540 COMMENTS

  1. 3
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    First bitches!

    I can see this game going either way. Don’t let them get out to the early lead like @WSU and trying to play catch up the rest of the game.

    Beavs 35-24

  2. Great teams find a way to win this kinda game. Beavs need to start fast and punch them in the mouth. Let’s see Beavs solidify themselves as a great team.

    36-21. Beavs

  3. Arizona has 21 TDs and eight FGs in 31 trips to the red zone.

    Oregon State has 21 TDs and four FGs in 25 trips–the only P5 team with a 100% rate.

  4. Utah getting dominated at the LOS. Trying to stay committed to the run game but that’s not going anywhere. Good to see Oklahoma lose. Will move us up if we win. It’s a shame Indiana couldn’t overcome Penn State.

    • 5
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      Nike is legitimately good. Beatable, but good.

      Utah has no explosive play ability on offense, so their defense has had to do way more work. I think we match up better against Nike than Utah does.

    • Utah is a good team. They are decimated by injuries and still playing well all things considered. They didn’t play great today but it was more that they didn’t have enough to compete with a Yuck team that had enough talent to just run right at them with the basics and be dominant and control the game.

      • 1
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        There was a lot of hype that Whittingham is such a brilliant coach that he can just plug and play. I think the injuries became too significant. USC is a deeply flawed team, I wasn’t overly impressed by the Utes win there. Beavs dominated the Utes, but it doesn’t get much media play. The media has to make Utah formidable to keep the Quack train going.

  5. 2
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    Utah has done a lot to get to this point but they are so short handed it was inevitable that they begin to falter. At least they broke USCs spirit before they fold.
    Ducks look good and Klatt is doing all he can to hype them.

    Even sweeter when the Beavs win the Civil
    aware again.

    • No conspiracies but USC gets an extra play after halftime to makeup for a timer issue?? In other words, USC gets a free chance at 3 points when they are down 11.
      I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, public address announcer urged both teams to remain on their sidelines until the timer was confirmed at the end of the half but upon receiving a Trojan alumni check, refs have changed their mind? PAC12 at its finest.

  6. If we had a statement win over a team that demolished the one team that beat us, would that fix our one loss a little in the long run?

  7. 1
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    USC is a hot mess. Oh if you haven’t heard, Bo Nix has won the heisman trophy, at least according to the broadcasters of the Oregon Utah game. And Utah will win Big12 next year. Meanwhile the Beavs are 50/50 to win tonight according to college game day.
    Go Beavs, win big!

  8. P12 refs are so incompetent they couldn’t figure out when the half ended. Are you kidding me?

    As much as it pains me to say it…this conference kind of needed to die. So much incompetence for so long.

      • It’s not just the refs, though. It’s also the incompetent commissioners, terrible P12 Network strategy and execution, all the stupid stuff with the bylaws coming out that shows how poorly structured and governed the whole organization was.

  9. 6
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    In the Colorado game, Sanders kid just leveled a UCLA receiver and the referee who was five feet away immediately threw a flag, meanwhile Sanders just kept flexing and preening while the flag literally lay at his feet. After all that flexing he was ejected for targeting lol. What a POS. Not surprised given who daddy is.

  10. 1
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    Just Win Beavs. Preferable with a time-killing drive late in the game that puts you up by more than 7 with less than two minutes left.

    I don’t think the Beavers would move up with a win. They’ll drop Oklahoma just ahead of us but behind Texas, Bama, Oregon Penn State.

    • Beavs have very little to worry about if they win the rest of their games. They would add 2 wins vs top 10 in the regular season AND another one in the Pac-12 title game. The odds of doing all that are low, but no way they are kept out of the playoff if they accomplish it. SOS would exceed any other one loss team.

  11. Stanford with the perfect 4th and 2 ply call needing only a fg and the guy drops it with no one within 10 yards of him. So frustrating to see these teams have UW on the ropes and they escape

  12. Ball security looks like it will be extra important. Arizona is really trying to strip the ball when bringing the RBs down.
    On the plus side, their tackles are less effective when they din’t wrap up

  13. Hate that we can’t stop them in a short yardage situation. Beavs playing pretty far off the line, but i guess they’re more worried about giving up a big play over the top

  14. For as good as Bray seemed to do last year, this team looks like an absolute mess on defense. Blown assignments, horrendous tackling and not really been impressed with his in-game coaching either

    • It’s the secondary. Went from a strength to essentially playing 3 freshman. I’ve also not been too impressed with KO this year. Seems like his pass coverage has been shaky at best. It’s too bad we didn’t have this front 7 with last year’s secondary. That would’ve been a legit defense for sure.

  15. Damn, I guess being out 3 or 4 of our top secondary guys is too much. This would’ve been a tough match even with the starters but our freshman dudes are getting cooked out there. Also, defense still can’t tackle. We gotta get back to running ball and controlling clock else this will turn into a shootout we can’t sustain.

  16. Just when I’m about to do my weekly bitch session about Chiles coming in to break game flow blah blah blah. He throws a 5200 yard pass. I’ll just stop now and accept JS’s wicked ways.

  17. Chiles is gonna be great but holy fuck, that drive was a shit show. Not totally on him, but seemed like everyone was disjointed. We need to chill on the reverse stuff for a bit. Zona seems to be flying around and sniffing that shit out.

  18. Not the best clock awareness there, you have to throw quickly there to get another play. DJ is throwing late also. I think the Gould play and now Martinez should have been touchdowns, granted Martinez still could have caught that ball.

  19. Well, I really feel like the last 10 min or so was really living on the edge. Zona dropped at least 2 int. We had a few bad pitches/snaps and ball. Playing too tight maybe? Rust from a bye week? Or just the normal road Beavs showing up? Gotta get our heads in the game the 2nd half.

  20. DJ is to slow to pick up receivers. Either that or he will only throw to wide open receivers. He’s already missed 4 throws in the 1st half.

    • The halftime conversation has to be awkward. Does Smith apologize to the players? He should. Great interception wasted. OTOH, the Ariz locker room is probably having a good laugh. Tackling not much improved. Forget which play but the o-line was giving DJ ‘time to make a sandwich’ and he couldn’t complete the pass.

  21. DJ has barely missed on a couple TDS and then that fake FG……….not feeling great about this one. Why would you run a fake FG from that far out on the final play of the half? Defies all logic

  22. Why? Just why?

    Someone fucking explain it. From 35 yards out with 3 seconds left in the half

    Just when you think a degenerate gambler can’t top himself? JS says hold my scratchy lotteries.

  23. 4
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    For the record, I called Smith’s degenerate gambling problems year 1 vs Nevada. You don’t make that call against Nevada unless you have something seriously wrong with your internal risk profile. It just took the world 5 years to agree for some reason. Prodigal son syndrome?

    • That fucking moron.. If the Beavs lose and miss out on a meaningful bowl game, Smith should be docked $3M.

      Just today i was thinking he’ll fuck up the cW with these kinds of calls…

      Fuck. You’re on the road, with refs against you the test of the season. If i was in front of him, i’d kick him in the nuts…

      He and Lanning can fuck each other.

  24. Uh oh. That is a total downer going into the locker room. JS must know this team far better than any of us because that kind of stunt could lose a few guys.

    Low ego high output but the coaches are trying to outsmart everyone and looking like fools.

  25. That was awful game management, needed to take the TO with 25 seconds left, to only get two plays in after the first down is mismanagement and fake FG with no time left is stupid unless you are blowing them out and want to get it on film. Idiotic in a 10-10 game.

  26. The whole first half started going to shit after Lindgren called a first down pass with a deep dropback after two huge running plays had just gashed the Wildcats. Of course, DJ gets sacked for an 8-yard loss with botched protection and the cluster fuck ensues!

  27. Funny they try the fake FG, penalty saves them, so they try again from farther away and no time left? I mean it almost worked , that probably means no lesson learned

  28. The first fake FG call was good. Prior to the penalty we only needed two yards and nobody saw it coming. Doing it a second time confirms Smitty still has the riverboat gambler in him and that makes me less optimistic about his in game coaching decisions.

  29. As Parker noted on the radio broadcast, OSU had hinted at a fake FG on the earlier drive and Zona no doubt had a chance to talk about that in the meantime. The other dumb ass part of that call is that it’s a good way to get your kicker injured.

  30. Smith not only fucked up by calling for the fake fg but the clock management was almost as bad. There is no explanation for the fake fg. It is Smith wanting the attention on him. That call and the clock management are mistakes that cost teams games. Inexcusable.

    • The weird thing though is……these gambles almost never work lol. Most gambling addicts are losers in the long run because they chase their losses too much. But there are also a fair amount of wins to keep them going. Not Smith though haha.

    • Smith is still a top 5 x’s and o’s coach and at least top 10 in player development. So bizarre that gambling is the thing that holds him back.

      • Well, I did think the dropkick onside kick was brilliant. In fact so brilliant that the officials did know that it was actually illegal. I guess stuff lke that just encourages Smith further.

  31. It’s even more heinous to me because Arizona gets the ball to start the second half. There’s no logic with the decision and it’s delirium to think the kicker is going to score from 15 yards out. Also, as a minor side note, it’s sure a shitty way to end the perfect red zone streak.

  32. I think JS is bored with a low scoring grind it out win and can’t idle back and appreciate a 3 pt lead at half. He wanted the 7.
    First time
    All year Beavs didn’t score in the red zone?

  33. It’s so frustrating that we’re still making calls every game that we HAD to make in year 1 or 2 when this team was at such a low point and so far behind the talent spectrum. This is not that team anymore. 6-1 right now and each week they still make these fucking dumbass play calls. Just fucking stop already. Run the ball. Get play action up again and win this game. No quadruple reverses. No kicker runs up the gut to try and score from 30 yds. Why do we struggle so much on thr road? We leave all common sense back in Corvallis and just throw darts at the board to call plays? It’s going to limit what this team can achieve this year, and in years to come.

  34. DJ needs to be better in the 2nd half. His throws have been pretty wild for the most part. A few were still caught since receivers were so wide open but still cost them the ability to catch with a head of steam. Lots of missed opportunities.

  35. 1
    1

    Reporter: “You’re the 2nd highest paid state employee behind Dan Lanning and you make $4.8M. You’re on the road. 10 of 12 Conference teams need to see OSU fail. How do you explain that call?”

    Smith: “Umm, wait until Beaver Combine when you see Atticus’s 40 time. Next question?”

    • The throws definitely look much worse than they are cause Gould and Bolden are very small. Not being able to bring in a quality bigger receiver really shows up in moments like that

  36. Did you hear the sideline announcer say that Smith told her “they had the look they wanted”? When in God’s name is there ever a look where the kicker is going to be able to run 15 yards in the Red Zone and score a TD?????

  37. We are nearing the time when refs can change the game with one call either way. Beavs need to be in control of the game shortly or it will be a predicrtable bad call coming soon.

  38. Beavs need a touchdown here. It feels like they have been toying with UA so far but it may backfire shortly if they can’t regain the lead. Few possessions left in the game.

  39. that late defensive substitution to force a time out will be one of Kyle Whittingham’s legacies. He used that strategy to perfection vs. SC last week.

    • He seems slow to take off and run too. I doubt they have him spied. It looked to me on a couple of those plays in the pocket he could have stepped up and ran for a few yards.

  40. Staff let the players down. Hard to watch.

    GOOD teams don’t play (coach) down to their competition.

    Probably 3-4 losses in the last season of tge PAC…

  41. Some of this is on Lindgren and his playing calling. What an awful series of play calls WITH a wasted time out. This game feels lost, time for another minor bowl game.

  42. 1
    1

    This is where the refs can change the game too.

    Lindgren just panicked with his playcalling but watch the refs slam the door on the Beavs with a couple of calls to favor UA

  43. Terrible fucking coaching. Why are we throwing when we have averaged 5 yds a carry. Smith and staff have cost us this game. Also I think it is Chiles time.

  44. I have no idea why they abandoned the run and play-action from under center there. Some baffling coaching decisions. There was plenty of time to keep running it or at least make the defense think you were gonna run it. Hard to believe they’re gonna lose this one but so many self inflicted mistakes

  45. Coaching staff should feel awful for this loss. Smith for the fake fg and playing DJ instead of Chiles. OC for calling another shitty game.

  46. Interesting to watch Fisch pass all game them when they need to run clock they just start running
    The ball and kill 4 minutes off the clock in only 40 yards.
    Smith needs to fire Cookus on the tarmac
    For the ridiculous special teams trick play looks. Someone has to be pushing for those plays to be old by Smith.
    After firing Cookus, Smith needs to enter coaching rehab and invite Chris Peterson as a consultant.

    Now the refs influence the suspicions spot of the ball and of course it benefits UA.

  47. Martinez is averaging over 6 yards per carry and has 14 carries. Coaching staff neutralized the best aspect of the offense for no reason. First offensive drive of the game happened and then they decided to stop running it lol

  48. 12

    Our magical season ended with WSU, but now it definitely ended. We’ll leave the PAC never knowing glory.

    Loss is once again on Smith. A HC’s #1 job is to put his players in a position to succeed. It’s not to follow your (really bad) gut and do what you think seems cool.

  49. So many times they’ve been right there for a short gain and just start whiffing on tackles left and right. Pathetic

  50. 10

    Can the Beavs ever just stick a guy and stop him in his tracks? I am getting so tired of the extra two or three yards on opposition running plays and that doesn’t even include receivers always getting extra yards.

  51. Kind of painful thinking what lies ahead. Don’t know if I have the stomach for it. How did Bray turn things around so well, and not be able to maintain the basics with his players? Did they not say “we need to shore up the tackling” after the UCLA game? What is the definition of insanity?

  52. Well now the Beavs will get dropped to #23 or so and not be spoken of anymore this season by the major media.
    JS lost this game at halftime for no real reason. So dumb and he should answer for it.

  53. Defense got absolutely manhandled with the game on the line. No resistance whatsoever. This is a game they should have won. So many missed chances in the first half. With an uncertain future, this season felt like a chance to see something special and it appears it will end in a whimper. The most Oregon State result

  54. Why would you stand upright as the ball is low and spinning? Every Beav was just standing straight up lol. Get down and get the ball you morons.

  55. DJ needs to be better on the put away drives. We had them in a good spot up 4 if we could have out together a TD drive would have put them away. Couldn’t do it against Cal, couldn’t do it against UCLA, couldn’t do it against Arizona.

  56. This might be the worst onside recovery team on the planet. Perfect executed and right at Velling’s feet and he looks like he can’t see it.

  57. 4
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    My buddy in Georgia just said Smith should be fired for that. Quote: “He should be fired for that. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that shit.”

    It’s becoming Nationally embarrassing.

  58. 3
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    This loss hurt. We were better. Two plays stick out that went Zonas way. The roughing the passer. Even before JS bonehead call, Zona lucked out on that pass to Martinez. 14 pts.

  59. Yes should have kicked fg but this team loses this game either way. Arizona was dominating our defense in the 4th. Give UA credit. Beavs are good but not great. Colorado won’t be easy. 7-5 is more likely than 10-2.

  60. 4
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    Smith’s call was so unbelievably bad! No one can legitimately defend that call. That costed us the game. DJ’s inconstency and fear in the bright lights didn’t help. DJ just can’t function when things break down. Might be time to turn it over to AC.

    • 3
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      Turn it over to AC?…….didja see him fumble the snap right before the fake FG call? He’s good, but the backup QB isn’t often the answer and with the poor tackling I don’t think that move would solve the Beavs problem.

  61. 3
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    Maybe now alot of you can quit worrying about national rankings, and concern yourself instead on who we’re going to beat on the remainig schedule other than Stanford.

  62. 13
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    I know the fake FG blunder sucked but it was brutal to watch the defense get punched in the mouth play after play after play with the game on the line and also to watch the offense again go away from what makes them successful. Being “physical” is supposed to be what they are about and they got bullied when it mattered most.

  63. On the plus side – it does mark a milestone in Smith’s tenure – I can’t remember the last time the opposing student section stormed the field after beating the Beavers. So there is that. :(

  64. Well, every program has its WTF’s. I just watched a UNLV receiver drop a wide-open TD pass that could have sent the game against Fresno in OT with 13 seconds left. On the ensuing play, the UNLV QB throws a pick. Game over. Hey, the Beavs are going to be playing these teams next season!

  65. I wonder if Bill Oram will write a column this week excruciating JS for his…ahem…aggressive nature like he did Dan Lanning a couple weeks ago. I hope so.

  66. DJ definitely hesitates too much. Whenever he doesn’t hit his first or second option, he’s done. It doesn’t matter how good the protection is, he just freezes. He makes some great throws when a play develops as planned, but after that he either panics or he freezes. He’s not elite but Lindgren thinks he is.

    • I don’t know quite how to describe it, but he’s just not smooth in the pocket, but his arm strength covers up a lot. He’s also more lumbering than I thought. Huge difference when Chiles runs the ball. I can see a little of Clemson fans’ angst, but DJ is definitely not an RPO QB either.

  67. If I am correct, I seem to remember there was a time when the GT published letters on the sports page about sports things. Everyone read or at least noticed them at breakfast (including the coaches). Now coaches can live outside what fans think.

  68. Here’s my take and I made most beaver fans agreed with Mr at the game:

    -Refs sucked some
    -Lindgren never runs the ball when we are dominating that area
    -Take the 3 points
    -JS is a degenerate gambler

    Shout out to those beaver fans I talked to justifying the gambling. I bet you want Mike Riley back.

  69. 11

    I mourn this loss like it’s the end of Oregon state football relevance, which looks like a potential reality. Roughing the passer call was a low blow but the offense failed in the second half. What could have been…

  70. Win the next 3 and our season will regain that special feel going into next he civil war. Call me crazy but I thought Arizona in Tucson is tougher than Washington in Reser . Really think the next 3 games are very winnable.

    • I don’t know, it’s obvious now that this defense is nowhere near as good as last year’s. The defense has had its moments, but it hasn’t locked down a league opponent yet. Tackling is heinous, secondary has had issues and injuries. The offense is going to have to win these games, it might be good enough to beat CU and Stanford, not sure about UW and Oregon on the road is going to be a blowout.

  71. It’s easier once you accept this is a program that simply could not and will not reach the top for even one year. It’s okay, that’s most teams. Stick around for the rides or don’t, it’s a fair individual choice. I kind of lament the 15+ years I spent before 2021 getting wrapped up in all of it, but it was entertainment at least :) Live and learn, not for me in the end.

  72. Munyagi, Noga, Valsin all are tall enough to expand the target area and all have have had good moments in the minimal minutes they’ve been given. But, like eschewing the run, Lindgren can’t seem to see it.
    As for Bray, what can ya say?

    • The tackling can be attributed to coaching but there’s only so much you can do when you’re having to start a couple of freshman and you have a couple of freshman in the rotation. I think those young secondary guys will be really solid after a few years to mature but its too much for them to be great against all these good offensive programs that can pass the rock. Its also likely that a few years in the weight room will help these young guys tackle better as they grow and mature. It’s too bad we don’t have the secondary from last year and the front 7 from this year. That would make a great defense.

  73. At least this makes Smith less desirable as a HC candidate? Trying to find the bright spot. Chiles is really good I guess. I still believe we can win every game we play, like a dumbass. I guess I just finally thought this season really would be different. Especially since Smith’s gambling hadn’t come out until tonight. Just heartbreaking when this was the year to have our best season since ‘00 and we fucking blew it.

    • Well his gambling played a role in the Washington state loss as well if you recall. That was a brutal fake FG call, I bet that’s a less than 1% chance of working from that far out. Know your odds.

    • Oh, he’s made his gambles this year but they all seem like rational choices now after tonight’s play call. Lol. Every other game there’s at least 1 head scratcher but this one is in a league of its own.

  74. 15
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    Beavs fans. I know I’ll get lit up for this and I’m happy to wear it. But don’t blame this on the refs. The holding call on the Cats up 13-10 in the 3rd when we were driving at will was agregiously bad. This game was not decided by the refs. Wazzu and osu are hands down my favorite non UofA Pac teams. That was two teams who are pretty god damn evenly matched (Beavs would beat us in Corvallis 8 times out of 10 and 6 out of 10 on a neutral field). Not telling you anything you already know but when you guys attempted the fake field goal, I said to my UofA buddies…that’s gonna lose them the game. We have been on the bad side of stupid or flukey plays more times than I can count in my 45 years. That was hands down the most idiotic coaching decision I’ve ever seen in football. That’s not to pour salt in the wounds. That was just pure unadulterated idiocy, I respect Smith so much from afar…I just don’t get it. Beat the Dawgs and Fucks and I want to see you with us in the Big12

    • Yea I haven’t seen anyone even mention the refs let alone blame them for the loss. Which is strange with a game involving PAC 12 officiating. This was solely on Smith. Props to y’all, played great on D and made our D look like absolute shit. Fifita is a straight killer out there. Was so sad when you guys couldn’t pull it out against SC.

    • The fake fg was bad. Refs were fine although that roughing the passer call was bad and had a huge impact… more than fake fg. All that said, UA deserved to win. Played better

  75. Man, hard to think this season had so much promise and now with 2 losses is very likely we have 4 losses in the Pac. This was a huge game. I was thinking we’d split the UW/UO games but I’m not confident in that at all. Playing UW at home is a huge advantage but Penix will absolutely shred this defense…even more so if our secondary is still depleted. I also think it’s time for me to admit that this defense is just average at best. We can’t tackle. It’s like Tibesar has taken over the fundamentals again. We suck absolute shit on the road and I don’t give a fuck if Nix is the check-down king, we gave up at least 1 td on a check-down pass to the rb. With how we tackle, Irving and Troy Franklin will think it’s a walk in the park. With the coaching decisions being made, and how we play on the road, I don’t see that being a close game at all as much as it pains me to say it.

    While it’s easy to lay this loss on Smith and the absolute worst play call in years, UA outplayed us for most of that game. They dropped at least 3 picks. We put the ball on the ground a few times and were lucky to avoid turnovers there. We couldn’t stop the passing game and in the 4th quarter we gave up defending the run. If the coaches, especially on offense, don’t take advantage of what we do best and stuck with what’s working, we won’t ever take that next step regardless of what kind of talent we can get. Our last game, i gave Lingren props that it might’ve been his best called game ever and he follows that up with quite possibly on3 of his worst called games as a Beav. These aren’t mistakes that coaches 5 years into their roles are making anymore. This staff still acts like this is 2019 and that’s pretty sad to see.

  76. I almost wonder if a coach does something like that to jumpstart the team – if it works, maybe they get fired up, if it doesn’t work, maybe they freak out a little and play with more intensity. A three-point lead at halftime? Ho-hum.
    It’s still a bad play call, even if you think the decision for the fake was good.

    • 3
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      Speaking for myself as a washed up athlete, I’d much rather have taken a last second lead after a big turnover like that then try some bullshit 30 yd run with the kicker. I’m sure some of the 4th and 1’s he’s taken over the years have been made to say hey, we’re giving you the chance, make it happen. But not a 30 yd kicker run up the gut. That’s just a silly call that I fear will have larger downstream effects on this season. UA is a good team but one we could’ve, and should’ve, beaten had we played normal football and not som3 goofball shit like they pulled l. Hell, UA and WSU are both in rebuilds with newer staff right? Do you see them make those dublmbshit calls? No. You don’t. I think UA made 1 4th down attempt on their side of the field but that was around the 45 yd line I think. I don’t believe you can rationalize some of these calls. It really does feel like the staff believes we’re still the same program we were in 2019 and conventional and rational play calling is beyond us still.

  77. Think of the odds on that fake FG. Let’s say 75% you get 3 pts kicking it and 1% you get 7pts with fake. How does your gut in that moment say – “let’s fake the FG!” It literally has almost no chance at happening for an additional 4 points?? As risk of losing 3 gimme points. It would be the equivalent of in basketball swapping FTs for an opportunity at a full court shot worth 3 instead of 2 pts for a 80% FT shooter.

    • Does Sappington even have any speed or athleticism? It doesn’t look like it at a glance. Also, there would need to be absolutely perfect blocking for that play to even have a chance from that far out. On replay, it looks like a #89 (I think) whiff on his block, and #9 tackles Sappington. Again, the call was madness, but to expect that play could have the perfect execution needed from special teamers that far from the end zone is a special kind of insanity I can’t wrap my head around.

  78. From one of the game stories on Oregon Live. Pretty unsatisfying comments from JS:

    In a nutshell, OSU’s misfires came down to an erratic offense and a special teams gamble that coach Jonathan Smith said was a “bad call.”

    The “bad call” will be one that sticks with Oregon State and its fan base for some time. To rewind: three seconds left before halftime, score tied at 10-10, and the Beavers lining up to kick a 33-yard field goal. Instead, kicker Atticus Sappington takes a pitch from the holder and tries to run for a touchdown. He was stopped seven yards short of the end zone, with no time left on the clock.

    Think those possible three points don’t sting in a 27-24 loss?

    Smith admitted he was itching to run the fake field goal. It had flashed in bright lights at him all week in preparing for the game. They even had the play called on a field goal attempt earlier in the game, but a delay of game penalty changed the decision to kick the field goal.

    “Ultra-aggression,” Smith said. “Asking Atticus to score from 20 yards out. We had the look we wanted and all of that, but it was just a bad call.”

    Asked if he regrets the call, Smith owned it.

    “Sure. It didn’t work,” he said.

    Among those who had Smith’s back was quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.

    “I wasn’t surprised at all. I thought it was a great call,” Uiagalelei said. “At the end of the day, we will live and die by Coach Smith and whatever he wants to do. I support him 110%.

    “I think if we scored a touchdown there, no one would ever question the call. We’re going to try to win the game every time. We’re not going to be complacent.”

  79. 3
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    In six years of coaching, Smith has two road wins over opponents that ended the season with winning records.

    It’s time for a change.

  80. Cookus watched the Iowa St. Kicker Chase Contreras pull off this exact fake last week for a first down…About the same spot on the field , only thing there was much more time on the clock. He was determined to get this play in this week. Showed his hand earlier, with 2 seconds left made the call again. I guess Smith ok’s the play. STUPID !

  81. Wow, looking back it’s actually incredible how horrific that entire end of the half sequence was. Beavs wasted 10 seconds by not calling timeout before the play where DJ threw it away out the back of the endzone, costing the Beavs an additional play. THEN DJ has a wide open receiver in the end zone and throws such a weak lob that it floats long enough for the defender to recover and break up the pass. THEN they get a delay penalty that gives away the dumbass fake FG call. THEN they still try the fake anyway! LMAO!!

    • You make a good point. I think the abysmal clock management was overshadowed by the bizarre play call. There was plenty of time for three shots to the end zone and then kick a field goal as the worst-case scenario, but yet somehow that got fucked up also. DJ should know better than to scan the field for 8-10 seconds in that situation or maybe he was the victim of a poor play call. It has to be a quick hitter. To me how coaches handle those scenarios separates the elite from the average. Not Smith’s best showing for sure.

  82. If you talk to any reckless driver, they don’t think they’re bad drivers, just that they’re being aggressive. I grew up in NJ. Trust me. But it’s the same thing here. This new bread of bozo HC that goes for ever 50/50 play just says, “I’m being aggressive!” and the fans and media lap it up because it implies you’re being pro-active and not sitting back just waiting to lose the game. The problem with this should be obvious by now. Fans and media have to start holding all of these HC accountable. I feel like a lot of this started with Chip. Chip had a great team and skewed the stats/success rate so that all coaches thought it was the smart thing to do, not realizing if you’re not Oregon vs Portland State the odds of success are actually much lower. And as the sample has gotten bigger over that years, that is playing out, and we’re seeing success rates drop.

    There’s a time to pass on points and where going for it is actually the statistically better play, but those are maybe once every two or three games, on average. In general you always take points because while 3 points seems low, it is still half a touch down, and it is still a possession (key point). Football at the core is about possessions you can’t get back (this is why TO are such a big deal), and you don’t want to just hand those over. At the end of the game, what did we need? A possession we couldn’t get back. Every time Smith does this it should go in the stat column as an official turnover.

    • The possessions point is the biggest key IMO, and the main reason not to take unnecessary risks early in the game. What these coaches often miss is EVEN IF YOU CONVERT these risky calls, with so much game time left the conversion isn’t likely to be determinative. If the Beavs somehow score on that, they STILL have a full 2nd half to play, and AZ got the ball to start the 2nd Half. Is being up 17-10 really that much of a dagger in that scenario? Same logic applies to Lannings dumb go for it decision at the end of the 1st half against UW. Even if the Ducks score there there was a full 2nd half to play and the game was likely still going down to the wire anyway.

      • Yeah you’re better off doing the risky play late. By doing it early you show your hand a bit and let the other team know exactly what they need, and that does motivate the other team. Best to just take possessions/points when they’re in your face and sort out the risky stuff late in the game.

        • John Madden always said something to the effect of taking the easy points until the game dictates that you can’t anymore. Madden was pretty damn successful and George Blanda kicked a lot of short field goals.

          • I was trying to find some success rate stats on college kickers, looks like about 77-80% from 35 yards in. I couldn’t even find anything on a 20-yard running play on 4th and goal, which is essentially what JS was going after. It would have to be less than 1% and with a placekicker running God knows what the improbability would be.

  83. 6
    1

    If you are an Oregon you can recover from these stupid HC decisions easily (we saw this last week to this week with Oregon)… it won’t affect recruiting and won’t affect national status and probably won’t affect team psychology as they are all 5 star attitude players. But with a team such as Oregon State these stupid HC decisions affect all these areas. And top that off with where we are conference / relevance wise and the ramifications are multiplied immensely.
    The affect of last nights stupid coaching is and willl have a larger ramification for Oregon State then for most other schools in the nation who have a home they will remain in.

    • To add to this point, you look at the losses that resulted from 4th down degeneracy and see that they cost us a bowl game in 2019, and cost us late season bowl slots in 2021 and 2022. The consequence is fewer practices and low quality opponents.

  84. Well, I guess we are at the point of “what now?”. The ramifications for these types of losses were ten fold for Oregon State this season. There may be no next time.

  85. Well, now every team has the blueprint for how to beat Oregon State:
    * Force them to throw incomplete passes on 1st down
    *Force them to stop running the ball when it’s being successful
    *Force them to not tackle
    *Force them to run low-percentage trick plays

    Now that it’s out there, the rest of our opponents have a cake walk.

    • More specifically, on defense:
      *Crash the interior or right side of the line on first down. Force the RB’s outside where the undersize receivers are forced to block bigger corners. Utah did this extremely well. Martinez and Fenwick don’t have that breakaway speed and go down fairly easily when running to the sideline.
      *Blitz contain on third down and force DJ to step up in a small pocket, where he can’t step into his throw.
      *Do not play press man without safety help.

      On offense: avoid the front six as much as possible.
      *Quick receiver screens. Outside of Robinson, OSU’s corners struggle to tackle in space and shed blocks. I see Oregon doing this.
      *Back shoulder throws. OSU corners hold a lot. Stanford did this versus Washington and had a ton of success.
      *Outside zone run, especially away from Oladapo. UCLA had a ton of success doing this.

  86. JS needs a staff intervention to figure out what they consider high risk or simply strategic.
    He wants to portray an aggressive approach but if he is recruiting high football IQ athletes, this will be the quickest way to lose a team of thoughtful tacticians.

    I propose that JS is caught in a poor feedback loop where he is trying to capture some of the Chris Peterson magic that was sustained throughout a decade of high level success on the national stage and
    Didn’t do anything but endear Peterson to his fan base, players and national media. The catch for JS is he has no concept of when to implement such tactics, and the plus aren’t nearly as creative.

    Someone commented last night that this loss is to be grieved as the true end of OSU football relevance since the media has no need to speak of OSU anymore and soon we will be relegated to a low tier bowl
    And a low tier conference. JS had so much on the line and has the team to actually accomplish big things but he has sabotaged this season by several terrible play calls and Lindgren refuses to play call to the strength of the team and commit to the run for extended periods of time. Anyone responsible for proposing to run the fake fg, scouting or designing such a play should resign or be fired today. JS should donate a portion of his salary to local charities as penance for calling such a play. Local media/fans should hound JS about it and shame him into never calling such a boneheaded play again. Perhaps JS has more arrogance than we are aware of if he thinks that play call wasn’t epically bad and an epic failure from a program perspective.

  87. Shania Sanders got the ever loving shit beat out of him by the ucla defense last night.

    So much he had to receive an injection for pain at halftime.

    • I’ve never seen a QB take as many big hits on drop backs as Sanders has this season. It’s truly amazing he’s still playing. If anything, the toughness he’s shown this season adds even more to his accolades. Mad respect for a guy that’s able to take that much punishment and get back up time after time.

  88. He. Can’t. Help. Himself.
    “I was just champing at the bit to get the thing called,” Smith said. “What we anticipated, really what we got, was really a pretty good look. I just rolled the dice on that one, and in hindsight, it was not good.”

    This coaching staff is capped at 9 win regular seasons….good but never great.
    Instead of being 59-46, JS is 52-53….disrespectful to the program, fan base and everything he’s built.

    Not sure what to do with JS, he’s a good coach/not great, and a win or two better than Riley, but dude is completely tone def to timing and the big picture during these rush-of-blood-to-the-head-moments….
    What the fuck now?

    • Someone just needs to convince him that all these risky play calls are actually sign of weakness more than a sign of strength. Why would OSU need to do anything besides line up and physically beat AZ straight up? Smith has one of the best schemes in NCAA and also develops players well. If you’re a 3 star guy with a goal to eventually play in the NFL, not many coaches you would want to play for more than Smith.

      • He’s blown 7 games in his tenure. No one can convince him…..dude is a gambler by definition, on display….he’s got the weight of all of the previous failures weighing on him to one day get it right….it is his fallacy.

        —The gambler’s fallacy, also known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, occurs when an individual erroneously believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events.—

        —Right after making a choice and right before finding out about the outcome, the brain is replaying and revisiting nearly every feature of what happened during the previous decision,” said senior author Ming Hsu, an associate professor in the Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. “Instead of ‘I just gambled but maybe I shouldn’t have,’ it is, ‘Last round I gambled and that was a really good choice.’ Or, ‘I played it safe last time but should have gone for it.—

        • To say “nobody can convince him” is too definitive. We don’t live in a black and white 100%/0% world. People make permanent changes to their lives every day. It’s definitely possible that he could evolve. Whether or not it’s likely……I don’t think anybody knows.

          • I should clarify that nobody on this staff or in the Beav organization can help him. He needs intervention from 3rd party professionals. He exhibits all of the traits of gamblers remorse. Is it serious enough for an “intervention”? Is he drowning in debt and losing his house? Probably not, but is he risking future money, stability, fan base, and our collective “home”….yes absolutely!!!

            https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline

  89. I wish JS could just make a pact with himself to forget all the fake kicks, 2 pt conversions, going on 4th down, etc. and just play it straight until about 10 minutes left in the game. Even if you are successful with that stuff, how do you even know you need to take those chances until you get to the 4th quarter – it’s just unnecessary and often ends up costing you like last night. I’m also not saying go crazy in the last ten minutes – just let the time and score dictate if you actually need to start taking chances.

      • Or maybe this particular play call was bad enough that it actually jolts him out of it. Like a heroin addict receiving a Narcan dose. The level of embarrasment is so high this time, it would be against human nature for it to not have some impact.

        • One can hope (like the previous times), but when you have Nick Daschel, Angie Machado and John Canzano reinforcing the “aw shucks maybe next time” media attitude it’s almost certainly never going to change.

        • I doubt it, because in his mind he knows they should have won that game despite the stupid fake FG. And he’s probably right. In his mind the loss is more on Bray and Lindgren who didn’t execute how they should. Even if we went to overtime, AZ was controlling the game, the Beavs would have been trying to catch up from then on.

          • “There’s strategy to this thing,” Smith said. “It’s not just like blind aggression. There’s some strategy. That one (Saturday), just logically, the kicker’s got to run 20 yards. Just a bad call.”

          • Yeah, I guess the question I have (and I have the same question every week) is who’s bad call was it? Did Cookus make the call without JS’s approval? Did JS make the call? Or did all the coaches get together and agree to do something they knew was a bad call?

          • It was Smith:

            “I was just champing at the bit to get the thing called,” Smith said. “What we anticipated, really what we got, was really a pretty good look. I just rolled the dice on that one, and in hindsight, it was not good.”

    • Just curious, has a “crazy gamble” won a game for the Beavs? I’m drawing a blank. I don’t think all the Colletto fourth-down conversions were really a gamble, so I’m not counting those.

      • Almost definitely none have “won the game”. Could be forgetting one but I don’t remember any working that were truly do or die. The biggest issue is that so many have happened before late in the game, making them almost impossible to the definitive “play that made all the difference”.

  90. 3
    4

    During the game, when the Beavs were down 17-13 and couldn’t seem to make a play, I wondered where was Gulbranson.. he’d get these guys going. Maybe I’m just nestalgic (sp?) but after what did last season he deserves to play!

    Another Smith fuckup….

    • 3
      1

      The Beavs were up 17-13 with Bolden’s run in the early fourth quarter and then shit the bed from there. Gulbranson is not as talented as DJ or Chiles that’s why he’s not playing. Gulbranson was also a benefactor of a much better defense last year. Who knows, if the Beavs get “relegated” he may be the starting QB once again!

    • At 17-13 I was yelling run the ball and it never happened. Martinez with 6.2 YPC and “one of the best o-lines” and we continue to have no trust in our identity and ability to do so. Lindgren needs to go even more so than chants for Smith to go. If you a Smith gamble in a game combined with Lindgren calling is counter-identity pass first offense then you have a guaranteed recipe for a loss/closer game than needed.

      In short, fire/replace Lindgren.

  91. Nebraska is 5-3 with a legit shot to win the B1G West playing the ugliest football since that 3-0 Sun Bowl.

    We can’t even TPB them for therapy.

  92. The play call was ridiculous. However, it’s like the kid that gets blamed for not making free throws at the end of a high school bb game. Everyone forgets all the blocked shots, missed free throws earlier. In the 4th quarter the Beavs defense melted. DJs throws were somewhat puzzling. He couldn’t seem to move his feet when there were even short running lanes.

    • Zona had a great game plan to force the Beavs into their weaknesses. They took away DJU’s first options and made him process, he missed so many wide open 2nd and 3rd options and he’d been putting that on film for weeks.

      They stacked the box on 1st and 2nd to entice abandoning the run and it worked when they could have just steam rolled them anyway.

      They made great use of the bye week and put on a coaching clinic while letting the Beavs beat themselves.

  93. Jonathan Smith is now 10-20 on the road as the head coach of Oregon State. Only two of those wins came against teams who finished the season with a winning record.
    2019 – 21-17 @ Cal (finished 8-5)
    2022 – 35-32 @ Fresno State (finished 10-4, MW champs)

  94. After that fake field goal call, how can any of the players trust their coaches?
    I hope JS apologized to the team first thing this morning, before the flight home. If not last night. Because, letting them simmer over an inexplicably bone headed call is going to destroy trust.

      • Such a quote is unexplainable to any bright recruits.
        How does the pay itself override the time situation, down and distance?

        Such a bad look all around.

        All JS needs to do with this team is line up and bludgeon teams mercilessly for 40 minutes and they win 9 games, with some good fortune they win 11, but he has predetermined to call certain plays at odd times in games and it has already cost them 2 losses.

        • The play wasn’t even particularly inventive. That flip to the kicker is one of the standard fake FG trick plays in most playbooks and to add to the bizarreness of the call, they already showed it earlier.

          • @CAL Smith said they “saw something on film” that indicated CAL was vulnerable to an onside kick. They weren’t.

            This week he was “chomping the bit” to have his kicker try to run 33 yards for 6 points rather than, you know, kicking for 3.

            Does he not get he isn’t fooling anyone? Nobody’s surprised at his stupidity.

            Now the fake and pass to Swancutt in the CW forever ago fooled people, was a reasonable play, and was executed well. Cintextyally and in design and execution.

            Most of Smith’s 4th down calls (absent Colletto) end up in an awkward, unsatisfying explanation to media post game.

            These DUM calls take away from the game and reduce, rather than enhance, its watchability.

            Smith robbed the team of another week of relevance and a continuing shot at a meaningful bowl game all to scratch his itch. What a fucker.

          • And Smith is asking for an unbelievable level of perfect execution for these things to work. On the fake FG, it looked like it would have taken five pancake blocks on that left side for Sappington to have any chance in hell of being able to run 25 yards to the endzone. And on the onside kick against Cal, I’m not sure what Sappington was doing, but it was an awful onside kick, he shouldn’t have been put in that situation anyway. Last night’s onside kick was much better, even though they knew it was coming.

  95. 4
    1

    Everyone needs to relax and stop criticizing JS about the fake fg.
    He was simply trying to be first team with touchdowns by defensive lineman, offensive lineman and place kicker in the same season. It is a groundbreaking recruiting tactic that everybody scores at OSU…

    No way the team as a whole wasn’t embarrassed by that play going into halftime. I’m actually surprised they didn’t coast into a GA second half beat down.

    Special teams are atrocious in a couple of key areas and Gould/Bolden have masked the fault lines as great returners. Sappington has been above average.
    Special teams has been atrocious in these areas:
    Cookus coaching and recruiting
    Punter, no distance all year, at least he only had 1 blocked so far
    Trick plays- poor execution, poor timing and poor designs for every one of them
    Coverage was horrible for the last 2 punts in the 4th quarter
    Onside kicks need work too

    JS and Cookus are beginning to feel like Riley and Banker, old friends with too much history to be successful or fired

    • Punt coverage has definitely taken a step back from the beginning of the year. Part of that is missed tackles, part of it is that Green is outkicking the coverage with line drive punts.

  96. I wonder what Nick Saban say after watching the fake field goal. If it was his team he would go ballistic on the players for poor execution then he would follow up by going ballistic on his special teams coach for such a dumb play call, then he would destroy the sideline reporter as he went into halftime.
    No way Saban would even associate himself with such a garbage call and someone would be fired on Monday.

    JS does the opposite and pulls the “aw shucks” schtick and pretends it was just a bad play call that they had good opportunities for several times, and essentially takes credit for calling the play twice.

    Incredible disconnect to reality and game strategy. UA isn’t 2009 Oregon where you need touchdowns and field goals won’t help. For goodness sake, consider the opponent, situation and proceed with actual game strategy. As someone said above, “ Two weeks of preparation for that…”

    • My brain is fuzzy…..Didn’t they attempt it on the previous play but called a timeout? Or was it earlier in the game they attempted it and there was a penalty?

      Ya know, they didn’t pull this shit against UCLA. They took the points early in the game. The game was 10-10 at the time. Why deviate?

  97. 7
    5

    Wow, all this need a new head coach is nonsense. Yeah JS has some head scratching calls that cost us some games, but who else could the Beavs really get, especially now with a reduced budget and no conference that can even come close to 2022/2023 Beavs?? The Beavs future roster is bright. We’re a top 25 program, without deep pockets in a small city and not much money. We’re not a powerhouse program so maybe it’s time to stop being delusional and have realistic expectations because in the last what, 50 years, only 1 team (2000) was better than 2022 team and we can still lose another game and have a 10 win season which would match 2022. Yeah we need a new head coach smh.

  98. Can a team play in the Vegas Bowl in back to back years? I really dont care for the other Pac12 bowls. Holiday I guess could be fun, but I have zero interest in flying clear to Texas or Louisiana in December

    • who knows. It seems to change every year. Here’s the only things I remember…….

      The Alamo is obligated to take the loser of the Pac-12 title game. Unless that team is selected for a NY6 game. See last year when USC lost to Utah and played in the Cotton bowl vs Tulane (I think it was Cotton). That’s why UW went to San Antonio.

      The Vegas and Holiday bowls pick after the Alamo and swap selection order each year. I don’t remember who got first pick last year. Think it was Vegas. If that was the case the Holiday picks ahead of Vegas this year. Vegas bowl will also be a B1G opponent this year since it was SEC last year. Vegas and Holiday can also pick a team lower in the standings but only a team that is one game behind the highest remaining available team per the standings.

      Once we get to the Sun, bowls are obligated to take the highest remaining team available per the standings.

      I could be wrong but this is my pea brained understanding.

      The Beavs could wind up anywhere from the Alamo to LA bowl at this point.

      I’m fine with any of them except Hell Paso.

    • The bowl selections are Alamo, Holiday, Vegas, in that order.

      The CFP and NY6 get first dibs, so possibly the two teams who play in the CCG go to those.

      Then the three bowls get to select whoever they want, as long as that team in within one game in the standings of the next placed team. So if we end up in third, the Alamo could look past us and pick USC, who ended up in fourth and a game back.

  99. I’m going to the home game against Washington on Nov 18th….I would like to see someone run on the field to get in Smith’s face if I see a wreckless 4th down attempt brewing….

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