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Beavers 4-0

203

Post-game thread to enjoy success and discuss what needs improving.

After four games the picture is clearing. It seems like every year has a Remmers or a Pankey, and these are the players and/or issues I've identified this year:

  • Romaine FGs/XPs.
  • Terrible redzone offense (play calling, execution, and personnel).
  • Procedural penalties.
  • #13 — has not improved at all in 4 years. Enough is enough.
  • Marable on kick returns.
  • Sean Martin — scary that he is likely a starter next year.

Beavs aren't going to keep winning in spite of these guys (especially Romaine), so the coaches need to figure this out.

Regarding tonight, some are diminishing the win because it was ugly. In magical seasons you always get a few ugly wins, though, so it's no big deal to me. The only thing that matters right now is fixing the problems above.

Regarding ranking: I think #11 is probable and #10 is possible. Enjoy for a few days. On to BYU coverage on Tuesday. 

203 COMMENTS

  1. marable is awful. he lost them 10 or so yards of field position twice today. i’d like to see cooks returning kicks but i’d take almost anyone over marable. we have no choice but to hope romaine can come around. martin was bad the first three weeks, but i thought he was better today. he had some nice tackles and pass breakups, plus he got screwed on a pass interference on wazzu’s second field goal drive. i wouldn’t mind seeing steven christian get a chance to take some of his snaps though.

    • What Marable seems to have missed is that the kick off team is five yards closer at the beginning of the play. Read needs to enforce this message: unless you catch the ball in the field of play (ie not in the end zone), take a knee.

  2. Bad week for my AngryBeavs Yahoo Picks. I lost to my wife this week. 6-8 (out of 20 games) She’s gonna be mean about it all week. SadBeav(36-24) and Jasonthebeav(35-25) taking charge this week in the standings. Homefry at 3rd, JD in 4th… Oneolebeav tied near the back my wife in overall standings! (hey man, we better step it up and take it seriously next week- cant let her win)

  3. IMO John hunt can suck it. He has Beavs at #10, which is fine for overall rankings. But he’s from the Oregonian. His Bias is supposed to balance SEC/East bias. At a minimum he could of kept us ahead of all 1 loss teams.

  4. What a perfect day for a football game. Summer weather in October, can’t beat that. Got home late because tailgating was just too good to leave and traffic, as usual was heavy. Traffic control at OSU football games is more ridiculous than effective IMO.

    The comments on the previous thread pretty much covered what the game was like. Riley’s so called “play calling” sucked big time. Same old predictable play’s over and over again. Nothing new and Wazzo’s defense seemed to pretty well know what were were going to do. Maybe Riley thinks his job is in the bag again and is going back to his old ways of doing things.

    It did not look like the team even practiced last week. Sloopy everything. Stupid penalties seemed to highlight our team play or lack of such.

    WSU’s quarterback had so much time to throw the ball I thought he was going to take a break for lunch. It seemed all through the game that WSU was daring us to take the game and we failed almost every time. The fans made their showing at Reser in force, expecting a big win but were definitely let down by Riley and company. The fans deserved more yesterday and they did not get it.

    With 3 wins under our belt and a good week of practice you would expect improvement but coaches and team actually regressed this week. And the white pants with orange jersey’s made us look like a visiting team.

    The one thing that really pissed me off is not going for a score with over two minutes left in the 4th quarter, OSU on about the 30 yard line of WSU and Riley says “take the knee”. What a fuckin pussy. Bottom line is things had better improve in time for Utah or they will kill us at home.

    At least the weather was great.

    • Is there a coach out there that with a two touchdown lead and 3 minutes left that isn’t going to run the ball, pick up a first down and take a knee with under 2 minutes?

    • Riley is 68-7 as a hc with a lead going into the fourth. If you want to call him a pussy for that tactic it shows just how much of a troll you are. Go away.

    • A couple of observations that are a bit different from FightingBeaver: To even begin to criticize the defensive game plan in this one just makes you sound ignorant. They didn’t get to the QB for a bunch of sacks (except Crighton who had 3) but the reason that both WSU QB’s looked like they had so much time is that we were dropping guys into coverage and blanketing them. They were able to get a few big plays (one because our CB stumbled) but other than those WSU was held to a ridiculous number.

      I don’t think play calling was really the problem. Penalties were the problem, over-throws were the problem, players being in the wrong place was the problem. The offense was plain flat, they didn’t look good but they still won. I just hope that this is a blip and we will progress from here.

      Your comment on taking a knee in the 4th Quarter when up by 2 scores is just silly.

  5. The good news is that through four games, the team most likely to beat the Beavers has turned out to be the Beavers. That’s the bad news too. Because they’ve demonstrated the ability in past seasons to to just that.

    Riley and staff have to correct a few things (e.g. Marable, Robinson) and keep these guys focused, and they are capable of much. As the players said, if the O and D could both have their best games on the same day…..but that’s on the coaches too.

    While the qualify of offensive play was very disappointing, holding the Cougs to six was nice.

    Didn’t look like a top 10 team, but with some of the other top 10 teams having losing, unimpressive days, maybe they’ll advance a bit.

      • Doesn’t matter of if it is 2 yards deep. Still not smart 85% of the time. We are averaging starting on the 18.5 yard line now exactly because we have run so many balls that were 3-6 yards deep into the endzone instead of taking a knee 99% of the time. Even if the ball is taken 2 yards deep, the odds of then running 27 yards are slim, probably about 15%. Sometimes OSU gets it to the 19, sometimes we get it to the 12 or 14. Bottom line it is dumb. At most once out of 10 or 11 times already have we gone past the 25. If we even did once it was barely past the 25 yard line. We have been stopped inside the 11, and a couple times around the 13 or 14 yard line though.

        I figured this would be an issue again this week, but that it was unlikely to cost us against WSU. That won’t be the case against BYU or Arizona St. or Washington, or Stanford or Oregon. Marable does not have the elite speed to even make it to the 20 most times. We are stuck watching this routine, hoping we can get to the 19 or 20, and then when a tackler is in good position it is much worse and we are down on the 11 or 12 and losing the field position battle in tight games. Stick a man no more than a yard deep. Instruct him to never step back in no circumstance, just let the ball bounce in the endzone for the touchback. If it comes a yard deep he should take a knee atleast 85% of the time based on the exact odds he has of NOT getting to the 25 yard line. If it somehow looks perfect and is less than a yard deep then he has the option to run only if it truly looks great. Otherwise take the frickin’ knee!!!!!!!!!!

        This honestly is one of our biggest issues right now that is easily fixable and will make a clear improvement. Fixing Romaine isn’t as easy, but he needs to get much more reliable. OSU needs close to a 85-90% field goal kicker from 42 and in.

        • completely agree with this analysis. Arguably the two weakest aspects of the team’s performance are kick returns and kicking XP’s and field goals. With our group in stands after Romaine’s missed extra point I said, “watch, he’ll double down by trying to overcompensate on this kick and drive it out of bounds.” Bingo!

          The third weak point is red zone efficiency. Just not there.

    • Well put, Jack. If the Beavs O had to have an off day then WSU was the right time. And, for sure, there are plenty of teachable moments for the coaches to focus on this week.

      This penalty thing is so disappointing and yet so correctable.

    • I’m just happy with a win against WSU as I saw it as their trap game. Pac-12 commentators agreed saying it is not uncommon after a string of big wins to come out flat. I agree, especially with this young team. I was not happy with OSU’s first half offensively, but they looked better in the second half and worked it out.

      BTW WSU’s D-fense looked pretty good yesterday. They were sticking it hard to us, especially in the first half. I think they really wanted the game and we were kind of over-looking these guys.

      I think this game may be a help for the rest of the season in that you can’t assume you will win and it doesn’t matter who it is, you got to go get it.

      PS – Arizona’s offense is for real and our defense beat them. You see the Zona Standford numbers last night. Our offense has improved but our defense continues to win us games. This was a trap game because Zona was a fight for their lives and WSU could have come in and really taken advantage of that.

  6. Just a pretty sloppy performance by the offense today, never got in any kind of rhythm, play calling wasn’t as good in past week and neither was execution multiple times it looked like then line was blocking a for a different play and receivers dropped a few passes, and especially the first half each time when we seemed to get a good offensive play it was called back for a penalty, those are rhythm killers.

    Along with the offense being sloppy, the PA announcer made mistakes left and right. He called Sean Mannion Sean Canfield, had grant enger tackling storm woods, got Jeff tuel and holiday mixed up all game. The first down chomp was off time most of the game. But this is our second home game so we may still be brushing off the cob webs.

    The defense put together a very good game, wazzu only got yards on a couple deep pass plays and penalty yards. Poyer, who had some pretty confident comments about playing this team really stepped up, and I’m wondering if wazzu forgot who he was because they tried running out routes on him all day and ate them up. Chrighton had some big time sacks and they came in clutch times. I thought Sean Martin played much better than last week, but I don’t think he is ready to be a full time starter. #13 I think only played when welch went down in the second quarter, but I can’t believe there isn’t someone better than him. When you keep a team out of the end zone can’t complain too much about the defense.

    Still waiting for a complete game from both the offense and defense.

    • Poyer did make some pretty confident comments last week, and (sigh of relief) backed them up on the field. Even though he got beat a time or two, he looked like the player of the game to me.

    • You’re right about the pa announcer. How about when he got one ahead on downs so he was announcing 4th and 13 so the dumbshit fans were all thinking Riley was going for it, then thought the refs messed up and gave us a fifth down.

      We sat in the cheap seats in section 16 to sit with my son and daughter-in-law, oh god. Never will I sit in the old side again: benches with no backs, low line of sight making the field much harder to see, and the idiots that the cheap sections naturally draw. I’ve become a beaver snob haven’t I?

        • Yeah, I was sitting there watching and wondering what the heck he was talking about, and then I saw some fans getting all jazzed and had me thinking I was the one on crazy pills.

  7. Nothing wrong with “winning ugly”, we do it in softball tourneys all the time.

    The key is you played shitty, and still got the W. Reminds you of the fact that you can’t get away with that effort again.

    That being said, the spread (dependent on when you got it) was down to -14 at one point…romaine lost more than Beaver fans yesterday.

    • I was having the same thought. Was thinking maybe Riley tried throwing a bone to Dorf. wsu blew up the o-line repeatedly yesterday, which we havent seen yet. Byu has got to be licking their 30 year old chops.

      One Reser change this season i like is the closed captioning on the video board. it makes it easier to verify the announcer screwed up amd youre not just hearing things.

  8. From the Seattle Times: “We knew what plays were coming,” said WSU linebacker Justin Sagote. “We were calling it out before they even happened. It kind of helped us as a defense to swarm.”

    In the same article, the writer said he couldn’t download all his photos because the OSU internet was “too slow.”

  9. Some funny remarks here – “the kicking game is a dumpster fire.” Not, not OSU’s, BYU’s…

    http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2012/10/6/3465190/clearing-the-cranium-post-game-byu-v-utah-state-thoughts-taysom-hill-

    This is the first game that “worries” or “scares” me. BYU is going to be highly motivated. I hope Riley doesn’t take a timid, predictable approach in this game.

    Up next for BYU is Notre Dame, though I doubt they’ll get caught looking down the road when they face the 10th ranked Beavers.

  10. Storm Woods is a great representative for OSU, handles interviews so much better than the average football player. Also seems willing to be constructively critical and grounded.

    • Read an article on him and it sounds like he is a good prospect. He was invited to the opening at nike which apparently consists of the top 150 in the nation. And he won the MVP award at some other nike camp that had good ooine players. And he scored very high in the SPARQ rating. But why is he only 2 stars with no other offers? Angry commented on an olive article that he was a tub of jelly. Admittedly i cannot judge how good an olinemen might be by seeing film, but he doesnt appear to be that good in the video. Looks pretty slow and isnt exactly going against big competition.

      What am I missing?

  11. Well Mr. *jack, I admit that my prediction for September was proven wrong. Do you want me to say it in Spanish for you? I really thought, by whatever pressure came to bare, that Riley had changed. The first two games he opened up the playbook, play calling was great and he even acted different on the sidelines. My new trust in MR has been diminished, and rightfully so.

    • then quit watching them play. this season’s obviously headed right down the shitter. you seem to really know what you’re talking about.

    • I dont think you Duck fans have a whole lot of respect for Riley no matter what.

      For sake of argument, consider this — Riley looks at WSU and figures he can win, using very vanilla play calling. And indeed, despite a poor offensive performance, we win by two touchdowns. And inventive play calling is saved for a more demanding game.

      Go ahead on the sayin it in Spanish….

  12. Can somebody please post on this thread the Beavs current ranking? : )

    Wonder how the Admin/Marketing is going to take advantage of this momentum?

    Can the coaches turn this momentum and coverage into at least one blue chip DT? CB?

    All of the indirect effects of success are starting to come into potential play assuming the success continues. The skeptic in me – and the lack of depth – has me hoping for an Alamo or Holiday bowl, which would be improvement.

  13. What I like about this team, despite the garbage offensive performance yesterday, is they are winners. They find ways to win, whether at home or on the road, favored or not favored. D gets handled, offense steps up and visa versa. Even when the offense struggled yesterday, made some clutch plays when they needed it.

    That being said, play like that next week, you lose.

  14. Byu is the team I want to beat the most. My 3 siblings went to byu, throw in the fact that my two bro in-laws went Sac State and last year was complete hell.

  15. LOL … yeah, an ugly win.

    But…

    Like folks say, ok to do that and not lose, as players know it was ugly, and can work on cleaning it up. Seems to me there is youth shwing thes season. Making a lot of mistakes.

    Also seems to me Riley might have let Langsdorf call plays….save the inventive play calling for a toughter game. I hope that is the deal.

    Some obvious stuff. Marable aint doing any returns for a td, so shut him down…..take the 25.

    Mannion was out of synch, not accurate.

    Bottom line, got the win, we keep the good media interest up, and confidence up. If this had been a blowout win, I would look for a letdown coming up — players thinking there is nothing to work on.

    If we can eliminate the various mistakes, up the kicking game somehow, Mannion is on, and Riley calling the plays, I think we can be competitive with anyone in this conference.

    WORK ON THE MISTAKES!!!

    • Well, if you can get away with it, and still win, then it gives future opponents less Riley-play-calling to analyse. So I can see it happening, as strategy.

      Dont do it next week….please.

  16. Riley is a washed up idiot that we’re stuck with until 2019!! We’re totally screwed until then… woe is me….. woe is me.

    Langsdorf couldn’t call the plays in a Pop Warner game. We’re screwed!! BDC is the worst AD on the planet. We’re screwed!!

    Rod Perry is a relic that doesn’t have a clue how the college game is played!

    I’m never going to renew my season tickets or give a penny to the BASF!!!

    It’s oldie but goodies night at palatial Casa de Bonehead. What difference a year makes! JB

    PS: BeaverFever, palatial means “real nice”…like your double wide.

  17. I have been thinking about the difference between this season start and 08 & 09. We started slow and built momentum. I think the coaches are always talking about teachable moments. The beavs of 08 & 09 had some real teachable moments that worked for the rest of the season. So far this year no losses. But with the AZ game a definite defensive teachable moment and Wazzu will be a great offensive teachable moment. The difference is that the teachable moments are coming without the usual loss. I just hope we can bring our “taught” A game come Saturday. Go Beavs And just look how far ahead Mannion is of Canfield in their sophomore years.

    • Yeah, seems like prior years our first half miscues, like running into each other in back field, would of cost us a game. It’s nice to be able to make a mistake and not get killed by it. Good learning opportunities.

  18. Ok Craig Beav, let’s see that spreadsheet update when you have the time. I really appreciated it last week, nice work. Be sure to use ELO Chess number from Saragin(big difference from rating or points predictor). I guess Anderson computer comes out midweek again?

    • Will do once all the computer polls are released. And it’ll be a little more ‘real-world’ this week since the Harris Poll is actually out now.

      • Thanks for the link. Yeah Poor guy sorting through all the numbers… But looks like he got osu #s right, even remembering that Ohio state is ineligible for BCS totals.

        • Beavs at #9 in BCS projection. I don’t like that LSU is ahead, having the one loss and all, but bias is bias. Just hope we jump that if we continue to win out. Interesting that Beavs still get a #1 rating. A little uck comparison shows we 3/5 computers rank us ahead of uck. Billinley and Massey have uo&osu 1&15, and 15,1.

  19. Just got done with breaking down two cooked chickens, sorry if some of these have been talked about, but here’s some stuff from twitter. Looks like we had a good recruiting weekend?

    ?@adamgorney
    Sanders impressed with another win #OregonState #ASU #Oregon #Washington #BoiseState http://bit.ly/QXfwWB

    @adamgorney
    Walker firms up pledge #OregonState #Wazzu http://bit.ly/R8D8Il

    @EyeOnCFB (Beavs 9th)
    Projected BCS Standings from @jppalmCBS: 1. Alabama 2. South Carolina 3. Oregon 4. Florida 5. Notre Dame http://cbsprt.co/q6D6KM

    @adamgorney
    Rob Cassidy reports new leader for JUCO Samson Faifili after visit #OregonState http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1419069&PT=4&PR=2

    @paeabear92 (Stephen Paea)
    Off to Utah for the Bye Week. Watch my Beavers taking on the BYU Cougars. #GoBeavs

    still watching the replay against WSU, really impressed with how great our defense played. In two home games Beavs have given up 13 pts (6.5 per game), avg 217 total offense. From watching and reading the interviews, it sounds like WSU really fooled us on some of those blitz’s, typical for NW conference foes who know each other well. However, the penalties many could be avoided need to shored up. Also, Mannion was not very accurate in the first half.

    • Indeed. Just felt like the focus from the coaches and players was just not there in the first half. Odd play calling, Mannion unusually inaccurate, missed blocking assignments, dumb penalties. Was better in the second half. I expect a complete team effort against BYU.

  20. I’m surprised no one has mentioned game day changes.

    Beaver Biceps, Dairy Princess, Randy the Logger, instructions on how to leave Reser…all gone. And nothing comparable to replace it.

    In addition, during the TNT song to start 4th quarter, they switched to “gangnam style” about 5 seconds in, with clips from the music video on the big screen. Granted, Oregon has already “been there done that”….but it’s still a current trend. Not what I’m used to seeing.

    • Yeah at least they tried something new, although when they did it seemed like at least 1/2 of the stadium was scratching their heads in total confusion in regards to who this asian dude was…

      They’ve still got the clips of Benny waving the chainsaw on 3rd downs though

  21. Hunter Jarmon, a 3 star wide receiver from Waco, Texas is coming for a visit for the ASU game and seems to be a bit of a Beaver fan. Would not surprise me if he were to commit. Has 8 offers from BCS schools. WR may not be the biggest need as of right now, but it’s amazing what winning does.

  22. Can’t believe we are ranked #10… its awesome, but just doesn’t feel right. That 3-9 season still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    • Totally AWEsome, dude…..

      …..but yeah, we dont have any dominant wins and so 10 seems high.

      But I bet the UO is really offended by us creeping up on them…..so I LOVE IT!!

  23. You fools, you are putting your pridefull aspirations for a team to bolster some sort of religious concern for your dignity above the concern for the precious and God sourced lives of the humans that happen to play this humanly invented trivial game. You have larger problems to consider.

  24. Enough of all the analysis, the only thing you need to know is that I was at Reser. The last game before that was Sac State.

    The crowd was big and most were in the stands before KO and I felt that the fans were ready to lay down the noise but the offense took it right out of us.

    Someone in a previous post questioned whether Woods should be the #1 back. No doubt in my mind that Woods is the guy. I like Agnew but Woods just moves the pile.

    • I don’t believe anyone doubted Woods being the guy – only that some form of rotation would keep him from being beat up and maintain intensity from the other backs – who are decent.

  25. The bottom line is that we WON. I can’t be too hard on coach Riley because we won. But it almost seemed at times that on some of the plays that were called he felt sorry for having taken that function away from Langsdorf and allowed Danny to make the calls. I say this tongue in cheek as I can’t imagine he would really do that after all of the success we have had with Mike at the helm of the offense this year. However it seemed that we overlooked the Cougs and did not bring our A game.”Gooooooo Beaver..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Seriously. End zone and sideline jump balls, either he jumps high for the catch or it’s too high for anyone. Seems like an easy first down or td if ball is on a hash. Rollout to sideline & throw high.

    • Anybody have any thoughts on the impact of the WR coach? I am not seeing anything significant as we have with Bray. After Wheaton and Cooks, Woods has the third most catches (14), then Prince is third with (10), Connor Hamlett (6), K Cummings (5), M Cummings (3).

      I realize its these results are also a function of play calling (and hey, if Wheaton or Cooks are open deep?), but I’m disappointed that we haven’t seen Boom coached to the next level, or that anyone else is really stepping up. I expected that with the depth at WR and with two 6’7″ TE’s there would be an almost indefensible diversity. Caleb Smith has one catch for 3 yards – is he going to be another wasted redshirt like Wheaton was?

      Anybody else think that, or am I just being overly critical?

      • I too have wondered about Caleb Smith.. There was such a fuss about his recruitment and the possibility of immediate playing time. As for Gwatchum – remember media day – he was touted as the next big deal and would factor into the Beavs’ plans. These are examples of why I eye-roll a lot when everyone gets their knickers in a twist delving at great length into crystal-ball gazing.

      • i would’ve thought that kevin cummings would have more than five. i think you’re mistaken about mishawn cummings catching three balls though, because he’s a defensive back. i remember micah hatfield had one against UCLA, and tyler anderson’s caught a couple short passes. jordan jenkins was left uncovered and caught a pass against the cougs too.

  26. Ed Ray’s letter worked. I must admit that I was quite apprehensive stepping into the tinder box of racial tensions that is OSU and Reser Stadium as a “mixed race” rodent. Mom is a Beaver and dad is a Golden Gopher. Sure, I heard a few snide comments, “he has stripes on his fur,” and some fans stared a little too long at my fluffy tail. However for the most part I never felt threatened or “unsafe.”
    I think Beaver Nation has come a long way and realized that we are all rodents and are bound together with our insatiable gnawing habits and perpetually growing Incisors.

    • I had your back. One time when you weren’t looking there were some rodent-ist students who were going to hold you down and shave that furry tail. I stepped in and said, “Hey!! No one wants to see a shaved gopher.” They agreed and left you alone.

  27. What I saw from the tape was that it was less about play calling and more on execution. On the second drive they ran Agnew right down the field, once they got into the red zone, Agnew went right instead of left on the handoff and was dropped for a five yard loss. The next play they ran an end around to Cooks and the timing was way off and the handoff was botched, I couldn’t tell whose fault, but I think it might have been the spacing with Agnew on the fake. Riley then benched Agnew. That lead to a 3rd and long, and Mannion over threw a wide open Cummings and it was picked. It was a bad pass, but I think the wind (which was really strong) made the pass sail on him.

    On the first drive Mannion through to Woods down the sideline and the defense saw it coming and would’ve picked it off had Woods not actually broken it up. Then they ran a similar play, and Mannion missed a wide open Cooks for what would have been a first and goal, instead went to Woods again and the defense playing zone read his eyes. He also had Wheaton in the End Zone, but he didn’t go through his reads. So, I am not so concerned with the play calling as I am with the players execution.

    • That’s pretty much exactly how I saw it too. Mannion wasn’t going through his reads in the first half and he threw some sketchy passes. The pick that bounced off of Cooks wasn’t his fault, but the other two were.

      What the hell is going on with the end around/fly sweep exchanges this year? It seems like they’ve botched more than they’ve executed.

  28. Oregon State #9 in Mock BCS Standings (if they were released after week 6 and not week 7).

    As expected that means the computers really like Oregon State (1/3 Coaches, 1/3 Harris, 1/3 Computers). OSU needs to come through against BYU so we can keep all the great national press rolling when it really hits the big time with the BCS Rankings.

    Beat BYU and we could be #8 next week in the poll that matters most. Every ESPN ribbon will be showing Oregon State. :)

  29. Not sure if it was a mistake or not (gift from God??), but the Beavs are pictured on ESPN front page in an article looking at who has a shot at the BCS Championship. The three-frame segmented picture shows #1 Alabama/#10 OSU/ #3 S.Carolina.

    Think somebody accidentally put our picture there over #2 Oregon??

  30. I hope this will check their EGO’s at the door of the locker room this week. The defense saved the day, 3 big wins and they fell apart only to be saved by outstanding D play. I’m hoping this is a wakeup call before the BYU game.

  31. I hope the Beavs play better against BYU. Scoring 19 pts against a team that lost to Colorado is pretty weak. I know that a win is a win, but in the top 10, impressive wins are needed.

  32. Well this sucks. I guess we will see first hand if vaz is as good as Riley has said he is during the spring and fall. Hasn’t played in a game since the civil war in 2010 I believe.

  33. There were great reports about Vaz in camp, but he’s never started a game during his career and hasn’t sniffed the field this season. I’m pretty sure he’s going to struggle. This is really bad. I think OSU can win the next 3 games(Barely) but after that winning games will be tough. This just sucks.

  34. WSU PLAY CALLING — nothing new this week, maybe was a step back as they seemed to use fewer plays than they did against WISC where they use the entire width of the field. Going into this game, there would be two approaches, 1) ADD to the playbook, or 2) get better with the same. Against a team that you expect to beat, either strategy would work. Having a tough Stanford, UW, & DUCKS still ahead, not showing your hand may be better in the long run.

    We know they went with strategy #2 and unfortunately didn’t really get better on execution. I hope they are also working toward #1, which will be needed here in a few weeks.

  35. Does that put Angry’s fave in the #2 spot?

    Off-season reports on Vaz were good, “throwing bb’s.” etc. He’ll have all week to prepare and it will be interesting to see if the playcalling gets more predictable/vanilla – it shouldn’t. He’s had enough time in the system. I think his biggest challenge will be – as it was for Mannion – progressing through his reads against a challenging defense.

    I think BYU is going to have some QB issues too. Nelson will start, but he’s had some back injury. I am thinking he’s either going to be put out of the game by a sack or be compromised after a sack – but that’s obviously pure gut feeling.

    For me, this rachets up the interest level. We’ve all been concerned here about the lack of depth, time to see if the team can pick it self up. Best of luck to Vaz – start a [minor] QB controversy Cody! And get back ASAP Mannion….

  36. Well… I agree about the next couple games with Vaz in there. It’s why I hate when we face some unknown back-up somewhere else. There’s no tape on the kid, so opponents won’t have a clue what his tendencies are until they get a good three or four games worth of tape. If he is measurably 80-90% as efficient as Mannion and provides a different look and feel on offense, then the defense can ride the adrenaline train to help the O win some games.

    But I’ll need to see what Vaz can do before I think the team can progress beyond that.

    Vegas has pulled the line for the game. They’re offline on all boards right now.

  37. Mannion’s knee was bothing him most of the game. He was talking with the Ariko several times and it appeared that she was asking him lots of questions (pain??, movement??). Let’s hope it is simply some lightly torn miniscus that can be scoped and the docs can have him game ready for the 27th.

  38. Just a speed bump guys. While I love Mannion, he hasn’t won these games for us. Woods and Agnew need more carries anyway, here’s our(Riley’s) excuse/reason to run it more.
    Vaz also gets a full week of reps with the ones.
    Besides, if we’re going to lose a game this is the one to lose, no Rose Bowl implications.
    Step back from the edge.

    • “hasn’t won these games for us?” Maybe not all on his own, but c’mon, the guys delivered so far. Those fourth quarter TD drives that were absolutely necessary were refreshing.

    • He won the Arizona game for the Beavers when the defense was struggling. Mannion is better but also been the starter since last September. Vaz has been there a while but has no received meaningful snaps at OSU. That’s a big deal.

  39. I trust in Vaz. But who is his backup? Im glad for Vaz. He’s been a hidden talent on the pine for a long time now. I’m glad he has stuck in there and will now get his chance. Can Mannion injury really be that bad? He was perfectly mobile post game. Maybe it’s one of those short term deals like Juice had? Not the most neat thing though. My gues is he comes back this season stronger than ever from the mental reps, but I know zero details of his injury.

  40. Ooooh! I forgot to go all Duck on this. So here goes…

    Man! We were going to win the BCS Championship. This sucks. If only… if… if… and if. We were going to win, and now we can look back on this knee injury as the excuse FOR YEARS about what would have been… even if it wasn’t.

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