Home Football Personnel issues and A Few Comments from Spring Revisited

Personnel issues and A Few Comments from Spring Revisited

99

From the preseason:

One more note: I expect Mannion’s numbers to go down this year. I realize he’s a senior and that usually bodes well, but Cooks was a huge reason for Mannion’s success, not the other way around. Unless a WR like Jarmon steps up in camp, I don’t see him doing as well.

http://angrybeavs.com/football/10295

Then this one:

Who will replace Brandin Cooks? My candidate is Hunter Jarmon. Jarmon is the better talent. Riley needs to groom Jarmon to take Cook’s role, which means he very likely will not.

http://angrybeavs.com/football/10271

Another player I liked in the spring was Chris Brown, though I can’t find my quotes on him. They’re probably in the comments since it’s not coming up in search. Let’s remember what Riley said about Brown:

Chris Brown is a good football player, and I have no reservations about playing him at all. It’s just not that easy to do and fit it all in together. But I’d like to. And like I said, I have no reservations whatsoever (about) him playing.”

So he has a good football player who he believes in, yet he has a hard time finding time to play him? Here is a clue how to get him on the field, Riley: you sit Woods and put in Brown. Problem solved.

The Beavs offense would be most dynamic with Jarmon, Bolden, and Villiman as WRs. Throw in Mullaney for possession downs or 4wr sets. And with Chris Brown at RB. Ward should be a 3rd down back. Woods just doesn’t click in the offense. Even when his stats are good there’s no flow for some reason, and he never seems to make meaningful plays. I think putting this lineup on the field automatically gives the Beavs +7 points per game and nullifies the “Riley factor”. But to the point: this is yet another example of Riley being very very slow to adapt and make personnel changes.

99 COMMENTS

  1. I agree with most of this, but have been surprised the Beavs haven’t used Woods more as a receiver in situations to avoid the blitz with a short screen pass. We used to see that quite a bit last year and it was fairly successful, but this year I don’t feel like Woods has been involved as much in those types of plays.

    Here’s one example I could find from the Colorado game
    http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11640726

    and a few from last year:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1GN6kogpmo

    http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/mannion-to-woods-46yd-play-on-screen-pass-about-washington-oregon-state-cfb-11-23-13-on-espn2_a2

    http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/mannion-to-woods-18yds-on-screen-about-usc-orst-cfb-11-1-13-on-espn2_by

    Not a screen, but another example of woods as a reciever:
    http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/mannion-to-woods-big-1st-down-pickup-about-osu-wsu-cfb-10-12-13-on-espnu_0h

  2. For the most part I’d agree, accept I’d swap (a healthy) Woods for Ward this year. Ward pops more long runs doing the short guy thing where he can hide behind the line and pop out of nowhere for a 20 yard gain, but has worse vision and a tendency to run up on the back of the linemen and fall down in the backfield for negative yardage killing drives. And for as strong/compact as he sometimes an arm tackle knocks him off his feet like he’s been picked off by a sniper. Woods has better balance, hits holes harder and has a tendency to fall forward going for at least 2-3 yards a run even when hit at the line of scrimmage.

  3. I think Nick Aliotti’s quote on OSU’s offense is right on,

    “On Oregon State’s struggles on offense:
    -I think Mike Riley is an excellent football coach. I think Mike Riley is one of the best at the vertical passing game, guys going down the field, crossing deep. They do not have that guy… Oregon State does not have that deep threat, therefore, you load up the box, you play the screens to the tight end, you know that’s coming, you play the screens to the back, you play the fly sweep and you stop the run game. (Sean) Mannion, who is a very good quarterback, does not have guys to throw down the field to.”

    Bolden might be that guy but he’s been inconsistent at stretching the defense vertically.

    I still think the running game woes are primarily due to the offensive line play. They lack the nastiness to really impose their will on the defense.

    • It is not that he is inconsistent. He just is not fast enough. Indoor track season last year his 60 times were about the same as Marable. Bolden is a hard working good guy and deserves to play. He is quick. Unless he has the right match up he is not going to beat the primary cover corner deep in the PAC 12..

        • Agree with Angry on Bolden and the othe poster re. Ward being brought down with an arm tackle. Bolden falls down immediately after contact and although he’s been a pretty good player for a 2 star recruit Hamlett is another one. The guy’s 6-7 and 265 but a gust of wind can take him down…

  4. Brown’s TD run against Stanford included impressive, second and sustained effort.

    Woods has had some surprisingly good runs compared to last year, but to switch sports for analogy, his best is usually a stand-up double; Brown could hit home runs. It’s been years (Jackson?) since OSU had a RB that was a threat in the second level. Quizz was obviously great, but he didn’t run away from m(any) people in the second level. in his breakout game against USC I remember that big LB just closing the gap and running him down from behind so quickly.

    This is a repeat of previous Riley topics; doesn’t put the best players and combinations of players on the field, doesn’t develop people for subsequent seasons…. Next year will feel like everything is starting all over…kind of like this season.

    Riley et al are giving us nothing new to talk about.

    • I think it was Cushing that closed on Quizz at light speed. SJ is pretty fast for how big he is but have we ever had a blazingly fast back like the Black Mamba? Riley and his crew can’t recruit worth shit. Finding players that “fit our system” is another way of saying we can’t close on the best and have to take everyone else’s leftovers. The 4 stars that we do get have all played early and well with the exception of Akuna who left the program. They probably should have moved him from LB to DE IMO.

  5. Canzano credits Riley for coming on his show and doing an interview and answering the “tough questions.” Riley’s answers however are characteristically vague and/or evasive.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2014/10/canzano_i_told_mike_riley_hes.html#incart_2box

    Check out this milquetoast response:

    “On whether Cal has better athletes than Oregon State:

    “Well, they have some really good athletes… they’ve got good athletes and have made big plays… offensively we’ve got to respond.”

    There’s a way to answer this without providing bulletin board material. How about standing up for your own student-athletes: “They do John, but we’ve got some great athletes ourselves and I believe in our kids.” Something like that?

    Riley’s concluding response of “thank you” isn’t surprising; the guy doesn’t like expectations. He can’t win with them.

  6. […copied in from an earlier thread…]

    IF – the Beavers can sustain offensive drives and keep Cal’s offense on the sidelines, we have a chance. The receivers really need to step up their game(s) to offset Mannion’s one dimensional game.

    Rushing game needs to return…big. Can the 2nd/3rd string linemen (everyone else is injured, remember) open enough holes in the Cal defense?

    Can the play calling be less predictable?

    Big questions…

  7. from duck pecker checker Goe’s article

    At the moment, Leach appears on the road to a third consecutive losing season. The Cougs seem to have regressed in his tenure.

    Could not disagree more. The defense sucks, yes but they have not regressed

    Then it’s a bunch of duck tea bagging links. God it’s almost like he wants PK’s tip, shaft and balls………….

    http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2014/10/friday_morning_news_notes_link_6.html

    • Wazzu is still a year away. I think they only lose two seniors on the two-deep D in Pole and Coen(?) and Halliday and something like three WRs. But everyone else comes back next year, and the Falk kid should be better than Halliday.

          • The Pollys will come up with the usual lame ass excuses about the fact that they (Leach/Cougs) may still lose the 4 stars before LOI day. WTF!? Are we down to the point now where all we can do hope that they’ll lose their recruits instead of focusing on improving our own recruiting? Signing recruits that have no other Power 5 offers, OL that weigh 240 lbs “because he has good feet…” No wonder there’s no depth.

            Lastly, all teams have injuries but we seem to have more than any other team in college football.

  8. You’ve got Woods and Ward flipped. Woods has been clearly better than Ward in every facet of the game this year. This is especially true in 3rd down responsibilities… Woods appears to have made huge strides since last year, and has leapfrogged Ward who looks about the same.

    Woods is not a star, however, and maybe Brown is. Would like to see Brown with more touches but I think Woods is the starter and gets more carries until Brown proves he deserves to be the man.

  9. Now that hoops season is here… the pet peeve of mine that has rocketed into first place is the phrase “score the basketball” or any variant thereof.

    • That’s the contract Steph Curry should have signed a couple years ago. Guess they figured they should give the leftover money to Klay?

      • Whatever.

        I wouldn’t pay the dude more than $2m per year. He’s not all that.

        I know market prices and player union agreements would make me pay more than he’s worth. And I would take that into consideration. But this is just garbage.

  10. This Goe article makes me want to vomit!

    — The Beavers reside in the second-smallest metropolitan area in the Pac-12, and are tucked off the beaten path in the rural Willamette Valley. (Okay, but not the smallest. Still don’t get why this has anything to do with it. A successful program that gets players into the NFL can reside in Iraq)

    — They play in the third-smallest stadium (Again, not the smallest. How about the fact that it is over 90% full for every day Goe in your hand)

    — They have little football tradition, and much of what they do have comes either before a 28-season grind of consecutive losing seasons from 1971-99, or after Riley arrived to stabilize the program. (What? – Civil war is the one of the oldest football rivalries around… duck fans can’t do math)

    — There is no angel like Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens stepping up to neutralize the disadvantages. (Not wrong on this one, but isn’t that obvious to the whole country? A majority of good college football teams do not have an Uncle Phil)

    If you think all of that is an easy recruiting sell, you’ve probably already invested in waterfront property in Bisbee, Ariz. (No one said it was easy but it is not impossible Goe on your lips)

    http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2014/10/friday_morning_news_notes_link_6.html

    • What disadvantages?

      Try living in this strip mall of a town. Corvallis is Eden compared to this little dump of a town. If it wasn’t for the quick access to the mountains this place would just be a whistle stop. Don’t think the lumber industry didn’t think the same thing when they set it all up. And the place still stinks like mills on any given day.

      But that’s the price I pay to live in such a haven. I’m seriously thinking about moving to Crow or Springfield just to get out of this shit-hole.

    • What annoys me about the Goe article is that we are beyond the generic reasons why you can’t win in Corvallis, it’s been 15 years since the losing streak was broken. With a fluff non-conference schedule and beating whoever the current P-12 bottom feeders are a program can make a minor bowl game on a regular basis. I think we are saying Riley loses games he shouldn’t because of his in season and in game decisions and rarely wins important games that could propel the program forward. My concern is that OSU is on the verge of becoming a bottom feeder.

  11. Off topic but had to share. My 7 year old was handing out trick or treats tonight wearing his beaver jersey. Some parents all decked out in duck gear say, hey go get some candy from that beaver kid. I said, “he hasn’t found his identity yet”. They didn’t get the joke.

  12. Riley is obviously lying when he said he has no reservations about playing Brown….or he would play him, simple as that. Just like Riley lies about using the running game. Riley has a nice demeanor, always, but is not honest.

  13. Thanks, Angry. I agree, Woods has never clicked in this offense. I think everyone thinks he’s good because he is from Texas and his name is Storm, but the actual on field product is underwhelming. He runs with too high of a pad level to be effective in anything except flag football.

    Same goes for Bolden. His name sounds like an NFL prospect, but he his too timid and his hands are nowhere near a Cooks or even James Rodgers. He tends to fight the ball at times and struggles to gain separation against upper-tier competition.

    Change their names to Steve Woods and Vance Belden, and they would never see the field and none of us would be discussing them.

    Today is gonna be one SOB of a game.

  14. Its win or shit the bed and roll in it time for Riley. Looks like Colorado may beat the Huskies today. If that happens and Riley shits his pants vs Cal at home then everyone in the Pac-12 and across the country will figure Oregon State is the new cellar program in the Pac-12. Goe will come out with another article for OSU fans to quiet up and accept their lot. Riley will try to crap this game away and probably will despite being a 4-4.5 pt favorite again by many Vegas books. If he does he deserves to take the rest of his shits retired or fired. His program is a mess and has 12th place written all over it next year.

  15. Gave up season tickets this year as I saw all the signs Riley was in decline and the program would continue to falter under him. Very glad I did. Meaningless bowl games are all he aspires too. Won’t come back with my family and friends until we have a new head coach. Riley was an a very slightly above average coach through 2009. After BDC destroyed our future with that nobtastic contract, Riley has shown his true colors. All he wants is to have us not very good for a long time now so he can keep saying this is all Oregon State is worth. He is in a decline for various reasons including his age and it isn’t going to get better beyond a game or two anytime within years. Riley is turning us into OSU Doormats again and it doesn’t have to be this way. This year will end in suck and next year Riley will have OSU as a national laughingstock. I refuse to support BDC and Riley who are taking us nowhere but down. When a new coach and AD are hired I will be back. But this program under Riley is now a dumpster fire that needs to be extinguished.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here