Home Football What was the Game Plan?

What was the Game Plan?

By
angry
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159

"I cant believe they didn't stuff the box.  They used the same defensive sets they've used all year" –Kyle Wittingham

Given that Utah's coach basically laughed at OSU's staff, I think it's fair that mere mortal fans ask some questions. Such as…what was the offensive game plan tonight? It looked like, "Let's try a pass. Hm. Let's try a run. Screw it, let's flip a coin."

I mean, I didn't see the running game established, and I didn't see the passing game established to open up the run. So, what was the plan? I didn't see the edge tested. Didn't see misdirection. Didn't see an effort to get players in space. Didn't see Utah tested vertically but once (the dropped TD). So what was the strategy?

And what was the plan on defense? It should have been to stop the run since Utah is starting a DII quarterback, but I didn't see eight men in the box. So, what was the plan? Will the Oregon media ask these questions?

Finally, how are these coaches jobs' safe? Answer: a kidney, nepotism, and a lifetime contract.

159 COMMENTS

  2. I just read that and was going to post it.

    An absolutely devastating article, and those quotes from Utah’s coach were brutal.

    “They stayed in base stuff they’ve been playing all season long.”

    So true, so brutal.

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  3. I think this site needs to become the new Oregon media. Right now it’s the alternative…and I am fine with that. It’s not like I crave the power or want the responsibility of world domination (joking)…

    But, seriously, these clowns don’t ask any questions. They report facts we all watched and then they go home and wank it to Russian porn.

    Someone needs to walk up to Riley and say, “Why didn’t your D coordinator put 8 in the box?” and just repeat it over and over until they get a direct answer.

    For the rest of the season, I might criticize the coaching staff less and the media more. We all know the staff is terrible, but what we don’t know is why the media won’t print it. Does anyone else agree that we should spend our time criticizing the Oregon media???

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    • At some point, I would think that Canzano will take the bait and do an editorial about what changes need to be made with the coaching staff. He may wait until the season is over. It seems like low hanging fruit for a guy who likes to be considered controversial.

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      • Canzano doesn’t have the guts to call out Oregon’s athletic administration and its coaching staff, he’s having too much fun with their on-the-field results, his Chip Kelly crush, and hoping to cover a BCS game with them. THAT story down south screams for investigative journalism and sharp commentary.

        The slow death of Mike Riley and the descent of OSU football into college football mediocrity is much less compelling. Hell, mediocrity is the story for over half of the teams in college football. What’s the story?

        By not expecting more from his coaching staff, Bob D is risking creating a major college sport alums care little about. Again.

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        • I thought Kelly quit coming on Canzano’s show, did that change? Canzano had Riley on a while back and his first question to Riley was “are you mad at me”?
          I think it was about how Riley played the suspensions which Canzano had said MR handled incorrectly. Of course, Riley said “no” I’m not upset. I was screaming at my radio for MR to call Canzano an asshole and hang up!!!!

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        • I read that article this morning, I was wondering when the hell Canzano wrote the article. Must have been before the game. Of course, he didn’t write an anti-Ducks article last year after their narrow escape against Cal did he?

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    • They tell the story they’ve already decided in their minds is the story, not stories based on the facts or the interesting developments in or after the game, whether its a former national championship winning coach asking “what are the beavers thinking?” against Wisconsin, or an opponent’s coach asking “what were the beavers thinking?”

      OSU did not focus on Utah’s strength nor its weakness, and Utah’s own coach couldn’t understand that.

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      • I’d like someone to ask Riley if they even studied film from the Pitt game. Pitt is not a terrible team, yet Utah handed it to them on the road with the same formula they used against the Beavs.

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  4. Good post from jaydub on pureorange about being dead tired of the “Their young excuse.”

    jaydub’s post:

    They’re so young because this staff didn’t recruit jack sh1t coming off 10-win seasons.
    Riley knows damned well where the recruiting fell off, but that coach is still defensive coordinator. Can’t recruit, can’t stop a running quarterback, but apparently the two share a very similar sense of humor while the team is being blown out.

    Apparently it’s REALLY important to him to protect his buddies, regardless of what’s happening to the program overall.

    If Banker and Langs don’t go, Mike Riley should.

    jw2u

    Reply

    • Can’t stop a RB or a running QB.

      And yes, it’s sad that the media doesn’t ask hard questions, but they don’t do that in really any area. Political reporters don’t push politicians, for fear of losing their access. Same with sports media.

      But we don’t have access, and we have an actual investment in the team succeeding, so we can ask the hard questions.

      I wonder if we could send a letter to Riley and get a response? Tell him it’s from a big OSU sports blog and we have a few questions that nobody else seems to ask.

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    • You Mike Riley weren’t “on your heels’….you were laughing on the sidelines while your team was getting pounded because of YOUR piss poor gameplan secure in the fact that your AD is going to accept a 2-10 season and like it.because you are the king of Corvallis.

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    • Anyone else notice that the Beaver players have taken on the personalities of Riley? All of their quotes are full of excuses and pretty boring. I’d love for one of them to say, I sucked, I take responsibility for that and I’m going to do X to improve. They hide behind a lot of vague “team improvement” language which of course they get from Riley.

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  6. Questions…

    basketball, when does basketball start?
    As a beaver fan am I obligated to continue to watch?
    How many beers will it take to sit through the Stanford game? Or should I just stay at the tailgater?
    Why aren’t we recruiting some defensive tackles and linebackers?

    Reply

    • Nov. 12th is the first game, I believe.
      No, you are not obligated to watch.
      Depending on your tolerance, it will take between 2 and 9 beers to watch Stanford annihilate us.
      And because we only recruit “Skill positions” duh.

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    • Dude! Hoops is where it’s at anyway.

      I would love to tailgate every game and just stay at the tailgate, but those things that made it fun in the day are kinda illegal… still. I can’t see myself going into a game. It just bothers me that kids are getting hurt for my pleasure. And now we add the cheating aspect to the whole scenario? I half wish we were a WCC school instead. I can do without football in the end.

      I think it comes from a love for the defensive side.

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  7. I’d like to say I didn’t watch every second. But you all know i did.

    I vote for not trying the “let’s tire the RB out by making him run a lot” method of defense ever again.

    Stanford up the middle? I actually think I will not watch that game. I’ll tape it, and if we’re within 30 I might watch it.

    We’ll beat Cal. I still have no friggin’ idea what to think about UW. And what the hell is nikegon doing? They did know they were playing Wazzu today. No? They can beat the tree, but they actually have to play well to do it.

    Lastly, who said during the last week that Langs called the Wazzu game on his own? This game was lost when 1. We ran the ball up the middle twice for a cumulative gain of, “what the fuck was that call?” and B. Apparently the middle of our first half defense was Lovers’ Lane.

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    • You sure you want to stay with the thought that this team can beat Cal? They very well may lose the rest of their games. With a O-line that is this bad it is possible-you are not going to win by passing 45-60 times a game, and in this type of offense no run game means no wins. Not to mention the fact that the coaching staff is failing in a large way. I like your hope- I have lost mine-but I am sure I will watch the rest of the season.

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      • You’re right. OSU winning has nothing to do with who they’re playing. They just win every other game now.

        So we beat Stanford, lose to Cal, beat UW and lose the CW.

        I would laugh my ass off if we keep Nikegon out of the Rose Bowl by beating Stanford, who goes on to beat Nikegon the following week to win the North.

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  9. Thank god I did not watch this game last evening. Just finished watching the DVR. What a POS performance.
    Had I watched it last night and known the outcome it would have ruined a perfect day football.
    I was at a great game where my other alma mater, Minnesota, upset a heavily favored Iowa squad for the second year in a row. Salvaged something out of a miserable season. Think beating the Ducks. To make it even better, the other arch rival, Wisconsin, loses for the second week in a row on another hail mary. USC loses. All good.

    WTF happened in the 1st half. This looked like the team that played against UCLA. Screw ups in all phases. Chipper benches Thomas. How bad does Mannion have to play to get benched?

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    • Congrats on the Gopher win, they’ve had a tough go this season. Iowa St.inexplicable pounded Texas Tech also. I like it when teams having bad seasons rise to the challenge and knock down a big favorite. With the right coach, they get pissed enough for a least one game and say they are not going to take it anymore. I just don’t see that happening with the Beavers and they will have opportunities.

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  11. I am so happy I didn’t stay in to watch this game on TV and instead went to the USC-Stanford game with some friends. Absolutely crazy game. If anybody is in the LA area and wants to see a real football atmosphere I highly recommend going to a USC game (this was my first). The entire first half I couldn’t help but feel jealous that Oregon State games can’t match environment.

    Reply

    • What I used to love about games at the Mausoleum was parking in the hood and tailgating with all the locals who dragged their barbeques and coolers out on their front lawns and sold food for the weekend. For $15, you could park, grab some beers, eat some ribs and finish it up with a sweet potato pie… then walk into the stadium and cheer against SCum.

      Same for the Olympics in ’84.

      I’ve heard the city made them stop doing this.

      Since i had to go to a party last night, I taped the game. I think I should have taped the Stanford game instead. But, knowing my luck with football yesterday, the DVR would have shut off in the middle of the first OT.

      Reply

      • Yeah they didn’t have anything like this yesterday so you’re probably right about the city making them stop. Although I have to say you’re braver than me because I’m not sure how much mingling with the locals I’d want to do in that area anyways. It’s definitely not a very nice area lol.

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  12. Speaking of awful media, look at the dissuasion at rivals.com:

    A guy made some jabs at Riley, and our fan favorite JPTheBeaver had to step in and set him straight!

    Kerry, we get it that you’re frustrated, but there’s really no sense just posting little one-line shots over and over again. 14 posts in 45 minutes – most similar to this last one – really isn’t what we’re looking for on the board.

    If you need to vent with the little one-liners, how about hitting the chat room rather than filling the board.

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  13. Watching this is painful:

    http://cliffkirkpatrick.mvourtown.com/2011/10/30/utah-aftermath/

    the lack of fire, the lack of hurt. Riley’s flat-lined. I get the benefits of being even and providing stability, but Riley simply looks out of the game anymore.

    And the remarks about Agnew/Ward, and the lack of any strategic thinking: “It had nothing to do with Agnew. We just wanted to get Ward in the game.” And then put Agnew back in for a goal line fumble?!?

    At multiple scales, this game points back to Angry’s chess analogy, and Riley’s preference for using his pieces in an abstract manner that ignores context or opponent’s strategy, strengths, and weaknesses. At one scale, you have the bonehead defensive scheme. At a smaller scale, you have the context independent decision to switch running backs.

    Somebody HAS to go this offseason. If not Banker/Langsdorf, than all of them. Riley can go coach a Corvallis highschool team and still be the hometown boy.

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  14. Pretty much the result I expected. Way overconfident after each win as if the corner had been turned without analyzing objectively. Preparation for the each opponent is generic without looking at what each opponent (including Sac State) does well or not so well. Talk about balance is nonsense because it does not address the strength or weakness of the specific opponent and does not take advantage of the relative strengths of the Beavers. To beat Utah you need to stop the run and need to stack the box from play one then dare them to beat you with a weak qb. To beat Utah you need to be able to run and if that means having nine linemen/blockers a qb and rb on the field for some plays, then you need to plan for that. Balance is not simply having 30 run plays and 30 pass plays in your final game stats.

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  15. It’s been said before, but I absolutely hate the implicit assumption that the coaches’ gameplan is infallible, and any poor performance is blamed on the players’ execution. The lack of responsibility is staggering.

    And it’s such a stupid cop-out! ANY scheme would work if executed perfectly! That’s not the point- the point is to design a scheme that is intuitive and most likely to succeed. Could we have succeeded at Utah without stacking the box? Yes. Could we have increased our likelihood of success by altering our gameplan to strengths and weakness? Coaching 101.

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    • On the flip side, it was interesting to watch what engaged coaching can do……Do you think the Utes defense was prepared? Maybe they watched a little Wazzu film? Did you notice the wheel routes were covered? How about the swing pass to Jenkins on the blitz, somehow they had a linebacker on him. Amazing or was it just someone doing the job their are paid to do?

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      • The game showed the contrast in coaching staffs drastically. Kyle Whittingham had his guys ready and extremely prepared. The wheel route was perfectly read. Some of the swing passes were open, Agnew dropped one that would have been a big gain. But, overall the swing pass was decently defended. Also, he and the D-Coordinator knew that a blitz would work every time. He has seen film on the Beavers, they don’t run any slants whatsoever. A lot of routes that take a while and the only routes being ran quickly where Mannion can get it out to is the RB. That is inexcusable for the coaching staff. They refuse to implement any quick hitting routes which help neutralize the blitz. If they ran some slants with Cooks, Wheaton and Rodgers and picked up some big gains with it, the Utes would have backed off with the blitz.

        It’s simple, the Utes coaching staff knew how to attack the Beavers’ weaknesses and the Utes played to their own strengths, the Beavers had no idea how to attack the Utes’ weaknesses and allowed Utah to play to their strengths. It’s embarrassing that these guys have no idea how to exploit any weaknesses. Virtually every other D-Coordinator would have stacked the box and forced Hays to beat them. He had some bad throws too. The way he was throwing was a clear sign for Banker to have 8 in the box. He refused to do that. He should be fired just for that. He’s an idiot.

        Funny though, the coaching staff even messed up substitutions. Ward was actually running it effectively in the second half and got the ball down to the 1 yard line when the Beavers were down 24-6 and it could have been 24-13 Utes, instead he’s pulled for Agnew who proceeds to cough it up. That was a stupid decision. The coaching staff cannot seem to do anything right during games. I just would like a competent coaching staff for once.

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        • The Beavs haven’t had a ball security issue in quite awhile (one reason for their success) until this season. At some point you have to sit Agnew, right? If and when Mannion gets a decent offensive line, what if he continues to throw picks?

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          • Probably give Agnew another game and if the fumbles continue you gotta sit him. No other choice. Ward has started to look better but he has fumble issues as well. RB is an issue but not because of ability, cause of guys being so fumble prone.

            As far as Mannion goes, I say give him some time. He’s young and learning. I think he will learn from those mistakes. I think he will progress and the turnovers will come down. Also, at what point do Langsdorf and Riley share some responsibility for the mess with the turnovers? I get Mannion is young and mistakes happen, but young Beaver QB’s always have turnover issues. At what point are Langsdorf and Riley to blame? I see other young QB’s around college football who I know aren’t as good as Mannion and other Beaver QB’s of the past having much less issues with turnovers. Riley is the constant. He needs to take a lot more of the blame. Guys take a full year to really progress and stop turning it over. Eventually Riley needs to have more of the blame. Would be interesting to know how much work Riley and Langsdorf do with Mannion when it comes to film. It always seems like they don’t progress as quickly as they should under Riley.

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          • But it was kind of interesting that last year Katz protected the ball pretty well 18/11 ratio if I remember correctly, not a dissimilar offensive line either, Mannion will need a break through against a good team at some point soon in his career. He showed to some real frustration yesterday.

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          • Katz didn’t have as many turnovers but that’s cause he would rather take a sack than throw a ball into coverage. But after James went down his turnovers were about the same the final 7 games as Mannion has through 8 games this year. The perception that Katz took so much better care of the ball isn’t necessarily true.

            Last night Sean was really frustrated. He was getting no protection and began to force the ball into coverage. Also have to believe he was frustrated by the constant drops that killed huge plays. Young guys have a tendency to get frustrated and start forcing throws. I think he will begin to limit mistakes. I think the routes run can be a problem too. He wants to get the ball out but when he has guys constantly in his face so quickly and the routes take a while to develop, he has to throw it early and that leads to picks. Some short quick routes would help him out and limits the defenses ability to constantly get in his face.

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          • Mannion has 13 picks now. I’m just saying he needs to get it under control at some point or between that and the RB fumbles there are not going to be many wins. This is a lost season in so many ways.

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  16. Hi BN; It’s me again the old former future pending head designate coach in waiting.

    What a collapse! It rattled the foundation of my little mini- mc mansion. It reminded me of some of the debacles that I provided, for your enjoyment, back in the 90’s… ahh..good times!

    So look… here’s where we are. I’m willing to start early. I’ve been game planning for my big re-debut against the mighty Nicholls State ?????’s, next September. I’ll come up and we’ll use that game plan against Stanford. It’s probably as good as anything that would pop out of the stagnant dome’s of Mike not- ever Riled up and Langsdwarf.

    So……. let me know. I can be there by Wednesday. Is it going to rain? JB

    PS: the ESPN crawl reports; “JackBeav is still a tool”

    Reply

    • Coach,
      Who’s going to run the flexbone, Poyer? I think Muhammed used up his eligibility and at last report he can only throw a forward pass 15 yards, down from the 20 he was able to do during the “fog bowl” upset. You need to start giving us a little for detail as you can see we are starved for an engaged coacing staff.

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      • He never responds to me anyway, so I don’t know how well he really knows Beaver history except that Pettibone’s teams lost a lot of games. Pettibone looked like Vince Lombardi compared to Fertig and Avezzano!

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        • No kidding. He knows so little about Oregon in general, let alone Corvallis. I’d be surprised if he were even a Nikegon fan.

          And of course he won’t respond to anyone but me. The boy can’t quit me. I would rather be allowed to play with him some more, but the board’s consensus is that his droll posts are unfunny retreads of his previous posts. So he’s FMO.

          But imagine the mileage he could have gotten out of Avezzano. Late nights chasing coeds instead of winning games? That would have been fun.

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          • Like I said before, it was kind of a fun and absurd premise that Jerry is sitting in waiting somewhere and wants another chance because the program is regressing back to his era, but he doesn’t do anything with it. If he thinks he’s going to get under our skin by criticizing the program, he doesn’t really get it. We do enough of that without needing his act.

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          • I still laugh every time he posts. McKalk, it’s equally funny how mad you get at him. We need the comic relief around here so thanks, guys.

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          • I laugh because i got so under his skin that he can’t let it go. But his schtick isn’t going anywhere. He had the one post where he markedly improved, but he then regressed to what is now cut and paste. It’s like flipping through the channels to find something on Saturday night, stopping on SNL because they were funny some 25 years ago, and watching while some boring sketch is delivered with actors delivering droll lines and obviously just reading cue cards.

            Yeah, people are still laughing. But you have to wonder if those people are just laughing because they’ve invested the time to try to get a giggle out of it, and they need to laugh rather than fall asleep from boredom.

            I mean, I was pulling for the kid. I went so far as to tee it up for him time and again. But he never connected. Now he’s just angry with me for his own failures. Poor guy.

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          • I’m not mad, I just try to get him to play out the premise a little further, but the only person he responds to is JackBeav. I’m starting to think you are playing an elaborate joke on us!

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          • If this is elaborate, then shoot me now.

            Thanks for thinking that all I could muster would be a lazy run at retread humor. Though I guess i did a good enough job just mirroring his… *ahem*… work… *ahem*… that some would think this.

            No… you’d know if I was running some elaborate joke because it would reek of Monty Python and George Carlin and Lenny Bruce and enough Cosby goofiness to tilt everything sideways. I would never put my name to this half-witted effort.

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          • JackBeav,

            Now I am really suspicious, there is no reply button on your “Monty Python” post, but my response was actually directed towards Angry not you, but if you are indeed Pettibonehead , I kind of appreciate the absurdity of you talking to yourself on college sports forum!

            Reply

          • I think if angry were to run this gag, he would use the same type of humor with some C.K. Louis thrown in. But there’s nothing that suggests he’s doing it. C.K. Louis done poorly is Dane Cook’s schtick, and this doesn’t rise to even that level.

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  17. One week ago, California smothered Utah by stacking the box. Utah rushed 26 times for a grand total of 13 yards.

    Yesterday, OSU came out in its standard 4-3 defense, refusing to stack the box. As a result, Utah’s tailback rushed 18 times for 161 yards IN THE FIRST HALF! In the second half, the Beavs stacked the box and shut down Utah’s offense. But of course by then it was too late.

    The failure to stack the box in the first half against Utah cost OSU the game. This was 100% the fault of the coaches.

    Yet here is Riley’s post-game analysis: “We were on our heels, and they were out-playing us,”

    And here is Cam Collins: ““Our defense was doing well and we did a good job holding them. Then they popped a few big plays on us. We have to eliminate those mistakes. Some of those holes were way too big…..[In the second half] we came out with the right edge. We played with our hair on fire. Good things will come out of that. From here on out, we can’t come out lackadaisical at all. We have to make sure we pick it up.”

    Newsflash for Cam Collins — the holes were “way too big” in the first half because OSU failed to stack the box. The holes closed up in the second half because OSU finally did stack the box. It had nothing to do with anyone’s hair being on fire, with players coming out lackadaisical, or with playing “on their heels”. It’s not the players’ fault — the players tried hard and did the best they could. OSU LOST BECAUSE BANKER FAILED TO STACK THE BOX TO STOP THE RUN. That’s the story of yesterday’s game.

    Now let’s see if Cliff or Buker or Canzano is willing to grab that story and pursue it to its logical conclusion….

    Reply

    • I thought Collins classifying the first half performance as “lackadasical” was an interesting choice of a word though. I don’t know if he really meant that or was just looking for something to say. Motivation goes to coaching, so in addition to a terrible gameplan, why the hell weren’t they motivated?

      I would love it Collins would have said….”Banker had us in a shitty vanilla 4-3 scheme in the first half, so instead of filling a gap to stuff the run, I was assigned coverage and they didn’t even have anyone going two yards downfield.

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    • Well, they lost also because of how poorly prepared the offense was as well. But, I agree. It defied all logic to not stuff the box. I thought not even Banker could mess up the gameplan yesterday but he proved me wrong, unfortunately.

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    • Yep … The template was right there in front of them (Cal/Utah) and the coaches were so freakin lazy and unmotivated to even try to copy it.

      Riley may have BEEN a good coach, but he lost his competitive urge and clearly he no longer cares. What a horrible situation.

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    • It’s kind of sad when we choose our program’s heroes based off of which players actually cared and badly wanted to win versus the players actual skill level. Oh the life of a Beaver fan…

      Reply

    • I always thought Moore could do some things if he was ever with a good team, but I think his lot in the NFL is to be a journeyman back up for shitty teams as insurance for when the starter gets injured.

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  19. What happened to Stevenson? Is he still injured, or is Riley benching him because the rumor (i.e. Stevenson impregnated Riley’s daughter) is true? Stevenson looked like the best all-around back imo. Not great at anything, but solid in every facet.

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  21. Bench Mannion for the rest of the year so he doesn’t get hurt. SAVE HIM FOR THE NEW COACH!

    Seriously we have been an OSU family since great-grandfather. But if there are not changes, and soon, I’m done. Beyond frustrated!

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  22. Mannion and Agnew both need another year on the scout team. Starting monday.

    Mannion looks like a redshirt freshman,locking onto his reciever and throwing into triple coverage when there are open recievers on the field.

    Put Katz back in and let him run when the pocket collapses. Can’t turn out any worse than this year already is,and if he gets hurt oh well put Mannion back in. You know Katz will try to find James and he’ll catch the ball if it’s thrown to him,unlike Wheaton.

    If Agnew can’t hold on to the ball he can change positions or transfer.

    Banker needs to hit the bricks. See ya chump. Try watching some film on the team you’re playing,retard.

    Reply

    • beaver line couldn’t pick up blitz after blitz- he had pretty limited time back there and was dancing the whole time.

      Agnew is a fumble machine- he has to learn to hold onto the ball or he will become Ryan McCants.

      Banker’s defensive plan was complete stupidity. His seat ought to be pretty hot, be we all know that isn’t the case.

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  23. We Suck! We are a really, really bad team. I can’t even express my frustration. We will lose the rest of our games. I simply shudder at the thought of playing the Ducks.

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    • It says that after this season we desperately need new coordinators for both the offense and the defense.

      OSU for years now has run the same schemes on offense and defense, game after game. OSU’s predictable schemes and play-calling make it easy for a savvy guy like Wittingham to outcoach OSU. It also means that OSU too often fails to take advantage of specific, glaring weaknesses of particular opponents (such as Utah’s lack of a D1 QB during yesterday’s debacle).

      Many of today’s OSU players (and recruits) use social media actively, and are voracious consumers of media reports. They surely see knowledgeable people (including opposing coaches) mocking Banker’s schemes and strategies, and criticizing Langsdorf’s play-calling. The players probably also notice that OSU coaches often try to deflect blame away from themselves, and towards the players, for bad results that are mostly due to coaching errors (such as Banker’s failure to stuff the box against Utah yesterday).

      How long will it be before the players start defending themselves, and start openly questioning the obviously bad decisions being made each week by Banker and/or Langsdorf (if that hasn’t already started happening)? How long before the players openly start expressing a lack of confidence in their coaches? Because, when that happens, the end is near…..

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      • Surely the players already have. Something is so amiss in the OSU football program. (lol). I mean some dark horror that is lurking beneath the surface. Angry touched on it in a previous post – Riley depressed? It’s as if the coaches don’t care.

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        • There’s a sadness that hangs over this team. I think Riley knows that his window of opportunity is gone and it effects everything he does. Angry has mentioned the 2009 Duck loss as the catalyst. I think James’ injury was another drop point. How the Mannion/Katz situation was handled maybe another. Now a P-12 coach questioning his game day strategy out in the open……

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  26. Hoops games for the last three scheduled Saturday football games:
    Nov.12 – 1:30 at home vs. CSU Bakersfield
    Nov.19 – 6:00 in New Jersey vs. Texas
    Nov.26 – 4:00 @ Towson

    Please schedule football games during these times so I have a legitimate excuse not to watch football.

    Reply

      • He always has been. I’m not sure calling a black man anyone’s “boy” is PC… but I think I get what you mean. I will agree that he made a mistake in not jettisoning JJ personnel, as is customary in other programs. But I have to think that he was hired with that caveat in mind. Why he felt he had to actually play them last year is beyond me, but it is what it is.

        This is his time. And it’s his first recruiting class’ time as well. Winning is now expected of them.

        But better than that, winning is now what they expect of themselves.

        It’s one thing to be disappointed in your team. It’s worse to know that you’re more disappointed than they are after any loss. This year’s team is so vested, that any loss will be like losing a mother.

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  27. While I agree that we need to shake up the coaching staff, I disagree that we should give up on these kids and this team. They will will some more games this year, for themselves not for the coaches or the fans. There is talent. Did you guys see the WSU vs Oregon game? WSU has much less talent and really took the Ducks to task. Lets show support for change in the offseason, but in the meantime lets support this young team when they need it most.

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    • WSU never stood a chance. They kept Oregon to two offensive possessions in the first quarter, and controlled the clock. Other than that Oregon did what they wanted against them. That little back, Thomas, just killed them. Remember, WSU also played them tough for a quarter last year. Unfortunately Oregon is probably still the best team in the conference, especially at home. They are the Anti-Beavers; when they play poorly, they still seem to win.

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  28. I don’t mean to reiterate the obvious, but yesterday was some straight shameful shit. that said, i feel like the kids are still playing hard and with passion (look at the way they reacted to the fumble recovery by seumalo in the second half.) last week every body was questioning whether langsdorf was actually calling the plays. this week? im pretty sure that was him. its one thing to be straight up out manned and get your ass kicked. weve all seen that plenty. but im not sure ive ever seen a bigger mess than the one yesterday. angry- never be embarassed to be a beaver fan, that shitfest is in no way a reflection of you. just shake your head and say go beavs

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    • There really hasn’t been one of those demoralizing 51-14 type blow outs yet (Wisconsin not withstanding), so I think the frustration lies in the fact that most of their games have been winnable from a talent against talent level, but the staff keeps getting outcoached game after game. It’s not a “hapless” team, it’s a haplessly coached team.

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      • Yet….I bet we get blown out by two of the following three: UW, Stan, Ore. We still have not even played the tougher teams in the Pac! I am still hopeful that we can play with Cal, but with this group, who knows!

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    • Agreed that the kids are still playing hard, and trying their best. Also agreed that there is talent on this team (although it is distributed unevenly — for example, lots of talent at WR, little talent on the O-line, etc.).

      Don’t blame the players for this mess — blame the coaches. Leave it to the coaches themselves to blame the players (which — sad to say — OSU’s coaches seem all too eager and willing to do after each Beaver loss).

      Meanwhile, push the timid and lazy local beat writers (Cliff, Buker, Sprague et al.) finally to start doing their jobs by holding OSU’s coaches accountable for their mistakes.

      Step one in this process should be a no-holds-barred interview with Banker, in which Banker is hounded by at least one of the OSU beat writers to explain why Banker didn’t stack the box in the first half yesterday against Utah.

      Step two should be an interview with Coach Riley, where CR is asked why he thinks it’s okay for his coaches to blame OSU’s players after each loss, whlie opposing coaches are blaming OSU’s coaching staff for poor schemes and play-calling….

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  30. When the bright spot of the game is Johnny Hekker you know you got serious problems. The O-line played like crap… Enger in particular because he is supposed to be decent. Johnson looked even worse than usual and Garner looked bad too. The DT’s got dominated. Just piss poor all around.

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        • Even though he did well, many of his punts looked scary as they still appeared to be coming off the side of his foot. He is always just a shank away from changing a game for the worst. His punting is like those old “toe puncher” kickers, can look good but also inconsistent.

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  31. -Riley blamed the poor defensive showing at Utah on bad tackling. And on the Kyle Whittingham comment on OSU not stacking the box, Riley said: “If we tackled better, it would have looked better. We didn’t change much in the second half and we did a better job in the second half. We were making plays and tackling well.”

    Just sickening. It wasn’t the TERRIBLE gameplan, it was the tackling. Got it.

    Again, blame the kids instead of your fucking retarded coaches.

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  32. Watching the replay of the game, Wilson sucks! The announcers keep saying Banker is going to load the box to stop the run. I haven’t seen this once. Our 2ndary is making all the tackles. they finally bring pressure and sure enough, three and out. WTF, are our coordinators lazy? Is there really any game planning going on here?

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  35. Had a brief daydream of opening the papers today (logging on) and seeing that Riley had dismissed Banker and taken over play calling duties – he expects more and he was disappointed in his staff after Utah…. It was great, but the reality was all Riley said was re-watching the film was worse than watching the game, and they’d get back to work for Stanford….

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  36. So the Beavs are now 2-6, with remaining games against Stanford, California, Washington, and Oregon. Most likely season record for 2011 looks to be 3-9, with 2-10 or 4-8 also possible.

    Question: For the future of OSU’s football program, does it matter whether the Beavs win any more games this season?

    For example, is this seasons’ final record going to be an important part of deciding whether to fire Banker and/or Langsdorf? Is change in the coaching staff more likely to happen if the Beavs end up 2-10, rather than 3-9 or 4-8?

    For another example, will recruiting be impacted if the Beavs end up 2-10, rather than 3-9 or 4-8? Is it possible that recruiting might even be helped by an awful 2-10 outcome (followed by genuine change), rather than a merely bad 4-8 outcome (followed by status quo)?

    How about the impact on the psyche of the young players already in the program. Would a 2-10 outcome tend to motivate OSU’s young players for next year, or discourage them? Would a 4-8 outcome be different in either respect?

    I’ll still be rooting for the Beavers to win each of the final four games, because that’s my nature, and I love seeing the Beavs prevail. But I’m wondering whether the Beavs would be better off, in the long run, losing out for the rest of this season….

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    • I made this point before on an earlier topic and I know the ship has sailed, but really 0-12 would have been interesting from a fostering change perspective because a winless season is such a disaster on so may levels you would think BDC, MR or someone would have to do something to keep the peace. 2-10 carries a little weight because you are now talking double digit losses which don’t happen every happen all that often to BCS teams. 3-9/4-8 I think you can excuse away, so who knows if that will even garner any pressure for change.

      Anyone catch Chipsters quotes on Oregon Live today….we don’t talk about injuries or youth…nobody cares…when we put you out there you are expected to perform.

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    • “How about the impact on the psyche of the young players already in the program.” I don’t think they should be written off and led to believe that anyone thinks it’s better for them to lose.

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    • I just read that and was about to post it for everyone. I didn’t get to watch the game this past weekend but I haven’t found a single write up of the game that has anything positive to say about the coaching staff. If we only have 2 or 3 wins for the season doesn’t Riley HAVE TO do something about the coordinators, especially on defense? I know they’re great friends and all, but in order to keep the fan base engaged for at least one more season I think he has to do something to show that he wants to win.

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  38. Eggers: After you scored your touchdown to get to within 24-6, you burned a timeout. Didn’t you know you were going to go for the 2-point conversion?

    Riley: “We didn’t want to have to use a timeout, but we had too many guys on the field. (The kick conversion team) was out there before everybody got my communication.”

    (Sure Riley…12 guys don’t take the field to kick unless told to do so. Atleast 11 of them don’t.)

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    • He didn’t say 12. He said too many. When you have the kicking team on the field along with the offense, there’s likely up to 22 players on the field.

      It’s still a mistake on his part for not ingraining the discipline in his players and staff to wait on his call. And Eggers asks the right question, “Didn’t you know you were going to go for the 2-point conversion?”… to which he never received an answer. But after all THOSE mistakes, the TO had to be called.

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  39. Ok people, IMHO, Riley deserves one more year if he does BOTH DC and OC. reasons why are as follows:

    1) Riley has gotten better at recruiting, has a great playbook( when used properly), and he isn’t chip Kelly

    2) You’re only as good as the people you hire/ work with. Right now, the OC and DC are holding Mike Riley and this team back from doing great things because I remember back in 1997 when Riley first arrived on scene, he had killer instincts in his coaching style and he had taught fundamentals to all his players.

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  41. another thing… what was up with all the play action late in the game? Do the coaches not realize when it is an obvious passing situation the PA won’t fool anyone and only takes time that could and did lead to sacks. Mannion may have avoided a few sacks.

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