Home Football Oregon State @ Washington State (Game Thread)

Oregon State @ Washington State (Game Thread)

379

This is the comment area for the Washington State game.

I know I picked against the Beavs in this game, and I am sticking with that, but I should have added one note: if the Beaver's defensive ends can collapse the pocket and sack Tuel before he scrambles, I think the Beavs could win the game. To me the Beav's DEs are the key to this game. This is exponentially true since Robinson is getting the LB start. Watch the DEs. You'll know by the first quarter if they're getting Tuel or not, and hence if they'll win or not. Mannion should put up nice numbers on this secondary.

This game is huge. Need to keep the current recruits and stay out of the cellar. A win tonight could parlay into some success in the Utah/Cal games. We'll see.

Expect to watch three hours of agonizing football tonight, folks.

Go Beavs.

379 COMMENTS

  1. I think this one will end up close, but one of the teams will open it up early. Neither one is good enough to completely close the other guy out, and it will end up close.

    Good call on the DEs being important. As long as Banker blitzes and doesnt solely rely on the interior d-line mixes to get pressure, both Chrichton and Wynn should have quality games.

    I can’t stand losing, this season is getting old, so I decided to get drunk early. WSU 27-OSU 23

  2. I’m predicting a Washington State win….unless Oregon State plays better than Washington State. In that case, I’m picking an Oregon State win.

  3. Just cracked a Rogue Mocha Porter and the baby backs will be out of the smoker right around kickoff.

    I agree on the DEs.

    Another huge factor is if Agnew can get his shit together and produce an entire game of D1 football.

  4. Will never cheer against the beavers. And unlike many on this board appreciate that we have a program and coach that stays on the sports page and not the front page. Believe they always have a chance to win if they leave it on the field and don’t shoot themselves in the foot. Unfortunately we’ve seen too many self inflicted wounds from both coaches and players this year. So I’m hoping this is a game they play with intensity and intelligence. If not…. Well there will need to have changes. Riley made some last year, think he is capable of making changes next year.

    • You sound like all the paid OSU moderators that yell at people because they’re being realistic and night a blind beaver fanatic. Nobody here is cheering “Against” the beavers; we just realize that this team is young, rebuilding, error-prone, and mostly poorly coached. There’s a difference.

      I just hope Agnew manages a full game without a devastating fumble. Teach him to hold on to the ball or just put McCants in if we don’t care about it anymore.

      • You sound like a paid moderator for the school down south. If some of these comments are for the beavs, spare me your support.

    • You forgot to add that you think the team who scores the most points might very well win. Unlike many named Loomis, the denizens of this board are tried and true, black and blue Beavs fans. You will lose in a pissing contest against most of us. And you don’t even register on the knowledge level.

      So just what do you really want your post to prove here? If abject failure is your goal, then you need to work to even obtain that goal.

      • Tired and stewed is more like it. A pissing contest is probably as far in life as you’ve gone, try to keep you pants and hands dry. Am sure there are people on this board with more football knowledge than me, but you sure aren’t one of them. Try to enjoy the win.

          • Jack, concur, you’re pretty sorry. By the way did I miss your coaching resume that establishes your source of expertise? If so mea culpa, if not pretty futile having any type of discussion. These become like the story of arguing with an idiot, you drag me down to your level and beat me with experience.

  5. Touchdown Beavers. 4 play drive, offense looked good there. More of that please. Great catch by Jenkins on a low throw there.

    • Awesome play call to start that drive. I was 100% expecting a run up the middle, followed by a short pass, etc. Crazy what happens when your play calling isn’t so predictable!

    • Let’s remember that another of our idiot walkon linemen killed that drive with a dumb penalty(chop block by Ellis).

      And what is this BS “Touched the helmet” penalties? That was NOT a foul, holy cow.

    • Yup, some tipped balls and now a receiver didn’t fight enough for the ball. Could be the play that allows WSU to take over. I know it.

  6. Terrible, terrible “Roughing the passer” penalty.

    It would also help if our idiots knew how to tackle. Every time they’re in open space, they get their ankles broken. And RR just can’t tackle period. He’s a linebacker that grabs people’s ankles for dear life as his form of “Tackling”.

    Remember, we’re still due for one more Mannion interception and an Agnew fumble. So we really need a few more 7s.

    • At least he’s young and terrible though. Better watching him be terrible with at least a chance to improve in the future than watching Hardin get burned.

    • WSU is trying to get more exposure in the Seattle area (for recruiting purposes I believe). I think they said they plan on having a game in Seattle each year now.

  7. Cooks is such a superstud. Incredible.

    I love that Mannion thros the ball deep. A sorely-missed aspect for our offense.

    Also, Agnew has looked really good; fast, and breaks some tackles. Just don’t cough it up!

  8. Love what I’m seeing from Mannion. Dude is slinging it around and threading the needle on some throws. Cooks is making plays.

  9. Our offense could be really really good next year with the upgraded offensive line. I know, I know, we’re still 1-5 and I shouldn’t get too excited… I just can’t help it.

    • Yeah. He looked better last year (in limited time)…the extra time has exposed his warts.

      Beavs need safeties, corners, DTs, and healthy LBs. Defense is a mess. Offense looks good (except for the OL).

  10. I will never understand calling it a touchdown after clearing the pile. Guys will obviously push their body over the end zone when they’re on the ground.

  11. This “Jet” sweep is certainly a nice new wrinkle for OSU!

    Please, learn what to call the play before you try calling a game, idiot.

    Agnew is killing it right now. Wish our defense was doing the same.

    • I must say that RR had a decent game once he settled into the game itself. I really wanted to give him props for his play, and I as watching him specifically. but it seemed his first four or five tackles always occurred ten yards downfield. But RR did start turning it on.

      I noticed last week that he was at least playing downhill. He was missing his reads, but he was downhill for once. He started this game the same way, but he finished nicely.

      I will not say a bad thing about RR from here on out if he continues to progress like he has the last two games. I will gladly eat crow for him.

  12. Isn’t Crichton at some kind of record now for forced fumbles? I though I heard the announcers say something about that last week.

    • Just when you think Langsdork learned something, he calls three unimaginative plays and instead of a key TD that could break Wazzu’s confidence, they settle for another three.

  13. Tony Wilson annihilated Tuel there.

    I was going to feel bad for the guy(won his starting spot via an open campus competition, great story) but then I remembered he loved the cheap shot on Quizz last year, so screw that guy.

  14. Beavs are playing hard and I am feeling hopeful. The O looks unstopable and Mannion is tearing it up. The kid has a damn good arm. The D has been tougher than in past weeks, though giving up to much yards -they are just playing harder for sure. Tuel is a hurting unit!

  15. I started choking on my Lucky Lager beer when I saw the Beaver rushers actual stop their rush and turn around and follow that screen play. When was the last time the Beaver defenders caught up with a screen pass and dragged the RB down from behind before the play could really get started?

      • That’s what became obvious in Fall practices. Mannion is more poised, and sees the field better than Katz. In contrast, Katz has tunnel vision, a problem that gets worse under pressure. Tonight Mannion still made two or three bad throws and bad decisions, but overall he played well — his best game so far. And he’s still improving…..

  16. Picture-perfect throw.

    I really hope Katz transfers to somewhere he can start, because Mannion isn’t going anywhere. I feel bad for him, and he really could start at a ton of schools.

    That being said, Mannion is the best QB on this team, and his mid/deep throws are beautiful.

  17. I am happy we look solid so far, but remember its easy to look good against inferior opposition. We are still making some pretty ugly mistakes. That was a Halahuni fumble, we got a gift.

    Mannion is playing great though. I can really see him being a great QB for us. I hope he doesnt have a “sophomore slump” though.

  18. What’s great about this possession is how much time is being chewed up. They cap this off with a touchdown and Wazzu has no shot at a comeback. This is how you finish off an opponent. Very un-Mike Riley like.

    • Yeah, I was getting so used to the opposition running the ball down the Beavs throats for 8 minute second half drives. This is a nice change. I’m still nervous unless they get a TD.

  19. I LOVE that the announcer was bashing the call, complaining about it, until he actually saw the replay.

    This dude is a complete moron. Helmet to helmet isn’t a “Big hit” it’s just dangerous.

  20. Announcer: “its a tough game and players are going to hit each other…except in this case where he clearly led with the helmet…(open mouth insert stupid opinion)”

  21. nice long drive. Its a little bit of a letdown to not get 6, but a 14 play drive while up by 17 is a WIN no matter what happens at the end of it.

  22. I was watching something on You Tube where Petros had a crucial fumble. I think it caused a USC loss, but I can’t remember what it was.

  23. Beavers gotta pound the ball here. Run with Agnew, hopefully he doesn’t fumble and they pick up some first downs and drain the clock

  24. Riley needs to not be too conservative here. Lost of time left. Even a FG would be ok, as it would put it at 2 TD’s and conversions. TD might be the winner.

    • I wouldn’t be surprised. Riley likes to develop his young coaches just like his players, and he’s very stubborn about changing things up with his staff. I imagine that’s why Graf lasted for so long even though things were so bad in that department for a number of years. None the less, I never felt Langs was totally comfortable with taking over calling the offense, but it was something Riley really wanted for him.

      Langs is a great QB coach and teacher, not to mention a great guy to be around, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a change in how the game is called given how things have been going the last two seasons.

  25. I was wondering if anyone knows this, but how many sacks have the Beavers allowed since Mannion was named starter? I can’t remember any.

  26. Reynolds caps off a great night for the Beavers with the pick. Feels good to see the Beavers finish off an opponent in the second half and not give them any hope.

        • I don’t understand it either. We were up 20 with 8 minutes left, and we keep playing Mannion?

          Riley may have been so excited because we were winning that we didn’t play him, but come on. Remember when Lyle was our starter, we still played Canfield late in games if we were up to give him reps.

      • Not at all. Ryan is a great guy. But, Sean is different animal intellectually, and has the coach gene. It shows in how he processes the game from a mental standpoint, and that translates into better, quicker decisions.

        I felt awful for Ryan when that went down, and Riley should have stepped in and handled that in a totally different way.

        I had the feeling they were almost hoping Ryan would make it painfully obvious that he couldn’t manage the game consistently at the Pac-12 level, and then usher in Mannion in a drama-free way as to not hurt anyone feelings once it was clear to everyone. But, I think in this case the coach has to just man up and say it, “the freshman is better than you, sorry”. Not Riley’s strong suit and that really hurt us coming out of the gate this year.

        In any case, it was clear to a lot of people around the program that Sean was coming on strong. I’m not surprised with where we are on that front now, but disappointed in how we got there.

  27. I think the play calling is indicative of a kind of synergy of Mannion being in a pretty good rhythm and the coaching staff having confidence in him to be more aggressive and creative.

    Credit to SilverStream, who early on identified Mannion as someone who was making a move in fall camp. He was way ahead of any GT or Oregonian beat writers.

    If only there was an O-Line….this kid could get pretty good.

    • Also very glad to see Brandin Cooks getting more touches. BC is another guy who stepped up in Fall camp, and who just needs more chances to shine. No doubt he’s going to be a big time playmaker for the Beavs….

  28. Cal has a horrible QB and they hammered Utah. I can’t wait to see what the Beavs can do next weekend. Mannion’s poise was so refreshing tonight. Next step is to do it versus better teams.

    • Utah will try to pound the ball since they have no quarterback, and I believe their defense is leaps and bounds better than what the Beavs faced today. It will be a good test for the Beavs to see if any progression continues. I think they may need to just score 21 points to win the game.

    • Honestly, I think Utah is worse than the Cougars I expect. The Beavers should crush the Utes. With Sean’s continued development he should have big games against the Utes, Bears and Huskies. Games against the Cardinal and Ducks will really test him. They’re a big step up from the Utah, Cal and Wazzu’s of college football. Loved what I saw from him tonight. He will do some real big things for the Beavers.

    • Agreed. I believe Mike Riley knows he has something special in Brandin Cooks, and he has been bringing him along carefully. Having James Rodgers and Brandin Cooks split time is the ideal situation, so that BC can watch and learn from JRod as the season progresses. And I think that’s exactly what has been happening. Look for BC to keep getting better, and getting more opportunities, as this season rolls on to its conclusion. Next year, BC will be a key part of another very strong receiving corps (along with Wheaton, Bishop, Obum Gwacham, Kevin Cummings, and probably another redshirt freshman or true freshman who steps up….)

  29. I still stand by the Beavers having a winning season next year or for sure the year after. Especially now that we are recruiting some o-line (the stud Isaac Seumalo)

  30. Nice ‘W’ for the Beavs. They played a complete game and Mannion and Agnew did what was needed and played with intelligence. Good mixture to all the receivers and tight ends and nice to see James and Cooks and even Gwacham were more involved. Defense played well enough and kept their cool. It looked like an organized and focused effort all and all. Hope this continues against Utah enough for us to get back to back wins. Then Riley will recover more good faith that things are okay and the potential is there.

    If Mannion can run a game like this and our freshmen keep improving and mix well with next year’s recruits we should be back to a bowl next year as Beaver Nation expects from OSU. Balance was a key tonight. Riley and Mannion need to understand just how important it is and get the team understanding the keys to victory form the start of the season. Small differences in mindsets and focus can go a long way and keep away most of the sloppiness that leads to losses. Maybe the Beavs can work themselves into better TV coverage and more games on ROOT.

  31. Did anyone see the Tulsa v Rice game earlier? I think our helmets would be sweet if they said State on one side and the players # on the other. Any thoughts?

  32. Granted this was WSU, but MANY positives:

    1) Mannion, 76% completion rate, 4 td’s, 11(!) different receivers, one bogus INT.

    2) OSU’s D-ends setting records and playing well (good call on the key Angry). Love this quote from Wynn, who takes his record as an indication he’s not doing enough:

    “OSU D-end Dylan Wynn’s two first-half fumble recoveries were his fourth and fifth of the season, setting a school record. How does he do it? “I guess I get all the fumbles because I’m not the first one to the ball,” the 6-3, 245-pound true freshman said. “That’s something I need to fix.” … Crichton had a huge game with seven tackles, a sack, two tackles-for-loss and two forced fumbles. The redshirt freshman D-end has four forced fumbles this season, matching the OSU record. … D-end Taylor Henry had two of the Beavers’ four sacks.” (Portlant Tribune Sports).

    and from the coaches:

    3) diverse offensive play calling;

    4) Riley STRATEGICALLY resting Agnew and splitting carries. Finally. Keeping Mannion in there at the end was a bit of a head scratcher, but doesn’t bother me as much as some (I dont’ think its a big swipe at Katz).

    Questions:

    How did Welch look in the second half? Don’t use RR as a comparison – anybody plays better than him. Did Welch play well?

    The double TE sets were surprising to Wulff and probably helped out the likes of Remmers. Can OSU repeat this against better teams and still have the diverse play calling they had tonight? If so, where has this been? Its been clear the line needed help.

    I’m not drinking the kool-aid and don’t expect a competitive civil war, but I think in Wynn + Chricton OSU has its best DE’s to play against UO’s offense since Kelly was hired as O-coordinator. It will be interesting to watch just because it would represent progress (no more gabe miller running fast 7 yards to where the ball isn’t). Is there a way with existing personnel OSU can cover the middle?

    • Agreed that it’s too early to “expect” a competitive Civil War. But at least that is a remote possibility now. It will become less remote if the Beavs beat Utah next week (which should be doable).

      The Beavs and their fans will get a reality check in two weeks when Stanford comes to Reser. Stanford steamrolled the Huskies yesterday by amassing a school-record 446 yards on the ground. Uh oh…..

    • Don’t forget no ill-timed fumbles by the young RB’s. I even noticed they looked a little like Quizz when they were carrying the ball, holding that ball snug and tight. Someone needs to teach Joe Tank that technique though.

      • Too bad Halahuni is such an inconsistent player. He has moments of brilliance that make you think he could make an NFL squad followed by slap your head moments. This kind of play by seniors is what got us into this mess. Hopefully our new recruit TE’s will be good because Prince has been a disappointment.

        • I am not a Colby Prince fan. Watching him drop balls repeatedly in Fall camp confirmed that Prince has bad hands. Prone to fumbles, too. Currently used mostly as a blocker, but that’s not enough to justify all the playing time that Prince gets. Connor Hamlett should be taking time from Prince, IMO. Hamlett needs the reps to improve, and he’s a huge target with a big upside. Also looking forward next season to the arrival of Caleb Smith (6’6″ 250 lb tight end recruit who will be a true freshman next season for the Beavs, and appears to have potential…)

  33. I didn’t watch the game. I have to confess, I’d given up on the beavs this season, not because I hate them, but because I love them, and it was getting just too painful to watch them suck. So, I get up this morning and imagine my surprise. I have to read about it. My bad. The question is, have the beavers found themselves as a team, and turned the corner? First, keep it in perspective, this is the cougs, not Oregon, not Stanford, not USC. The cougs. But, the beavs did it, and they did owe WSU after last year’s debacle, which seems to be when the downward spiral began. The Utah game now looks imminently winnable, depending on which beaver team shows up. or was last night just a flash in the pan?

  34. Looked at the official roster from the OS website. The beavs have just over 50 freshman and redshirt freshman on the roster- depth should not be a problem in the future if they recruit well in the coming years. Many were in the game last night and in some ways beginning to become the leaders of the team.

    • But can we expect the o-line to perform better in 2012? Sure, there’s addition by subtraction (remmers), but won’t we hear the “we’re young” excuse again? Aren’t we likely to see lineman with odd assignments – e.g. tackle prospects at guard and vice versa?

      Mannion should be pretty damn good next year, and the recievers as well. But I feel like in 2012 OSU is set up for another slow, “youthful” start.

  35. I allowed myself to do a family thing and did not watch the game (thought it would keep the blood pressure down). I did get score updates by text. This morning, Cliff K’s Beav report card gave coaching an A saying: “There was better offensive play calling and execution. The defense was ready for the spread this time.”
    Those who watched, did Riley do the play calling? We were ready for the spread?

    • I actually think the defense had little to do with the win. Before some people scoff at that statement and begin to describe how the sacks/hits on Tuel really slowed down the WSU attack, what I’m really trying to say is that the Beaver offensive production put WSU in catch-up mode from the beginning. I mean, when you don’t punt the ball until 1 min left to go into the game (and you only have one turnover), that is pretty indicative of great offensive output. Parker and Wilson commented on it during the postgame show. WSU barely had the ball in the third quarter.

      Football is a team game and offense, defense, special teams all have to show up and do their job. However, when your offense can’t be stopped and keeps putting up points, your defense doesn’t have to be all that great.

  36. I am feeling very optimistic this morning. Sure Banker and Langsdorf need to seek employment elsewhere, but we are undefeated in Northern conference play. All we need to do is sweep the next 5 games and we are in something. Actually, we have two upcoming bowl games, Stanford and Oregon. The rational side of me says we get blown out. The optimist side is hoping for a repeat of the #1 USC game of a couple of years ago. I would be almost as happy wiping that smug look off the Cardinal and Duck’s faces as watching the Beavs in a BCS game, almost. But a season that has been so disappointing, would hurt a lot less with a couple of big victories. Go Beavs

    • Ehhh, we could win Stanford if we had some absolutely flawless game, but we won’t beat the Ducks, they are just to fast for our defense and Banker.

    • Their defense will be unable stop Stanford and Oregon.

      The offense can probably put up 21 on Stanford and 27 on Oregon.

      Beavs need a ton of defense help…not sure why they’re unable to sign any elite defensive recruits. There’s early playing time available.

      • Seems to me Stanford is just too solid and big for OSU to even think about out-scheming them.

        Against UO, I think OSU should try a 3-4 alignment so the there can be some rotation/resting of a shallow DT pool, and the faster players can get on the field to chase the (mostly) small, fast Duck RB’s around – Unga and Welch in the middle for example, Doctor and anybody besides Robinson on the outside (Akuna?). I suspect Chricton/Wynn will do their jobs against the Ducks, and if they can keep them from getting outside, Unga and Welch are likely the best bets to make the inside (albeit somewhat downfield) tackles. This certainly won’t stop the Ducks, and I still foresee a blowout, but it seems better than the alternative (status quo).

    • Sorry to sing the same old song, but the team that dominates the line of scrimmage usually wins. The Beavs’ two victories — against AZ and WSU — followed this pattern. Last night against WSU, the Beavs rushed for almost 100 yards more than the Cougs, and recorded 4 sacks while giving up none. That’s much of the reason why last night was so fun for the Beavers and their fans.

      Can the Beavs dominate the line of scrimmage against Stanford? Probably not. Yesterday, Stanford rushed for 446 yards (!!) against the Huskies. Stanford leads the nation in fewest sacks allowed (two — for the season). And on the other side of the ball Stanford averages almost four sacks per game, and boasts one of the top ranked pass rushes in the nation. Dominating the Cougs is one thing; dominating the line of scrimmage against Stanford is another.

      Not saying that OSU cannot beat Stanford. Just saying that it’s going to be VERY tough. When a team gets beaten on the line of scrimmage (as is likely to happen against Stanford) that team’s skill players and special teams need to play 60 minutes of almost perfect football to win. That’s a tall order for any team, and especially for a team as young and inexperienced as this year’s Beavers….

  37. Great game by the Beavs last night. One giant step forward after the backtracking they did last week against BYU. With all the injuries on defense, I was surprised to see us do a fairly good job against Tuel and Co. We were burned on some long pass plays, but I think that had a lot to do with our defense scheming to stop the run attack first. If Tuel was going to beat them, then so be it.

    What was really exciting was the play of the offense. Mannion only had two questionable throws/decisions and I don’t count his INT as one of them (Wheaton should have gone up for that ball rather than wait for it to come down to him). His pocket presence is perhaps the best I’ve seen at OSU in decades. The kid just knows how to use the available space to make room for him to throw. Agnew is the real deal, just needs to stay healthy. Cooks made some great catches. The playcalling was much more diverse and it looked as though the Beavers had actually schemed specifically for the Cougs.

    Now, I’m not naive enough to presume anything about next week. Haven’t we had enough of that this year already? When we beat Arizona, there seemed to be a lot of folks thinking that their old Beavs were back and there were teams we should have no trouble beating on the schedule. I still think we can lose every game the rest of the way. The key to avoiding losses to team we could potentially beat will be for Mannion to continue playing the way he did and for the offensive to continue clicking. The defense will have to be “good enough”. Could we beat Utah? Sure… Could we beat California? Sure… Can we beat UW? Unlikely…

    I think at this point in the season, we should just be happy when we win and hope for continued growth by these young players. What is really fantastic is that we have so many young players who are developing all at the same time and who are actually pretty good. Imagine what this team will be doing in 2013? If we can recruit and develop the O-line and D-line this year and next, and our young players don’t regress, 2013 could be sweet. I don’t expect a whole lot in 2012. Too many holes and you can’t fill them all effectively in one season of recruiting.

    • If the Beavers can make some stops against UW and their offense keeps improving they can beat UW. Washington’s D is embarrassingly terrible. It hasn’t improved at all. With the Beavers weapons and Mannion being extremely accurate and continued development, the Beavers should have a similar day offensively against UW as they did against WSU. Team can definitely win 5 games, as long as they just continue to progress and I think they will.

  38. WOW! (sorry to be late with a game comment, but had to say something..) That was like night and day from previous games. Play calling not rubberstamped, dufus stuff minimal, Agnew running in realtime, Mannion making huge percentage, …..who are these guys? New coaching staff–did I miss the firing and hiring??

    Man, I am so glad I was WRONG in predicting this game. What a pleasure that game was. Something changed hugely in playcalling.

    • Play calling is way easier when you have a running game (Agnew) and you are in 2nd and short vs 2nd and long. The offense is designed for balance and until last night, we have not had it.

    • OK, I see Cliff’s now blogging that both Johnson and Unga are day to day, along with Joe H. and our boy Rueben. Jenkins to be out “for a while”.

      I don’t like seeing a possible change at center at this point in the season, we’ll see.

        • Jenkins has great hands, great toughness, great yards after contact. But he’s horribly slow getting up to speed. So in short I love him catching the ball once he’s got a head of steam, but don’t ever ever again hand off to him or run him in a fly sweep. Ughhh

          • Jenkins is a damn good receiving back and that is all he should be used as. When Mannion can get it to Jenkins on the swing pass it usually gains anywhere from 15-30 yards. That pass is quote effective, especially on third and short and usually there is a blitz coming.

        • Not a huge fan of Johnson either, just don’t think now is the time to mess with the C/QB exchange or the signal calling for the O-line.

  39. This game will teach the youngsters how important it is to hold on to the ball, and control the game with the run. We sorely missed Agnew, and his consistency — the linemen feed off of his energy and yards after contact. Would be nice to get the UCLA and BYU games back with Agnew in the line-up. I see the Beavs beating UTAH or CAL, but losing the rest. I’ll be at the stanford and uw games….both at home — we’ll have a chance if we can run the ball effectively….go beavs!

  40. It’s a slow news day, so I’m looking ahead to next years’ schedule, I like how the games line up for the Beavs:

    http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-12/pac-10/2012-oregon-state-beavers-football-schedule.php

    Road games: Nicholls St., BYU, UA (w/o Foles), Stanford (w/o Luck), UCLA, UW

    Home games: Wisconsin (w/o Russell Wilson), ASU, CAL, UO, Utah, WSU.

    Our toughest games are at home with Wisoncin, ASU and Oregon. Several teams will be replacing their quarterbacks after they leave for the NFL.
    No USC or Colorado again next season. It’s too bad the ASU game couldn’t be swapped with Colorado.
    I think we will surprise some teams next season, with Mannion fully comfortable with the Riley system.

    • That’s how the Ducks schedule nonconference now. This year is an exception. They know they struggle in nonconference road games so they wanna avoid any challenging ones so they have a shot a national title. They’re copying SEC teams in that regard. I believe they play ASU, OSU and USC on the road next year, those are the only difficult games on the Ducks schedule next year.

      • Any word on whether LaMichael James and Darron Thomas are moving on to the NFL this year? If they stick around another year, Oregon could easily go undefeated with that crappy schedule. Even without those guys they’d have a good chance.

        • Darron won’t be a QB in the NFL so there’s no chance he leaves early. LaMichael could leave early. I don’t think the Ducks go undefeated next year but definitely have a good shot at a Rose Bowl thanks to a horrible schedule.

  41. Watched the game on tivo last night. Very encouraged by what I saw.
    Remmers has a mistake free game and even held some blocks, including on one of the TD plays.
    Hekker “Shank-a-game” has been kept in place for 3 games now.
    James Rodgers was utilized more but still not enough in my opinion. I saw that he was back to return the opening kickoff I believe but that was it. Wondering if he’s going to start returning kicks again?
    Jenkins was utilized perfectly, minimizing his slow start-up speed and maximizing his hands.
    I get giddy when I think of our d-line’s potential in the next couple years!
    Mannion is going to be a world beater.
    Gwacham even got in on the act. You see him on the sidelines after his catch?
    Cowgirl has some amazing dancers.

    It shouldn’t bother me, but during the PF helmet-to-helmet calls, the ref kept saying “After the play, personal foul on…..” Expect it wasn’t after the play, it’s just a personal foul. Was this his first D1 game? Missing the details bothers me sometimes. Then again we have people on here freaking because the announcers called it a jet sweep instead of a fly-sweep. Most Beaver fans wouldn’t even know what a fly/jet sweep play was unless we’d ran it 9,000,000 times over the last few years. They should just start calling it the Rodgers sweep in his honor.

    • I believe it is because the penalty is assessed after the play. I thought that was odd too though. Also it was nice to see the refs care a little about player safety. It is sad the NFL is doing a better job at preventing brain damage then the NCAA.

    • Yeah, you like to see it make sense. And there are PF’s after a play, when guys go at it after the whisle. I second the idea…calling it the Rogers sweep….him winning that Civil War with it is enough for me.

      This game was amazing in the togetherness and continuity of the effort given, all game long. Even good Beaver teams seldom had such an effort.

  42. I just found this at PAC 12.
    Oregon State’s Sean Mannion and Scott Crichton and Arizona’s John Bonano have been named Bank of the West Pac-12 Players of the Week in football.

  43. Is there a worse sport talk radio host in Portland than Dave Smith? His show is so horrible and lasts for 3 hours every day. I’d much rather listen to Rome if this is the crap they’re gonna replace him with. At least Rome gets decent interviews.

    • Oh yeah, there’s that douche-nozzle AC Coleman. He’s even worse than Dave Smith, but at least they don’t use him much any more. Only when they have those 76 straight hours of Ducks weeks, when the other tools need a break.

      PS- Who knew this blog would have a spell check function to help you correctly spell “douche-nozzle”? Nice feature

  44. Once again, I concur. Dave seems like yet another transplant to Portland radio. Sports radio is almost unlistenable anyway. But then that’s probably because I hate the NBA, MLB, MLS, and the ducks.

  45. I’m going to preempt some complaints that I see voiced before almost every single Beaver game this year. People are complaining that the stands are empty. I’ve been to every game so far except ASU, and I’m always surprised when someone posts this complaint.
    After watching the tivoed version of the WSU game last night I now know why you think the stands are empty… because the stands don’t fill until exactly at, or even several minutes after kickoff. You’re viewing the pre-game shot of the stands. Wait until the first TV break before assessing how many people showed up.
    Granted attendance is down at Reser this year, but it’s not as bad as it may appear 20 minutes before kickoff.

    • I’m actually surprised anyone attends games given the economy…

      I was watching the World Series and Sunday Night Football last night thinking “how do these people have thousands of dollars to go to these games…?”

      • We all have our priorities. For me, going to Beaver games is a high priority. Also, the poor economy hasn’t affected all of us equally.
        I am always shocked at MLB season ticket holders… really? The only way I would buy MLB season tickets is if I had 81 friends to split them with.

    • Regarding attendance at OSU games, I’ve been to the UCLA, Arizona and BYU games so far this year. For UCLA, Reser was nearly full as soon as the game started. For Arizona, most of the stadium was full except for the end zone seats. For BYU, there were quite a few empty seats. The BYU section was packed and there were plenty of blue shirts scattered throughout the crowd, but I’m assuming it didn’t sell out because Oregon State was charging double the going rate of a Pac-12 game. The extra revenue more than made up for the empty seats that day.

      A season ticket to Oregon State football is $150.00. Many people pay more than that for their cable bill each month.

      I went to a PSU game earlier this year and don’t understand why more Portlander don’t go to those games. Yes, it’s a lower level of competition, but that’s all relative to the opponents they’re playing. It’s cheap entertainment and the commute only takes 15-30 minutes for most locals. The game I went to I took my nephews and we had our pick of any seat in the general admission section. We sat in the end zone and caught field goals and extra point kicks all night. The kids had a blast and we only paid about $30 for 3 tickets.

      • There were more opposing fans at the BYU game then I have ever seen at Reser since I started going over a decade ago.
        PSU has been down the last several years but I remember the Pokey Allen and Tim Walsh days of yore. Their games at Hillsboro stadium were a blast! If I didn’t go to the Beaver games I would be a PSU season ticket holder.
        You are spot on about football entertainment value close to Portland.

        • Did I miss something or didn’t Port. St. play it’s home football games at the former PGE Park (formerly Civic Stadium) for many years? They had to move to Hillsboro once MLS took over the park.

    • Riley is even bitching about the officiating a little bit in this article, I like that he is showing a pulse lately. I’ve read a couple of comments that the Wheaton play should have been a TD (Riley says it in this article). I guess I need to go back and see the replay, at the time I thought the DB made a good play and Wheaton got outmuscled.

      One other thing I liked in hindsight was that even though this was against a somewhat overrated Wazzu team, this was truly a thrashing. A play here or there and the Beavs could have been in the 50’s or 60’s for a final point total. Anyway you slice it that is a beat down and a long ways from the UCLA game.

      • That INT should have been an incompletion at worst. Wheaton didn’t really fight for the ball. A receivers job on those is to make sure nothing worse than an incompletion happens, Wheaton didn’t do that.
        Wazzu isn’t a good team but the Beavers scored more points offensively on the Cougars than anyone else this entire season. Stanford had 44 points against Wazzu but the final 6 came on a kickoff return. The Beavers had a better offensive showing against the Cougars than Stanford who has a pretty good offense as shown Saturday. Wazzu isn’t good but the Beavers did things that no other team has done to the Cougars, that shouldn’t be taken too lightly.

        • Maybe I am not understanding, but are some people saying that Wheaton had established possession therefore whatever the DB did after that does not matter or are they saying it should ahve been a TD if Wheaton would have fought for the ball? I guess that’s why I need to crank up the DVR and see what happened, at the time I did not think much of it other than the DB made a good play.

          • DB got his hands on it and Wheaton got his hands on it but didn’t really fight for it. He basically let the DB have it. That’s how I saw it.

        • I completely disagree about the Wheaton INT. “He didn’t fight enough for it”? Watch the play again, it dropped into the DBs hands and Wheaton tried to pull it out, he didn’t so it was an INT. Did Wheaton just let him take it? No. The DB didn’t even know where the ball was until it hit his hands. It was a fluke INT, period.
          Wheaton clearly never had possession either so drop that argument too.

  46. I thought the LB’s we have been picking on played decent. Qilson was the guy that knocked Tuel out of the game and Robinson was in position all night and made several tackles. Of course it might have a lot to do with the athleticism of WSU. Anyway not really much of a point to this but I figure if we are going to pick on these guys we might as well recognize when they do good things.

  47. I agree Wilson and Robinson did pretty well against Wazzu but I still say that if those two are seeing any significant playing time by the time we play Stanford, or especially Oregon, we are going to get blown out of the stadium.

  48. Pac-12 Power Rankings, Post Week 8 Edition hot off the presses!

    PAC-12 RANKINGS

    STAN 150.38
    ORE 147.62
    AZST 136.54
    USC 130.78
    UTAH 127.73
    WASH 127.47
    ARIZ 124.55
    ORST 121.75
    CAL 121.01
    WAST 120.17
    UCLA 117.03
    COL 113.84

    Other OSU Opponents
    WISC 142.48
    BYU 124.18

    Top Ten Overall:

    ALAB 151.86
    STAN 150.38
    LSU 150.11
    OKLA 148.10
    ORE 147.62
    BOST 145.13
    OKST 145.12
    WISC 142.48
    SCAR 136.65
    AZST 136.54

    • What is the source for these rankings? What algorithm do they use? I understand that “power rankings” don’t always account for head to head victories but how is it that Arizona is ranked ahead of us? Some others that stand out: Utah, Oklahoma State (why so low?), South Carolina and Arizona State. Is this based on statistical performance because some of them just don’t plain make sense.

    • Too funny and actually kind of pathetic, interesting how Harris apparently cannot afford car insurance, but he was able to come up with the $1600 to pay his I-5 speeding ticket, now it looks like he will need another $1000 to settle his latest inability to follow basic rules of the road with the city of Eugene.

      I wonder if Kelly will cut his loses, they’ve enabled Harris up till this point because of his talent, but with the NCAA investigation pending, they need to send a strong message. Harris’ behavior and the NCAA inquiry aren’t related, but perception is reality and the perception is not good. .

      • “I wonder if Kelly will cut his loses….”

        Much more likely than before considering the fact that Cliff hasn’t played very well to this point.

    • What an absolute trainwreck of a human being. I really try to not come down on kids because I know I did some stupid things at that age, but this guy is a total fuck up. They’re just traffic offenses but seriously, what a sense of entitlement he must have. How do you not kick him out of school?

        • yep. will be interesting to see who’s name is on the car’s title. The article says it was lent to him by a family member. why would his family lend him a car when they know his license has already been suspended in all of the states where he’d be driving?

        • Cliff was in fact the person who said, we smoked it all.

          Also, the confounding factor is that his family reportedly paid his $1600 fine recently. Why would you loan a car to a kid that already cost you a serious chunk of change? Only two things are possible: this stinks or his family are the biggest morons alive.

  49. Hey Angry, would you do a topic on a mid-season review & second half forecast? I know its just past the halfway point, but it could be interesting. The team is taking a different look with then what was expected at the start, due largely to the quick, awkward benching of Katz.

    The weeks go by quickly, so there may not be much point in it, but these game threads tend to get into more generalized topics like remaining games.

  50. Great game for the beavers. more than satisfying, i went up for it and the wazzu fans are complete shit. i witness a group of 4 student aged kids get encouraged by fellow cougar fans as they harassed an 80 year old man. i dont want to echo whats already been said ill just add two things that i didn’t read from somebody else. first- that catch by kevin cummings was friggin beast. second- i dont mean to sound negative because i was thrilled with the performance but id gathered the perception this past week that people felt that washington state had made a vast improvement from last year, and i really didnt see it. i thought they looked fucking attrocious. its hard to be 3-4 and have a record aided by a bad schedule (wins against idaho state and colorado, who is a joke as well.) im left feeling decent about the utah game. we will see

    • I was at the game as well and it was very satisfying when all of the Cougs were leaving early. I couldn’t believe how confident and cocky the Wazzu fans were before the game.

      On a side note, I saw Chuck Norris at the game and he was wearing a Dylan Wynn jersey :)

  51. Utah is a good test. They are beatable, especially if the beavs have finally gelled offensively. Mannion is clearly emerging as a good QB. I just can’t for the life of me understand why Riley squandered away spring practice and summer camp focusing on grooming Katz to be the starter, when it should’ve been apparent much earlier that it wasn’t going to work. Maybe it’s because Katz has all the physical tools, including an absolute cannon for an arm, so Riley was patiently hoping the mental aspects of the game would come to him eventually. I dunno, but here as much as anywhere is where the debacle of the first half of the season began.

    • Katz didn’t do much in 2011 Spring practice because he was recovering from a broken wrist. That gave Mannion the opportunity to get a lot of reps in Spring practice, and to impress the coaches. In Fall camp, Katz returned as the first team QB, but didn’t look as sharp as expected. Meanwhile, Mannion continued to show dramatic improvement. By the end of Fall camp, it was becoming clear to some observers that Mannion might be the better choice. Then, at halftime of the first game (Sac State), Riley pulled the trigger and replaced Katz with Mannion.

      Coach Riley deserves criticism for a lot of things (and he gets it on this blog). But it’s hard to argue that Riley waited too long to bench Katz and play Mannion. Most of the criticism (until very recently) has in fact gone the other way — that Riley pulled Katz too soon, and should have given Katz another game or two before benching Katz and elevating Mannion. Personally, I think Riley made the right move, but I don’t see how Riley could have acted much more quickly than he did…

      • I think he made the right move, but handled it awkwardly and poorly, including the “dual qb” threat that was unveiled at Wisconsin…

        Thinking back to the start of the season, it is pretty dramatic how different expectations are now for followers of OSU football. At the start of the season, most of us expected Katz to be the season-long starter barring injury. The RB situation hadn’t settled itself out, and while its week-to-week due to Agnew’s fragile hamstrings, we know OSU has a capable back when healthy. We also know OSU has two absolute (young) animals at the defensive end spots, and a promising pass-rushing specialist in Fernando. The second half, and most of our expectations, are much different now.

        • Agreed.

          Mannion (QB), Agnew (RB), Cooks (WR), Crichton (DE), and Wynn (DE) constitute a strong core of freshman players who are gaining invaluable experience this season. Other talented freshman and sophomore players are also in the program. In addition, the Beavers look to have an excellent incoming class of recruits for next season (including one of the nation’s best set of O-line recruits).

          Here’s hoping that Riley keeps playing lots of young guys during the rest of this season (to provide them with experience, and also to evaluate talent under game conditions), and that our key young players stay healthy.

          If that happens, the future of Beaver football is looking a lot brighter now than it looked seven weeks ago…..

          • I would add Romaine to the list of freshman gaining invaluable experience this year. He may not be a solid kicker right now, but he will only improve over the next few seasons.

          • Agreed. Romaine has a strong leg. He’s getting more accurate. He’s getting valuable experience this year on kickoffs, field goals, and extra points. TR will likely be an important weapon for the Beavers for the next three years.

  52. has anyone watched utah play a fair amount? i would appreciate some insight on what we’re up against, defense in particular. i was surprised they are favored by 5 points given their qb situation, but i don’t know much about them otherwise. hoping the byu game was an abberation. i’m making the trip to utah for the game and hoping for a better outcome than the last trip there.

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