342 COMMENTS

  1. I hope the play is indicative of Bray and staff’s being well prepared, and they have clean, disciplined play, and a fast defense.

    I think running the ball will easily win the game.

    • Coug QB started 2-7…this was the guy they exclusively used for running plays last season. Yikes. I didn’t realize how dire the situation is in Pullman.

        • Was gonna say… it could be their third string walk-on freshman, and it’s still Wazzu.

          It’s just a matter of consistency lately. Maybe we benefit from playing them late in the season and at home.

  2. They’ve had some pretty good CW ads about the Beavs and Cougs I thought were kind of cool. It feels like they’re trying to make them look good. They have I think Ted Robinson from pac 12 calling the game with ryan leaf. Never really cared for Robinson.

  3. Hopefully after some game time McCoy looks like a point guard out there….dishing and dealing.

    Want to see GJ get some reps too.

  4. The CW post production meeting after this game needs to start with figuring out how to accurately display Beaver orange on TV…

  5. Portland State looked like they were gonna hang with Wazzup early, too. Ended up getting steamrolled.

    Hopefully the Beans can get this figured out.

  6. 6
    7

    If we don’t end up pulling away here soon, I think I’m going to have update my season prediction from 6 wins to 1-2 wins. This is a terrible showing right now, no way around it.

    Idaho State was a 3-8 team last year…

    • Hankerson looks like the better back regardless. Wasn’t he supposed to be a pass catcher? When was the last time we actually did middle/slip screens? Wheel routes?

  7. 8
    6

    If I’m Bray, I’m making anyone who participates in a synchronized touchdown dance while up by one score at half against an FCS team run stairs at the next practice….

  8. 7
    1

    After one half of football, I’m not as pessimistic as others on this board. Team looks like it’s the first game for a bunch of dudes who’ve never played together being coached by a bunch of guys who’ve never coached together. I’m expecting them to get better as the season progresses.

    Coaches seem to be hesitant to let McCoy throw.

    Griffin needs to hold on to the freaking football.

    Special teams is wicked shaky (punt disaster resulting in safety, first extra point was a mess that never got replayed so not sure what happened, FG snap was poor – holder saved it).

    Defense can’t survive in games when they get spread out by other teams. Doesn’t bode well for future games against athletic teams that run a spread offense.

    Was fun to see the Beavs execute the option there late in the first half.

    Griffin/Hank could be a dynamic duo this year.

    • I don’t even know what they were watching.

      I thought we were rusty to start. The D has some athleticism, but isn’t quite in synch. The O-line looks like they can handle anyone. The backs are patient and find some massive holes with that timing.

      I don’t have to ask anyone to run the dam ball. We didn’t need to open the playbook at all. McCoy’s only incompletion was a 30 yard drop by Walker.

      Are we supposed to be world-beaters in game one?

      What a bunch of putzes you all Neggiue Nellies are. It’s as if you’ve never watched college football. If you want to watch a really ugly game, I still have the Idaho at Oregon game taped. If we’re bad, UO sucks donkey balls.

  9. So this offense sucks. We clearly don’t have a QB. I know ISU last year ate yards on the ground….but come on. 7 passes to 30 rushes? If we are gonna be Air Force at least run some wing T option.

    • 4
      2

      Is Gulbranson still on the roster? He was solid and a clear D1/P5 level QB. This Johnson guy is okay…better than the McCoy guy.

        • 2
          5

          Yeah I do not recognize 90% of this roster…nor do I know if guys like BG are still around. I completely lost interest in all the off season stuff once we became HS football + the portal + NIL making things just brutal.

  10. 4
    1

    Some pretty good teams struggling week 1. Didn’t we barely beat Eastern Washington the year we went 11-1? Not suggesting we will be that good, but its early. This is basically a scrimmage.

  11. 0
    8

    Headed out for a ride. I would not be surprised to come back and see we lost. This McCoy guy is a wasted possession every time. We should be pulling away but Bray’s personnel decisions are poor so far.

  12. President Murphy is in the booth for an interview. I turned to Mrs. Sweaty and said “Watch them connect deep right now.”

  13. That was a great throw and catch. Props to Wells too. Seems like our WR over the past few years might’ve made that catch and went down vs Wells staying on his feet and continuing for 10 yds for the score.

  14. Collins been a bit disruptive in the 2nd half on the DLine. Singleton in the game now at corner. Wouldn’t be surprised if he starts next week. Nice having Skylar Thomas back.

  15. 2
    1

    In good news, Idaho just scored, down 14-7 to Ducks towards end of 3rd quarter. Maybe we do actually have a chance in that game?

  16. Well that went about as expected. Some big errors that need to be cleaned up. But it’s pretty clear we can run the ball effectively and our defense is able to make stops and get turnovers. Just keep improving.

  17. 1
    6

    My question is, if we’re essentially just having the QB DO handoffs for the most part, why don’t we have Dr. G starting, the only QB with extensive power 5 experience, who has shown he can compete with elite teams?

  18. I have to assume we played the most vanilla of offensive play calling. We knew we could run, and we did. Save everything till next week.

    The life long Beaver fan in me thinks; oh boy….this season is gonna be difficult.

    I’m not sure what we are yet. We will see next week.

    • We ran the ball for over 300 yards with two guys… and a third guy added another 60 yards.

      The other team knew it was coming, and they could do nothing to stop it.

      We have an identity, and it’s not even Week 4 yet.

  19. 19

    Our QB went 9-10 and we won 38-15 and you guys are acting like we should have been a well oiled machine with basically new everything.

    This is a better result than whatever Nike is going to end up with and we basically exclusively ran the ball. There are better things to come.

  20. For all of you who were disappointed in how little we threw the ball, you’re going to see the same game plan next week. So enjoy another boring game where we pound the rock, dominate TOP, and win again as we should.

  21. AZ is tied with New Mexico with 4 minutes left in 1st half. Cats have already given up over 300 yards to NM offense.

  22. Olive headlines:

    “Offensive line struggles, Oregon Ducks underwhelm in season-opening win vs. Idaho.”

    “New coach, but same old Oregon State bullies: Running game is ‘identity of our offense’

  23. How did that 6’9″ LT for OSU look? Did he move well? With his height and arm length he should be a great protector if he can move…

  24. Home from the game, gotta say suites are cool but you lose a lot of the game experience.

    Anyway…

    I’ma call a win a win, even if we didn’t cover my 47-7 score. Punching it in at the end and not burning clock would have helped too.

    For all the crying about today let’s keep things in perspective could have been Oregon or MSU

    Did I read correctly 58 runs most in program history since 96? I’ll take bully ball but someone has to step up in the QB room.

    Saw Dr Murthy but no Jensen

    Nice to see unlv 27- Houston 7 yikes big xii really that bad?

  25. 7
    1

    Ducks beat U of Idaho 24-14 at home…how will they rationalize keeping them in the top 20? 49.5 point favorites…$20+M NIL dollars, 4* transfers….oh, that’s how they’ll rationalize it.

    • By pumping up how good Idaho is. Funny since the game ended that the Uck fans who called Idaho so-so are now saying they will make FCS playoffs, etc. lol

  26. Just watched highlights. Rougher than I would prefer, but still a decent victory margin with an effective running game and some takeaways as expected.

    CW doesn’t have proper filters to telecast orange? its been an issue before, but the orange really looked red.

    Allah looked very good, and almost broke one. I think he could be a nice surprise v. UO. Better watch his redshirt game count and use him sparingly. Or, just play him. They’ll come to poach him with NIL money…

    • 20
      1

      Right now OSU shouldn’t care about burning redshirts.
      If the player is good enough to be on the field now, play them. Cause they’ll be g8ne before year 4 anyway.

        • Yeah, I kinda think the redshift thing has shifted to guys that just aren’t physically ready yet and/or get injured. With xfer and NIL, they’ll likely be gone anyway so might as well use those that can contribute right away. Foster and Allah look to be guys that can play now. Taz Reddick looked good at wr. Walker didn’t look good at all. Dropped 1 ball that hit him in the numbers and his 1st catch was bobbled and nearly dropped.

  27. McMillan for Arizona is going absolutely hog. 248 yard receiving and 4 TDs in THE 3RD QUARTER!!!!! Very likely he is breaking records tonight.

  28. 2
    3

    Clemons has changed his Instagram profile picture to a plain black circle ??. My totally scientific analysis of that based on being a young person and him being out today was that he either suffered quite a serious injury, possibly season ending, or he had an off the field incident that resulted in him not dressing today.

  29. 15
    1

    72 total plays. 58 rushes.

    Run the fucking ball. Isn’t this what we’ve all been asking for the last few seasons?

    • Yes run the ball. I like that people are bagging on the QB play when they went 11 for 14 combined. I know Johnson threw one over the receivers head on a go route the other 2 I don’t remember. I would have liked them to throw a few more times but we got exactly what we’ve been asking for, for YEARS. Run the damn ball.

    • I like it when the run game is there and we are run first option, like yesterday, but you still have to have a reliable passing game, which I think next week we will see more balance on offense – unless we average 6 yards a carry, the continue to pound the rock.

      • Why do you need balance if the other team isn’t stopping what you are doing? If something is working keep doing it until the opponent can prove they can stop it. Why help them out so you can have “balance” on offense?
        When OSU beat USC in 2008 Mike Riley said OSU ran the same play like 30 times because USC wasn’t stopping it. If that means 58 rushes and 14 passes like vs Idaho State, so be it.

    • I’ve heard it said by folks more versed in this game than I that nothing develops offensive line coherence better than handing the ball off and free reign to smash mouth five yards downfield.

  30. I’m a little surprised we didn’t see Jordan Anderson or Malachi Durant (unless I missed them?) today. But I guess when 75-80% of your offensive plays are runs, you’re probably not going to throw too many WRs into the mix. I’ll be interested to see if they get more involved as the season goes on. Particularly Anderson, because during the recruiting process it seemed like he chose OSU for early playing time, and I’d be concerned about him transferring if he doesn’t get it. For all I know though, that’s already been worked out with him by Bray, Gundy, and Fense.

  31. Watched the SDSU game.

    Texas A&M Commerce isn’t good but SDSU looked a lot better than I anticipated and played well overall.

    Going to be a tough early season road game while this team is still getting it’s sea legs. Biggest concern I have is DL and the EDGE position, especially if Olu is hampered by injury. Tyree Blake got burned and gave up contain a few times and that doesn’t bode well. Collins looked like a force though.

    Not as concerned with the offense just yet as they obviously kept it as vanilla as possible.

  32. You have to be pleased with the first game. You expect some hiccups, particularly on special teams (ask the Sucks kicker), but I’d rather be a Beaver fan this morning. Duck fans learned they don’t award national titles in pre-season.
    I think I could live with the Beavs of the Riley 2.0 era, 7-5, 8-4. My fear is a regression to the Andersen era.
    I still don’t know why ESPN didn’t force the Big 12 to take Wazzu and Oregon State, – Yes, they have the Bay Area market with Cal and Stanford in the ACC, but you are going to pass on the no. 12 and no. 22 markets? There are only four bigger TV markets in the Big 12 footprint.

    • 2
      2

      Need to see what happens next week but the Oregon game is looking way better. Oregon’s OL couldn’t handle Idaho’s front, and Gabriel doesn’t have the same pocket presence Nix had. Meanwhile the Beavers’ DL gets pretty good interior pressure and was able to make adjustments against a pass-first opponent.

      Also Jeanty ran for 267 yesterday and I expect him to beat down Oregon’s front seven some next week before they make the trip to Corvallis.

    • 2
      1

      “Duck fans learned they don’t award national titles in pre-season.” – Jack brought this up weeks ago….they win the off-season, but still have to play together and get it done on the field.

      With a bit of temporal distance and the context of a new HC, OC, DC, and QBs, yesterday’s win doesn’t look quite as bad. Many first games across the country were rough.

      The Duck win sounds like the worst ratio of recruiting rankings/NIL tran$fers$:on-field performance. They’ll have more hiccups this season, some head scratching calls from Lanning, and Knight will return to a hyperbaric chamber in hopes of living to a national championship..\

      Collins and JoJo Johnson(?) could give that Duck line a challenge if the Ducks don’t quit listening to the outside media pundits.

      Curious to see what the CW ratings will look like for yesterday, remembering its a 3-day holiday weekend. I suspect @ SDSU to be pretty respectable for a late game.

      Unis yesterday looked very stripy in that CW telecast. Again, all white would have been better, but we’ll see that next weekend.

  33. So was Huang actualltly at the game?
    Didnt see a single photo.

    If he was, hopefully he was on the old side, facing the new.
    The sun was beating down on the old side and it was only maybe 25% full, but the new side was shaded and nearly 95% full.

      • I was on the upper level and used the restrooms towards the end of halftime. I didnt have any line to wait for.
        I bet downstairs is a different story. A ton of people congregate down in that Beaver street area. A little too crowded for me and my 9 year old to want to navigate the masses, so we ended up spending most of our time upstairs where it was much more open.
        And 90+% of the seats were occupied up there, so it shouldnt get much worse during a sellout.

        • Also, i thought I read somewhere they’ve added additional portables on the lower level, but I didnt have a reason to seek them out so never saw them.
          It was my first time on the new side. I thought the view was great. You can tell there are parts that won’t age well(like rust already seeping through the white paint in many areas near the stairs, but overall i like having actual chairs vs bench seating, so it’s a big improvement.

  34. Taz Reddick looked good at wr and Wells obviously had that great td grab. Hard to grade the wr room in limited action but they obviously helped with run blocking and only had 1 drop that i recall.

    TE weren’t involved at all in the pass game. Suppose we’ll see more of that in week 2 unless we’re running the ball just as efficiently.

    QB play was pretty solid. Missed 1 open td throw, had another great td bomb and didn’t turn the ball over. Barri just send to bring a different energy when he’s on the field. Really excited to see him get more playing time. Had some nice zip on the his completion and his running ability add another dimension to the position.

    DL was disruptive in the 2nd half but you’d hope for a little more pressure from them vs a much more inferior opponent. Some of that is probably the offense they played against. Those quick, short crossing patterns can limit some pressure opportunities and i think ISU got away with a fair number of holding penaltiesthat weren’tcalled. Edge definitely seems like a major drop off and injuries dont help that position. Only recall Seaz being in the backfield out of that group.

    Secondary played fairly well. These air raid dump, dunk and crossing routes are tough to cover all game, especially with 4 diff qb’s rotating around. I’d assume that once Singleton is up to game conditioning, he’ll be CB1 with JRob and Skylar, Jordan and Noble Thomas round out the remaining 3 with Kane seeing time as well.

    IlB seemed fine. Jordan and Chisom (minus the penalties) seemed very good and Foster is legit as a freshman.

    Overall, rough start turned into a good game. Glad they didn’t empty the cupboards vs ISU but hopefully they open things up a bit more next week. Considering that none of the QBs really stood out over each other in pre-season you’d hope that they get a chance to do some things before the UO game. Also, most our WR haven’t had significant playing time and it would be nice to get them some action outside of run blocking. Road games are always tough and it’s the one area that we’ve struggled with under Snake Smith so hopefully we can buck that trend and make it a comfortable win.

    • 3
      2

      Can’t call Bray a snake.

      He paced back and forth on the sideline like a big cat in a cage. He probably walked a couple miles… within the same ten yards.

      It was also weird seeing Dan Hawkins on the sideline… not for Davis.

      • Yeah Bray had to have been exhausted last night after pacing off 50 miles on the sidelines. It was nice to see we have a coach who is obviously invested. At one point I believe it was Bray (back of head so hard to be sure) yelling at a group of players who had just come out of the game. Again, can’t remember that happening over the last couple years. Over-all the second half Beavs came out with adjustments that made them much better looking minus the Chisom penalties that gave them one of their TD’s. A running team maybe isn’t as exciting as a passing team but it is sound football and I loved how hungry both our RB’s looked. I’ll take the win and hope next game will be another step up for this team. Go Beavs!

  35. Physique-wise, our team looked small to me. Very similar in size to Idaho State, just faster and more skilled athletes than the opponent.

    • Part of that is just modern college football. Colorado didn’t look like leaps and bounds bigger than NDSU, Idaho had what they needed to compete with the yucks which is loaded with 4/5 star bodies.

      Our defensive front is a lot smaller than it was last year though, McCartan and Lolohea were giants out there.

  36. I thought it was a solid performance against an inferior opponent. A bad special teams mistake gave ISU 9 points. The Beavs were headed for a TD until Jam’s fumble (improve your ball security dude). They were headed for another TD until time ran out in the 4th. The game was shortened with that dominating running attack. It could have easily been something like 48-7. McCoy has a nice arm and hit the open receiver. I don’t remember ISU being anywhere near an interception. The Mountain West looks improved, so not sure how the season will play out. I think Gunderson kept it pretty vanilla yesterday. The defense came around, but the secondary left me with some questions. I wish Alton Julian was game-ready.

  37. PFF fun from the Idaho St game:
    -Beavs offense with the 3rd highest rating in the nation from week 1 (#8 in run blocking, everything else was just solid across the board)
    -Beav defense ranked 97th in the country. Run defense 5th from last and tackling somewhere in the 90’s

    -McCoy, GCL, and Wells were the top 3 rated offensive players
    -McCoy was the #15 rated QB in the country
    -Terry was the lowest rated offensive player, surprising no one that has ever seen his PFF grades

    -Collins, Noble, and Andre Jordan were the top 3 defensive players. Collins was the highest rated on the team overall.
    -Collins was the #25 rated defensive player in the country and #15 pass rusher
    -Saez was the lowest rated defensive player with a reasonable amount of snaps. Kane was pretty low, too.
    -Team tackling percentage of 75% was exactly what they averaged all last season…when they were the worst tackling team in the country. Mevin Jordan and Sullivan were the two lowest percentage tacklers.

    • Idaho State had only 82 rushing yards, but Oregon State’s run defense was 5th from last? That’s hard to believe. I assume Idaho State’s run defense was last since we had 362 yds rushing.

    • 2
      1

      Sullivan is great if he’s given one task. When he has to make decisions, he’s in no-man’s land. He should probably move up to edge and let him loose on the QB, and he’s fast enough to patrol the flats, or he can drop into coverage on obvious passing downs.

      Melvin was too aggressive to the hole. But at least he’s in the right hole.

  38. My observations watching the first half:
    -Walker seems miscast as the guy catching all the screens, passes behind the line, etc.
    -Is GJ on the Chiles program where he gets the xth drive every game? He’s fun to watch.
    -Solid run game. You can tell Bray liked that about our offense the past few years and wanted to keep it part of the identity. I’m pleased the OL was up to the task (at least against Idaho St)
    -McCoy did exactly what he needed to. I’m looking forward to seeing some more interesting play calls the next few weeks.

    -CB coverage was shaky. If the ISU QB was more accurate, the game would have been a lot closer.
    -Poor tackling at multiple levels. I don’t love our LB play, especially.
    -Pass rush pressure was pretty good
    -Is Kane really the best we have at safety? He makes some good plays, but looks mismatched most of the time.

    Overall, pretty much the exact result I expected, though the OL impressed me. I loved seeing how active Devan is on the sidelines, too.

  39. 19
    1

    Apparently Direct TV pulled a Comcast and told ESPN/Disney to piss off just a few hours before their broadcast of the USC/LSU game. Meaning Direct TV users lost their Disney/ABC/ESPN feeds today and missed the game.
    It’s kindof fun watching that network get treated like shit by other shitty companies after everything they did to destroy the Pac12 last year.

  40. 4
    1

    lol per PFF:
    Easton and Arnold were USC’s two lowest-rated players from the win over LSU. Easton was the worst-rated player on the entire team and led the team in missed tackles.

    • I Can’t laugh at even transfers when Beaver tackling is so weak.

      I think Bray has the mentality that missed tackles are ok if you balance them out with enough TFLs.

      Was anyone struck by the Beavers’ “physicality” Saturday? Supposed to be a defining characteristic, but they didn’t appear especially physical compared to other teams.

      • Tackling is sloppy for every team in week one. The question is how sloppy and does it improve. The Beavs had some nasty hits and I have seen a lot worse tackling. It will be better in week 2.

        • Yes, but we were still one of the worst in the country playing against inferior opposition, after being one of the worst in the country last year. It’s concerning.

          • You have to take the match-up into account. ISU is a pass-heavy offense designed to make the first man miss and gain YAC. That’s what rub routes do.

            So when you gameplan, you accept that first miss, as long as you can push it east-west into help.

            The flip-side of these pass-heavy offenses is they can gash you with a run, at opportune times. Leach would kill us with those runs, then you’d look at the stats and see they only ran for 80 yards.

            But it sure felt like 180.

    • Did they change the depth chart for the game? He was slotted as a 1 with Walker/Noga when the first depth chart was released last week. Also, Foster or Sullivan will need to start for Chisom being suspended for a half. Not sure there’s much to read as far as the depth charts go. Don’t think Snake Smith changed them at all during the year…or very rarely.

      • Just reported by Hedberg, Clemons and Olu are “hopeful” for Saturday. Doesn’t sound like either are concerning injuries if that’s the case.

  41. One thing I noticed on Saturday that was a change from prio years is our team would hurry up to the LOS after a 1st down, but then hold their stance to let the clock run before snapping the ball.
    I feel like Smith’s teams were slower to get lined up than this team. They often had to cut off the band’s 1st down song because they werent allowed to play music during gameplay.

        • Yeah, let’s give them the ability to use headphone helmets but then we will cut it off in 15 seconds wha ha ha. I mean I get it a little as it keeps the OC from warning on defense shift but the first 15 seconds goes away really fast. Maybe that is why there is more hurry to the line of scrimmage so there is time for the headset usage.

          • That, and it keeps their D on the field. So if we go from 2nd and long to 3rd and short, they’re stuck with that personnel, or they risk a substitution penalty.

          • It also shows great conditioning.

            That will be key, as the season wears on. This is a completely different team to start a season than we’ve seen in a long time. We broke them halfway through the second quarter, and it was all a formality from there.

  42. Beavers still playing UO next year…hope it’s not at Autzen.

    “For next season, the Beavers and Cougars are exploring a plethora of options and need a total of 12 games (combined) to fill out their schedules.

    At this point, WSU has six opponents lined up for next season: North Texas, San Diego State, Idaho, Washington, Virginia and Oregon State.

    The Beavers also have six under contract: Cal, Fresno State, Houston, Texas Tech and Oregon, plus Washington State.

    This article originally appeared on Wilner Hotline.”

    https://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/2024/09/pac-12-mountain-west-too-far-apart-as-negotiations-over-2025-scheduling-partnership-break-down.html

  43. 8
    2

    Wow! I think DJU is regressing. FSU is not very good. They are get manhandled on both sides of the ball, which isn’t helping DJ, but not scanning the field and recognizing open receivers. I think it was a blessing in disguise that DJU left the Beavs.

  44. I don’t know. But what I’ve seen so far this season of him, I’m glad he left. FSU needs to try a different QB. Lots of missed throws and no touch on his passes, everything is a rope. Sometimes you need to drop the pass in over a defender.

  45. Jordan Travis. He was a stud! I think FSU would have had a shot to win it all if hadn’t got hurt. The Jets drafted 171 overall.

  46. 7
    2

    DJU benefited from an elite offensive line and running back corps last year, but even with that, I felt the Beavs were better the previous year with Gulbranson. DJ had a chance to lead that drive against UW last year for all the glory, but it just fizzled out.

  47. 5
    1

    My suspicion is DJ, or more likely his old man , know he ain’t making the NFL and decided to grab a bag while he has the chance. FSU boosters are dumber, more desperate and have deeper pockets than beav boosters and the arrogance to think the beavs are/were a nobody unlike their program.

      • 2
        19

        A lot of bitterness because he isn’t one of us anymore. Monkey brain tribal stuff. He is a pretty bad, QB, though, and he was last year, which I pointed out…

        • 14

          I’m not really directing any bitterness at him because he isn’t one of us. It’s more along the lines of why NIL has done to the sport that makes these scenarios something to comment about.
          He has some talent but it is elusive and has fooled 3 coaching staffs already..

          Monkey brain tribal stuff is an interesting concept to propose though.
          Maybe I’m more along the lines of don’t bail for bags of cash just for cash. It was kind of obvious that FSU lost most of their key players and they would be expecting DJU to be the savior. He isn’t that player and it was why he left Clemson in the first place.

          Update from the monkey brain tribe:
          Martinez had 65 yards rushing for Miami, no TDs
          Bolden had a 5 yard touchdown catch for his only reception.

          Are they better off in those locker-rooms than running it back with Bray? I think they both made mistakes to leave and the money they got for leaving may cost them more in the long run if they get lost in their new team rosters.

          • 10

            Pretty well sums up my thoughts.

            Don’t really hate a kid for jumping for a bag, I was 20 once, a long time ago.

            But I will stand behind my comment that DJ does not look like an NFL draft pick. He may get picked up because of his measurables, but he never really looks the part when the lights go on; I’ve seen the Raiders draft lots of those players.

            I hate what this NIL system has done to a once great product. And, by extension, what it has done to the Beavs. I am happy to see these deep pocket boosters get face slapped by their lack of foresight at what would happen to the system, hopefully the networks learn soon, too.

          • Who cares if they made mistakes? It’s their issue to deal with and correct and learn from. FWIW I don’t think it’s a mistake to leave glorified HS-level football for college level football. I think they all made the correct decisions. It doesn’t mean it will work out, but in terms of the goal of making it to the NFL or whatever, you definitely want to be playing for those programs over OSU, and to not be able to admit this is lying to yourself.

          • “I think rooting against Jonathan Smith might be the new “those poor bastards”/Huskers…probably going to be more fun than watching da Beavs.”

            Isn’t your comment in the thread above the same tribal mentality you speak of though?

          • 11

            Not really. I’m not mad at Smith. I think he made the right call to coach at MSU instead of OSU if he has career goals. That doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to watch him/them ala Riley at Nebraska. With Riley it was worse because I was actually hoping he failed because he left the program in a lurch and made it clear he wasn’t a nice guy, per his image. With Smith it’s different. He just made a smart career move. He left somewhat abruptly after telling players otherwise, so maybe it is pretty bad? I don’t know. That entire situation happened fast, and my guess is he was adapting on the fly and making the best decision for his career goals and his family’s financial goals. I really don’t have any dislike for him and totally understand it.

          • 26

            ‘Just a smart business decision.’ Let’s not paint a rosy face on smiling johnny’s ass, of course he left the team in a lurch.

            Also did you forget:
            •Abandoned his team mentally the last two games, at least
            •Left with the intention of taking his staff as well
            •Actively recruited OSU players to another school while he was coaching OSU

            Fuck that guy

          • Bad take Angry. Smith had the Beavs headed in right direction and could have parlayed future OSU success into a much better opportunity than MSU which I would consider a high risk endeavor. My hunch is that he’ll fail due to a lack of patience by MSU and the fact so much depends on whether Chiles progresses or not. That said, even if you want to assume MSU was the right decision for career progression, the way Smith left was disgraceful. I won’t rehash all the details but he fumbled at every turn. I wish him nothing but the worst. He put this program in an incredibly tough situation when they needed him the most and if Bray had followed Smith, it would have been even worse. What Bray has been able to do given the cards he’s been dealt is encouraging. It’s too early to tell, but my outlook for this team in 2024 has improved dramatically after watching the ISU game. Team was prepared, took advantage of strengths, low penalties, no stupid coaching decisions, etc. Prior to season, I predicted 5 wins. Now I think 8 is reasonable. Had JS stayed, I think we’d be playing in a CFP game… although there’s a good chance he’d make a boneheaded decision to cost us at least a game or two.

          • 10

            Is it? Did I have tribal mentality for Riley leaving? No, but it was a definite episode on this blog to watch and laugh at Husker fans who were delusional. And the same will happen with Sparty fans.
            I think JS sabotaged the season and I’m pretty sure he had a foot out the door by the Washington game. So it isn’t monkey tribal bitterness with him. It is genuine disgust at a guy who claimed to have integrity being such a hypocrite and leaving OSU how he did.
            Angry is always fine with young guys chasing the money. Ok fine but I can comment on it and have an opinion too.

            The general sense of schadenfraude as we root against the ducks, just expands to these other circumstances because these players and coaches have left but I’m not sure it is only bitterness as Angry posited.

          • They’re still playing at the same level.

            Technically, DJU is playing worse.

            Having NFL talent isn’t the end-all for creating an elite college football team. That mentality contradicts everything anyone has ever been taught about team sports.

          • The NFL doesn’t give a shit if you go to Oregon State or Miami and you believing they do just demonstrates your personal ignorance.

            Honestly, your insistence on calling Division 1 football “glorified high school football” makes me question rather you ever knew shit about football.

          • Injury risks suggest take the money. I don’t like it, but any of those guys blow out a knee or something, they’re done with any football income potential. I suspect they’ll max out their earnings, and maybe return to a campus later.

            BUT, the long view suggests get an education, because you’re unlikely to be an NFL star….

            I think Bray and staff want three year players, and understand the risks of developing players that will get poached with NIL money. I think they genuinely want “student-athletes,” and sell the value of a scholarship and education.

          • 11

            I view it as game theory etc. Really acting in your best interest is the prisoner’s dilemma best response. Smith acted in his best interest and his family’s best interest, and that supersedes a program’s best interest. While people might not like it, and that might lead them to make conclusions he’s a back stabber, etc, really he made the smart move for him and his family.

            With Riley it was different because (a) the conference wasn’t falling apart at that point (b) he made an emotional decision because he was told his coaches weren’t worth raises (c) he tanked the program for several years leading into that and (d) he had the nice guy persona thing and then totally did the opposite when push came to shove. Smith didn’t really do much wrong compared to Riley. He just did something that was good for him and not for fans. Oh well. That’s how business works, and it shouldn’t be personal.

          • 13
            1

            But he had a team with Rose Bowl/playoff potential that he sandbagged for himself and his own interests in the process.
            Game theory works in a vacuum not in a real world with real obligations and responsibilities.
            JS should have stayed
            Focused like he preached to the team and finished the job instead of interviewing for a job mid season/throwing 3 games in the process.

          • 10
            1

            The only game theory here is that his decision matrix was chock full of unknowns, and he chose short-term gains. That’s not a prisoner’s dilemma.

            Neuman and Morgenstern are dead.

            Smith is playing a zero-sum game.

            Bray is playing a positive-sum game.

          • 10
            1

            “Smith didn’t really do much wrong”……but the wrong he did was pretty serious. He could have handled the departure much better and with much less impact on the results of the season and CW.

          • 8
            1

            Yeah this kind of self-focused thinking is BS at the end of the day and rubs off on the kids coaches are supposed to be leading and teaching. “It’s just how people are” is wrong. It doesn’t have to be and there are plenty of people that prove that wrong all the time.

            JS must be really insecure if he thought he wouldn’t ever have other job opportunities come along after 2023. He also showed he didn’t give a crap about the people he was leading and he’s a football-only guy. That’s fine to an extent, but the best programs are going to be led by people that are more than that because you can’t be truly successful if you’re just focused on the X’s and O’s And not the people they represent.

            If we all want college sports to actually be meaningful places for personal/societal development and not just cynical money grabs, we have to expect that of them and hold them to that standard.

            The blame should be directed at the coaches, donors and administrators. I’ll never blame a kid for taking money when his football days could end tomorrow. JS wanting more millions when he was already very well paid gets no sympathy.

          • 5
            1

            Angry, I get what you are saying and agree with the family part as I will always put my family first. But it was the way he did it… just be a man and be straight up about it. “Hey everyone I’ve decided it is in the best interest of my family to take another job offer in front of me.” “Until I am gone I will give it my all to win.”

          • 1
            1

            Yeah that’s fair @ Bill. I don’t really care b/c people do things differently and it was clear with things moving so fast he freaked out and made the move to the best thing that came up.

          • 2
            1

            JS must be really insecure if he thought he wouldn’t ever have other job opportunities come along after 2023.

            No. Maybe, but it doesn’t prove that. Things were moving fast, and he wanted to sit at the big boy table. I could say Beav fans are insecure to care someone left. Right? I mean come on. It’s business and he took the position that made the most sense. He could have done it better, in retrospect, but he did it fine given that so many parts were moving so fast. I don’t think waiting potentially years for a position to open up would have been smart. MSU handed him a bird, and he took it rather than waiting for two in the bush.

          • 12

            It’s more that he had mentally left while still on the payroll.

            Being angry at him for depositing a paycheck he didn’t earn is a valid reasoning.

          • What Jack said.

            Taking a check from OSU, while trying to poach their players and coaches for another team, and completely checked out on the job at hand in Corvallis?

            Fuck that guy

          • Even using game theory Smith’s best long term position was to stay where he’d built a program that could make the playoff not leave for a program that has no chance of making the playoffs and he has very little chance of success at.

            If Smith had stayed, kept everyone, gone 11-1 and lost in the 1st round of the playoffs he’d have far better offers than Michigan State. It wasn’t game theory, it was either panic or he was always leaving.

  48. Was trying to find Gevani McCoy’s QBR on ESPN and we no longer exist lol. Pac 12 shows but no schools listed and neither OSU or WSU show up anywhere else at least for that stat which is crazy.

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