Contributor at addictedtoquack and owner of searchingforakilismith.com. I answered 5 of his questions, so check back to see those once he posts them.
1. What’s the sentiment regarding Helfrich?
I think Helfrich has a learning curve and he’s going to benefit a lot in the long run from the Stanford and the Arizona loss. I don’t think he necessarily has the fire and edge right now. I’m not saying that he needs to be a dick or a hard ass at all, but he needs to find the authentic balance between the two. I think he is going to be a long-term coach at Oregon and that he will go through some growing pains.
2. Do you think either Oregon or Oregon State needs a coaching change, or is that a brash opinion?
I don’t think either school needs a coaching change. Helfrich is too early in his time and I think Riley is really a good coach.
3. What are the main reasons the Ducks took a step backward? Talent, coaching, chemistry, etc?
The Ducks took a step backwards because of coaching, some inopportune turnovers, maybe play-calling, and possible senior leadership. If you lose the best coach in the history of the program there will be a drop off and to think that there won’t be is absurd. I figured before the season that it would bring down the average wins by half a win to one full win. Play-calling at times was questionable although that is always a hard statement to make because I don’t know the gameplan or see practices every day. However, all the interior running attacks should’ve been reduced because the play of the guards was inconsistent. The linebackers were also very young and didn’t do a great job filling holes when the defensive linemen were taking on double-teams.
In the Stanford loss the fumbles in the red zone and not converting on fourth downs is what did Oregon in. It got the snowball rolling for what was one of the most demoralizing games I’ve ever seen.
Lastly, the apathy expressed by the “leaders” and “stars” of the team towards the possibility of a Rose Bowl was shocking. As much as I’d like to chalk it up to college kids saying dumb stuff I can’t. Not after watching the performance against Arizona. And people who argue that the players who said the quotes about the Rose Bowl played really hard during the game I would respond by saying that anyone can play hard during a game. The hard part that requires focus and drive is preparing to succeed on gameday. The preparation is what seemed to be lacking.
4. Do you guys still want ‘Bama?
I said it since those shirts came out but the “We Want Bama” shirts is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. It is like fans thought Oregon was just going to roll over everyone when we knew that Stanford would be a problem and that at times the team really lacked an identity. Do I want Bama? At some point. Right now Oregon is not ready to compete because Bama has the perfect players for their scheme and the drive to work their ass off year round.
5. Do you think the Beavs have any chance to win this Civil War (…or any future Civil War)?
The Beavs do have a chance to win the Civil War. It might not be great but if Oregon plays like they did against Arizona on Friday there’s a more than decent shot. I think Oregon’s strengths on defense match up well against the Beavers’ strengths on offense but the turnover margin and third down conversions will make the difference.
Oregon State will win a civil war again at some point. College football is incredibly cyclical. Alabama was bad over ten years ago for a few years. Florida just lost to Georgia Southern. So good teams falling for a few years does happen.
6. How do Duck fans view Beaver fans who want to take on the risk of firing Riley to possibly gain relevance? And maybe elaborate on how Duck fans view this Riley era.
For Beaver fans who want to fire Mike Riley my question would be who is going to replace him? Are there really any hot coaching candidates or coordinators that would come to Corvallis? Does the school have the money to pay for a great coach? Or is there even a succession plan in place by a really good coordinator. I don’t fault Beaver fans at all for wanting to get a new coach to try and be really good and push for a conference title or BCS appearance but a greater importance needs to be put on what assets Oregon State has. They don’t have the money to shell out millions for a coach. They don’t have top facilities that make people stare in awe. They don’t have a rich history except for the 1968 Heisman Winner Terry Baker. There isn’t great in-state talent. There’s a lot going against the Beavers looking at it realistically. I think Oregon State’s problems go deeper than just coaching. Mike Riley has shown that he can put together great teams in this situation, although they may be years apart from each other.
On the other hand, I always believe that you can’t let something good get in the way of something great. I think that Oregon State, if they really want to push for titles on a yearly basis, there might be a better candidate who can help install change in the entire AD. But to leave Riley brings a lot of uncertainty and there’s a chance that the program gets a lot worse before it gets better.
Dammit angry! You buried the lead.
“For Beaver fans who want to fire Mike Riley my question would be who is going to replace him?”
I wouldn’t have read the article up to that point if that was first. And I will not read beyond that. It’s not that I want Riley fired. I’ve already said it’s a waste of time to even think about it because of circumstance. But this quote is just the mostest stupidest excuse of all time in all of sports. At least it’s a Duck crapping on OSU. I can understand that given rivalry and the much lower capacity for knowledge borne of that place. But it’s still just a lazy canard.
Heh heh…. See what I did there?
To suggest the Baker is the only part of the past that constitutes “rich history” tells me that your blogger buddy does not know about history.
And it’s 1962, not ’68 – which serves my point…
Kind of like when the ‘Germans’ bombed Pearl Harbor, right?
Just let him go, he’s on a roll.
I’ll assume that stupidity is within the text I won’t read and is in support of the stupidity which made me stop reading. Considering all 1968 Heisman Trophy winners are currently in prison, I’ll just tack on another imaginary crap-toss at OSU.
More hard hitting journalism from Lindsay Schnell
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2013/11/civil_war_football_mike_riley.html
It’s the weekly, “Will the Beavs find their run game this week?” story. I swear, she’s recycled this same story before every game this year. Mailing it in just like the Beavs.
OTOH she asks some decent questions here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2013/11/civil_war_football_a_brief_con.html
The piece lacks follow-up, but it seems some of the recent gripes directed her way may have gotten her attention.
That is so frustrating. First, he doesn’t even know his players were goofin’, second, he says the message is “within the team” ,what the bell does that mean? Sounds like he doesn’t have one and is using the team to hide behind it. Why wouldn’t you come out and say what it is, you have open practices like you don’t hide anything it would be inconsistent to hide that as well. So it makes me think he has no idea.
That’s actually a really good Q&A.
It looks like Riley doesn’t get any questions like this at all… ever. He didn’t even know what she was talking about with Brady not accepting poor play. Blaming any one person? Huh? Good on Lindsay to clarify it for him with simpler terms in a follow-up.
Nice evasions in the last two answers.
It’s funny he lists Reynolds in the Cooks/Poyer camp. Considering that member here said Reynolds was laughing it up with the hoodlums. She actually did well there. I was uncomfortable reading a few of the questions, which is a sure sign they’re good ones. I think AB and our crew here should take some credit for this. We have been all over Schnell and she stepped up a little bit.
Ps. Didn’t Riley say this exact thing last week?
Q: What have you seen from them this week that gives you hope for this weekend?
A: I think we’ve had a good week of practice.
Pretty clear she got the message. She tweets, in response to a comment that Riley didn’t want to give straight answers, “And yet, I’m sure readers will find a way to make that my fault.”
Boo hoo, Angry, you’re soooo mean! You too, silver and chris and chris………pickin’ on a gal, so terribly non-pc!
not really. Asking the right questions is what’s necessary to change the paradigm.
Yeah… where did PC come from?
IBM?
it’s the best set of questions she’s asked all year. And better yet, some of them have obvious answers which Riley danced around all too visibly. Maybe there’s hope. In this story she seems to be “on to him.”
Wow, those are pretty damn good questions. I’m also tired of Riley’s scout team bullshit. Earth to MR….your strong performing “scout team” ain’t doing shit for you on Saturdays.
Angry, are you going to tweet Schnell some kudos? She’s obviously attuned to the sentiment here and made a good attempt to get that message to Riley (however clueless he was).
That Civil War Q&A was good. It’s good to have good kids asking good tough questions that make good head coaches tell the truth about their good kids on their good squad. (Can you tell that “good” is all I remember from M. Riley’s answers?)
In all seriousness, kudos to Schnell in asking some direct and substantial questions.
Didn’t we all give up on the run game after SDSU? We knew we weren’t going to do it after that and just hoped going all in on the pass game would overcome what we thought for a month previous would be a hindrance on the back end of the schedule.
It turns out we were right in that original analysis and wrong to hope at all for anything better. I think Riley brings it up because he thinks Nikegon might waste more than a chuckle in planning for it if he talks about it.
The Beavers havent had a run game for years now, so how do you find something you never lost, becuase you didnt have it in the first place.
The views of Mike Riley from most casual observers reminds me of how Nate McMillan was viewed. “He’s a great coach,” was repeated often enough, especially amongst the national media, that it just eventually became almost a fact beyond dispute.
McMillan, like Riley, had no results to warrant that opinion, it just somehow became a fact over time, and any evidence to the contrary was chalked up to external factors. With McMillan it was injuries generally, and with Riley it’s Corvallis and money.
In fact, anyone who watched McMillan’s teams play could see that his system just wasn’t working, and the players weren’t listening anymore. After he was fired, along came Terry Stotts, and suddenly McMillan maybe wasn’t all that great. In fact, it’s telling that “great coach” McMillan still hasn’t been hired by anybody as a head coach.
Like Riley, I think McMilan was generally perceived as a good guy, which makes it harder for the media and fans to turn against him.
Thanks for the effort Angry but Rusty doesn’t quite live up to the Cardinal guy you questioned before the Stanford game.
He did a good job. I can’t expect him to know all about Riley and the myth vs reality. Even hardcore Beaver fans can’t make that distinction.
I think this showcases that Beaver fans just have a hard time saying anything good about a Duck. That was half my experiment with this.
Real talk.
Jacks’s assesment of him is accurate.
I do not have a hard time saying good things about duck fans, I’m just giving you my honest opinion. Like I said, I do appreciate the effort. It’s more than I’ve done to foster real talk on this site.
If someone walk up to your house and plants a steaming turd on your lawn, do you compliment him on form? To use the cliche, some of my good friends are of the anas variety – but b.s. is b.s. Admittedly, I read to the end, and up until then he seemed harmless, even okay; but the finish was a huge shaker of salt I had to swallow with the rest.
I’ve seen you call b.s. on Beaver fans, too. I think it generally showcases that angrybeavs readers just have a hard time saying anything good about b.s.
Obviously I don’t agree with “who is going to replace him”, as we’ve discussed a.n.
But I assume this guy is a casual observer like I am with the Ducks. I don’t know their inner workers. So if he gets a date wrong or thinks Riley is a good coach then it’s fine. If I said those things I could see blasting the messenger. But this guy is a Duck. Overall he was fine and answered thoroughly.
Maybe he likes Riley because he knows it’s an auto win each year. I don’t know. I just sense people are hating on him because he’s a Duck. And I say this because I tried to field questions earlier in the week and nobody gave a serious answer. To me, that says Beavers don’t know how to interact in any serious manner with a Duck. They only know how to insult, chide, etc.
I was being nice to him because he wasn’t a Beav. I would have said the same of anyone beyond Nikegon who said the same. In fact, I might be harsher because here in Oregon everyone is inundated with Beaver Newspeak of this variety. Someone from outside the region wouldn’t have this handicap and would need to do actual research to discover the reality of OSU. They would easily discover that we have only to overcome our own general mindset of mediocrity to make OSU a highly attractive destination for any coach. I would be harder on the outsider who was too lazy to do their own research and just bought the newspeak garbage instead.
Except for Cliff. I would be thrice as mean to him because he contributed to it then came back here without trying to be objective after being removed from the scene of the crime.
Is Nikegon supposed to be an insult?
Headline in the NYT: Oregon Embraces ‘University of Nike’ Image
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/sports/ncaafootball/oregon-football-complex-is-glittering-monument-to-ducks-ambitions.html?_r=0
You really are late to this game.
I call them that because they have embraced that for almost a decade. I know people within the AD there who are proud of it. They’ve worked hard to make it reality, so I oblige them. If you want a follow-up on that link you provided, I suggest you go talk to Bill at UO Matters if you want to find someone who might think this is a slight n either delivery or receipt.
In short no, it is not meant as an insult. It’s like calling the sun a star. They are just what they are.
or we don’t give two shits about the ducks maybe?
I’m missing my first civil war game in 6 years. Just couldn’t bring myself to put more effort into attending the game than do the coaches and players once again this year.
Same here. My wife convinced me taking our kid to the xmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown pdx would be a better use of our time. Seriously. I had no compelling argument to justify sitting on our asses watching the game on live tv for 3+ hours.
Oh I’ll watch the game, I’m just not going to be in attendance.
Don’t worry though, the alcohol will be near. Besides, the pain of losing almost doesn’t exist any more since I have little hope of success from this coaching staff. I’ll be watching out of morbid curiosity of how bad can it get, just like the Hussies game last weekend.
I smell a drinking game in all this.
Yeah, that’s how I feel, too. Who knows, maybe the Ducks will space out enough or not care to the extent we become competitive. Cant ya see it……0-0 at half time…..the sports world amazed at the great coaching job by our Mike Riley….
I’m going, but only because I have a non refundable room already reserved. This is the last time I will order Civil War tickets for a game in Eugene when the road game ticket order goes out.
I’ll be in attendance at Autzen. In one of the suites, out of the elements, with a big buffet and a bartender to boot. I’ll down a shot after every Beaver score and then some. I’ll have a few Beavs with me but we will be outnumbered in the suite by a wide margin but we will hold our own in there even if we have to throw Duck fans out the window onto the masses below.
I predict you will leave the game as sober as a judge.
Not if I start having shots after a score by either team, which it might come down to.
Have a shot after every OSU 3 and out. Drunk as fuck by halftime.
The “who is going to replace Riley” question is, like in all other instances, WAY OFF BASE…..
For the simple reason they always assume Riley now is the Riley of old……AND HE ISNT.
So replacing Riley (the Riley of now) in terms of performance, would be easy. I bet most high school coaches in Oregon, given the head coaching job going into the UW game, would have got more out of the team than Riley did.
But we cant blame reporters and other schools’ fans for making the misidentification of Riley before for Riley now. They dont look at this in depth. The Riley image, as a great guy and a good coach became well established. He could be caught in a DUI and no one would believe it. Rotten coaching performance like the UW game? ….no, not Riley, he is a good coach!
He is cruising on his old reputation…
I’m more than a little interested in Stevenson getting a standard half season suspension which is OSU policy for being nicked for drugs… a second time. I’m more than interested because there have been many players over the years who haven’t had a second chance. And I don’t recall any who have had a third chance.
And I supported Riley for being strict… except for the Castro selective suspension crap… which was just weird.
Brain-fart… the Sac St game was preceded by Castro’s “to suspend or not to suspend” drama. It was completely unnecessary and contrived. Might that have to do with his recent Tweet and possible knowledge of how the locker room works?
I could be totally way off base here but I think that may have something to do with it and possibly why Riley has lost this team. Not necessarily for drugs but possibly that some players feel that JS should have been kicked off the team but gets leniency due to the personal connection. I have nothing to back that up other than my own thoughts. But it could explain a total team meltdown. Some players on JS side, others not but po’d at the coach for allowing it to continue and him still being on the team. So the coach is now in the wrong with all parties involved. And you now have 3 sides and no one is on the coach’s.
this is a very productive theme we here in AB need to keep pounding away at because we need to deconstruct the Riley “legend” that has largely insulated him from criticism until this season: Canzano early on, and now this week Lindsay,who, indisputably, had gotten with the drift. However, Lindsay still adheres to the mythology that no other reputable HEAD COACH would come to Corvallis, at least for the amount of money likely to be offered. In a way, she is right about this but at the same time misses the point. I don’t find myself in the camp of wanting to bring in a big name from elsewhere but would rather find an up and coming assistant coach from somewhere (like Wilcox); which, as has been pointed out here now many times of late, is what Riley was when he first came here. Here the story takes a doubly tragic turn because we have a lazy, insensible AD who took Riley back in 2003 because it was the easy thing to do. Were Riley to retire (because he won’t be fired) DC is likely to specify “previous head coaching experience’ which limits the pools of possibilities and would have, for instance, have precluded Riley himself in 1998 or Chip Kelly at UO in 2009.
“I’m ready for the season to be over,” Romaine said after practice Tuesday. “I just need to step away from it. … I will be ready for next season. I just need a couple weeks, a month away from this.”
Me thinks tossed salad isn’t the only one who feels that way judging by what I saw last Saturday night.
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2013/11/oregon_states_trevor_romaine_f.html#incart_m-rpt-2
Lol… whiskey takes lettuce boy’s moniker in the direction he holds dear.
Seriously though, what is it with kickers in Oregon? Is getting a free ride for standing around while your position coach stands around somewhere else not worth it? At least our K can tackle.
And I’m sorry, but death threats are not something that should be reported as something everyday… for any sector of life. That is a clear crime which should be prosecuted as such. And if that’s happening to anyone I think the weird behavior displayed by both would be understandable if they didn’t receive counseling.
shhhhh jack. there’s still no light in my closet. happy thanksgiving everyone
The headline should have been, “Lettuce Boy has wilted.” I hope the equipment manager does not forget the pacifiers and sippy cups for ride to Eugene. This is looking like a loss of epic proportions.
Piling on with the “who will coach in Corvallis’ image,” I had to listen to this crap on the Beav radio channel this week. The theme is low self esteem.
1. The weather is the same in Corvallis and Eugene.
2. Eugene is not the center of the universe.
3. Corvallis is 45 minutes closer to the center of the universe for the state of Oregon (Portland).
4. $1.5-2 million is not chump change for a coach.
5. Stanford seems to be able to attracts smart guys who are big and fast and want a college education (we could get their rejects).
6. WSU has the same record as OSU and has been to the Rose Bowl more recently.
7. On and on.
Low self esteem leads us to recruiting only 1 and 2 star players and thinking no one–including a talented coaching staff–wants to live in Corvallis.
Having said that, I think Riley can still be a good head coach if he realizes he needs to make a transition as a head coach based on his age. That means bringing in hungry assistant coaches with big ideas. That is what happened at Oregon when they brought in that obnoxious genius who spoke out of the side of his mouth and had man boobs.
I think Riley has appeared frustrated and befuddled recently because for years MR and staff have benefited from the long held belief that his teams get better after slow starts. I’ve argued that the media has given him a pass for the poor starts, but it’s become his claim to fame. The last couple of seasons he can’t fall back on the improvement angle, so what’s left? Just a mediocore team that’s sloppily coached..
This sums up being a Beaver fan… Angry, you will like this:
http://youtu.be/bGDq57_fS-8
OT I hope that I’m not the only one who thinks Trevor Romaine is a total bitch after reading this.
You are not.
It looks like we all underestimated the leadership of Poyer. This senior class has not stepped up
in that regard. Nobody has offset the wishy washy MR of 2013. Most great college football coaches will tell you that teams are defined by their seniors taking ownership and policing the program.
Major fail for the class of 2013.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Angrybeavs. Go Pack Go!
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Voice mail on my phone this morning: “Hey JB its XXXXXX, (wifes name withheld) refuses to go to Eugene tomorrow. Interested? No charge for the ticket. I’ll drive. We’ll need to leave at 1:30. Give me a call.”
My first thought.
I have less than zero interest in spending all day, roughly nine hours, attending an embarrassing slaughter.
My response and a white lie. “Hi XXXX …JB. Thanks for the generous offer but we’re having people over to watch the game. Have fun. Go Beavs”
PS: My long-term rebuilding project has taken root at Northern Illinois. Yes.. a mere 23 years after I left they are number #14 in the BCS. Too bad OSU wasn’t as patient.
shit, you could give me a free ticket, $50 and a full tank of gas and I still would not attend the civil war. Even if it was at Reser. I’m sorry but the gap between the two programs has never been further apart.
The Senior leadership is an interesting topic to investigate. Is it that or is Riley not letting Vaz play in blowouts? Has he kept the young players engaged enough? Where is Mannion in the leadership, he one of the captain’s, but his quiet demeanor seems to not provide the right leadership for a young team. We need leaders who will hold the players accountable, because the staff doesn’t. I think there is more turmoil inside the ranks then our beat writers can sense. The attitude by Romaine I believe might be held by others.
Ucks 55
Beavs 14
I don’t think we’re gonna score 14. I’ll say ducks 56, Beavs 6
Reporter: What have you accomplished?
Mike: “I don’t know.”
Response after Riley lost his final 9 games to be fired at San Diego for a 14-34 record.
Very similar to this season’s awful skid. Sad that OSU went after tired scraps.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2001/12/31/riley_fired/
That was a weird season for SD. When Pascale first had issues with his back the team lost two games, won two easy cupcakes then lost the nine straight. I think all 11 losses were within one score… or something like that. But I have no earthly idea what Riley was thinking when he replaced Pascale with Banker. Your assistant DB coach is NFL DC material? Ummm… nine straight losses as you requested sir.
Thanks for the link. The full statement tells much about Riley. He is what he is, good or bad, winning isn’t at the top of his list.
“I don’t know, but I did it my way. I treated people the way I wanted to, and I coached the team the way I wanted to. I feel good about that.”
I thought this was pretty interesting as well.
“‘I want to see what’s going on a little bit,’ Riley said. ‘I’d like my next job to be my last one. I’d like to build something and leave something there that’s good.'”
Also, 8 of their losses were by 7 or less points and the 3 were by no more than 10. Seems very similar to how we often lose in our big, important games.
Well the year before he was 1-15 which is one of the worst records in professional football history. He also han another losing streak of 11 games. So Riley is very capable of making a program much worse with time there. He built nothing and is more likely to leave a program at a bottom after beibg fired then handing it off aftdr building something OK like he talks about.
His past comment that he would know when to step aside if he couldn’t get it done is flat out baloney. Most likely he will have to be fired after another stinker season or two which will suck for fans and have the program in poor shape. Alot of those UW witnesses don’t want to come back anytime soon.
The good news is a capable coach with energy and drive in the Pac-12 will be able to recruit and effectively sell Corvallis whereas Riley can’t. Players and alums will rally behind an actual leader. Riley is a poor leader and the ‘identity’ of his teams is not very good. Justin Wilcox can be got this year or next as could other capable candidates but I expect BDC will blow a good handoff opportunity and instead the ship will have to sink to deeper depths even though right now Riley has struck the iceburg and it is inevitable we are going down. He and BDC are playing violin music while anyone with sense realizes it is ridiculous and that a lifeboat is the only way out.
He felt best about the paycheck….
Re: Drinking game. If the object is to get shit faced, one shot after each missed tackle. If one wishes to stay sober, two shots for every Beaver run play over 3 yards.
For teetotalers and prudes: a shot for every timeout Riley uses.
I’m tee teetotaling this on this one!
I love to drink…..but doin a shot for every Beaver mistake or Riley fau pas, or example of Riley standing unconcerned with thumb up butt……well, that’s askin for death by ugga bugga ….
A replacement for Riley. Who knows. However, I’m thinking that a coach, who can recruit, and has a background similar to Mr. Briles (of Baylor) would be a great choice.
“…”Obviously, his track record was tremendous, but the things that were especially appealing about him were his ability to turn around programs,” McCaw told the AP last month. ”What he did at Stephenville High, taking over a program that really had never won, leading them to four state championships, taking over Houston when they were 0-11 and taking them to four bowl games. It takes a unique coach to be able to lead that kind of a turnaround, and he’s got the makeup to do it. And he’s done it again at Baylor.”…”
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-baylors-briles-gets-003827855–ncaaf.html
Bronco Mendenhall and Mack Brown both fired their DC’s after historically poor performances, it’s interesting (and kind of sad) that we all know it’s not even a remote possibility that Riley would do that to Banker. I would like to root for a program where there is at least a sense that if you perform a that low of a level there are going to consequences.
Am I the only one here calling a Beaver win? (If you can call it that, cause a win = zero change).
not going to happen. 6-6 it will be
Man, how in hell do you call a win? What will stop UO’s breakaway players? And where do the Beavs find points?
A win would be worse than zero change, as it would entrench Riley for several years, no matter how poorly he might perform otherwise. We can only hope for a blowout loss…..
Luck o the Beavs. We get the win today and well, luck o the Beavs. A civil war win at a big cost. Maybe I sentenced myself to this in the early nineties when I didn’t care about records. Just civil war wins… As for the how Steve, well the football isn’t exactly round see…
Can someone compile a historical Civil War record of all fhe OSU coaches. I have a feeling Riley’s is one of the worst.
Agree with the above posters. Riley ain’t winning this. He always loses to first year coaches. First Chip, now Helfrich. :(
historical scores for Oregon State
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/OregonState.htm
We’ve obviously had bad stretches in the CW. So I know Riley isn’t the worst. Off the top of my head I can call out Fertig at 0-4, Avezanno at 0-4-1, Kragthorpe at 1-5 and Pettibone at 2-4. Then it was Riley at 1-1, DE at 2-2 and now Riley at 3-7. So he’s 4-8 overall.
While we had one stretch of five losses or more, only Riley has lost five CW in a row. Still, it’s not as bad as ’75-’87, going winless with one toilet bowl tie.
*one other stretch
Oddly, an OSU loss could mean keeping Helfrich and having more two loss seasons at Uof0 and it could mean really forcing a change–at least in terms of DC or OC–at OSU.
Heh heh… we’ve identified four coaches who are just woeful this year and for the last several years. They also happen to be our highest paid assistants. I would also throw Brasfield in that group for the performance of his unit. So that’s five of nine coaches who deserve scrutiny. I give Seumalo, Perry and Bray passes because I think Banker’s weird scientist schemes are just terribly passive and poor in design. While I don’t subscribe to scheme making much of a difference compared to aggression and confidence, creating something way out of whack and so complicated so as to confuse your entire team is just incredibly stupid.
All that being said, we’ll lose. And Riley will hear the calls for change within his staff. Brennan is the only assistant whose unit has played well for the duration of his tenure. So he’ll stay if he’s not hired away. And Riley will keep his four buddies. Seumalo will likely stay as well for familial/longevity reasons. So we’ll hear about how Bray, Perry and Brasfield are the sacrificial lambs. The public would respond poorly to Bray’s dismissal, and Perry has some history with Riley. So If Perry doesn’t want to leave Riley will keep him.
So in the end only Brasfield and an assistant strength coach will be removed, and everyone will talk about how big changes were made.
Imo the only way the Beavs beat the ‘ucks is if the ‘ucks are so overconfident that they don’t show up……
Forget it. There ain’t no way.
There’s a small part of me that figures if the ‘ucks are going to win here’s hoping that they run up enough points so that this game is in the top 3 of most points allowed in a game.
The logic being that this would provide more heat for a change to be made. Forcing BDC out would be a great start.
Woo! You used my question! :)
Ducks 52, Beavs 20
Bank(er) on it
With 14 of those points coming in the last 10 minutes of the 4th quarter.
23 points? I have no clue… Maybe over 68?