I’m watching the Washington @ Hawaii game.

This Hawaii QB is mobile and runs the read option. He’s making good decisions. Their D is playing well, too.

Now add Norm Chow being brighter than Riley, Beavs having to travel, and the surprisingly raucous crowd…this game is a week away but I’m getting a Utah 2008 deja vu feeling watching this.

A lot of “A win is a win” going on via Twitter. That’s a rationalization method, as we all know not all wins are created equal.

Let me ask you this: If they Beavers had won 45-0 without any flaws, would you feel like absolute shit, as you do now?

Of course it’s the Mamma Machados of the world spewing that BS. This win was ghetto and jank. The only positives I saw where Justin Strong making some nice plays and taking good angles, Grant Bays looked good at times (was really high on him as a recruit), Nelson had nice coverage…can’t think of much else. Yeah Zimmerman had a nice game, but those balls were gift-wrapped, and I don’t see that translating to him having a breakout season in the Pac-12 once competition picks up.

The rest was all typical OSU. Over a 9 month period we read crap spewed by the mainstream media saying that this year is going to be different, but did you see anything different? That is all propaganda to get us hopeful and excited about a mediocre, if not bad, product, and spend our wages on it. But there was nothing different, and nothing to get excited over. I saw the same exact bones of last year’s team, and the year before, and the year before…etc. All that changes is the cast of characters. It’s a perpetual vaudeville show up there in Corvallis with the directors and choreographers remaining the same and the performers changing. There can’t be “teaching moments” if you don’t have teachers who have mastered the subject. This is why we see Banker looking like a fool year after year, for example. He’s a so-so D coordinator and is probably more suited for high school football. But since OSU is “poor” we’re told he’s awesome. A more honest statement would be “this D coordinator sucks, but he’s one of Riley’s best friends, Riley doesn’t like change, and Riley is signed for life, so you’ll have to deal with it.” At least we could respect the honesty of that.

Also, OSU has such low self-esteem. That low self-esteem starts at the top, and it’s not necessarily verbal (they say the right things, it’s just forced and insincere). It’s more how they act. Hiring gimmick coaches like CR, signing Riley for life out of desperation, etc. These are the actions of desperate people who think lowly of the university, yet are trying to create a buzz. That unspoken message does get passed down to fans. The loyal fan will take the unspoken cue and run with it, making up justifications that do become spoken and eventually spoken so much they become belief. “Nobody can recruit to Corvallis” is a good example of this. That starts at the top via unspokens and moves down the chain. The loyal fan, therefore, plays a key role in this smokescreen. A better message would be how to creatively move beyond these perceived and self-fulfilling beliefs. I’ve offered so many solutions in that regard, but they fall on deaf ears. This is a bit of a tangent but not entirely…what we say today on the field is due to the process off the field, and it starts at the top and percolates into the players and fans’ expectations and self-worth. It’s sinister, and I won’t accept it, which is why I’ll never agree that “a win is a win”. Today’s win was absolute shit. I repeat: absolute shit! Not all wins are created equal, and I will not let these assholes tell me or my readers otherwise.

Have a good Labor Day weekend, Beavos. And I look forward to another season of madness here at AB, the only source of real talk.

Here we are Beavos, another year wiser and another year balder.

Kickoff to the new season is at 1pm.

I’m going to wait until after this game (should be more like a scrimmage, but Riley will find a way to make it close) to give predictions on the season. Gun to my head right now I’d say Beavs finish 7-5, but teams never win the games they should, and the Beavs are especially bad at it. What they have going for them is an easy schedule, so 7-5 should be the low barometer. I don’t see a magical season here, but we’ll wait until after tomorrow before making big picture calls.

With regard to the Portland State game, what I want to see is if (a) the Beavs can get a big lead and then (b) if Riley will pull the starters and give the backups some valuable experience. If he doesn’t, we’re stuck with the same old dumbo Riley. Other than that, this game isn’t very interesting.

Go Beavs

From Bone. Thanks for this.

A few updates now that camp has officially ended.
• Vanderveen appears to have the backup spot locked up. After having a pretty good scrimmage, he has continued to play with more and more confidence. Looks much better than Del Rio at this point.
• It doesn’t sound like there will be a redemption season for Romaine. Let the Garrett Owens show begin.
• Ending fall camp with very few injuries. Even with the increase in contact in practice
• Bolden and Mullaney are locks to start at receiver. Gilmore and Jarmon will probably see a lot of reps in the game because Jarmon was out for about a week. Both Mullaney and Bolen have looked good since they started practicing again.
• My under the radar receiver who I think could end up making an impact down the road is Kendall Hill. Converted safety who has had knee injuries the last two years. Very smooth athlete, good size, with great coordination. It might not be this year because he is still learning the playbook, but I like what I see.
• We will probably only see Haskins in goal line and short yardage situations, he is mostly working with the scout team.
Here is how the defense is looking.
Defensive Tackle
• They have done a good job at controlling the line of scrimmage all camp. They also are constantly in the backfield, especially the defensive tackles. Delva, Hautau, Grimble, all look much improved from last year. I think Peko is going to live up to the hype. He has the type of body you want at defensive tackle, and he (along with Grimble) has very nimble feet. This might be the strongest group we have had at this position in a while. Expect a lot of rotation with theses four players
Defensive ends
• You know what you will get out of Dylan Wynn, a rock solid player who doesn’t makes mistakes. James looks like he could be a contributor and Gwacham looks like he can handle defensive end just fine. The line is just missing a playmaker like they had in Creighton, need to wait for games to see who steps up and takes the spot.
Linebackers
• This might have been the most fun defensive position to watch for me. They are really getting after it, you can see influence that Bray has had on them the last three seasons. They play pissed off, fly to the ball, and really improved in pass coverage. Jabral Johnson will slide to the outside if Doctor or Alexander miss time and Rommel Mageo plays in the middle.
Corners
• Little concerning, only four corners were practicing outside of the scout team. Nelson, Scott, Williams, and Marable. Hunt is still nursing his injury and hasn’t seen the field really at all during camp. Nelson and Scott both are playing at a very high level, especially Nelson. Very rarely are passes completed against him. From what I have seen with the corners as well as the linebackers is the level play up and down the depth chart has improved, I accredit that to better coaching from Perry and Bray. Even players like Marable are playing at a higher a higher level than I anticipated.
Safeties
• Another really deep position group. With the lack of corners, there will be a lot of safeties playing in the nickel and dime packages. In the nickel they bring in Zach Robinson and move Murphy to the down in the slot. Victor Butler’s little brother has been making a ton of plays all camp, he could see some time. I think this is the deepest position group on the team, not linebackers.
In all honesty, I can see this being one of the top defenses in the conference, there just seems to be a different attitude from all levels of the defense. They are returning 9 starters with a ton of starts, improved the big area of weakness at DT, along with the return of Doctor is huge. If they can find someone who is able to get pressure on the quarterback at the end opposite of Wynn, this will be a fun defense to watch.