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Second Scrimmage Blues

15

Now it's time to say good night
Good night sleep tight
Now the sun turns out his light
Good night sleep tight

-The Beatles

The second and final fall scrimmage is in the books. Sure, the fact that the defense gave up 182 yards and 3 touchdowns to a walk-on running back concerns me, but that's not where my rationale leads me tonight. No, what is most disconcerting is Beaver fan's reaction to the offensive bloodbath. They are actually excited that the offense is running roughshod. But more about that later.

Pleasant surprises from camp:

1. Katz has settled in nicely. He's going to make some terrible mistakes this season, but the best player at the position is starting, and that's all you can ask.

2. Jordan Jenkins appears legit. He's not as good as the defense is making him appear, but he's serviceable. It's hard to believe any defense in the Pac-10 would yield 182 yards and 3 tds to this player.

3. Mitch Singler will be a good possession receiver.

4. Obum is an engaging talent. I think his routes ultimately hold him back and make him a (goal line) specialist, or maybe even expect conversion to an Antonio Gates type TE.

5. Jordan Poyer can start.

The disappointments: well, you guys know my complaints about the defense, so I won't reiterate. Cliff Kirkpatrick, who both follows the team on a daily basis and watched the scrimmage, had this to say:

The defense, well, I’m worried. LB Dwight Roberson said stopping the run was an issue last scrimmage when Jenkins and Ryan McCants combined for more than 100 yards. This time Jenkins topped 100 on his own. He had runs of 41, 25 and 22 yards.

Yikes.

My opinion: Move Roberson to MLB with Doctor and Pankey at OLB. All things considered, it's the best possible corp. However, if history is an indicator, it's not going to happen. Riley won't start Doctor. At least not until he has a few losses under his belt and he becomes desperate. The more probable  "solution" will be a rotation at MLB (Wilson, Robinson, Unga) based on game situation. I still feel Unga is the most well-rounded of these three.

Back to Beaver fan real quick: their excitement over Katz toasting CBs for 60 yard bombs is akin to being happy your ace pitcher gives up back to back to back home runs in spring ball. It is not the norm, and it means something is drastically wrong. What it doesn't mean: that your team has the best QB and WRs on the planet. Do you realize how irrational that belief is? Having to outscore opponents is both a bad game plan and season strategy. Sorry to crash the parade.

15 COMMENTS

  1. How has Doctor looked? it’s also nice to hear that Jenkins has been doing decent so that if something happened to Quizz, we’d atleast have a serviceable RB.

    Brock Haman and Cyrus Hobbi are visiting on Friday(my birthday!). Hopefully it goes well.

  2. Starting to come around a bit on Unga? Also just because the back up RB tears it up or James catches one deep doesn’t mean our defense sucks… we will find that out in the games.

    • Ean,

      I’ve been warm on Unga for some time.

      I think our defense will be good on passing downs. I like the rush, and the secondary is good enough to hold coverage long enough for sacks. As you can probably tell, I don’t like the D against the run.

      -angry

  3. Angry,

    I’m not too worried about how the defense performed in this scrimmage. Mainly because Paea was out and also a few other starters(can’t remember names nor care to look ’em up) were out as well. Also, I recall reading that a lot of back ups were going to get majority of the snaps in the 90 minute scrimmage while the starters were going to get about 30 snaps worth. I think it was on O-live.

    My biggest concern of this upcoming season is settling for field goals instead of TD’s! That killed us against the ducks last Civil War(just watched a recap of the first half cause it’s too late to watch the entire game on ESPN U). The beavs had 3 field goals from inside the 30 in the first half because we couldn’t score in the redzone area! That has been the biggest problem since we don’t have a reputable TE since Jonas Newton or Joe Newton!

    • That’s why I’m against Obum redshirting this year. At 6-5 with hands and 7foot plus high jumping, this WR equals some great redzone scoring possibilties.

      TCU for example has two guys, CB Jason Teague at 6-2(tallest CB) and also a saftey, Cuba, at 6-4 who sounds too heavy to match Obum’s ups. The rest of their defensive backs are in the 5-9/5-10 range.
      Pretty sure that makes Obum a difficult matchup with whom left to watch James Rodgers and Halahuni?

      If Obum can play now why redshirt him? I don’t buy the need to develop such raw talent. Developing a lack of talent is another thing. Leave his redshirt year as an injury backup. He’s already grayshirted, aint that enough?

  4. I dont care who played or sat during the scrimmage, Jenkins ran for 104 and a score on 6 carries. SIX carries. 17.3 ypc is not something a back-up should be averaging against the 1s OR the 2s OR the 3s. Not ok.

  5. Angry, I think you may be missing the point a little about what Beaver fans are excited about. I read the comments as excitement that we have a QB that can throw the long ball. It has been a long time since we have had DA opening it all up. I’m sure all of Beaver Nation is concerned with the way our Defense is getting torched. This may be a case of your critical nature causing you to take a negative view of others.

    • I suppose it could be that, but why not get excited once Katz throws the long ball against TCU? I see the point in celebrating then. I don’t see the point in getting excited that he’s doing it to an already questionable defense. As a fan that makes me nervous not excited.

      • I think fans are excited about the possibilities and the hope for this team. I love OSU football and have high hopes and excitement every year. Hopes usually get dashed a bit, but there are surprises as well. Practice is time to get excited, but when the games start we see what is really happening. How someone does in practice doesn’t always tell us how they will do in a real game–its just an indicator of possible outcomes.

  6. I’d say every single year, you are going to be disappointed in a scrimmage with one side of the ball or other. They BOTH can’t win or lose, so somethings got to give. I’d actually be disappointed if the Offense didn’t move it on the D a bit. I know our D is a work in progress, but if Katz doesn’t blow up, the O should roll that defense as they shoud roll many other starting D’s in the Pac 12.

    I think you just want to see guys hit hard, run hard, catch (not drop) passes…if it’s picked off, was it a good play jumping the route, or did the QB throw the ball over the WR head or to no one but the DB? That’s my concern. HOW they did what they did. I can’t see that, so I need honest opinions from those that can see the live action.

    And as they say, I’ll guess we’ll all found out soon enough!

  7. I think the concern is if a walk-on RB can do that to a D that knows the personnel and plays, what will USC’s RB’s do? How about James/Barner combination in Eugene? TCU has a VERY solid running game, with a variety of backs and an offensive approach with which Banker typically seems challenged.

    Jenkins doesn’t even make half the PAC-10 rosters as a RB – so if he’s going off against a D that’s familiar with him and the plays, that’s trouble.

    • I think everyone’s point is valid. You can make a case Paea wasn’t in there. I don’t think it’s a strong argument, but it’s a valid. The reason I don’t like the argument is that any serviceable DI DT should be good enough to prevent that kind of output, so while Paea might be 20% better than Player X, he’s not 100% better, which is what that argument suggests.

      I’m trying to take in everything. I think the passing defense will be okay because I like our ability to get to the passer. I feel opposite about the run for all the reasons I’ve stated, but the #1 reason is I just think there’s a lack of D1 talent at MLB, and I’m sticking to that until I’m proven wrong. As always, you won’t find a happy Beaver fan than me when I am wrong.

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