Home Football Oregon State @ Boise State (Game Week/Game Thread)

Oregon State @ Boise State (Game Week/Game Thread)

649

Good win last night. Bray’s best win all year IMO. Gulbranson is flawed, but he’s the best QB on the roster, which I tried to explain from day 1. There’s a huge different between a 6.4 ypa and 8.6 ypa. He can get the ball downfield better and more consistently, and also better on throws like deep outs, etc. Just more a pro arm than McCoy. Get your rushing from your running backs, in this situation. It’s just better. We’d probably have an extra two wins if Gulbranson was QB all year.

Anyway, now the Beavs are in a position to possibly get a bowl game. This would be a small victory in an otherwise brutal season. Of course, it would require beating a 10-1 team, ranked 12th in the country, on their home turf. Seems like at best a 4 sigma event. Lol. But, as Jim Carey said, “You’re telling me there’s a chance”.

Also, we need more monthly *recurring* donors: please do so here (hit “recurring”. thanks!): https://angrybeavs.com/contact

45-21, BSU

649 COMMENTS

  1. 2
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    I hope in the future the Washington State game is played during Thanksgiving weekend or on Black Friday as a nice replacement for the Civil War during the holiday weekend.

    Do people think we win the Nevada game and or UNLV game with Gulbranson at the helm? I also think we could have won the SJSU game if they had plugged McCoy in on running situations more like they did last night.

  2. 6
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    Thanks angry for dealing with the troll.

    Can’t seem to reset auto pay on the PayPal app, I’ll try again at work tomorrow or will set up another.

  3. 7
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    Whatever Wyo did to slow down the BSU offense, we need to copy it. Pokes would have won if they had any offense to speak of.

    BSU defense is average so if the Jekyll offense shows up instead of Hyde, we have a chance. Owning time of possession should be a priority.

    • Have to think with a playoff spot on the line, he’s playing unless it’s serious. Doesn’t help them that it’s a Fri morning game. As long as we don’t return kickoffs, we have a chance :-)

  4. 2
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    If there’s a troll in the future, and I’m busy with other things (like a divorce after 16 years), and don’t catch it, just email me. It looks like NiceBeav did but it might have gone to the wrong addy. But the email is under “contact” above.

    • I didn’t watch the BSU-Wy game but I’ve seen BSU in a few games. The key will be forcing their QB to beat the Beavs defense with his arm and not Jeanty’s legs. BSU defense is just above average imo and if the beavers can get their running game going, it will open up the play action and passing game.

      I’d like to see a little more of Johnson running and maybe even using him in the slot running fly sweeps to see if he can break one.

      This game hinges on the beavers defense and shutting down Jeanty or at least slowing him down. If, and it’s a big if, the Beavs can do that, it’ll be a game.

      We will see how much that win last night is a boost to this team’s confidence. I won’t be shocked if the Beavs pull this one out too.

  5. 2
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    I really want to see more anger and aggression on defense. As my high school coach would always say, make them feel it when they’re fourty. Be a bit dirty if you have to. I want to see Jeanty hurting, and if we can take him out for the rest of the season all the better. It’d make my day to hear one of those legs of his snap on the broadcast after taking a beaver helmet to the side of the knee.

    It’s us versus them. If you can’t beat a team, take some of their players out or ruin careers if you have to. That way, they’ll still remember you down the line. All lessons imposed on my high school team.

  6. I saw that USC WBB lost at home to ND yesterday and it warmed my heart that T.Van Ol-traitor was on the losing end of that game. The only player that’s having great success is Reagan Beers at Oklahoma and I’ll always root for her as she tried her hardest to keep the team together. Lily Hansford not doing much for Iowa State, Donovan Hunter isn’t killing it for TCU and Timea Gardner making an impact for UCLA. I’m not sure about how the others are doing so …..

    • Tvo and beers are the only starters. Gardnier was coming off the bench and having significant time, she may be starting now, i haven’t looked. The rest aren’t playing many minutes so far.

      • I’ve been following them but rarely do the box scores show minutes played.. Thanks for the information….

        I think most of them are finding out their decision to transfer isn’t all they thought it would be. Dom Parova hasn’t even shown up in KT’s box scores although she might be injured.

  7. Beavers 18.5 point underdogs. I don’t like the 9:00 am start time on a short week. What is the point of that? A noon slot for the east coast? With Jeanty a heisman candidate, seems like they would have least got a noon or 2:00 pm start time.

    • Thanks for the heads up bc I didn’t realize it was a Friday game let alone 9:am start. Beavs can win if the offensive line opens up holes for the run game and can pass protect BG. The key will be limiting Jeanty’s production and explosion runs. Load up the box to keep you on Jeanty and force BSU QB to beat you with his arm. Pretty simple formula for success. Lol

      • Current weather prediction for Boise on Friday is sunny with a HIGH of 37.

        A 9:00 am game is going to be chilly!

        Hell, I’ll just be warming up some stuffing and gravy with coffee…

      • Current weather prediction for Boise on Friday is sunny with a HIGH of 37.

        A 9:00 am game is going to be chilly!

        BSU ranked #11, its highest ranking since that qb, Kellen Moore(?).

        Hell, I’ll just be warming up some stuffing and gravy and sipping coffee…

  8. 8
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    LARams: Omar Speights lists college as LSU. There should be a sidebar saying, ‘but I couldn’t have gone there or made it to the pros without Oregon State.

  9. Looking at PFF scores, BSU’s weaknesses are OL, tackling and pass rush. This is a game we’re going to need BG to win for us. Their entire offense has trended down in recent weeks, and our run defense is trending up as we get guys back from injury so the trend is somewhat in our favor.

    PFF unit grade comparison with BSU:

    Offense
    Passing- adv BSU
    Rushing- adv BSU
    Receiving- adv BSU
    Run blocking- even
    Pass blocking- adv OSU

    Defense
    Run defense- adv BSU
    Pass rush- even
    Tackling- adv OSU
    Coverage- adv BSU

  10. 2
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    If anyone has watched BSU games, the worst strategy would be to stack the box with 8-9 guys to stop Jeanty. You are just asking for 60 yard runs when you do that. It will be a soft zone all day and Jenaty will get 10-15 yards per carry, or the Beavs will try to bring a lot of pressure/run blitz and Jeanty will break a tackle getting to the edge and take to the house.

    I have been surprised by Madden. He is a solid balance to Jeanty running. Madden will make the right throws or run if needed. Beavs need to get a few turnovers to stay close.
    I don’t expect BG to have any time to throw so his numbers will look dreadful. BG probably will have 2 more ints this week.

    Not getting my hopes up anymore this season. BSU 48- OSU 21
    Jeanty gets 250 yds/4 tds and maybe locks up the Heisman.

    • 2
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      Ashton Jeanty, RB: The junior is the biggest offensive star Oregon State has faced this season. Jeanty has torn through the 2024 season, rushing for 2,062 yards and 27 touchdowns. Jeanty has run for at least 100 yards in every game this season, with four 200-yard performances. The defense that performed best against Jeanty this season was UNLV, holding him to 128 yards on 33 carries.

      Maddux Madsen, QB: A redshirt sophomore, Madsen has passed for 2,361 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. He threw for a season-high 307 yards and four touchdowns against San Diego State. Madsen can run a little, too, rushing for 178 yards and three scores.

      Ahmed Hassanein, DE: A senior who grew up in Egypt, Hassanein wrecks quarterbacks. Coming off a first-team all-Mountain West season where he had 12½ sacks, Hassanein 11½ tackles for loss and 8½ sacks this season.

      Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Edge: Pairs with Hassanein to provide Boise State with a terrific pass rush. A sophomore, Virgin-Morgan has a team-high nine sacks and 12½ tackles for loss. Virgin-Morgan has had at least one tackle for loss in his last six games.

      Something to know

      With Virgin-Morgan and Hassanein leading the way, Boise State is No. 2 nationally in sacks with 43. Defensively, though, there’s little question as to what Oregon State’s strategy will be. Boise State is No. 16 in the country in rushing defense, giving up 105.7 yards a game. But through the air, the Broncos are No. 124, yielding 261.2 yards a game.”

      Guessing it’s going to be BSU “senior day” with all the hype and motivation that entails?

      Will we see any screen passes from Bengal Branson/Gabarri Johnson?

    • Beavs’ tackling is still not good. A few guys have good technique but most still like to go high and not wrap up the legs. There is no way we’re slowing down Jeanty unless he’s not 100%.

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        Yep… Marshall Faulk redux would be Gabriel winning it.

        Although, I think Gabriel is ten times the player Torretta was, he still doesn’t deserve it over Jeanty.

        But they may go with Hunter whatshisname at CU, just to kill the G5 vibe.

  11. Big bounce back opportunity for Tinkle’s guys tonight. North Texas is potentially a Q1 win. Should be a boring game, both teams play super slow.

  12. Very impressed with what I saw Gulbranson last week. Dropped back, made quick reads and got rid of the ball. Receivers did a good job of getting open or maybe BG hit the correct open receiver. BSU has too much riding to lose this game. I think they’ll win 48-21. They’ll cover the point spread. If it was at home it would be closer.

  13. Beavs bb had a 7 point lead and it’s gone and now a 2 point deficit 47-45. Too many turnovers (22) very reminiscent of the beavers loss to Oregon. Texas getting some homer calls too. 50-46 Texas now and not looking good.

    • Welp, Beavs played great defense on Texas final shot and a kid for Texas hadn’t scored a point all night hits a 25 footer with a hand in his face. Beavs miss a wild 3 pointer at the buzzer….58-55 but costly turnovers were the dagger!

      In a game you get what maybe 100 possessions if that and nearly 25% of those are turnovers? Another her tough loss to swallow bc the beavers led most of the game until the 6 minute mark just like against the ducks. You gotta learn how to close out teams when you have the lead late in the game. 4-2…..

    • UNT is a good hoops program that you should have chalked up as a loss on the road.

      I actually prefer them as the 8th Pac member, because they are committed to all sports across the spectrum, with football being number one. They are a large school with a following exclusive to them–alumni don’t cheer for big schools, like UTSA or TXST alumni.

      As much as I hate the term, this is a quality loss.

      • Agreed bc they are in large market and recruiting access too. They have an emerging football program and didn’t realize their bb program was solid. I prefer them over Memphis bc of the geographic proximity to the west although Memphis is a bigger name in basketball and football. Time will tell

        • And as far as travel is concerned, DFW is a hub everyone has to go through to get anywhere east of it. Why bother going further? It’s an easy in and out.

          And if we made them bring back baseball as a stipulation for joining, we would make a lot of their fans really happy.

          I would also nab Wichita.

  14. 2
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    i am no tinkle defender and they turned the ball over like crazy, but the reffing was such absurd homecooking. what is the point in watching sports when they are not an even playing field? beavs outplayed north texas in every statistical category and just got hammed by no-calls and ticky tacky fouls to allow nt to steal it.

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            22 turnovers don’t happen in a vacuum. It is difficult to dribble and maintain composure when you are getting slapped repeatedly on your forearms, body checked etc and this is how refs contribute to 22 turnovers. I figured Jack would chime in about anybody blaming the refs as if refs have zero effect on outcomes of collegiate games. We all watch the same games and see the same subjective swings in calls being made. Usually first half is fairly called, but refs only need to swallow the whistle a few times for the “momentum to shift” and then they call it tight on the team trying to regain composure.
            The list of simple and hidden and subjective calls that can be called or not is pretty easy to make. I may be the conspiracy theorist about refs throwing games, but the proof is historical and it can and has been done. NCAA just isn’t interested in proving that it happens these days to unfavorable teams who don’t matter to the NCAA tourney bottom line

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            No doubt the refs have been bad. But that’s a part of the game. One coach’s adjustments at the half includes leaning on the refs to change the game, and the other’s is to not prepare for increased pressure from any adjustments.

            Nobody needs to put the ball on the floor to break a press. I get excited when the opposition tries, if my team presses, because they’re playing into our hands.

            Not so much when my team does it.

          • 1
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            I suppose the short answer is that great teams attack pressure, especially when the refs start becoming a part of it.

            It’s a mindset that comes with the confidence of knowing how to do it. Having a basic press break installed is a part of the how. It blows my mind this level of hoops has teams that don’t have one. It’s like ignoring special teams in football.

          • Agree, a press break should be automatic and instinctual for high school kids, let alone D1 college guys. My guess is they grew up relying on the one guy to be more skilled than the rest who were trying to press and it always worked in high school but in college it takes more than one guy unless he is Jason Kidd 2.0.

            Your dismissal of the refs is still a bit flawed due to the Goergetown effect. The Hoyas of old decided to change the spirit of the game entirely through the pressure defense. The long term effect was an overall approach that changed how fouls would be called and how pressure defense could be played. The Hoyas figured there was no way any set of refs would actually call all of the fouls or a meaningful amount of fouls they knew they would be committing in such an aggressive defense. So they flooded the zone with physical contact on all areas of the floor and ruined the game as much as Steph Curry has 30 years later.
            Basketball styles and eras change and shift but the Hoyas style is by far my least favorite era of basketball because it forces everyone out of the spirit of the competition and into a street fight.

          • 1
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            I’m not advocating bully ball.

            I’m saying stop giving other teams the opportunity to do it to us. Stop playing into their game. It’s not one we’re going to win. And I agree it’s not how I want to win games if it’s what we do. There’s a difference between hard-nosed D and bully ball. The bullies rarely reach the top, despite winning a lot.

          • There is a big difference when you see a team running a press breaker with all 5 on the floor empowered, skilled and capable of catching passes with strength, not getting rattled with pressure and being able to pass forward with intention and expectation of scoring easily/qucikly to punish the opponents for trying to press.
            Tinkle’s flaw is in not trusting his teams to handle the ball well among all 5, he prefers a clear out and dribble up approach; and he prefers to limit possessions and therefore doesn’t want his teams to score out of a press break too quickly. Because he is so foolish with his preferences and lacks trust in his own players, he is a sitting duck for a simple strategy in every second half. Opposing coaches don’t really need to make any adjustments, they just need to prepare their team for a second half full court press and Tinkle has no answers. The Beavs won’t attack the press correctly, and play a passive approach to just get it to half court in order to set up the “offense”. This is a key reason why the Beavs have consistently wilted in Tinkle’s tenure in tight games. He has a simple blueprint for how to attack any team he has has except GP2 and Ethan both being exceptional finishers in half court after the press. If Tinkle finds another magical run, it will only be the result another such player understanding what is going to happen in every close game and actually having the skillset to overcome Tinkle’s deficiencies.

          • 1
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            They don’t even need a full press. Nikegon ran a lazy 3/4.

            Bring the team to the backcourt in a 1-4, and make the other teams decide how to defend five players all moving downhill… with trailers who can spot and shoot.

            Passing is allowed in this sport.

  15. Beavs starting to come back down to reality. Any game on the road is a -15 points for a WT team. He’s been atrocious on the road, particles these last several years. I do appreciate that they battled back but in these 2 losses the classic WT deficiencies are playing through. Long scoring droughts. Can’t handle the press/pressure. And playing on the road. Refs definitely seemed to be helping out North TX but the turnovers and scoring droughts were the major stories of this game imo. On a positive note, this probably would’ve been a 15 point loss for last year’s squad vs a toss up at the end of the game. Still a loss to a “lesser” opponent though.

    Fallah is again nowhere to be found. Played 20 min and scored 2 pts with 5 rebs. Was in some foul trouble but this is a trend now over the last 3+ games. He feasted on the smaller schools but now that we’ve played a few that also have some big guys underneath, he seems to be overmatched. Hopefully he can get on track as they clearly will need him to be doing more than 2 pts a game a handful of boards. His last 4 games: 8pts, 1pt, 11pt, 2pt. That’s including Western Oregon and Fullerton. Granted, he only played 12 min vs Western but you yet the idea. Hasn’t been very effective the last couple weeks.

  16. 1
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    Game is on FOX.

    My rooting interests for the weekend-
    Beavs to win, BSU will still be in the playoffs either way, if they beat UNLV for the MWC champ game. I wonder if they try to rest Jeanty a bit against OSU. BSU in from MWC.

    Colorado to get bumped out of the Big12 champ game, and drop form the playoff talk.

    ASU to win and get into the Big12 champ game and go to the playoffs as a miracle turnaround for the Sun Devils. Nice job by Dillingham.
    ASU in from Big12.

    Clemson to lose, SMU to destroy Miami in the ACC champ game and get in with Miami-
    SMU and Miami get 2 ACC teams in

    Notre Dame takes another bid.

    Big 10 will get Ohio St, Oregon, Indiana and Penn St

    SEC will get Texas, Georgia and Tenn in.

    The only argument is that Big12 is getting cheated of a spot if BYU ends with 2 losses. Brett Yornak is already whining about it because he doesn’t yet realize he will never be accepted by them. He is a grifter and his product is so bad that ASU can come in a win the conference in the first year. That makes the case for how bad the Big12 is to everyone else outside of the Big12.
    Clemson may have a gripe but they were destroyed early by Georgia and no will forget that.

    The next layer is seeding the champs. I figure Ohio St #1, Georgia #2 after beating Texas, SMU #3, Boise St #4, Oregon #5, Notre Dame #6, Penn St #7, Indiana #8, Miami #9, Texas #10, Tenn #11, Arizona St #12

    Matchups
    ASU @ Oregon
    Tenn @ Notre Dame
    Texas @ Penn St
    Miami @ Indiana

    • Nice footprint of markets….

      Dillingham v. Lanning for fun…

      I was actually hoping ‘Bama would stay in as a high seed and maybe BeBoer would beat Lanning again…not that I’ll watch any of it. Be rooting for BSU as a future PAC school.

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        It would be fun to see the SEC at large teams go on the road in round one and lose leaving only Georgia.

        Notre Dame may be the toughest out, after Ohio St.
        Georgia is a flawed team offensively.

        Miami will try to outscore everyone.
        Texas hasn’t played many teams with winning records
        Tenn has a freshmen qb
        Indiana may be a dark horse after losing to Ohio St
        SMU may outscore everyone
        Oregon is still a qb injury from disaster, but otherwise as balanced as anyone.
        Boise St will not hold up if Jeanty isn’t 100%.
        ASU will be the Cinderella story but will grind out a good effort.
        Penn St has no shot, Allar is overrated and Penn St always loses in big situations.

        • Also, there is no “G5” spot.

          There are five spots for the five highest ranking conference champions.

          This is why Boise is currently projected to be one of the top four seeds.

          Troll can add not knowing college football to the list.

          • lol… trolls are so cute when they’re wrong.

            Go read the CFP page on this.

            Also, since Boise is currently slotted as a top four seed, I guess that means the MWC is one of these media creations you call p4.

    • it comes down to this Norte dame loses bama is in

      here is my guess
      1 duck
      2 Tex/uga
      3 miami
      4 boise
      5 Tex uga loser
      6 penn st
      7 nd if they win tenn if they lose
      8 tenn if nd wins ohio st if nd loses
      9 ohio st or bama
      10 indy
      11 smu or tam
      12 b12 champ
      zona st at TEX/UGA
      SMU/TAM at penn st
      indy at nd/tenn
      9 tenn/bama at 8 ohio st

  17. Tick one more box to the end of Tinkle’s tenure. I think I read somewhere that Reagan Beers was National Player of the week recently.

    • Tinkles end can’t come soon enough. Maybe with the savings they can find a guy who is hungry again and actually wants to win.

      Beers should have stayed. She had a lot of people in her ears and was sort of pressured to leave once the dominos fell. Too bad for Scott. He had a great team built to win this year and none of them could see it for the great opportunity it was. Those kind of groups don’t happen very often. It was a perfectly balanced roster of height, shooting, defense, rebounding, ball handling and selflessness.
      Just a shame it coincided with the PAC12 collapsing around them.

    • “Conway previously attended Crescent Valley High in Corvallis, where he went to school through his junior year. While at Crescent Valley, Conway was a first-team all-league offensive lineman in 2023.

      Conway is the second Cy Ranch player to verbally commit to OSU for this class, joining edge rusher Niklas Fisher.”

      3* with offers from Houston Christian and Temple.

      Also competes in track and field.
      —–
      TRACK & FIELD
      Recorded a junior season-best shot put rep of 38-3.5, per MileSplit.
      —–
      FOOTBALL
      2024: Starting RT as a senior for a Cy Ranch team that finished 8-4 with a Texas 6A D-I second-round playoff appearance.
      2022: Gained limited varsity experience on defense as a sophomore.

  18. 7
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    Saturday’s game between Oregon State and Washington State in Reser Stadium attracted an average of 695,000 television viewers on CW Network.

    It is the highest known viewership average for a football game this season on CW, which also televises ACC games.

    Peak viewership was just under one million during the game, which was televised from 4-7:45 p.m. The Beavers won 41-38.

      • 7
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        The irony of people voting for a protectionist to lower inflation.

        All those cheers are just proof just shy of 50% of American voters are braindead.

    • 1
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      Sigh… racist, misogynist, anti-semitic troll who shits on vets, links to white supremacists, and parrots 8kun memes would not boo Dumbshit.

      • 3
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        Since I still have the opportunity, I will add that George Kliavkoff was considered a poor manager of casinos and golf courses, and even he managed to make gobs of money off them.

        Chew on that for a while.

      • Let’s go tiger dung.

        Let’s do what you were always too much a coward to do.

        Make your dear leader, Dumbshit, out to be more than a loser trust fund brat who couldn’t make money running a casino his daddy’s money bought for him.

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      It would be great if Jack and Youngorst created their own blog to rant about Trump. Can you both just take your whiny, political bullshit somewhere else? Maybe a CNN or MSN chatroom. You both would draw incredible reviews there. Because clearly liberals are much better at running the show, just take a look at our amazing state! All politicians are greedy liars, some of them just disguise it better.

      • 1
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        Why would you think I’m a liberal?

        Do you not know what liberalism is?

        I would call it death by a thousand cuts, as opposed to the GOP simply cutting throats and getting it over with.

        If you have a problem with the troll’s discussion, take it up with the troll.

        • 1
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          lol… many ignorant fucks.

          I’m in the wrong business. I need to go bankrupt multiple times to be appreciated… and then lose more money, because I’m a dumbshit.

          How did this professional path escape my life goals?

      • The weird thing about your braindead rant is I have brought your lord and savior Donald Trump up 0 times in this blog meaning y the only rest I am mentioning him now is that your feelings were hurt when I told the truth about your God/king.

        You think tariffs lower prices too? Maybe you’re as dumb as Trump.

      • Do you even know what liberalism means?

        The country you live in was founded on liberalism. The Constitution is the greatest LIBERAL document the world has ever known.

        Do better Trumper.

        • The US Constitution is neither liberal nor conservative.

          It is progressive.

          It is a rebuke of corporatism and monarchy… in that order.

          The Boston Tea Party was a direct attack against monopoly–the East India whatever company.

          The Tea Partiers cleaned the decks and faked the lines on all ships involved, because they knew they were beholden to a closed trade situation controlled by the executive.

          • For reference, I suppose I should clarify some ideas.

            If you go read Locke, Rousseau, Franklin, Paine, or Madison, you’re reading progressive thought.

            If you’re reading Montesquieu, Jefferson, Hamilton, or Clay, you’re spanning liberalism.

            Clay would later shift over to the more statist ideologies, like conservatism/federalism. But he was never as outright one as Adams or JQA were, for example.

          • The US Constitution is liberal, this is an undeniable historical fact. And conservatives can be liberals, American conservatives (pre Trump) was almost universally liberal.

            The Founders straight up plagiarized John Locke. Claiming America isn’t liberal is a denial of objective historical truth.

          • And if you want to get technical, true libertarians are more left than progressives.

            The “libertarians” who eschew social equality are not in any way libertarians.

          • Revisionist history does not create a different doctrine than Locke made for the rights of the individual and democracy, over centralized power.

            Was it liberal?

            Yes.

            Was it Liberal?

            Hell no… not even a fuckwhit.

  19. With the coming portal circus resuming in early December, any thoughts on who might hit the portal for the beavers?y first guess is Jelani McCoy but beyond JM, I really have no idea. I doubt there will be a mass exodus like last year. It will be interesting to see what kind of players we attract via the portal.

    I’m hoping that Hankerson and Allah stick with OSU but who knows?

    • 1
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      I wouldn’t leave, if I’m a RB here. Aside from the money incentives, which are just what they are, RBs at OSU produce at a better rate than they do elsewhere. I would have figured DM would have thrived in a Cristobal system, but his production has dropped. Hank has become more productive, but how much of that was the O system at CU last year?

      Regardless, the money needs to be spent in the trenches. And hopefully rehab is going well for the crutch crew.

  20. Oregon State added to its list of 2025 high school football commitments Tuesday when Texas offensive lineman Maddox Conway gave the Beavers a verbal pledge.

    The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Conway, who attends Cy Ranch High in Cypress, Tex., is the Beavers’ 18th high school commitment for the upcoming recruiting class.

      • 1
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        Didn’t know we already had 18.

        I wonder how much HS recruiting takes a hit with increased NIL and rosters being limited to 105 players.

        • 6
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          Yeah what a mess it must be to manage. I know last Spring they were saying they would likely only take 10 or so for a HS class this season, and then in Fall changed course and said they were going to take a lot more. Such a pain in the ass to try and stay on top of who is going to get poached and how to replace them in the Portal and how to plan around developing young players for multiple years.

          • A few of the potential poaching candidates I hope they keep: Collins (DL), Allah (RB), Hatcher (RB), Ayers (CB), Patterson (S), Saez (LB), Durant (WR)…need to retain OLine recruits for cohesiveness.

            Saw where Nebraska expects 45-50 kids to hit the portal. Going to be another brutal year…

          • That is the number of their walk-ons. Because of new roster limits, you can’t have unlimited walk-ons, like Nebraska has for decades.

          • Nebraska is going lose half their roster to the portal?!?! Wow!!! I think their coach has done a good job. Very young. Just need help at RB & WR.

          • Maybe it’s a warning shot to the doners to get them to open their wallets, yet again.
            I’d like to see college football bring all NIL in house and become a true for profit enterprise and get rid of the donation model. Donating to a collective should not be tax deductible.

  21. 0
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    All I’ve said is what I’ve always said. You’ve got to call out Drumpf and his supporters or you are supporting racism, misogyny, and fascism.

    • It would appear that Marotte has broken out of her early season funk as she’s had 3 games in a row of scoring in double figures. She also looks like the team leader too. Good for her bc she started to show a better offensive game last year and expected big things from her this year. Solid win today…..

  22. 2
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    Ohhhh yesuh yesuhree mista Jack sir, I’s just a po farm boy down in dat der holla thanks you jack sir for protecting mes from it all suh

  23. it will be interesting to see how Boise and the Beavs respond to playing at 9 a.m. in the morning. It won’t be easy for Boise either imagine. You can change the practice time, get the team on a schedule, but even just four days of early practices isn’t enough to change the body clocks/energy levels. One positive is that it will keep the crowd subdued since they won’t have hours to get sauced up before heading into the stadium.
    My hope is that the Beavs keep it close and the game is entertaining. National audience and all.

    • “One positive is that it will keep the crowd subdued since they won’t have hours to get sauced up before heading into the stadium.”

      Likely a spike in Boise-area Bloody Mary sales and production…Irish coffees? Hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps?

    • Boise Idaho is in the Mountain time zone so it is 10:00am game time for Boise State. Which is still early for college kids but not as bad as it is for the Beavs. Should be good coverage for the East coast viewers.


  24. The Broncos have been extended the past three weeks to pull out victories: 28-21 over Nevada, 42-21 over San Jose State and 17-13 against Wyoming. Last week, Boise State scored with 5:02 remaining to beat the Cowboys. The San Jose State final appears one-sided, but the Broncos scored twice during the final two minutes to extend what was a one-score game.

    ….running back Ashton Jeanty, who is battling Colorado’s Travis Hunter as the favorites for the 2024 Heisman Trophy. Jeanty has rushed for 2,062 yards and 27 touchdowns this season. He has incredible 1,512 yards after a defender makes first contact. Jeanty has also forced 118 missed tackles. OSU defensive coordinator Keith Heyward said the focus is to get multiple defenders tackling low on the 5-foot-9 Jeanty because “his center of gravity is already low, and he’s powerful … he is different. He is unique.” Jeanty has rushed for at least 100 yards in every game this season, and more than 200 three times. Jeanty is the fourth player in FBS history to rush for 2,000 yards and score 25 touchdowns in a season, joining Barry Sanders, Ricky Williams and Melvin Gordon.

    As an offense, Boise State ranks among the country’s top 10 in points (41.2/game), rushing yards (252.0/game), total offense (479.5/game), third down conversions (49.6%). The Broncos are stingy with turnovers, with only seven this season, fourth best among FBS schools. Quarterback Maddux Madsen has started all 11 games, passing for 2,361 yards and 19 touchdowns, while also running for three scores. The Broncos’ top receiving threats are Cameron Cooper (45 catches, 738 yards, 4 TDs), and Matt Lauter (35-415-6).

    Defensively, Boise State can be had through the air. The Broncos give up 261.2 passing yards per game, No. 123 among FBS schools. The trick is getting the ball in the air before Boise State’s two-headed pass rush monster reaches the quarterback. Edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan has a team-high nine sacks, and Ahmed Hassanein has 8½. Boise State has 43 sacks all totaled, No. 2 nationally behind only Mississippi. Running on Boise State is difficult, as it yields 105.7 yards a game. Boise State’s top tackler is Ty Benefield, who has 63 stops, plus a team-high two interceptions. Twelve different Broncos have at least one sack. Aside from Hassanein and Virgin-Morgan, Seyi Oladipo has 5½ sacks.

    THEY SAID IT

    “We’ve got to tackle low, kill his motors, and we’ve got to get hats to the ball. He’s the guy who makes their whole operation work,” Heyward, on Jeanty.

    Temperature at game time is expected to be about 31 degrees. That is the coldest for an Oregon State-Boise State game by a considerable margin. The previous low temperature at kickoff was 58 degrees for the 2016 game in Corvallis.”

    • 2
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      Beavs have no shot at this one. BG won’t have time to throw, Jeanty will run wild. Seems pretty telling if KH is reviewing tackling basics in game week 12, as if his guys aren’t aware of how to properly tackle certain types of players. Could just be coach speak but I think probably not and this has been a poor tackling team most of the year. The bigger problem with Jeanty is taking bad angles and being about 1-2 steps out of position once he breaks the first tackle. If 2-3 guys aren’t hitting him together, he bounces off 1 then another then he accelerates.
      Beavs will give up multiple big runs if he is healthy.
      Boise St is pretty mum on how injured he is or has been. I figure they have a shot at a blowout once they get a 2-3 score lead and then he sits the second half. They want the bye week for the playoffs too for extra rest.
      Perhaps the Heisman and a bye week means the Beavs get 4 quarters of Jeanty running over and through them. If he gets 31 tds and 2300 yards in 12 games, he deserves the Heisman.

      BSU 48- OSU 24

      • “Seems pretty telling if KH is reviewing tackling basics in game week 12, as if his guys aren’t aware of how to properly tackle certain types of players.” Or “get their eyes in the right place,” hear that all the time from Bray and Heyward…

        Its a very long shot, the Beavers will be trying to tackle well in the last game of the season, probably “senior day” for BSU so extra motivation for them there, BSU and Jeanty looking for Heisman numbers, odd 9:00 am start time, and potentially bitch ass cold.

        Beavs will need to avoid TOs obviously, get a few, and hope for BSU ST gaffes. And OSU: don’t bring KOs out of the end zone or fair catch punts inside the 5…

  25. 2
    1

    Just saw a crazy highlight of Detroit Lions OT Sewell(sp?), taking an end around and looking to pass. He didn’t throw, and 3-5 Bears tried to take him down but only pushed him out of bounds. He looks like a 6’5″ 330lb mesomorph out there with crazy mobility for his size. I think he’s maybe caught a few TD passes so far in his career? Ridiculous athletic ability.

  26. When you think about all of the logistics this morning – getting up early and eating a quick pre-game meal (pancakes, steaks?) so they could rush to the stadium around 7AM (PST) to play a football game against a ranked opponent in 30 degree weather – I could easily see them not having their heads 100% into the game until its too late. Hope I’m wrong of course, but it will be interesting to see how well they handle the start time.

  27. Great start by the offense lol

    On the bright side we’ll get to tune out by halftime and still have most of the day to be productive

  28. Only 4 penalties so far for 25 yards in the first 8 minutes of the game. Not bad, not bad at all. Lol. For gosh sakes stop with the ko returns and just take the ball on the 25!

  29. Nice phantom holding call that gave the Beavs awful field position to start and then self-inflicted wounds. Does the Mountain West as a whole get any benefit from Boise St making the playoffs?

  30. It’s got Air Force written all over it. We’re gonna be down 14 and that means we’ll abandon the run. Also, why is the first screen pass we try all year at our own 8 yard line. Lol. We’ve regressed from last week

  31. Alright, I’m done playing nice. Start trying to take Jeanty or their QB out. I wanna hear some legs snap and him writhing on the ground, NFL career over before it’s begun.

    Come on!

  32. 4
    1

    I’m amazed how many can watch this team for more than a quarter. They have all the signs of a terribly coached team with talent issues in certain spots. Gundy and KH are stealing money. Unless there’s major changes to the coaching staff, it’s not getting better any time soon.

    • That’s what most fans were saying with Smith’s first 2-3 years. This team was gutted and to think they’ll go 5-7 under the circumstances is not as bad as it could have been…Yes, it’s ugly but first season with essentially a new roster not really a shocker.

  33. You guys think the slobbering over Jeanty is bad, I dare you to switch over to the Colorado game for 3 minutes. ABC is basically worshipping Deion, Shedeur and Hunter as the holy trinity.
    Gross and nauseating

  34. It’s so jarring to watch this secondary when just over a year ago, they shut down Penix. What a difference a year can make in college football with the portal and NIL.

  35. I’m convinced that if BSU had gotten to the one yard line on that last drive, OSU would have run a defense to prevent them from going out the back of the end zone.

  36. 1
    2

    Don’t you guys know that according to Jack, we just need to be better than obviously crooked refs?

    Stop complaining about cheating in plain sight and submit to your place in the sports world as a doormat basement dweller.
    You had 2000 Fiesta bowl to enjoy so just accept your rightful place as a yearly stepping stone for the more deserved and recognized success of others. Nobody cares about your nice little PNW football program anyway.

  37. Our safeties are hot garbage. If Skylar wasn’t back there, we might not have 5 wins this season. Only guy that can tackle and be in the area of a wr in coverage. Hopefully Noble Thomas can get back to 100% next year and we go hard into the portal to find some safeties and D Line

  38. They need to attack the middle of the field. They are sitting on the short routes and then playing deep. Hope Gundy sees it and has an answer.

    Refs need to pull their head out of ass and call holding both ways.

  39. 1
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    Aside from the ugly ass blue turf, the announcers and the ass whoopin, pretty nice atmosphere for football, can get into a rivalry with this group of freaks

  40. Really, comparing Jeanty to Barry Sanders and I don’t care if it’s about total yards. Jeanty will never be in the same class as Sanders. These announcers are just bad!!!!!!

  41. Terry is a beast. He should have been a big part of the offense from the get-go. NFL potential. And why the hell was Wells jumping? Inexperience I guess.

    • Not epic, just a likely result once the early injuries piled up. No team stats fully healthy but they had way too many key guys get hurt early.
      So bad that they were playing fb and olinemen on defense.

    • Well, it could have been much worse given we were crippled by injuries all season and lost our #1 RB four games in.. Add to that and we started an FCS QB and 5-7. The key to the season was losing Jam Griffin. After that, the offense went into the tank. At least they were somewhat competitive today and made a game of it.

      • 2
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        You do realize lots of FBS teams do just fine with “FCS QBs” right?

        That’s a silly excuse. He’s an FBS QB now.

        As for the rest, the team got worse as the season went by, they looked dead in the water for multiple weeks.

        Sorry but the coaching was bad this year. Stick your head in the sand if you choose but this team was poorly coached, that’s on Bray.

  42. Assuming there’s a PAC in the future, WSU and BSU will be vying for top spot in football, OSU trying to stay in upper third of conference?

    In basketball, Gonzaga, SDSU will be tops…OSU hoping to stay in top half of conference?

    Baseball, OSU, Gonzaga top two teams?

  43. Glad this season is over. Nice to see Clemons finally emerge. The one positive is that no one from this team is going to get poached so we’ll be able to actually develop some guys.

  44. Usually I have to wait until the late afternoon or evening to have my Saturday ruined. This week, I got it all out of the way 28+ hours early.

  45. 2
    1

    Geezus, 3/13 on third downs?!?

    C’mon Gunderson.

    I know players have to execute, but Devan, Hayward, and Gunderson have all disappointed…Bray needs to call in someone like Wittingham (retired now?) and a few others for objective, third party reviews.

  46. Any hope that Gutridge could win the QB job next year? Decent size, mobility, used to winning. Scout team player of the week multiple times.

    Combine with Clemons, Durant, Allah, the other FR running back….

    Team is going to need on field leadership too. That was lacking this year.

    • 1
      2

      BG needs to go start his medical practice and let the next guy qb. I wonder how badly hurt McCoy has been.
      If Johnson is even a remote option to start, we may be in trouble.
      Portal activity and recruiting will be interesting after this year.
      Key guys to hold onto are Collins, Ayers.

      How many guys are graduating from this roster?
      Is it a wholesale replacement again?

  47. 8
    1

    This schedule was an easy setup for a bowl game and we still blew it.

    Time to stop being easy on Bray and the coaches. This is on them. The offensive talent was there to be better and the first few games were proof. Defensive injuries and depth were an obstacle, but the offense carried us in the early season. Inconsistency is usually an issue with youth, but it’s also an issue with team discipline.

    I appreciate Bray stepping up when he never wanted to be a HC, but he has a long ways to go to be the right fit for the job. All the guys that were celebrating him getting hired turned around and transferred. He was a stability hire and we got no stability out of him. He brought in a bunch of ex-teammates as coaches who aren’t the cream of the crop and it shows.

    By the end of the season, KHJ actually got the defense heading in the right direction with guys getting healthy. The offense regressed and has talent to build on, but it should’ve improved and never did.

    • Not sure it’s being easy on Bray to say he’s learning.

      He wasn’t put in the best position when the hobbit bailed, as did most of the coaching staff and half the roster. Speaking of, the hobbit essentially moved his entire crew and ended up with the same record as Bray.

      The incarnation of talent on this team is young and not very deep talent wise. When injuries started to pile up there was little left in the cupboard.

      There was very little to draw good talent TO at the end of the year.

      The unreal expectations here for a first year coach with the odds stacked against him are pretty amusing though.

    • 8
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      Easy schedule maybe on paper but losing 27 players from last year’s roster, 11 of them impact players including all conference RB Martinez and starting an FCS QB combined with 16 injuries including Jam Griffin…..and all of the inexperienced players. What did the announcers say today, the beavers had one returning starter on defense out on the field today……ONE…

      Bray has one season under his belt and to suggest he’s not the right fit is just too premature shows little understanding of what Bray and his staff were dealt this season. If most coach’s careers were based on their inaugural season, they probably wouldn’t have stayed in the business.

      I thought best cast was 7-5 but that was before all of the injuries hit. Knowing how razor thin the beaver’s depth was, my expectations were tempered but I’m certainly not going to bang on Bray bc significant transitions are rarely smooth and this was anything but a smooth transition.

      The key will be the off season and see who stays, who leaves, and most importantly, who will be QB1 next year. It’s going to take 3-4:years to turn things around best case scenario.

      • 1
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        Explain 36 year old Spencer Danielson then?
        Bray and this staff were shit this year.

        If he wasnt ready to be a HC then you go outside

        There were a few viable candidates OSU could have had.

        • Did Avalos take the entire coaching staff when he left? Did Bray have a Heisman candidate on the roster? Did the Broncos lose half their roster in the portal? Did they have TEs playing DLine due to massive numbers of injuries?

        • “There were a few viable candidates OSU could have had.”

          Hiring good, competent people is challenging. OSU had a terrible hiring context with roster and conference uncertainty. If Bray had not been retained, more players likely would have left.

          Anyone who came into that context likely would have likely had a poor coaching past or little experience.

          I think Bray deserves a bit more time as long as he objectively evaluates and replaces staff. I’m concerned Gunderson will ever develop a consistent offensive identity, and the DC, while apparently a good recruiter, plays a very soft, Tisebar-like D….

          • More players would have left? Couldn’t get much worse than it was.

            Bray was the stability hire that didn’t provide stability.

            Apologizing for a guy not making a bowl game with a MWC schedule is soft.

          • I think Bray made some players stay, probably was the reason Griffin returned.

            Yeah, they should have won 6-7 games, agree. I think injuries were part of the problem. They didn’t use injuries as an excuse, but obviously a factor.

          • Bronco Mendenhall doesn’t have a poor coaching past or little experience. It’s who I and some others would have preferred they hired.

            OSU alum and he wanted the job

    • should have made accommodation for a ‘ring of honor’ to post titles and retired player numbers when they remade the stadium. The terrace needs more dolling up though. Maybe a giant banner on top of Valley Football.

  48. 6
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    I mean can you really be frustrated with that loss? They looked like a playoff contender and we looked like a 5-7 team. People are going to be knocking Bray and his staff, but he stepped up and took over when things were bleak and he wasn’t exactly dealt the best hand. Also, he was the guy we all wanted. Bray is a fiery, competitive guy and you know he is not happy with the results of this season. I guarantee he is going to take a long hard look in the mirror and have some serious discussions with his staff. I know he wants to put a winning football team on the field as badly as you guys want to see one. I have no doubt he turns this team into a winning football team next year.

  49. 1
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    I’ve seen a lot of posts using injuries as an excuse for this coaching staff. I do like Bray, but that’s what I want him to ask when he looks in the mirror. Why all those injuries? I don’t think there’s an excuse for that many. And I’d like to know how many injuries were in games, and how many in practice.

    When evaluating the coaches, I think the strength coach should be gone. Just gone. He’s the first guy who should be preparing the players for this violent geme, and he failed utterly.

    And I think the rest of the coaches should look very hard about how they hold practices, if a significant number of injuries happened there. Especially on the defensive side of the ball, since that’s where most of the injuries were.

    No excuse for this many injuries, I’ve never heard of injuries piling up in this way (and so early in the season), hollowing out a team.

    • That is definitely something to wonder about. I don’t know if it means a thing, but I have noticed other team’s players wearing braces/supports you rarely see on Beaver players. A perception that your football future is in jeopardy if you go to Oregon State doesn’t bode well.

  50. It’s easy to disremember the turmoil of the times. Things are still a mess but I think everyone’s trying. I’m ok with being patient for now.

  51. 1
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    Former Duck Jackson Powers-Johnson fucks up the game for the Raiders with an inadvertent snap that gets recovered by the Chiefs, just as they drove down the field to set up a game winning kick.

    So, not all is bad.

  52. “I don’t want to put anyone down, but they’re just not a good football team. We could have thrown deep on them all day. We kept throwing those short passes because I didn’t want to score real fast.”

    “I don’t know what to say. They were playing as hard as they could, so you don’t want to say anything. If we had tried to throw all day, I could have scored six or seven touchdowns, 12 catches, something like that. But I don’t want to be selfish.”

    -Stanford QB John Elway and WR Ken Margerum after beating the Beavs 54-13 in 1980. Margerum caught 4 of Elway’s 6 TDs in the game. I guess it could be worse.

  53. Biggest liability that was crushing was our offense. Specifically poor QB play undermined the team. Pour offensive play put ti much stress on an undermanned average at best defense. If we could have moved the ball regularly and scored some points I think we would have won a couple more games. We desparately need to find an above average QB. Also need help on the o-line and d-line.

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      And linebackers and kickers and kick returners and wide receivers and tight ends and…special teams coach and offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.
      Fixed it for you.
      See if Dave Aranda wants to come and reinvent his defensive reputation.

      • I was trying to be breif. ;o)
        It seemed like the defense got better when they became more aggressive. Finally blitzing more. I still think the offense needs most of the attention. Got to find a QB and some lineman. If the QB can stretch the field and if he has some time, he’ll find our average receivers. We extend drives, burn some clock, score some points and keep our d off the field. Easy peasy.

  54. 5
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    BSU has been a well established football program since at least 2007, and the beaver’s? Let’s just agree from a national recognition and success on the field, the beavers aren’t even in the same discussion with BSU over the last 20+ years.

    I’ll give Bray and his staff a pass on their first season and probably years 2 and maybe even 3. It took Traitor Smith about 3.5 years to turn around the program with signs of progress and he didn’t have to deal with NIL and the proliferation of players hitting the portal.

    Rebuilding a program like OSU is no easy task especially in light of NIL and the portal. If we had a great tradition and history of success like the baseball program, it wouldn’t be nearly as challenging. But we don’t and they have to figure out a new formula to win…Again, no easy task but I’ll give Bray the benefit of a few seasons as he deserves some patience just like we have traitor Smith.

    • BSU had been a very serious football program well before 2007. They have multiple national championships at D1AA level back in the 80s-90s.
      I was there in 1992 when the AD Gene Bleymaier pronounced to all of Idaho that they would compete with PAC10 teams and eventually become a PAC10 team because of their success. It was like a prophet speaking a wild vision to the fans of Boise St. But it made sense based on already experiencing great success at a lower level. It also explains why they have dominated at every level they have gone. Boise St was driven to be a successful football program and they have been that for a long time.
      The analog is OSU. While Boise St was wining national championships, OSU admin was chirping about the annoyance of having a football program at all in the 1980s-1990s.
      Someone in their athletic department is an excellent evaluator of football coaching and hasn’t missed on a coach in 40 years.

      They will be the favorites in the new PAC12 year in and year out. Get used to it.

  55. 4
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    One way to view the season is we won a conference title with a first year staff, lots of injuries, major roster turnover and season record that nearly matches the average season record for OSU football.
    We know things could get much worse, but things could also improve a lot too.
    NIL and recruiting will be the next challenge for the staff. Find guys who will stay and not jump for the first offer of cash.

    • You watching the Iowa-Nebraska game? Both teams playing solid D, but you gotta score points to win. Give me a high octane offense and an average D, versus a great D and average offense.

      • You know Iowa has had great defenses the last few years but little to no offense. They might have won the Big 10 but no offense. A high powered high scoring offense will also attract skill position players who want catch 80 balls per year or run and catch for over 1000 yards. Don’t think Gundy can do that.

    • We had one before jam Griffin I jury. With him in there, it was a two headed monster and very effective running game and that was their identity. After the injury, the offense tanked for several games,until Wsu game.

  56. 3
    4

    Just read that Dillon Gabriel has an undisclosed injury that might keep him out of the husky game. I don’t v know reliable the source is, but I’d like nothing more than the dirty, testicle-less ducks to lose and lose a bye in the playoffs. Has anyone read a similar report. It was on FB from what appeared to be a legit duck site filled with nothing but ducks in a massive circle jerk frenzy about the ducks.

  57. I thought the Beavs should have gone to CAL at 6-1, bowl eligible, with a little room thereafter for more wins. I get the frustration and disappoint with the staff, and not wanting to make excuses, but injuries to Griffin and the D were a big factor.

    And look at some examples of other programs that have better conference stability than the Beavers, and/or more coaching continuity, and/or more NIL and other budgetary resources:

    Az 4-7
    UCLA 4-7
    Auburn 5-6
    Michigan State 5-6
    USC 6-5
    CAL 6-5
    WVU 6-5
    Michigan 6-5
    Boston College 6-5
    Texas tech 7-4
    Baylor 7-4
    Pittsburgh 7-4

    In an odd transition period, without any real competitive NIL resources, and without a conference, and a new coaching staff, the Beavers won 5 games. I’m not saying that’s acceptable given their schedule, but it really isn’t far off other programs.

    I think they SHOULD have had 3 more wins (Nevada, SJSU, Air Force), but with the extensive injury list, lack of depth, and all of the other considerations, it isn’t surprising they only got 5.

      • Seriously, next year, I could see that. Next has a very challenging schedule as you point out, and there is no clear QB starter. This year, an easier schedule and a healthy team playing team ball should have made a bowl game. I don’t see a QB on this roster that’s looks like they would be predictably consistent against that 2025 schedule. Not sure about the OLine either.

        I think they need a transfer QB who can step in and start (unlikely, don’t have the NIL $$) or for Gutridge to just work his ass off this winter and spring, watch a ton of film, and come in and be ready to take the job, have a 60%+ completion percentage, and at least a 3:1 TD:INT ratio (possible, also unlikely). Other teams can get new/young QBs to be productive+, OSU can’t ever seem to do it…

        So if they’re 1-5, or 0-6, then Bray needs to pull rank on Heyward and start calling the D (particularly if Heyward doesn’t have real recruiting success). And if (assuming players are healthy), Gunderson doesn’t have demonstrable improvement, then he needs to go immediately after the ’25 season. My concern about Gunderson is that he runs an offense that is such a mish mash it has no clear identity, so there’s no in-season improvement, and that longer term, its not attractive to any legitimate D1 QB and WR recruits because they can’t see a clear approach that leverages and maximizes their abilities.

    • What? Reason and context, calmness and perspective? This blog is going to lose readership with such sanity.
      Thank you ObjCritic. I appreciate the take.

      Maybe Bray isn’t the answer long term but he has at least earned some trust from me.
      I’d guess the offense was affected by a lot more than just Jams injury that we haven’t heard about too. I think McCoy was hurting more than they let on for a game or 2 hoping for the best. But once they switched to BG the whole offense had to be rearranged to some degree. That is tough to do midseason. I’d guess that is why the mid season swoon offensively happened.
      The toll on the defense was due to the multiple Dline guys hurt and young linebackers.
      Clemons took a long time to settle in but he may be able to take over Walkers #1 wr spot next year.
      They have a highly ranked qb coming in, so there is some traction in recruiting too.
      I’m not jumping ship but I need to temper my expectation going forward. I am admittedly one of the 10-2 predictors for this year but it went sideways quite quickly.
      6-6 next year would be a step forward. And probably a lot tougher than 5-7 was this year.
      Go Beavs!

  58. Man, Heyward’s pass coverage scheme today was butter soft, microwaved butter….and that last BSU TD run by the QB with 3 beaver defenders in front of him was weak…if each stays in a lane, he has nowhere to go and one of the three should have had him.

    Clemons finally looked good, I wonder if he sticks around. Paired with Durant and Anderson, Beavs would have some decent size at WR next year. Hankerson, IF he returns, Allah, and Hatcher a good trio at RB…..Allah will be bigger and stronger next year. All they need is an OLine and a QB….

      • I watched the last 6-7 minutes and then the 8 OTs. I can’t speak about the majority of the game I missed but what I watched was high drama. Both teams snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat and then both teams did the opposite. Eventually, someone had to win……

        • Did you miss the crucial fumble by Tech qb King?
          Go find the highlight and see if it was a textbook tackle or clear spearing/targeting by the Georgia db to force the fumble. If that 1 call is made Georgia doesn’t even get it tied to go to overtime. TV went to commercial and never mentioned the type of hit just the result. King is a tough kid.

          Tech had plenty of chances to win but that call is a penalty on the Beavs 10/10 times. SEC was on the phones and desperate to keep Georgia in the playoff hunt.

          ESPN is doing everything but pay refs to get Deion into the playoffs including anointing Hunter the Heisman winner in an obvious influencing campaign.
          It would be hilarious if Jerry Jones opened the vault to get Deion, Sheduer and Hunter. Colossal failure and sports talk gold would be the best result.

    • Despite all the glaring deficiencies of this team, if they can’t address the QB situation none of this other stuff even matters. This is probably the biggest concern as we haven’t had a track record of a competent qb in what, close to 10 years? Luton had 1 good season and other than that, it’s been real dry spell of qb’s coming and going.

      Defensively, we have 2 major areas to address. The safeties are hot garbage. Hopefully we get both Thomas’ to come back but after those 2, the rest could xfer and we should retool that position. Only reason I know some of the names of the guys that did play was seeing the back of their jersey as they were trailing a wr by 5 yds or whiffing on a tackle since they didn’t want to actually hit anyone. We need some safties with attitude and a willingness to bring the heat. It’s a shame Julian wasn’t ever able to get healthy enough to play. If we could keep both Thomas’, andre Jordan, Ayers and i guess Singleton, I think we have a good 4-5 guys to build around. However, we lack anything beyond those guys and you’d have to assume a couple of them will be moving to different teams.

      D Line. Not even sure where to start here. We’ve only had a 1 year of a decent d line during the Snake’s tenure and aside from the qb situation, it’s probably been the other major area that’s cost this team the ability to have taken the next step the prior few years. It’s essentially been radio silence from the LSU xfer guy, not even sure he ever practiced during the season? Assume he’s gone and I’m sure Collins will be gone for better offers elsewhere. Only thing that may cause him to stay is being a bit undersized for more serious programs but I doubt that would stop some better $ coming his way. Edge is a bit of a concern as well but not nearly as glaring as getting the Safties and DL improved.

      • We have a decent NIL cache. You have to think one the transfer QB’s (who I’m sure are getting money) goes somewhere else. Also, DM was surely promised money that he didn’t end up collecting on.

        It’s a complicated picture, but we do have some resources for guys that are interested in staying.

        • 1
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          We really need Nvidia to drop about $30 mil for NIL and another $500mil for stadium naming rights for the next 10 years.
          Is Barnes even trying to bring Nvidia into a public space for the program?
          Nvidia would and could dwarf anything Nike did for Oregon. Are we trying?

          • I’m sure we’re trying but he seems more focused on the super computer and engineering dept donations than sports. Unfortunately. Hard to think they haven’t hit up all the mega donors like the Panda Express people, etc to try and elicit donations.

          • 8
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            Nvidia/Huang have already donated 100+million to the school for academic purposes, so I’m sure they’ve had discussions with him about donating for sports. He’s never shown much interest in OSU athletics, combined with the fact he has put so much towards academics but not sports makes me think that he’s not helping out simply based on principal and believes that the school should be much more focused on academics, which I honestly respect. If I was a multi-millionaire, I’m not sure I’d donate to athletics either. I hate the arms race it’s become.

            Just the luck of the Beavs once again, though. We have an alumni wealthier than Phil Knight but he seems to not care for OSU sports at all. Luck o’ the Beavs indeed.

          • 1
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            Not sure how Barnes & Huang would converse. He and President Murthey, on the other hand . . .& perhaps he has donated something, just doesn’t put his name on it. Unlike PK – who stole Wayne Morse name from the law library –

      • Yep, 100% correct. Our d lineman literally get pushed off to the side. No beef, strength or technique. Don’t know how to use their hands to swat the opposing linemans hand from locking onto them.

  59. 1
    2

    The Georgia Tech-Georgia game is a perfect example of the parity problem in college football. I don’t care what anyone says, the fact that any team at all can go 4 seasons without losing at home is a problem. That kind of dominance is not seen in any other major sport. It’s also insane how essentially unless you have a 2 score lead with less than a minute left as a massive underdog, it’s likely the massive favorite will find a way to come rumbling back. It’s crazy, they always find a way to win, whether it be freak turnovers or otherwise. Also, the officiating was suspect and likely cost GT from winnning the game before overtime.

    In regard to this game, what can you say, pretty much what we expected, but we did play better than I thought we would. Without all of those momentum killing penalties at bad times? Who knows what wood have happened. I felt we contained Jeanty relatively well considering, but that just allowed their QB to beat us over the top. Frustrating season, and one where we should have had at least one more win given the schedule. Things only get harder next year.

    Looks like my prediction was almost right on at 6-6, but I gave them an extra win.

  60. Tenn down 14-0 to Vandy in the 1st but have the offensive fire power to easily come back. We need a josh Heuppel type offensive coordinator.

          • The hummer is that at this point even the UNLV guy would think he is taking a step backwards.
            I’m thinking we are now at the point of needing to get the youngest guy who has learned from the established offensive guys. We hoped it was Gundy/Chipster but I’m not sold on Chips approach anymore and Gundy underperformed.
            I’d prefer someone from the Mike Leach tree. We need to abandon the pro style approach since we can’t recruit the offensive guys to run it anymore.
            If 10% of high schools run a pro style, we will never get those guys, but if 90% of high schools run a spread option etc we have a broader opportunity to find the missing guys who can contribute.
            Lean into the spread and find the coaches and athletes to run it well.
            20 years late but at least try. There is no good reason to hold onto the pro style mentality once the conference collapsed. Even in a new iteration, you aren’t getting the same kids as before.

          • Way more than 10% of high schools run pro style and way less than 90% run the spread.

            Tight formations and movement are the trend even at the high school level right now. The spread is out dated and has been integrated into pro style offenses now.

          • How about we just run 8 yards pick play crossing routes all game and force the refs to call offensive pi all game?
            I’ve seen so many wide open wr and wondered how that happen only to see the obvious pick route on replay.
            Doesn’t Gundy know about this highly successful play?

  61. Hey Ohio Beav and Beav In Ohio, if the Buckeyes lose what’s the chance of Day losing his job? I know that sounds crazy but so are Buckeye fans!

    • They have already been tossing the idea out there. Who knows what happens but this one will likely cost him a lot of support from big boosters.

      On a different note:
      It is pretty evident that OSU lost a lot on defense in the portal last year.
      McCoy at Tenn is a beast and a Jim Thorpe semi finalist
      Masceranas and Arnold at USC defensive captains and viewed as their leaders on defense?!?

      What might have been I guess. Bray did admirably to replace such talent, experience and leadership. Hoping the young guys stay long enough to make the bumpy ride worth it.

  62. 1
    1

    Imagine being a Beaver fan born in 1916. The year you turn 55 (1971) was the first losing season in about 8-9 years, as they finished 5-6. The Beavs were fresh off a dramatic 30-29 come-from-behind win against the Ducks, trailing 29-16 entering the 4th quarter. That poor sap likely never saw another winning season again before he died………

  63. 4
    1

    Here’s hoping the pudgy gnome and Sparty fail to secure bowl eligibility. Rutgers leading 17-7 in the East Lansing snow with about 5 minutes to go in the first half.

  64. Ohio State M ended in a classes way….college football has WWF referees, now drama and behavior to go with it…get some folding chairs on the sideline to throw, some midgets to toss…what a fucking mess. And Ducks may win it all…

  65. In the first year after major conference realignment there is a real possibility of the following teams beginning their new conference in year 1:
    ACC- SMU
    Big12- ASU
    Big10- Oregon
    SEC- Texas

    In other news, due to not getting 4 teams into the playoffs, SEC will adjust their conference scheduling to 7 conference games going forward. Sankey is adamant that it is just too hard to win in the SEC and each team needs an added directional school to heal up, and pad the win totals of course.

  66. Wow, ND with a 99 yard pick 6 followed by a 100 yard pick 6 a few minutes later.

    USC finishes 6-6. Sweet. Lincoln Riley got them to a bowl game….

  67. 3
    1

    Wyoming just beat the PAC12 runner up. Cougs were riding high and came back to earth pretty quickly.
    How soon until Mateer is poached by Oregon or Auburn for $1.5 mil on a 1 year deal?
    The Cougs aren’t in any better spot to hold talented guys than we are, it just appeared that way when they were winning. Dickert will have his hands full holding onto his top talent after a nice year.

    • WSU defense is just as bad or worse than the beavers although OSU defense got better when they got some healthy bodies on the field. It would have been interesting to see how this team would have done this season of for not all of the injuries.

    • They are actually pretty fun to watch and have some depth and talent. We will see how the season progresses but they are winning games and winning big except for two close losses.

      • 2
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        I’m not watching Nikegon games, but they continue to roll through good teams. They had a lot more trouble with us than anyone, besides UP.

        I’m assuming it’s Bittle’s play, since he was the dominant factor in their game against us.

  68. 2
    1

    Want to enjoy other’s suffering in the greedy world of college footballl? Let’s take a look at some moneyed “haves.”

    “Ohio State; If Day gets fired after the Buckeyes’ season ends, this will be the easiest coaching autopsy we’ve ever seen in college football. And what Day said about the Michigan rivalry will be indicative of the reason: Ohio State simply cared way too much about this game 365 days a year, to the point where it strangled them on the only day when it really mattered.

    It’s clearly affected Day, to the point where the entire organization locks up when it sees Michigan across the field. When you hear Day compare losing to Michigan to the death of his father, you almost feel sorry for him. That’s no way to live, man. It’s just a football game.

    Ohio State coach Ryan Day lost his fourth consecutive game against Michigan.”

    Don’t forget his OC is Cheatin’ Chip Kelly.

    “Miami: There’s a decent chance Miami suffered the most costly loss of the weekend, barfing up a 21-0 lead at Syracuse before falling 42-38. The question is whether they’ll fall all the way out of the CFP.

    Make no mistake, Miami has been a high-wire act all season and needed a lot of luck to squeak out games against the likes of Virginia Tech and Cal. If the Hurricanes get left out, the only complaints should be directed toward head coach Mario Cristobal, who manages to do less with more as consistently as any coach in America.

    Given the weakness of the ACC and the huge talent advantage Miami had over every team it played this year, 10-2 was practically the floor for what this season could have been. And if the Hurricanes don’t make the CFP with a loaded roster, an experienced and brilliant quarterback in Cam Ward and such a weak ACC to feast on, it’s one of the worst coaching jobs of the decade.

    FSU: Florida State: It’s finally over. Mercifully, the 2-10 year from hell is in the record books and Mike Norvell can focus on what it’s going to take for the Seminoles to get back to something resembling competence. The first step came shortly before a 31-11 loss to Florida, when Gus Malzahn stepped down at UCF to reportedly become the Seminoles’ offensive coordinator.”

    I wonder if the use of the transfer portal will make this season’s bowl games worse than last year’s?

    • 1
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      Any team nothing the playoffs will have guys refusing to play in a “meaningless” bowl game in order to enter free agency as soon as possible and see why kind of cash is offered for their talents.
      The Beavs could begin their on version of moneyball for the little guy program.
      Somewhere in the basement of Gill should be 30 feet of chalkboards with positions and player names, and Bray debating over who will be available at rock bottom NIL prices but still has some hidden benefit for OSU.
      Interesting that Stanford just created a role for Andrew Luck that encompasses a general manager for the entire sports department, fundraising, player acquisition, recruiting and NIL management. It is the new role in order to manage rosters as if they are pro teams.

      Maybe Casey would do something similar for OSU.

      • Luck is probably a great pick for that role. I believe his wife is an Olympian (also Furd), and they are always prominent at the Olympics as cheerleaders for Furd athletes and the US in general.

        He also has a close relative with relevant experience he can lean on for advice.

  69. 7
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    Three things need to help reign in NIL and the portal: 1) NIL CAP per team, 2) NIL Contracts, 3) portal buyouts for players switching teams……any other thoughts bc something is coming to regulate NIL and the portal and it’s just a matter of time.

    • I unsure how the they can regulate NIL with Caps or contracts since a lot of them are private contracts fully separate from College Football. The NCAA has no authority to say a player can only get paid so much unless those payments come directly from the schools.

    • Good luck, this would require a CBA which would require employment contracts.

      Never gonna happen. Wishing for the impossible is fools gold.

      Stay in a lane that is possible such as:

      You get a scholarship OR NIL but not both. Thats something the NCAA can do legally.

      • We will see but what I’ve read indicates that Tommy Tuberville is going to drop legislation that puts controls in place on at least NIL.

        The courts have started to look at reclassifying the SA as employees and that will result in a variety of labor relation actions including contracts and collective bargaining agreements.

        Timing is anyone’s guess but the can of worms has been opened…..

        • I don’t see any such legislation happening. I’ve said before it would take an act of Congress but I’d bet against it.

          But ultimately unless something similar to the old Olympic model which was essentially “sponsorship contracts are fine but nothing else” is likely too little too late to save division 1 college sports.

          • Well, I think Tommy Tuberville is pretty influential and well connected. My guess is if you polled most coaches across the country, they’d be in favor of reigning in the portal and NIL. .

            With TT history as a coach, I’m sure he will leverage his connections to make something happen..Let’s face it, virtually everyone involved with CFB knows it’s out of control……

          • 1
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            If it’s coming from Tuberville, you can bet it screws labor while capping NIL, just for the appearance. So I’m as cynical as you that it would benefit labor in the form of employment and an eventual CBA.

            That being said, employment and a CBA are going to happen. It’s simply a matter of time. It’ll probably take some kind of court ruling, which will take years to litigate, if one’s not already in the pipeline.

  70. I’ve seen a lot of playoffs prediction brackets for the 12 spots. It seems like everyone is dumping on either ASU or Boise St to drop to #12 seed if they don’t get the top 4 bye. I think that the 5th conference champ should go no lower than 8 and at least have the reward of hosting a playoff game. In the big scheme it’s all going to still be about brands and tv matchups but I think some effort can be made to reasonably reward a great season. How good would it be to see Ohio St have to travel to Boise or Tempe for the round 1 game instead of the “recruiting guru roster talent” determining the seeding.
    I figure the home sites will be Tenn, Penn St, Alabama, Notre Dame. But I don’t think it would be right to downgrade any of the conference champs to be a road team.

  71. More context on Beavers schedule- 3 opponents wind up in final top 20: UO #1, BSU # 10, UNLV #19. All were losses, two on the road.

    WSU was ranked when Beavers defeated them.

    Should have at least added wins by beating Nevada, SJSU, and AF….

  72. 5
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    Newspapers are calling Michigan States season a major disappointment. Smith got what he deserves. Now he can enjoy the really nasty winters in Michigan.

  73. For Smith to be successful, he’ll have to beat a Penn State, Michigan or Ohio State – or USC or Oregon, every year. The Spartans right now are looking like maybe the eighth best program in the conference. If that.

    • I’ve recently been reading multiple perspectives on leadership that have basically added up to “one of the main responsibilities of a CEO is recruiting.” It’s all about getting the right team in place for you. This is pretty translatable to being a football HC.

      Smith’s OSU success was basically Coach M + Bray. The OL accounted for most of the offense’s production above replacement level. We never had great QB or WR play (despite having some talent there). Obviously there were some good RB’s, but few productive RB seasons don’t feature a good OL.

      PFF says MSU had the 16th best out of 18 OL in the Big Ten and the second worst run blocking. Combine that with the second worst defense and it’s clear Smith wasn’t able to duplicate the formula in Year 1 and there really wasn’t any improvement over 2023.

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      The B10 and SEC are getting what they deserve.

      It’s amusing to see national media talking about “chaos” because the teams that “should” be in the playoffs might not be, and those with conference championships and better records advancing…welcome to professional sports!

      Remember when the PAC had good teams and the conference cannibalized itself by playing more league games? Now B10 and SEC are “suffering” similarly….

      I wonder if Smith will make it past year 3? His 4th down gambling and Lindgren’s odd call sequences that take the team out of a game won’t be tolerated for more than 3 years. And they won’t get the talent to be regularly in the upper third of the conference…

      Sounds like there was about 25K at their last home game of the season…I remember Chiles talking about looking forward to playing in front of 70K at home….the nice facilities…

      • Let’s just say that MSU fans and boosters aren’t nearly as patient and forgiving as Beaver Nation is. He’ll be gone after year 3 and probably has his agent already sniffing around for better prospects in the future.

  74. Maybe I am stating the obvious, but didn’t the D seem a lot more salty with Bray as coordinator? Showed blitz more. Had offenses on their heels… More pressure on QB. Was this change due to talent loss or different DC?

    Go Beavs

  75. Final season PFF grades:

    Offense (min. 200 snaps)
    Top 3
    Christian-Lichtenhan (probably the only legit NFL Draft prospect on the team and huge credit to him for substantial improvement this year)
    Gulbranson
    Hankerson

    Bottom 3
    Terry
    Noga
    Caufield

    Defense
    Top 3
    M Jordan
    S Thomas
    Taylor

    Bottom 3
    Vadrawale (just barely edged out honorable mention Kane)
    Alfieri
    Schuster

    Props to Everett Hayes for being the top-rated player on the team and putting up the best season by a Beaver kicker in over a decade.

      • Good point, I forgot about him. He’s ranking as a late round/UFA at this point. Guard isn’t a high value position in the draft and he didn’t massively improve his stock this season.

        For reference, there are roughly 15 guards drafted each year. I’ve seen draft rankings that have him anywhere from 15-20. Just going off PFF ratings, he’s closer to 20 (but of course there’s a lot more that goes into draft decisions than college performance).

        GCL is going to be polarizing because of his size. Someone will probably take a flier on him, but the list of potential suitors will be shorter. He wasn’t really on anyone’s radar at the start of the season so it will be interesting to see if he gets re-evaluated now.

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          I think NFL teams will look at Gray in terms of his potential. Moving inside and still being one of the top 20 projected picks at the position in one year is pretty impressive.

          He also avoided the injury bug. So durability could help his case.

  76. Oregon State opening at 49 in NET rankings after blowing out UC Davis. Ahead of North Texas in NET. That 3 point loss to 8-0 Oregon is probably what has us there. Man, imagine if we had won that game.

    • Bubble-worthy! WCC is ranking pretty favorably so far this season. Margin of error against the bottom of the conference is thin, but our SOS should be good enough to be considered if we keep up our current pace.

      A win over UC Irvine would really help next week. Maybe that’s asking too much.

      • 6
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        Another Tinkle special is on the way. Fair warning not to get your hopes up. Tinkle is still coaching these guys. No matter how good they look in early
        December, March is very far away. He has plenty of time to expertly dismantle your hopes and dreams one weekend at a time. If Tinkle is on the bubble in WCC, you know in your heart he will be the team closest to making the cut that doesn’t.

        You have been warned…

        • We shall see but this is a much more talented team than he’s had on some time and they actually some good offensive sets and flow to their game. They’re a much better perimeter shooting team too…They have lost two close games that were winnable and blown everybody else out whereas in prior years they would just struggle with even mediocre teams.

          I think this team will be better than you expect even with some coaching shortcomings.

          • 5
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            When Tinkle is involved, I am in the “prove it to me first” camp. I’ve seen his playbook and it isn’t pretty or adjustable. He personally implodes good young talent at an alarming rate. Maybe these guys are more mature coming form Europe and band together while tuning Tinkle out in order to win. That is really the only way you can expect OSU to ever win with Tinkle at the helm. He is such a poor in game strategist, that the team needs a maturity beyond themselves to overcome his errors. He kills momentum with bad timeouts, ruins confidence with substitutions, adds pressure on the players without adjusting his own approach and all of these things add up to a team floundering by the end of February every year.

            Enjoy the early season wins for what they are- harbingers of the inevitable. Teams play well for him in November every year, before they are ground down and start to wither.

          • His only good teams have had a PG who could break it down to the lane… in some way. ST wasn’t a true PG, but he did break the D down.

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      So who is poaching Dickert then? It will be interesting to see hwo he weathers the same storm that Bray just went through after half of his roster leaves in a few weeks. They had their shot and blew it in the last few games, now everyone on defense will leave, and all of their offensive skill guys will follow Arbuckle.

      We only thought WSU was steady and unphased by the changes. It was a mirage and now the truth is revealed. Pullman is still a giant farming town in the middle of nowhere. WSu had trembling legs all season but just held it together longer than the Beavs were able to. Mateer was worth probably 2 or 3 wins as it turns out. But now they return to earth with a thud.

      Beavs priorities are qb, oline, dline asap. Time to repeat as conference champs for 2025!

      • Cignetti was Sabans recruiting director for about 5 years during Sabans run. He wasn’t just a lowly small school coach from James Madison with some offensive wizardry.

        • True, i mean an oc with chops who wants to head coach they dont need to go small like the last few coaches. They are smart enough to see the writing on the wall and have big10 money and lots of engineers with money to pay for it if need be.

          • They were celebrated for the Walters hire. He was a DC with chops. Look where that got them!

            Buddy of mine who’s a Purdue alum says “we’ll never be good.” They’re realistic about not having the money to compete with the big programs in the conference, no recruiting pipelines and nothing attractive about the location. In football, they’re the WSU/OSU of the B1G.

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          He also abandoned that circle jerk to go be a HC at a lower level, just to be a HC and lead people, instead of being that guy who gets promoted because his players are good.

  77. Trent Walker announces he’s coming back. I’ll wait to confirm until the season starts though. A little surprised we haven’t heard more xfer announcements yet. Saw Justyn Martin, qb from ucla, is xferring. Might have 2 years left? Obviously has connections to Gundy but also I think the Beavs were a top contender for him when he did commit to UCLA. Think I would prefer a xfer with some actual starting experience at an FBS school but assume those guys cost more money than backups that haven’t really played.

    • Grabbing Martin would be a good move. Watched his film against Penn State and the kid puts some zip on his throws. The Gundy connection is nice too. Unfortunately we’re not in a place to snag the FBS starters quite yet. But we shall see

      • Yeah, he played well vs Penn State. Was a high 3 or 4 star recruit so there’s potential for sure. I think a competent qb wins us 2 more games this year despite the defensive issues so upgrading they’re has to be a priority. I think the scenario for the Beavs is having BG pursue his medical career and McCoy xferring again. Try for that starter in the portal or just ride with Barri and having a RS Frosh and true frosh as your backups. Not sure what Dom’s eligibility is at but I guess he could be that upperclassmen presence eventhough he’s never seen the field

        • We have a few pretty prolific HS QB’s in the mix next year between KG and Tua. Plus we have GJ and McCoy maybe coming back.

          Unless a proven starter wants to come, I think you have to go with your guys.

          • I would agree Tua seems to be a solid get for sure. Not sure i would call KG high profile. Had a great high school career (which all these college qb’s do) but wasn’t too many schools going after him unless I’m forgetting something. Unfortunately, didn’t get to see enough of Barri to say, yeah, that’s the guy for next year. Not to mention he was injured at the end of the season and perhaps early in season too? Anyway, we definitely have some durability issues even if McCoy and Barri both stay so I guess that should be taken into consideration. Personally, I think McCoy is a backup at FBS level…he didn’t seem to have much zip on his throws and you could see a big difference in that with BG playing. Despite all the areas of concern with this team, gotta address the qb spot as a top priority

          • https://www.hudl.com/profile/15100880/Kallen-Gutridge

            KG has the size, the arm strength, the athleticism, the pocket awareness, and he’s a winner in everything he does (already been Scout Team POTW multiple times).

            I think he suffered from the QB market changing with more focus being put on paying money for other team’s backups and less on HS QB’s. His HS coach said he couldn’t get FBS coaches to look at him because he was thought of as more of a basketball player and he only took a big leap in football his senior year (which his stats back up).

    • 6
      8

      No idea who Martin is.

      Really don’t care.

      Blah… blah…. blah…….

      We got full value from our QBs, despite misuse. None of the QBs we could have paid for would have done any better.

      Honestly, not many QBs are any good, period. College football is full of shit players, and the NFL is suffering that loss. It’s a hard product to watch, especially if you also have to watch commercials.

      • The crazy thing is the NFL has changed the rules significantly to make it easier for QB’s, but the play keeps getting worse and worse.

        • I do have to admit I was wrong about Jordan Love. But he had the benefit of being on the bench for a couple years.

          So there appears to be some value in actually developing your own QB. Even Brady and Mahomes sat for a year before getting their shots.

          Even the retreads like Darnold can do this, by learning the hard way, then finding a team that can use him for a couple years. The Vikings did the same with Cousins.

          There are still a handful of players who could be considered top tier in any era, but the overall landscape isn’t that great.

  78. The thing that bothers me about how our defense performed after the San Diego St shutout is the complete passivity.
    If you don’t have 4 dominant linemen that can consistently get pressure, you can’t just play paddy-cake and give a qb time to throw every down.

    The issue for most college offenses is timing and qb accuracy. How do you not just throw caution to the wind and attack over and over, instead of playing passive 10 yards off the wideouts?
    Some teams we faced were decent passing and decent running, but none besides Oregon were above average in both categories, with an accurate qb. Is it more challenging for players to play attacking blitzing defense or to play passive “keep everything in front” death by a thousand cuts defense?

    I much prefer to see OSU be known as a hyper aggressive defense, almost like the ASU teams from a decade ago, rather than what we just saw. Recruiting guys into an aggressive reputation may be easier also.
    Teams that have a reputation of sound aggressive defense that aren’t filled with purchased dlinemen are out there, how do they do it?
    Iowa St, Iowa, Arizona St, Minnesota, K St, or even Boise St all have a style that is pressure centered rather than play it safe.

    • We barely blitzed at all against SDSU. Our 4-man rush was just getting good pressure. Maybe that had us thinking we could do the same in other games?

    • …a hyper aggressive defense, almost like the ASU teams from a decade ago…
      Now, if we had a HC with a history of coaching guys like Vontaze DeLeon Burfict Jr., maybe we could develop/expect that kind of defense.
      Could happen.

    • Who do you think is priority to retain: Collins, Pomee’e, Johnson, Schuster, Howard? Hickle? Chisom, Foster, Patterson(?), Thomas, Ayers?

    • IMO it was a combination of things.

      Bray called the D to be very aggressive and attacking on passing downs and his run fits often brought a Nickel or Safety to fill. It was rare on 3rd down to not bring a blitzer and often drove teams nuts but rotating safeties to disguise coverage only to bring both a LB and a DB on a delayed blitz. This left everyone else on an island in 1-on-1 coverage but it almost always worked in the Beavs favor even when the blitz didn’t get to the QB. It took talents like Penix to neutralize the strategy.

      KHJ started (and continued most of the season) with more of an NFL style approach, where the DL are often so dominant that even without bringing a blitzer the QB has less than 4 seconds to make a decision. But really it just felt like he didn’t have confidence in the players to execute anything beyond vanilla (same with the Offense). Problem is the DL was obviously not going to be able to apply pressure on their own, and our DB’s aren’t experienced/dominant enough to provide blanket coverage for 4+ seconds. So they scarified any chance to pressure the QB to play prevent in the secondary but still got smoked, over and over again.

      If Bray/KHJ want to play and an NFL style of prevent defense, they have to recruit dominant NFL caliber DL’s or the whole thing breaks down.

  79. 5
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    Just learned tomorrow is early signing day. Have to say, it’s been nice not feeling obligated to follow recruiting news lately.

    • 11
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      It’s ok. We have all accepted it for what it is now. The good old days are gone. Guys will never actually commit a college for a 4 year experience so why should we care beyond wins or losses. No more wanting to know the personal side of recruiting as it used to be. Now it is a business transaction and these guys don’t understand what they miss out on. Too bad, but inevitable.

  80. Highly touted mission commit Leonard Ah You is headed to MSU instead of Corvallis, proving yet again that mission commitments are basically worthless.

    • Yeah, i think that one was already changed once Snake Smith left…probably just official now with the signing day. One of the positives of recruiting lower tier talent is that we might not get poached as much now on signing day? So far, no surprises that has been shared on flips or whatever. Still very early in the day though.

        • Eh, it’s down if you take a look at the offers other guys are getting and it’s different than the last few years. Most these guys are only being offered by other G5 schools whereas the last several years we were fighting and getting more guys with multiple P4 offers. Sure we might still be in that overall ranking of upper 60’s – low 70’s but just looking at the offer sheets is an indicator. Trey Glasper might be one of our top “gets” in this class as an overall .8683 at 24/7 and Cal, Iowa State and Miami were the only P4 schools offering. I think it’s only natural for recruiting to take a hit with the turmoil, seeing we are now a G5 school and not going to a P4 conf and I’m sure the losses to Nevada and Air Force, etc don’t help.

          • We have the top class in the new PAC and are 10/12 of the old PAC (which is where we always used to end up). The only difference I think is HS guys not getting quite as much attention at the top levels because of the push to bring in transfers who can play immediately.

            That’s probably why there are fewer high level conpetitive offers. Those teams are keeping more spots open for transfers.

          • Perhaps. Avg of .85 right now. No 4* guys or even those high 3’s. Also have a large class with Hopefully 19 or 20 recruits if we can sign the qb.

  81. So 18 commits leaves how many spots for transfers?
    Has anyone announced they are entering the transfer portal yet?
    How many seniors have graduated and will not be on the roster next year?

    • 2
      1

      It’s so early. The portal window for winter hasnt even opened and is from Dec 9th – Dec 28th.
      I’d imagine there will be quite a few more defections between now and then. And I would guess that several if not most of the defections will be from guys we didnt even know existed on the team, considering the annual turnover in roster building these days.

      Remember when signing day used to be an event?
      Now it’s just another day.
      I suppose for many fans it was already just another day and I’m just late on coming to grips with that reality.

    • There were 15 scholarship players honored during senior day, so I’m assuming that’s how many we’ll lose to graduation. Biggest losses by the numbers were OL, DB, and special teams (we lost both K and P).

      Seniors that seem to be coming back next year are Tongue and Singleton (both injuries).

      Portal net will likely be 0.

      Returning projected starters and position group PFF rating:
      QB- McCoy (71)
      RB- Hankerson (76)
      WR- Walker, Clemons, Valsin (Anderson/Durant?) (71)
      TE- Caufield (51)
      OL- Strand, Voltin, Wells, Vincic, Anderson (68)

      DL- Pome’e, Collins (63)
      Edge- Saez, Omotosho, Hickle (63, not counting Hickle)
      LB- Jordan, Chisom (71)
      CB- Jordan, Ayers, Singleton, Thomas (65)
      S- Thomas, Ivy (68)

      Priorities for improvement will be OL, TE, and the front 7. I like our depth in the secondary. If Ayers can continue to develop that’s a solid group.

      Need to hang on to the Jordans, Thomases, and Collins.

      • Corners will be fine but safeties, especially the depth, is not good. Aside from Noble and Skylar Thomas, the safety group was really bad. That’s assuming they both come back and Noble can get to 100% health again. Not sure what injury he actually sustained, but something lasting an entire season would seem major. Curious what they do with Jalil Tucker. His intro on signing day listed him at corner but he’s primarily played wr at juco if I’m not mistaken. Also, corner seems to be a strength for us if Ayers, Andre Jordan, and Singleton are all back. Tucker was a really high recruit out of HS so you’d assume they want him to see the field. Perhaps they move him or someone else to safety. If so, those guys need to put on a little weight.

      • LODB is that Hayes straightened out his FG kicking in the last two games of his eligibility, and he goes on to become a perennial all pro K.

  82. Signing day commitment from 3-star TX CB Blake Thompson. Led his district in INT’s and is also a 400M standout. Offers from CSU, TX State, Tulsa and a few others.

    • It takes stamina to be a quarter-horse.

      …so I go look up his 400m time and notice he’s the second fastest on his team in the event, at just sub-50. Apparently one of the team’s best sprinters is also the fastest 400m. I look him up, and he’s the RB for the football team. So I go look at his Hudl tape, and this kid looks like a really fast hybrid of the Rodgers brothers. Sincere Timpson is his name. He just breaks ankles, then runs away.

      The Brazos water in that neighborhood grows some interesting players.

      • Timpson was actually RB2. 5’6 guy who I’m assuming will be running track in college. Twitter only shows one, low-level football offer.

        RB1 is a freshman with offers from just about everyone.

        • Someone good has to be keeping him on the bench. He’s a weapon. Put 20 to 30 good pounds on him, and he could be scary good.

          He’s about the same size as Barry Sanders was coming out of HS.

          • RB1 is also the anchor for their 4x100m team… faster than Timpson, but still about the same size. His Hudl tape shows better blocking for RB1 v RB2. No reason to break ankles when you can be past the safety in a blink.

            Their offense is pretty fun to watch. Even catching when they break the huddle is fun.

          • I’m guessing he’ll focus on track. Otherwise there’s no reason he wouldn’t be recruited by one of the 100 college programs in TX.

          • Langsdorf went to the same place for Quon, and everyone knew about Quizz. And that was after James was a two time District MVP and All-State.

            Rosenberg/Richmond is just out of the way enough to be forgotten, except for those special talents.

  83. 2
    1

    Earlier on the radio, Anemic mentioned Cal could poach our QB commit, since their QB flipped to another team(possibly oregon? Not sure)

    • UO got the WB from CAL who I think had first committed to OSU – he is a Dillon Gabriel admirer -now CAL taking another OSU QB?!?

  84. Hey nice can you open a transfer portal thread since portal gona be crazy for osu with players coming in and out also takes me 5 min for jump to bottom to work

  85. I think he might not stay at osu he knows Oregon state bringing in a transfer qb and we got a 4 star qb next year seems likely he jumps to cal

  86. I think they lose 25 to 30 players mostly players with no experience osu brings in 20 plus transfers then they go all in on one player from portal and go after a tight end recruit like weavley because they need a tight end that’s a pass catcher

  87. Most players are waiting to see who leaves and most guys with 1 year are weighing options as most of everyone else that has not played much will leave also Carlos Mack is he still going to portal

  88. Man, be prepared for a lot of disappointment this offseason. Bray was selling guys on a shot at the playoff last year. Not mention to sell for next season.

  89. Wow, Bray says that just about every player that started for us at some point this year has been contacted by other teams. That’s crazy.

    • Same as last year. Call up the guys that left and see who has regrets. Some barely played this year but got paid. Don’t blame them either way.

      • So they ply a year just enough to get noticed at OSU. Some agent contacts them for another school with a bag of cash and empty promises about playing time. They get their money, don’t play much at the next school, finish their eligibility and have less wear and tear on their body but none of them will go pro and few will actually have a degree afterwards. Is it worth the $150k in NIL for all of that?

        Who talks to these kids?

        • If I was bray, I’d be telling those players to look at the track record for OSU players transferring, ie, Damien, Silas Bolden, Velling, etc. same thing for coach Rueck WBB as the only player really lighting it up is Reagan Beers…..

        • Agents dont make money if players stay put, so their only goal is to persuade players to take a payday elsewhere so they can get their cut. And I’m sure they know how to be very persuasive and make that sound appealing to 18-22 year olds

    • If the players aren’t in the portal, and it is supposedly illegal to contact them, why doesn’t someone report it? Btw, I haven’t any idea who ‘someone ‘ would be or to whom it would be reported.

      • I assume what happens is that the schools contact the parents or the “agent” and not the player. Guess there’s nothing to stop me from contacting so and so’s mom or dad and making offers. So while scummy and clearly the intent is readily apparent, they’re probably not breaking the strict letter of the rule. Now, had the NCAA actually put guardrails in place for portal and NIL then perhaps those types of things would’ve been better thought out. Or maybe schools just don’t get a shit since the NCAA doesn’t do shit about it anyway.

        • Only an idiot would give their name or affiliation on the first call. It probably goes down like, ” how would a guaranteed $50k and possibly more with a car dealership ad along with a new lease on a new truck while your hear sound? IF you hit the portal we’ll be in contact.” How is the ncaa going to stop that? It’s not like they can pull phone records or something.

        • The usual method is to have someone on the team contact their HS or 7on7 coach to talk about how so-and-so would be welcome at such-and-such a place for something-something dollars, if he were to enter the transfer portal.

          The really fun thing to see is people who say, “Every school does it,” to justify their school doing it. No, dummy. Not every school does it. The reason I know this is because not every school needs to do it, when a handful of schools act like bird dogs and flush everyone into the portal in the first place. There just aren’t enough players left to do this.

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