Parker “Riley didn’t want bad things to happen, so Hekker is coming in to punt” LOL…..sad and funny on so many levels.

  22. Erickson had one good year. And as a fan it was fun, but it was hard to have pride in the team with all of the punk plays. I’m ok with you calling for Riley’s head but lets not totally revise history.

  23. Erickson’s teams could be brutal in the last minue being totally disorganized (end of our only loss in 2000 & that game in Tempe when we lost about 20 yards over the last 40 seconds on two plays starting inside the 10 just to name two).

    That being said, we rarely got embarassed ON the field like we do w/ Riley lately.

    • But Erickson was only here for a few years and when he left the cupboards were bare. I just dislike it when people point to the DE era as the promised land. The same thing could be pointed to in the mid 2000’s with Riley. If we do change coaches it needs to be to do more than keep from getting embarrassed on TV. It needs to be to get to the next level.

  24. Even a lifetime contract won’t save you from a 3 win season. Not seeing more than that right now. 4 at most and Riley still should be canned. Ever since that deal OSU has been a trainwreck. I almost think it is in our best interest to not win more than 1 game this year, make sure Riley is canned and it may be enough to get rid of BDC too since it was the worst conceived deal in the history of college sports.

    • Riley won’t be let go unless donors offer to pay the buyout on the contract. There is too much money that is guaranteed. Plus the AD has run a deficit for several years and needs to catch up on the debt. Thank goodness for revenue sharing.

  25. I am a die hard Beaver fan, but I am rooting for a shutout. Riley needs to go and another goosegg on National TV can only help. Beavers vs Badgers should be a real matchup. Instead we are sold that we should lose by 30. It’s pathetic. Well I sure hope Beaver Nation gives Riley absolute hell when we are shutout 49-0!

    • I’m rooting against the Beavers, too.

      It’s kind of like when a parent kicks a crappy kid out of the house for their own good. Tough love or whatever.

  26. According to Brownale, we shouldn’t feel embarrassed by this loss since Wisconsin is a good team and these kinds of things happen in football.

    I’m trying to do that, but I feel embarrassed.

  27. Has Poyer tried to return a punt yet this year? I can only remember fair catches. I’m glad that he catches the ball every time, but good grief you are in there to make something happen.

  28. I haven’t been able to watch football this year, but I have a theory. I’d be interested in your guys’ opinions.

    I think the talent pool on the west coast is thin enough that the Pac-12 can really only support two marquee programs at one time. For most of the last decade, USC has been the one, and UO and OSU were in a neck-and-neck race to become the second marquee program once UW faltered. For any number of reasons, Mike Bellotti and Chip Kelly were the guys who won that race, and Mike Riley wasn’t.

    At that point, you would think that it’s time to see if another coach has a better approach that can knock USC or UO out of the top spot. That’s where I stand.

    • There is room for 4 or 5 good teams. Riley just is horrible. There is no excuse for blowouts and shrinking for every national telecast. Makes the program into a joke. PAC-12 has plenty of recruiting capabilities. Coaches like Neuheisel, Riley and Wulff are the obvious guys who should be moved out for better hires. Riley is looking most obvious to me at this point. We have ZERO momentum and even in a rare good year he is sure to get the least out of it. AKA the Vegas Bowl or 3 points in a Sun Bowl. I am going to be calling into the Postgame and hammer the guy. We need to move on. Let a better coach come in and get something out of whatever talent we do have.

  29. I actually don’t think that Mannion has had that bad of a game. He has not been great, but did most of you really expect us not to get smacked around today? He has made quicker decisions than Katz. He has only been sacked twice. Which Katz probably would have been sacked more than that. Some of his throws may have been wobbly, but many have been nice.

    Make that 3 sacks.

    • I still see a QB with QB IQ that you can build on… Katz doesn’t seem to have the IQ. Maybe that new gal can somehow put Katz and Mannion together to get the complete package. I think Mannion is the better bet though.

  30. If you have nothing to lose, why would you game plan “safe”!? Take risks! REAL risks! Our deep passes were working! Throwing short safe passes will not get the job done! This season is now over. I doubt we’ll beat UCLA in 2 weeks even with guys coming back and 2 weeks to prepare. Riley needs the attitude he had when he first arrived at OSU in 1997! Take risks! Be aggressive! He’s turned into conservative and predictable!

  31. I’m with everybody on here that there certainly needs to be dramatic changes. I doubt that DeCarolis gives the hook to Riley though. I think there will be a major shake-up in the coordinators. We will see, but I think Riley is safe.

    • Riley has to take responsibility for this and very other time we are blown out. Replacing the cooridnators will do little. It just won’t because Riley will still be at the top as a horrible leader. We will be waiting years and he still won’t do shit! 11 years to do this?

  32. I liked what I saw from our D in the first 2qs, if our O would have backed them up, this could have been a good game. Wisconsion is a good team. After seeing the first half here, I am more confident going forward then last week. But we still have a long way to go.

    You can’t fault the D for faltering. You only have so much fuel in the tank.

  33. I know the transitive property isn’t applicable to football, but does anyone think we could beat UNLV?

    Oh, and with Andrews out we now have a 4th walk-on on the OL.

  34. I’m done for the day…I don’t even care if Oregon wins out the rest of the season. I just hope by the CW, we lose the same way we lost today…then Riley will surely be fired!

  35. That is the kind of showing you should be relieved of your duties for the rest of the season for! Let Locey be interim head coach and start the search process for a PAC-12 calibre coach. Larry Scott must be getting tired of OSU and Riley embarassing the conference at this point.

  36. What else can be said, is that if Riley had half the passion my 6 year old does we may have scored twice at least. WTF is wrong with this program? No passion, no drive, no inspiration. FUCK!!!! We need a change now. Sick of this. FUCK!!

  37. Maybe I am just still a bit blinded by my orange colored glasses, but I don’t think everything we have seen means that this year is done. I think we come back after the bye and beat UCLA by Agnew running for 150 yards. I saw a much better defense today. Secondary is not good, but they were at least looking for the ball today. Receiving game will be much better with James and Halihuni on the field. I think Mannion gives us a better chance of winning and I think that he should only get better. Katz had his opportunities and has absolutely not shown growth.

  38. The old school Riley faithfuls usually say when we lose “at least we played well and it was close.” The score of this game will hopefully get some people to throw their walkers around.

  39. Will any scribe question Riley on not playing out the game? Is he gonna claim fear of an injury on the last play of a loosing cause? WTF, play the game!

    The risk/reward is pretty plain: risk=an injury or a failed play, the reward a possible lift to spirits. The failed play means nothing in view of the rest of the game and the risk of injury is very small. Play the game, Riley!

    • When Louisville dropped 63 that was bad but at least the Beavers scored three touchdowns, I believe. Only second time they’ve been shut out under Riley right? That was @Stanford last year. Basically the same game.

    • Yes. Whatever you think of the QB’s Riley’s handling of that was insane. Along with the no time out to get one more play this is so poor. No deep pass threat to set up the short pass.

      What a waste of some talented athletes, I feel bad for these kids. Somehow the D did show some fire today, that and the play of some of the skill guys is all that could get the Beavs to 4 wins this season.

      • Amen to “I feel bad for these kids” I hope Riley is honorable enough to simply retire – now – cite personal reasons or one of those other garbage excuses. He has enough money.

    • He has had alot of stinkers. This is the latest in a long chain and one of the worst. He is getting worse and worse and is now plain HORRIBLE ever since he thought he was Joe Pa.

  40. I think I am going to watch Virginia Tech at East Carolina and check in on Hawaii at Washington for the 12:30 slot. End of Iowa St vs Iowa is on ROOT right now and not a bad game with under 4 minutes to go.

  41. Riley needs to pick a QB, announce to everyone that “(Katz or Mannion) is the starting quarterback” and go with that guy. In my opinion it should be Mannion.

    I can’t get over how mismanaged the first series on offense was. You start Katz, he gets a first down and then from then on it was all Mannion. What was the idea behind starting Katz if Mannion was goin to come in right away and play the rest of the game? Could Katz have done anything in the game to warrant more playing time for himself? Bringing in Katz to run the read option or a QB draw for a play at a time is beyond stupid.

    Riley obviously wants to play Mannion over Katz but for some reason he wont come out and say it. This is going to be a very trying season with more bad losses and probably one win where everyone will think “where was that team for all the other games?”

      • Dude….open your eyes….Manning looked relatively good for a redshirt. Riley should have started Mannion from the beginning and stuck with him. Putting in Katz, and breaking Mannion’s rythm in the beginning of the game killed drives. Mannion got better as the game progressed, and should have lead to a couple scoring drives if it wasn’t for bad play calling and that fluke reception/fumble. Katz should be benched and a back-up from here on out. What is Riley thinking????WTF!!!!!

    • I heard Katz might have wined after last game which yeah would piss me off too. But what Riley did to Katz today was just plain mean. Although I think Riley was just to spineless more then mean. Just say Mannion is the guy now…. period. Katz may be a baby but why jack with him like that.

      That said Mannion is my guy.

  42. Just not enough talent, depth or leadership in the Junior and Senior classes. Unfortunately, games like today’s will not help with recruiting.

  43. Seriously, what’s it going to take for Riley and the coordinators to be fired? I’m tired of getting embarrassed on national television against ranked opponents. This is the worst OSU game I’ve ever seen. We need a new coach! How long is it going to take Bobby D to understand that?

    • Maybe the worst coaching job by MR, but not the worst game I’ve seen; not much compares to the lack of effort against WSU and UCLA last year. I at least saw some honest effort by Beavs today, and keep in mind that Russ Wilson is likely one of the 4 most productive QB’s you will see this year.

  44. Angry or Jack,

    Please give an unemotional, objective, comprehensive analysis of this game, including players, coaches, schemes, adjustments. I realize it might be short. I intentionally didn’t watch the game.

      • It still is much better, there aren’t a bunch of Duck flamers and blind faithful.

        But it is a slippery slope to go down the road of the BeaverByte. To me it is a waste of breath at this time to call for Riley’s head. I just don’t think that is in the cards after this season. I think the only way that Riley goes away is if he decides he doesn’t have the fire left. Otherwise, I think the coordinators take the fall. Personally, I think the coordinators should have been let go this last year, but I think that is what you get with a guy like Riley that is worried about not being loyal.

        I think we all understand that Orange Lantern doesn’t like Riley, but if this site becomes a lynch mob, then it loses its appeal to a level headed fan like myself.

        I appreciate the knowledge that is shared on this site and I think that it has gotten even better since I’ve started following. But there are two sides to the coin of the “old faithful”. The complaint that could be made against the blind followers that are never critical and are never asking for a better product, could also be made against the fan that only wants Riley’s head. Blind is blind. I’m not saying that anyone that is calling for Riley to be fired is automatically blind, but if that is in every post that you do and the only answer to OS getting better and that he is the worst coach in D1. Then yes, I think you are blind.

        I think Riley may be losing the fire that has made him a good coach in the past. (I did not say great coach). If he cannot get that back, then he should go. And I don’t think Langsdorf or Banker are doing their job and need to go.

      • Yes…. actually, this season hasnt started much different from some ultimately successful Riley seasons. So it cant be written off, just yet. The kicker is, the team didnt come on strong as the season wore on, last year — so his ability to inspire may have slipped away. I think UCLA will be the story.

        Will we still be watching? Probably….lol.

  45. Well, that was disgusting. How in hell did Riley get a lifetime contract? I agree — the players need to lose every game to get rid of him. But what happens to your recruiting?

    Something has been lost — it happened in the middle of last year and continues into this year.

  46. QBs- D+/C-: Mannion started terribly, played solid, but not “Good” at the end. Makes good decisions most of the time, but like most QBs with long throwing motions who “Fix” them, they creep back in.
    RBs- D: Nothing was available, nothing was taken. We replaced half our running game with short passes, so not even that many attempts.
    WR- C: Some drops early, but then did a solid job finding holes in the zone. However, didn’t create anything after the catch, which is vital. Decent numbers only because we threw so much.
    OLine- C+: Gave Mannion time most of the day, but gave up a few sacks late when Wis only brought 4-5. Not many running holes, but that is Wis’s gameplan.
    DLine- C: Was playing excellent early, and got some pressure, but faded late because they were on the field so much against Wis’s big line.
    Linebackers- D: Were solid at tackling, but late game the running game picked up lots of yards. And against the pass, LBs can’t cover slot receivers, but that’s more scheme than players.
    Secondary- D-: Lots of blown coverages, again. Just when we were shutting down the run, they passed all over us and opened it back up, and that is on the secondary and coaches.
    Coaching- D: Our offensive scheme was absolutely correct; short passes to replace the run against Wis’s big lines, but individual playcalls were, as usual, terrible. On D, we shut down the run for about 3/4 of the game, but because we never ever blitz more than 5, their passing game had loads of time to pick us apart. And finally, the decision to start Katz but only play him about 10 plays was just idiotic; why play him at all then?

    Overall, the players did give effort, but our terrible offensive start(Mannion clearly had jitters in the 1st) combined with terrible playcalling, pass defense, and defensive scheme led to a massive blowout.

  47. I’m not ready to give up on the 2011 Beavers — not at all. But today’s loss was embarrassing, and extremely tough to watch.

    I don’t know whether Riley intended to humiliate Ryan Katz on national TV, but that’s clearly what Riley did. Ryan Katz now has a legitimate case that Riley is treating him unfairly. Katz must be furious (and has a right to be…) Big mistake.

    This is only going to make it tougher to move past today’s embarrassing loss and get everyone on the same page for UCLA in two weeks. But that’s what has to happen, or this year will suddenly become a lost cause. On the other hand, a Beaver win vs UCLA on September 24 to start our PAC-12 season will probably right the ship quickly.

    We are lucky to start the PAC-12 season against UCLA at Reser. We need to make the most of the opportunity. Let James Rodgers and Joe Halahuni play (Malcolm Agnew, too, if possible). Make Sean Mannion the starting QB, and stick with him the whole game. Relieve Langsdorf of play-calling duties — Riley needs to call the plays from here on. Get Rueben (Pankey) Robinson off the field.

    If most or all of this happens, I still like our chances against UCLA. If not……

  48. I seriously think the Katz issue is his leadership. I don’t think the coaches trust him, and I don’t think the players have his back. Not sure why that is though. I agree I don’t understand why he played at all, he wasn’t in there long enough to see if he could be effective. But I think what happened was on the first drive they called a QB draw and he didn’t read it correctly and didn’t commit to it. He had an opening to go left and instead faltered and went right running without conviction. I think at that moment the coaching staff didn’t think his head was committed to the gameplan. In came Mannion, which I don’t think was the plan and he didn’t look quite ready, and it took him some time to get his head in the game. But what they didn’t do was run the ball, even when the pass wasn’t working. Mannion just missed on a couple of passes and had a couple that should’ve been picked or not thrown. Against Suck St the ran the ball 16 out of 17 and this time they didn’t run at all. It looks as if Jenkins should be the back, he doesn’t have great speed but he has the best vision and I think he would have gotten better if he could have gotten 20-25 carries. Ward doesn’t have the lateral movement necessary to make others miss, Jenkins seems to do a good job of reading his blocks.

    Defense was a pleasant surprise, what really hurt was teh linebackers on 3rd down too often they didn’t fall back in zone coverage enough to help out the safeties because they were waiting on the run. Wilson dominated the third down conversion as he was able to find receivers slanting over the middle wide open just over or beneath the linebackers. I thought the DL and DB’s played better than last week. There were a few timeswhere the db’s didn’t contain on the run late in the game that lead to some big runs.

    I don’t understand what Riley’s doing, but he isn’t going anywhere so I am not going to sit here and say he should be replaced. I just hope they can turn things around.

  49. I agree with silverstream055 in that the Beavs could right the ship as long as the Captain takes action. As pissed as I have been at Riley lately, and I believe all this kaos is his fault for not directing as he should, I don’t think it is time for him to go.

    Give me a minute.

    You and me know Riley will not make any drastic changes until the season is over… as in firing the Lansdork and Puker. And I’m not sure I would either unless I had someone immediately ready to come in… which we all doubt he does.

    But Riley could step up now by taking over play calling and being more involved in the defensive coaching.

    But if nothing is changed immediately or after season, Riley should go. I hope he takes the helm and rights the ship because over he makes a good front man for a not so big college like ours.

  50. Ducks lighting up Nevada.

    I’d usually say “Big deal, Nevada”, but the fact is Nevada would be the Beavers so I just have to shut my mouth and take it in the ***

  51. After reading the messages I guess I’m not as pleased as I was when I first saw the score since I figured Wisconsin would probably put up 60+ on the Beavs.

    The following is a quote from a post by BeaverBill(?). It reminded me of how the folks on Pure Orange (it’s still not back on the air) always say stars (player ranking) don’t matter.

    “…That screen right after Urban Meyer said OS prepared well with not having the talent… ouch….”

    Folks – The team doesn’t have the talent!!! This team is Riley’s. Not DE’s or anybody else’s.

    Imo Riley has proven that he isn’t capable of recruiting players that are good enough to make OSU competitive and it would have been apparent LONG ago if it weren’t for the Rodgers brothers. But I repeat myself.

    • Yep, it is all connected. Must have talent (stars)… stars attract stars. This season if it is a bust as it appears at this point to be will push us backwards in recruiting. You not only have to recruit well you have to make best use of that talent by coaching well. USC is still getting all the stars but their new coach sucks so they aren’t playing like they should be. The winners have both stars and coaching.

  52. According to the stat sheet, Wisconsin’s offense outgained the Beavers 397 yards to 284 yards. In other words, Wisconsin gained 113 yards more from scrimmage than did the Beavers. That’s a surprisingly small yardage differential, given the 35-0 score. Looking at first downs, Wisconsin had 20 first downs, while the Beavers had 17 (again, a small differential, given the lopsided score).

    The key stat, however, is that Wisconsin ran the ball for 208 yards, while the Beavers ran for a net total of 23 yards (!)

    Looking a bit closer at the ground game stats, the Beavers ran the ball a total of 24 times today. Not counting sacks, the Beavers gained 48 yards, or precisely 2 yards per carry. The Badgers, meanwhile, ran the ball 43 times, for an average of almost 5 yards per carry (most of the yards being gained in the second half, after OSU’s d-line got worn down).

    It’s fair to say that the absence of a strong running game — indeed, any running game — was the main problem with the OSU offense today.

    Terron Ward (7 carries for 8 yards) was ineffective as Malcolm Agnew’s replacement. But even without Malcolm Agnew, I believe OSU could have and should have gained more than 2 yards per carry against Wisconsin’s defense. Today’s lousy running attack was mostly due, in my opinion, to a combination of poor run-blocking and play-calling.

    Riley will surely be talking with Coach Cav about the run-blocking. Still, OSU doesn’t have Wisconsin-like talent on the o-line, and there’s only so much that can be done with the talent we have.

    If the running game is going to improve, it probably must come largely from different and better play-calling. Fingers crossed that Riley reaches the same conclusion asap, and takes over play-calling duties for the UCLA game. If that happens, perhaps today’s shutout was worth it….

    • I didn’t see but only listened to last weeks game. But what i read and heard led me to believe our o-line was opening holes. I did not see that at all in this game. Someone please tell me, could Agnew have made more yards today…. I just don’t see how anyone could have. Was there holes last week or is Agnew just that good?

      • There were holes last week. Against Sac State, our o-line was opening big holes for Agnew in the second half against a physically-overmatched and worn down defense. That’s why Agnew amassed almost 200 yards on the ground in the second half and OT last week.

        We saw a similar story today with Wisconsin’s beefy o-line opening holes in the second half against OSU’s worn down front seven. Wisconsin’s runners didn’t do much in the first half. When the holes started opening up in the second half, Wisconsin’s runners did much better.

        Yes, Agnew is a better runner than Terron Ward or Jordan Jenkins, and probably would have made more yards today. But only marginally. Agnew is not good enough to make yards without holes. Quizz wasn’t able to do that last year. LaMichael James wasn’t good enough to do that against LSU last week. Few runners can do much without holes to run through.

        But it’s not all on the o-line. Part of it is play-calling, too. Good play-calling can fool defenses and open up holes for the running game.

        For the rest of our games this season, the Beavers’ o-line won’t be able to physically overpower opposing players (there are no more Sac States on our schedule). So we’ll have to open holes with better play-calling, better blocking, and better running. We failed on all three counts today (leading to our pathetic net 23 yards from scrimmage in the ground game). Riley surely knows this, and we’ll see what he can do to address these problems in the next two weeks….

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