Home Football Oregon State @ Utah

Oregon State @ Utah

By
angry
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212

Whittingham on the offense they’re running:

“We’ve gravitated back to a more traditional spread scheme,” says Whittingham, referring to a move away from the multiple offense of the past few seasons. “We’ve added some new elements, done some streamlining and simplified things. We need to improve dramatically on offense from last year and we’ve worked hard in the offseason to get that done.”

Traditional spread = loss. Do I need to write anything more?

Well, he says they’ve added new elements. So, spread with wrinkles in it. Loss. Do I need to write more?

How about this one: Travis Wilson has a 202 QB rating and averages 9.3 per rush. Big day?

Ranker’s hot seat cooled after Hawaii, and being a road game with injuries there isn’t much for him to fear.

I am thinking the Beavs will be able to pass on Utah, so the score won’t get out of hand.

34-24, Utah.

212 COMMENTS

  1. Joe Avezzano suggests a name change for this site to selfflagellation.com in order to consistently reflect its nonstop pessimistic grouse-fest sensibilities.

    It’s not a criticism, Joe knows people need a place for likeminded folks to carp and kvetch and rend their garments. And feel, uh, better.

    Reply

  2. Beavs would need to jump out to am early lead if they dont want this one getting out of hand. Lack of o-line depth will hurt and pass protection wont hold up for an entire game, so Mannion will need to be accurate early in the game before his guys wear out.

    The last mobile Utah QB just ran up the gut all day. Wonder if Banker has learned from his mistakes 2 years ago and actually stuff the box for once? Didnt Wittingham call him out for not making that adjustment?

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  6. Utah’s gonna run wild. Zero reason to think otherwise. Doesn’t mean the beavs have no chance as long as Cooks and Mannion are on the field, (it’s a big if with the o line situation) but it doesn’t look good. Without Doctor it’s looking pretty hopeless in the middle defensively. The image of Travis Wilson sliding across the turf after running for 12 yards untouched will be burned into TV screens by the second half. I’ll go 45 33 Utah, with Mannion making at least 50 pass attempts and the running game going for less than 65 yards.

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  7. Jovan Stevenson is suspended for the 1st half this weekend. More addition by subtraction? At what point do you subtract so much there’s nothing left?

    Unrelated, but I’m afraid there are only 2-3 more possible wins on the schedule. SDST and CO and CAL. We already had depth issues before the season started and the injuries are really killing. This team will be limping to the finish line.

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  8. One thing that could impact this weekend’s game but I haven’t seen much talk of, is the death of WR Nick Pasquale at UCLA last weekend. I’ve read that he was good friends with Travis Wilson from highschool. They played on the same team. Could be a major distraction for Wilson, or as the Luck O’ the Beavs would have it, he could be motivated and have a career day on us.

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  9. anyone see the new usnews rankings? I don’t get how the beavs are ranked dead last in the pac 12 and way behind uo makes no sense to me.

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  10. Wow…..I will be the fanboy punching bag. 34-27 Beavs

    And I will have cash on the game +3.5

    But after pitching four games in 95 degrees in Medford Saturday , I’ll in the bag about 6:00 that night.

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  13. I picked Utah to win this game in late August when a lot of folks (including some, but not all, on this blog) were projecting a 7-0 start. For me this is the second easiest game of the year to call, other than the Civil War. Utah wins big. Would be happy just to have a competititve game, quite honestly.

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    • Utah looks average at best. However, since they run a variation of the spread Wilson will torch OSU with his feet and his arm. After Utah gets out to an early 14-17 pt lead Riley will completely abandon the run game and Utah will then bring everything but the kitchen sink after Mannion. Our patchwork O line will fold like a cheap tent and a riled up and rowdy SLC crowd will be screaming for blood. Utah D will be more than happy to oblige them. Mannion will end up throwing 3 picks. Da Utes win easily 37-14.

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  15. Passion and excitable energy need to be greater at OSU. The 2000 team had it and the entire culture was bursting with joy and pride in our program. The players and fans were all fully engaged. To be great again this has to return to Oregon State.

    Oregon State starts Pac-12 Play vs Utah:
    http://beaverbyte.com

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  16. Let’s consider the Keller case for a moment. I applaud the tough decision to protect his health and retire…the second Beaver transfer to retire without playing a down in a short period of time. Two guys is not a big sample. But it indicates that Beaver coaches need to improve research before handing out Beaver bucks. If I recall correctly, Keller at Fresno State was in the mix to start or see significant play time as a true freshman. Could not happen at Oregon State because they redshirt almost everyone, regardless and in spite of being more costly in treasure and time. Fresno has the best total coaching salary cost per win on the west coast at a school in the shadow of glamorous rich LA rivals. Fresno coaches are bright (DeRuyter is coveted big time by programs with big bucks) and the team is really fun to watch. It could be argued that Fresno gets a bigger bang for the buck.

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      • In the case of Fresno, they brought aboard a player for the active roster that could immediately be replaced the day that he left. Very little training investment wasted, though it did negatively impact their depth chart for 2012 Very little diversion of resources. In the case of Oregon State, they brought aboard a guy in a mandated redshirt situation. So they paid him to sit and invested time and money to train him for a year in which he could not legally play. When he retired, the depth chart was also immediately impacted as well. Resources were diverted for a year with no return on investment. Same as the year before with the kid that originally signed at SMU. No return on investment by Oregon State. If team x signs 22 guys and ends up redshirting 16, They will spend four years investment on 6 guys and five years investment on 16 guys. If the value of a schollie is 25k per year, then they will save 25k x 6 guys in the fifth year. If the Beavers play 2 and sit 20 every year, then they are overspending by 100k each year relative to the competition. It would be better for the Beavers to get a better return on investment, and they would be more competitive over the long run if they could turn more redshirt liabilities into active assets.

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        • What is the competition doing with their redshirts compared with OSU?

          What you are saying is you’d like to have OSU recruit more badasses who can come in and be impact players as true freshman than they currently do? Or am I misunderstanding your point?

          Did you not think it was a good idea to take Keller, who appeared to most everyone to be a great get, when he was made available? It is not as if they passed on someone else to take him, he was a quality player and an unexpected late addition given how his situation at Fresno unfolded (if I am recalling correctly). The coaches jumped on it. We’d be in the same position now had we not gone for him.

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          • If you read Riley’s comments after the retirement, OS was aware that the kid had a long history of concussions. We also are aware that a current concussed player did not play his senior year in high school due to injuries and has along history of injuries. We all have very short memories by forgetting that two years ago Oregon State did not have enough offensive linemen to scrimmage (on a roster of 100). OS is in the same boat again 2 years later. I do not have the data to know what should have been done when the opportunity for Keller came up. But over my dead body would I have let Neilsen leave and I would have gotten the best and most versatile, fastest jc lineman in California (real student) to at least consider Corvallis instead of SLO. Ahem you say, same level of talent as lowly EWU. Damn right.

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          • As the sole T&F men’s ship… absolutely.

            That’s another imaginary concept I’ve had with an imaginary person connected to OSU T&F. We don’t need to have a whole team in that sport in order to start it up. We can give one, two, three or however many the bean-counter allows us to afford. And they can be elite and pampered.

            The consensus has been that since T&F ships are not mandated to be whole like football, hoops and women’s gymnastics that a full team needs to be fielded with split ships. Baseball does it this way. I think small ball needs to be a whole ship situation, but that’s another thread altogether. But sports like T&F and tennis and golf and such are individual feats first. Why try to form a ten man team off four full ships? Why not gift two full ships with immense focus on two guys like Tyner and Tatum Taylor?

            The school itself can act as a manager or agent for a very small group. This leads to visibility and increased interest in the program. And don’t kid yourself. There is huge interest in Oregon for T&F. There just isn’t any action for OSU. Increased interest means increased revenues. Increased revenues means increased ships. Increased ships means eventually fielding a whole team.

            At least that’s how my imaginary conversation with an imaginary griffin… wait… person went.

            Imaginary feedback says BDC is not in the least a visionary.

            Surprise.

            But past performance says he will allow a team to be formed with less ships than allowed. So there has to be some wiggle room.

            Btw… I hate Lynn Snyder.

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  17. I’m not as pessimistic as most on here. I’m not overly optimistic either but I don’t get a good feel for this Utah team. They barely beat Utah State and I watched parts of that game. Poor defense, tackling and execution looked to run rampant in that game on both sides. Was not impressed with either team. I did not watch the Utah Weber State game but nothing can be concluded about beating the crap out of an FCS school and a crappy FCS school at that.

    The beavs have not impressed me on defense. I saw some improvements during the Hawaii game but most of the improvement was due more to Hawaii’s ineptitude. Travis Wilson may be a dual threat but he’s not a speedster like Vernon Adams. This is a running QB that we have a better than average chance at containing. The beaver passing game looks really good. Mannion and Cooks have got great chemistry. The run game has been poor and I don’t know if it gets better this week unless Utah decides to sell out to stop the pass. I think this game is a tossup, Vegas likes the Beavs to win by 3. Maybe they know something? I’ll bet with Vegas

    OSU 31 Utah 28

    Reply

    • OSU’s passing game is going to start suffering soon, too one-dimensional.

      What is Chris Brown’s health status? I hope that when he returns they can try some quick hitters up the middle with him. I’d like to see him use that speed to try and get to the second level +. Woods keeps saying he’s over-thinking his running and costing yards. Earlier, he was saying he understood the offense and the game was much easier for him. While I understand he is likely try to share some of the responsibility for the lack of run game, and not put it all on the O line, I wish he’d get it together.

      This program almost seems to cultivate self-doubt; Banker “over thinking” which sets up the D to fail, and likely effects their confidence and trust in one another (they looked lost against EWU) Woods saying the same kinds of things….fer chrissakes, block, run, catch, tackle….

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    • From a pure talent level OSU probably has the edge going against UTAH, but that fact doesn’t account for what I think are the key variables: (1) where the game is played–SLC is becoming the new Tempe or Coliseum for OSU, can’t seem to win there. (2) scheme, Utah’s offense specifically–no one should be sanguine about OSU’s ability to stop it (3) and I think ObjCritics key insight from last week–OSU going against a team that really wants to win as much if not more than OSU–tilts this game heavily in favor of Utah, which has its conference opener at home; (4) Utah has revenge
      going for it besides, arguably having given away the game last year in Corvallis with those turnovers; (5) Whittingham strikes me as a better coach and motivator. If Riley and the Beavs pull this out it will be the biggest upset since the Cal game where the Bears had #1 in their lap and dropped it.

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      • I agree that we are more talented, but talent doesn’t mean crap if you can’t tackle or block. I’ll throw in another field goal now that we are not favored….Riley likes to trade field goals for touchdowns early on in the game….and with his clock management at the end of the halves, who knows. I see a much tougher Utah defense at home and I am not sure we’ll get over 20 points (thought we had a more healthy, and more well rounded offense last year and Utah kept it close all game on the road for them)….think there will be a lot of pressure on Mannion — hopefully no pick-sixes, but I do think he throws 2+ interceptions being aggressive in their half of the field. If we win the turnover battle, we win this thing close, but I’m not feeling it with all of the injuries on both sides of the ball.

        31-27 Utah

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  19. I got into a discussion with, well, I guess some imaginary person contrived of my own “issues” last year about the T&F program and where it was heading. This person had no knowledge of T&F and did not know anything about field events because he didn’t exist. But my imaginary construct of him and this whole “discussion” led to how OSU and Oregon and the state of Oregon in general were historically and increasingly magnificent in developing the athletes who don’t take part in the glamor events (and some who did). This name was brought up more than once. Well, I imagined hearing it in an imaginary conversation.
    http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30800&ATCLID=209257059

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    • That’s cool. Do they televise T&F on the Pac-12 network? I’d imagine every meet will have some special interest story of Dan and Dave and hopefully bring some exposure to the program.

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      • They should be. I didn’t get the PTN until June, so I didn’t see what they offered last spring.

        What the Pac needs to do is start running quads. One full month of quads timed/edited just right and televised in an NFL Red Zone-like manner could make for some good coverage. It wouldn’t have to be live either. Four weeks of quads gives Pac athletes the best of competition and allows each school to host one.

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    • Do you think it bugged Nike U just a little that Fosbury was featured in the Subaru ad about innovations? Great days for OSU Track & Field.

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  20. What’s the status of Utah’s D? Are they really going to hold us to only 14 points? I think we are going to see more spread like wrinkles this game. Riley has to see that the oline is hurting. Do we have any ex-QB’s playing DB or WR?

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  21. I think I remember Riley saying something a few years back about not really caring about top 25 rankings and therefore how we did in OOC games. As Angry has said before, he failed twice against the ducks to make the rose bowl, so I’m wondering if he’s really just treating these ooc games like a true pre-season. Because if your focus is the RB, those ooc games have no bearing whatsoever.
    Just a guess.

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    • You are correct. In an interview, Riley said something to the effect that the goal is to win the conference, and OOC games were basically preseason from his perspective.

      And if you’re looking, you’ll see a dramatic improvement in playcalling, offensive and defensive creativity, and general preparedness when the first conference game rolls around.

      I think that was the year that we lost games to TCU and Boise St to start the season. Around the same time, Paea said something to the effect of “yeah we lost some games. But now we’re playing PAC10 games. Time to get serious.”

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  22. I won’t be making any more predictions one way or the other this year since EWU spoiled all my fun.

    But I will say that all the UU blogs and articles sound almost identical to last year with them predicting an easy win over us.

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    • EWU spoiled the fun for most of us, those who predicted “no issues” and an easy win and were wrong as well as those who made no prediction and simply felt wronged!

      Got to check out some Utah blogs now, thanks for the tip.

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  23. I am thinking 7 regular season wins right now.

    Utah – L. Think we lose a close one here.
    SDST – W
    Colo – W
    WaSt – W. think we win a close one here
    Cal -W
    Stan – L (I think we beat either Stan or Wa this year in our patent upset. Thinking WA.
    USC – easy W. they are terrible. Great schematic matchup.
    ASU – L
    WA – W. think we shock a cocky, top 10 Washington team
    Oregon – L

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  24. Oh-boom Watch-em Drop-em now third string. Looks like the feel good story of fall camp has ended.
    A wasted scholarship. Can he play OLB?

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    • The black one is almost exactly like the proposed ‘OSU’ hat I put forth 4 or so months ago. They look good and people now have a solid OSU hat option. Casey chose well.

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  27. In light of the first 2 games and in the critical spirit of this blog a look at the season ahead. OSU has a lock down defense, the smash mouth running game and the phenomenal coaching, it may be entirely possible to see another 3-9 season. Possibly 2-10 if we become Colorado’s first step up.

    Utah – Loss- Running QB in spread offense shreds the Beavs
    Note: Spread offense is to Banker what Kriptonite is to Superman
    SDSU- Loss- They have to be better than Hawaii
    Col- Win, but like WSU a couple of years ago, if someone will lose, it will be the Beavs 2-10
    WSU- Loss- Maybe USC sucks, but the last time OSU won at USC i was around 7 ( 51 years ago )
    Cal-Win- They should have lost to PSU
    Stan-Loss- OSU had there chance last year to win.
    USC-Loss-They have named a QB and will probably have their second wind by the time they come to Reser.
    ASU-Loss-Why should this week be any different
    WA-Loss-They are playing better
    OR-Loss-Unless the first 2 stings get mono.
    Hopefully I am wrong and OSU becomes the best tackling team in the country and surprises us all.

    Reply

    • Yikes!

      I’m not going to go picking any more games, but this is one hot mess.

      There’s no way we don’t make a bowl and then hear from all the fanboys about doing so. We’ll lose and end up 7-6, just like UW. But they’ll still make excuses while using stupid group-speak like “believe” and “faith” and “real fan.”

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  29. I never loose faith. These kids are pissed about their production so far. Riley teams have historically started slow. Which pisses us all off every ffing year. My bet is on that this years beaver team continues to gain momentum. Everyone here that is a beav fan wants us to be successful. This season will correct itself. Don’t jump off the wagon just yet….

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  30. Back to the ewu game… does anyone know why there wasn’t a 10 second runoff at the end when Cooks got injured with 2 second left and we had no timeouts?
    I almost got up and left because I thought the game was over, you could even hear ewu coaches yelling for it.

    Reply

    • Because technically the clock was stopped for the first down. Injury has to be the sole reason for clock stoppage in order for the 10 second run-off to be valid.

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    • Because the clock was stopped for the 1st down there was no runoff. If the catch had been made and no 1st down there would’ve been a runoff.

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      • The interesting part about the play was that the officials had the clock operator put back one second so that the game clock read 3 seconds. Maybe because of this new rule, “To establish three seconds as the minimum amount of time required to be on the game clock in order to spike the ball to stop the clock. If one or two seconds remain on the clock, there is only time for the offense to run one more play.” I don’t know how this is going to be implemented though. If the clock is running does the offense have to be over the ball before 3 sec are left? If the clock is stopped to move the chains does there need to be 3 sec left or you can’t spike it?

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        • The end of the first half against UH showed this. The ball was snapped with two seconds left and spiked before :01, but the half ended on that play.

          It’s too bad we didn’t have any time-outs left at that point. Seriously… we had no TO’s for once. Go figure.

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          • Mannion’s check down to Woods the play before sealed their fate of running out of time. No timeouts and you throw a 2 yard dump pass to the middle of the field, very poor situational awareness.

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          • True. I’m thinking it was just a habit check down… meaning that situational awareness has not yet been drilled enough. It seems like we just run our same offense, only faster.

            I don’t think I put this one on the QB. Clock management is a coaching issue. And now I’m reliving the ASU game with DA just staring over at the sideline waiting for an order.

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          • FYI, That ASU game was in 2002 and that was DE’s team, not Riley. But the point still remains that Riley’s clock management sucks and there are numerous examples of that

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          • You screen name caused me to lookup the napkin eating video for the first time since back when it first hit YouTube. I watched in mute because i remembered hating the voices of the kids who took it. Holy crap that’s funny. I remember feeling bad for Parker at the time , but how the hell does the guy get THAT wasted on booze alone and not smell like a drunken sailor the next day? I don’t know how the guy could hide issues like that when working so closely with people?

            Does anybody remember which game that was after? It must have been realllllly bad.

            Reply

          • It was during a trip to the LA schools during hoops season. The standing joke was you’d have to be that wasted to be able to watch our shitty basketball team

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          • It IS funny. It would be funny to me if it was me.

            It’s just funny.

            The underlying issues are separate from that video. And I congratulate Parker for dealing with those issues. But it’s still a part of his life, and he has to own it before he can conquer it… which he has done.

            Think of it in a political view. What Anthony Weiner has done to himself via social media is just funny. It would be less funny if we’d never heard of Carlos Danger. But it would still be funny. One has to say that Parker has dealt with his demons better than this example. But the issue is that he’s faced them and dealt with them.

            Now we have to expect the fanboys coming in and beating on us for being adults. Three… two… one….

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      • There also would have been a pause long enough for the team to get gathered at the line because of the rule that replay can be used to adjust the clock at the end of each quarter. It used to be at the end of each half, so even last year we would have had to wait until the booth adjusted the clock before the ball was finally set.

        The injury did not give the booth the time to look at the replay. That was an automatic review. They announced the adjustment fairly quickly compared to the time it took to get Cooks off the field. But the offense still would have had to wait for it since they were already at the line.

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  31. CFN’s prediction, along with its requisite errors. Utah’s 17 TFls and 9 sacks should be a concern given OSU’s offensive lien. A 25-year old wr?!?

    “Oregon State (1-1) at Utah (2-0) Sept. 14, 10:00, Fox Sports 1

    Why You Should Give A Hoot: The Beavers and the Utes, seemingly headed in opposite directions, are going to learn a lot about themselves in an early Pac-12 showdown at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah has gotten start so far, beating in-state foes Utah State and Weber State, the latter in a 70-7 demolition that has expectations trending north. New Ute Dennis Erickson, who’s been mending the offense, gets a crack at a program he coached from 1999-2002. While Oregon State evened its record with last week’s defeat of Hawaii, all is not calm in Corvallis. The Beavs already suffered a loss to Eastern Washington, and injuries have started to chip away at the program’s depth. Faced with a wicked last month of the season, OSU must gobble up wins now if it has any hopes of bowling.
    Why Oregon State Might Win: The Beavers will need to lean on their skill position players to carry them to a victory in Salt Lake City. The triplets, QB Sean Mannion, RB Storm Woods and WR Brandin Cooks, will challenge the Utah defense in all directions. Mannion has gotten off to a crisp start, with four of his seven touchdown passes going to Cooks, and Woods is a weapon as a runner and a receiver.
    Why Utah Might Win: Confidence is soaring, as the Utes continue to mesh on both sides of the ball. Second-year QB Travis Wilson has been a perfect fit with Erickson, throwing five scoring strikes without a pick, while showcasing his athleticism outside the pocket. The veteran defense has been active as well, notching 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks. Utah has an All-Pac-12-caliber player at each level, even as LB Brian Blechen continues rehabbing a knee injury.
    Who To Watch Out For: OSU is banged up along the O-line, forcing C Isaac Seumalo to shift outside to right tackle. The unit will have its hands full with DT Tenny Palepoi and ends Trevor Reilly and Nate Orchard, all of whom can collapse the pocket.

    – Oregon State will be without injured LB Michael Doctor, one of the heart-and-soul players of the D. Welcome back, D.J. Alexander, who’s expected to return this week from a knee injury.

    – Utah FS Eric Rowe, a returning all-star, will spend part of his night moving around to support the corners against Cooks. If the receiver is left to his own devices, he can bring opposing defenses to their knees.

    – Wilson is starting to get comfortable with his receivers, particularly Sean Fitzgerald. The 25-year-old senior began the season with nine career catches, but he’s already made eight grabs for 166 yards and two scores.
    What Will Happen: Heading in opposite directions, Utah and Oregon State will continue down those disparate paths Saturday night. The Beavers are reeling, while the Utes are rolling. Utah will remain hot offensively, while its underrated D-line harasses Mannion into mistakes. In a pleasant surprise, it’ll begin the season with a third win in a row.
    Prediction: Utah 37 … Oregon State 28 “

    Reply

  32. Exhibit # 7,008 on why Banker needs to go,

    from the Oregonian

    “For weeks, linebackers coach Trent Bray tried to tell defensive coordinator Mark Banker that redshirt freshman Cyril Noland-Lewis should be a linebacker. But his plea fell on deaf ears.

    Bray liked Noland-Lewis’ build and his anticipation. He thought Noland-Lewis would thrive in the hybrid safety-linebacker position because he can make plays in space, and in the box. He figured it would be an easy transition because what Noland-Lewis would need to do in space wouldn’t be that different from when he drops down in Cover 3.

    No one listened. ”

    Would have been nice to have another speed guy on the field against EWU.

    Reply

    • Who wrote that?

      That’s some serious reporting of the like I’ve not seen for OSU before. I’m a little shocked that it’s even being reported, let alone that it’s timely and relevant.

      Reply

        • It’s a lead in, and she dials it back. But those are some damning assumptions.

          More likely Bray suggested it repeatedly and was just shot down repeatedly. Remember when Robinson was supposed to switch… then didn’t?

          Bray: Hey coach, I think we should bring Cyril down to my unit. He’s got the tools for the job.
          Banker: Ummm… no.

          Bray: Hey coach, I think we should bring Cyril down to my unit. He’s got the tools for the job.
          Banker: Ummm… no.

          Bray: Hey coach, I think we should bring Cyril down to my unit. He’s got the tools for the job.
          Banker: Ummm… no.

          Banker: I have an idea. We’re going to move Cyril to Trent’s unit. I think he’s got the goods for that position.
          Bray: Good idea coach.

          Riley: We’re going to move a walk-on O-lineman over to your side guys. He’s just standing around. What’s going on over here?

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  33. I am barely optimistic about this game this week. Injuries are what will lose this game.

    I see the staff adjusting to the parts they have to make this a close game.

    Offense – Should see less screens, more draw plays. I think there will be less than 20 carries by the RBs unless the Utah dline collapses but they will still get plenty of touches on swing passes. The passing game will have to set up the running game. I’m expecting to see some wrinkles to the fly sweep game and Mannion taking more shots downfield early on.

    Defense – Guys are going to have to fly to the ball. Gang tackle like crazy. Collapsing the pocket should be the goal. Wilson isn’t a burner but given space he can run. Utah has a huge oline. Adding Noland-Lewis the LB rotation will help. I expect to see more blitzes off the edges and leaving the corners on islands. I’ve noticed they play much better when they press the WRs.

    Not everything has to go right this game but it’ll be a close one.

    Hoping for some luck this week. 31- 27. Beavs.

    Reply

  35. Doesn’t Wittingham seem like a better and more progressive coach than Riley? Doesn’t he seem like the claiber of guy that could be hired in Corvallis? I just ask because I may be overrating him, for example his decision to hire such a young O coordinator was strange, but then he brought in Erickson.

    That attitude “we can’t get someone better than Riley to come to Corvallis” seems to be contradicted (again) by the ability of Utah to draw a good coach. And he gets d-lineman….

    Reply

    • Wittingham is a good coach, but I don’t think he’s a good example for what your looking for. Unless you want Bray as the head coach next year. Witt’s father was a coach at Utah and hired him as a line coach in the 90’s. He spent 10 years as an assistant/coordinator before he was finally given a shot at the top spot.

      Not sure if you can attribute his good/big d-line/o-line to him being a better recruiter. I think it’s more due to proximity to Salt Lake and the islands of focus for many a missionary.

      Reply

    • Whittingham was Meyer’s DC before he split for Florida, so he’s not really exemplary of the program’s ability to hire coaches.

      The d-linemen they have are mostly in-state Samoans. Likely a very strong LDS connection there, and likely something that has nothing to do with Whittingham himself.

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  36. So apparently Murphy will return kicks in the first half while Stevenson serves his suspension. Did Bolden really lose that job after two weeks?

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      • That makes more sense, it would be just like Riley though to burn a RS to start a kid somewhere then give the job to someone else two weeks later. Still surprised they went with Murphy instead of Reynolds though.

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        • Murph was a solid RB in high school and is more the athletic of the 2. If I remember correctly he threw down a 2 handed windmill in the football player dunk contest, losing closely to a free throw dunk by Boom. WIth our injury situation where it is, I’d rather not have any of my starting secondary returning kicks. I say throw Chris Brown out there to get him more touches.

          Reply

    • As an already-competent kicker, he wasn’t a neat story or an excuse….but by gosh he sure developed Remmers into a pro prospect didn’t he?

      Reply

      • In fairness though, Hekker is also starting in the NFL and also doing well.

        In fact, the Rams fans I know love him. One guy is always talking about how Hekker’s QBR >>> Bradford’s.

        The only conclusion I can draw from this…is that the whole rugby punt idea was a train wreck?

        Reply

      • Speaking of “false start” Remmers, I see that the penalty yds/game so far is 46.5 vs 55.7 for all of last season. Small sample, but going in the right direction and with Jovan out for the first half this week maybe the trend can continue.

        Reply

        • They should just rename the false start penalty “Remmers”, and use it like Mulligan or Munson.

          “Remmers, #89, offense. Ten yard penalty, repeat third down.”

          Or maybe if it happens on third and short it could be a Remmers. Has to kill a drive.

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    • Hey Angry, now that Canzano has chimed in a THIRD time in two+ weeks with “a critical view of Oregon State” football, would you re-consider your position that his going “critical” is not a potential game changer in terms of taking the “Angrybeavs critique” mainstream? To me, there is internal proof in his last column wherein Riley objects to the assertion that OSU has never stopped a mobile qb. My sense is that is high profile calling-out of OSU problems, especially defending the spread, is setting the stage for a re-direct, at least in some respect.

      Reply

      • What do you mean setting the stage for a re-direct?

        Like, holding the staff accountable?

        I think he’s ripping me off, but it’s fine since I’m not in this for the prestige. And of course, it is flattering.

        Reply

        • “re-direct” represents a sprectrum of possibilities, ranging from, yes, holding staff accountable; to more adaptive recruiting to defend against the spead; to a new defensive coordinator; to a new head coach.

          And yes, Canzano is ripping off this site, it should be taken for flattery, and the only way for there to be change is for the minority, once formerly believed radical, point of view expressed here, to go mainstream. Think from Sam Adams, to John Adams, for example.

          Reply

  40. Eagle’s offense looked good, btw. Weren’t people here saying Kelly would fail at Philly?
    Maybe, but week 1 looked good. The guy has a winning attitude and puts players in position to succeed.

    Reply

    • Vick took a lot of hits, doubt he lasts the season. Then what? Foles isn’t much of a threat to run. NFL teams just don’t have enough depth to have their highly paid skill players taking those shots for 16 games.

      Reply

      • I’ve been hearing that for a decade. Oregon lost QBs to turf monster but not hits (at least none I can think of). I can’t think of any RO QB who was lost due to a hit.

        Reply

      • It would be interesting to see a breakdown of injury rates of pocket passers v. mobile/running qbs. I suspect the assumed greater risk to running qb’s is exaggerated or insignificant. Was Peyton Manning’s neck injury from a hit? Seems Fran Tarkenton, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham, Vick, all had long careers (just pulling out random examples). Joe Theismann wasn’t a mobile qb…was RGIII originally hurt on a hit? Knee went out on non-contact, like Dixon correct?

        Like Angry said, people were always saying a Duck qb was going to go out due to hits, and it wasn’t a problem. If Vick is lost, Kelly is very capable of throwing the ball more, in previous gigs I think he’s said he once threw 60% of the time.

        But with the RB Philly has, they should be fine running some option. Somebody just has to be like Andy Dalton at TCU to keep; defenses honest. not Vick or Kaepernick

        Reply

    • I feel like there are so many better pump up songs for the 4th quarter than an ACDC song from the 80s or that stupid crank it like a chainsaw song. Personally I’m a fan of using something like Zombie Nation or Sandstorm to start the 4th, but I wouldn’t complain about the song you chose either. I’m a pretty die hard fan to the point where I can usually make myself end up liking most things Oregon State, but I absolutely hate the chainsaw song and especially the intro video. That intro video does not get me pumped up AT ALL. Hands down worse one they’ve done.

      Reply

    • I feel like there are so many better pump up songs for the 4th quarter than an ACDC song from the 80s or that stupid crank it like a chainsaw song. Personally I’m a fan of using something like Zombie Nation or Sandstorm to start the 4th, but I wouldn’t complain about the song you chose either. I’m a pretty die hard fan to the point where I can usually make myself end up liking most things Oregon State, but I absolutely hate the chainsaw song and especially the intro video. That intro video does not get me pumped up AT ALL. Hands down worst one they’ve done.

      Reply

  44. Way OT, the rumors of ASU having great ‘scenery’ is an enormous understatement. Been in Tempe for a couple days and even my (straight, when she’s sober) wife is commenting on the ratio of freakishly outrageous hot women in the valley of the sun.
    On a purely scientific note, wtf would cause this?

    Reply

    • lare, phoenix-area population, great weather + party scene attracting students?

      Never understood why the PAC Az schools haven’t had more consistent, successful football programs, seems like they would be very attractive schools for the 18-year old male…

      Reply

      • But why only hot students? You would think it would balance out. Maybe it’s just what they’re wearing that makes it seem like there more attractive here. Kinda like in Portland after a long wet spring and we get a few days of 80d weather and suddenly there’s hot women everywhere.

        Reply

        • It’s like Vegas. Due to the weather you can’t wear much clothing -> greater need to workout and keep the bod fit. Due to the sun -> all the chicks are tan = makes bodies look better. Because of this there’s greater competition-> increases the amount of surgical enhancements to keep up with the jones’s. Therefore, you’ve got 75-85% of chicks walking around with the staring slate of a rockin body. Throw on some fashionable big dopey sunglasses and everyone looks hot! Tempe is known for this at this point, so it now attracts this type of coed. I was at a black jack table with a plastic surgeon at 3 am who explained this to me several years ago.

          Reply

    • to continue ot in a totally inappropriate way…a woman i know says all women are two drinks away from being lesbians…time to hit the bars, bro.

      Reply

  45. From: Coach Banker (Stop calling me Tanker)

    To: All players on defensive units

    Due to the evening start in Salt Lake the pre-game pizza party will begin in my room at 4:00. Don’t forget to bring your own beer. Providing free beer is an NCAA violation…sorry. The bus to the game will leave at about 5-5:30, I think? Don’t forget your helmets this week.

    Reply

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