Home Football Oregon State @ Washington State — Pregame

Oregon State @ Washington State — Pregame

265

ESPN has a respectable writeup on the game. I don’t have any profound insight on this game.

My general feeling is the Oregon’s defense might be worse than Oregon State’s so I’m not taking much stock from that game, WSU might experience a let down after that win, and the Beavs have the coaching advantage.

Luke Falk has played well, but my personal feeling is every Pac-12 team is overrated, and he hasn’t played any good defenses yet. They are all mediocre, so his numbers are inflated. We see every week an “unexpected” loss or under performance. None of this should be new. So the Beavs could and should be right in the mix on Saturday.

The Beavs are at a mental crossroads. Some players have bought in, some haven’t, and some are checking out because times are tough. GA should use the next few weeks to see who quits and pull their scholarships. The less dead weight from the Riley era the better.

All that being said, I marked this game as a win in the pre-season, and I am sticking to that since I am 5-0 on the year. I don’t have any good reason after seeing both teams play last week, but I just can’t shake the feeling that the unexpected always seems to happen, and up until a  few weeks ago everyone thought Leach and WSU were garbage + the Beavs had a better program. I’m not going to let a handful of games change that, but rather, I’d like to see WSU do it on the field before conceding the Beavs are the new bottom feeders.

27-24, Beavs

265 COMMENTS

  1. I can’t pick OSU, because I can’t tell you how we’re going to score points, and our coaches admit the defense sucks. That doesn’t sound like a winning formula.

    31-10 WSU

  2. The defense doesn’t have the depth to stay with WSU’s receivers. Marks and Williams are very good WRs. Don’t see Scott and DeCoud being able to prevent big plays.

    The way the Beavs will win this game is to take chances. Jump routes and take shots on offense. WSU isn’t going to give the game away.

    • I think Beavs need to emphasize the run. The only shots Collins has hit so far is some deep ones to Villamin, and those might work. Give us heavy doses of Nall/Woods/Brown. Some more of Nall at FB.

    • This shit changes week to week. They might be fine.

      Baldwin acknowledged they need to stop passing b/c they suck at it, so I expect a shorter game with more high % plays. Beavs can easily win a game like that. I guess they thought they were ready to pass vs AZ. Both was that wrong.

    • “WSU isn’t going to give the game away.”

      Um, have you watched Coug football over the last 50 years? The term, “Coug It” is ingrained into the WSU fans souls. They have given away games that are almost unimaginable. Now, let’s hope they help the Beavs out by Cougn’ It because we’re not good enough to win straight up.

  3. Q&A with WSU beat writer:

    http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/10/washington_state_beat_writer_q.html#incart_river

    If WSU is using a scheme with 5 DBs, start hitting them with Nall in the 3rd and 4th quarters..

    And some defensive changes in practice, 4-2-5 with Dwayne Williams replacing DeCoud and Sumner in at DT:

    http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/10/oregon_state_beavers_practice_64.html#incart_river

    I’d forgotten WSU lost to PSU.

    • IF the kids who Gina saw practicing represent the 1st and 2nd string DL and LB’s and IF their weights are accurate on the OSU football roster::::: All I can say is holy crap it looks like the Beavs will be going small and depending on the size of the WSU OL could be giving up a lot of weight.

  4. I’m thinking this is a very high scoring affair, like 70+ total points.
    WSU now can run the ball a bit and this helps them tremendously. With their predominantly aerial game they still get a million plays in though and I think this works against the Beavs youth and lack of depth on D and apparent lack of late-game conditioning.
    The weather is supposed to be nice too.
    Angry I don’t think this will be a let-down game for the Cougs, I see it as their confidence will be at the right level to destroy the Beavs. I don’t see them looking past the Beavs.
    Hope for a coug-it performance!
    Go Beavs but I won’t be holding my breath while I sit amongst my Beaver friends at Martin stadium.

      • I always do! Meeting some WSU grad friends who were at the Duck game last weekend, you’ve never seen a more pumped group of fans!! They said it was pandemonium in the Cougar section at Autzen stadium after the OT win.
        Sigh… does anyone still remember the excitement in the stands when James Rodgers ran into the Autzen end zone to beat the Ducks? So long ago it’s starting to fade from my memory.

  5. With all the apparent parity in this conference, I see all the teams looking at us as an easy win. Its gonna be tough to get any more wins. But I still like our current situation and outlook.

    GO BEAVS!!!

  6. Just a hunch, but I think OLB/SS Antione Webster will join Jamal Smith for a visit Oct 24th. Smith is already coming and they go to the same school

  7. I’m so excited for basketball season holy shit. In the mean time lets see if Baldwin fixes the problems from the Arizona game(having Seth air it out, stupid) and decides to use our stable of backs which I think can gash the cougs… Now if only our D can stop their offense.

  8. The Oregon -Washington game…..I am conflicted! Could part of me want UO to win?!?! Oh, god, the humanity…

    Ok…..I got it….. they play to a low scoring, boring draw, lots of injuries, embarassing coaching fau pas, and the game is eventually called off when the stands completely empty and the officials walk off in disgust….

  9. Thinking 34-20 WSU and as of now that is a stretch for the OSU offense to even get to 20. WSU will be very hard to hold under 30.

    What is the current spread? If less than 12 points take the Cougs until Baldwin proves he can sustain more than 1-2 drives a game.

  10. Dang, Sitake’s comments after practice are sure not the old regime:

    “I’m done trying to worry why this guy is not there,” Sitake said. “You’ve proven you can’t be there … now let’s give some other guys a chance and see what happens.

    “It’s just guys not being prepared, not doing it. And if they’re not able to do it, then maybe they just can’t. And maybe other guys can. That’s what it’s gonna (come) down to.”

    “We’re gonna call them out, because the stuff that’s going on, there’s no more protecting guys,” he said. “… Talk is cheap. Let’s just show it on game day, and then maybe we can build from there.”

      • That seems to be whats is happening. Like they might be showing some players the door…very soon…or maybe at the end of the season. I’m not sure what is involved with that. Can someone elaborate how that would work? I.e. giving a player the boot that doesn’t involve disciplinary action?

        • Pretty certain they can just revoke the scholarship, even for nonperforming. Most coaches won’t because it creates a lot of negative recruiting.

          Someone correct me if I’m wrong, by they are year to year and not binding.

        • If ships are guaranteed now, then we’ll just see how player X’s ego handles playing on the scout team and only dressing for home games and not lettering anyway.

          If effort and attitude are the metrics used, then the path back to the depth chart is pretty obvious.

          • If I’m a jr/sr on the team who has fallen out of favor with the coaches because i’m not as talented as they would like, but I’m also putting in effort on the field and in the classroom, I just don’t see the incentive to move on. My school is being paid for. That would be tough to walk away from unless I really think I need playing time to further my athletic career (which in these cases, that’s probably not realistic)

            Only way I would step away was if another school offered me a scholarship to finish my education elsewhere. That guaranteed 4 year scholarship is golden.

          • The other interesting thing is that the ships are only guaranteed for four years. If I’m a redshirt junior this year, I’m working my butt off. A redshirt soph can cruise, but that means one year of scout team before kissing it all good bye.

          • Good point, I wonder if red-shirting adds another guaranteed year?

            Seems the best we can hope for is for the underperformers to go on a weekend coke bender and break into some houses while naked. That might give them enough reason to get cut.

          • It probably deserves its own thread, since a guaranteed 4 years knocks down motivation. Humans act on incentive. I mean look what it did to Riley…look what it does to tenured professors, etc. What motivates humans it not having a guarantee. Duh. This was a very bad move by the conference.

          • just like guaranteed contracts in pro sports. guys work hard to get them, but few keep that level of play up after they get the guaranteed money, unless it’s the year before their deal runs out and they need to land a new deal

          • There’s still plenty of incentive.

            There’s ego. Never underestimate the football player’s ego. If they’re in it for glory, not playing makes it hard to stroke one’s ego.

            There’s a natural competitive streak in some kids. They just don’t want to play second fiddle to anyone. This is different than ego. It’s just a thing some people have.

            There’s the love of the game and being a part of a successful team.

            And there’s the incentive to make it a career on another level.

            The last three take care of themselves. It’s the egoists who need to be coddled. I see the recruits coming in as self-starters, athletic, competitive and loving what they do. The holdovers are the ones who are grumbling because the level of work required to be better than who they are is something they’ve likely never been asked to do. We have some holdovers who are self-starters. I would consider Storm one. Cooks was another to the hilt. Coaches praise Mageo and Saulo for their effort and leadership. Chappell has turned a chip on his shoulder into good hard work which pays dividends.

            The frosh and redshirts are seeing the youth play, and they’re going to buy in so they can be a part of that. It’s the personnel they’re replacing who are the grumpy pants.

          • There’s ego. Never underestimate the football player’s ego. If they’re in it for glory, not playing makes it hard to stroke one’s ego.

            Probably true for some players, but not these Riley recruits by all accounts. Ego only goes so far when you’re getting beaten down. Only the strongest of the strong can give max effort during a beat down. That is Jack Bauer level shit.

          • But when you have a “family atmosphere” and somebody is ostracized from that circle it would make for a pretty unenjoyable experience. That in itself might motivate somebody to seek out that “team” unity by transferring to D2 or somewhere else.

      • I don’t like this train at all. If you’re 2 years into a degree program at OSU it would suck to just get your scholarship pulled when you’ve been putting in the work both on the field and in the classroom and you have stayed out of trouble. Sometimes let’s think that this isn’t professional sports and that these are 18-23 year old kids guys.

        • so not caring or going thru the motions = putting in the work on the field?

          Should they get a participation trophy as well?

    • Interestingly, Decoud has been replaced by Williams. Did I miss something? Is he injured? Or was he one of the guys ‘not getting it done’? He certainly seemed to be better than the other cbs, although it is difficult to tell on a tv broadcast what the secondary looks like play to play.

      • I was surprised by that too, but Sitake said Scott played well after giving up the big play against UA, that he “shut down his side of the field the rest of the game.”

        I’d have thought we’d see Williams and Decoud, with Scott playing in relief.

  11. For what its worth, I am thinking that the no bullshit approach that the current coaching staff have will payoff in the very near future. Its one thing thing to talk the talk and quite another to hold players to the tough nose standards that are trying to be implemented. I am loving the moxie of the staff with inherited players and those freshmen who they recruited.

    • Because the series features both Utah and OSU, the episode that includes that game is likely to be very entertaining. There’s the various coaching angles (Andersen/Wittingham friendship, Sitake), Utah’s stadium is going to be very lively, there’s Utah’s high status, OSU’s lowly status, and signs point to a Beaver beat down.

  12. Anyone else notice the team looked so down when they were losing? GA and the coaches were trying to pump them up but they weren’t responding. Where are the leaders on this team? Guess these guys will need a kick in the ass or out of the program to get the idea that they need to perform. Lots of interesting stuff on The Drive.

    • I noticed that too, but what really stuck out was D-coordinator Sitake’s lack of real motivational ability. Maybe he’s a great coach, but what and how he was trying to motivate the defense while sitting on the bench was very lackluster and uninspired.
      I know that is only a small part of coaching but I wasn’t impressed.

      • remember this was edited we don’t get to see everything that goes on. To me it looked like the players had a deer in highlights look to them.

  13. OT, the facilities and excess race as manifest at Texas A&M. An example:

    “Past the sign is the exclusive inner domain of Kyle Field known as the Founders Club, with two bars, a baby grand piano and a chandelier that drips down three stories. Outside some of the 12 Founders Club suites, which are clustered on two levels on either side of the 50-yard line, are oil paintings of the couples to whom the suites will belong for at least the next 20 years. The rights to the suites were secured with donations of $5 million to $12.5 million, and the suites were then personalized with furnishings and color palettes of their owners’ choosing.”

    More:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/sports/ncaafootball/in-southeastern-conference-nothings-bigger-than-texas-ams-field.html?ref=sports&_r=0

    I don’t know why this keeps shocking me, because At this point, there seems no end in sight to this exorbitance.

    • “Oil paintings of the couples” was the most disturbing thing. “The artist really captured Jerry’s essence; provocative and hinting at his sensuality. Can someone get me another Bud Light?”

      • Yeah, and in 15-20 years, the paintings will show a romanticized view of what they USED to look like, you know, when they were still married….

        What a nauseating, narcissistic idea..

        Imagine if these families, who love the school so much, donated that for the school’s research capacity?!?

        • That is pretty obnoxious. The reality is both of the big two Texas schools have money up the you know what due to oil revenues set aside decades ago. One of my childhood buddie’s son is a soph at A&M and we are going to try to make a game there before he graduates.

  14. Downside of guaranteed 4-year scholarships:

    Players who have realistic chances at going to the NFL (mostly the top recruits) would have that incentive to play hard for. But what about Joe 2-star? Get in and he can coast to a free education while taking up scholarship money and a spot. Where’s his incentive to buy in and play hard?

    This would benefit the schools that can grab the top recruits and hurt the others.

    • Joe 2 star has every motivation to prove himself on the field, that he belongs there, that the other schools were wrong about him. Of all the players that I knew, very few put school first and those guys weren’t seeing the field often. I’d say this would be a problem for the non revenue sports where players tend to transfer less than football or basketball.

      Fun story – a backup QB, I knew, sold his books back before finals week. He had an open book final. Yeah, he didn’t return the next year.

    • “The Bo haters wanted an end to 9-3 seasons
      and Riley sure has delivered. Thank you, Mike Riley, for giving us all the change we so desperately wanted. And don’t worry about competing for championships, you still have time. I mean, you’re only 62. You’ll grow into this head coaching thing. It’s not like you’ve been doing it for very long.”

      “Is it possible Langsdorf is intentionally calling the most vanilla running plays in the history of football so he can justify throwing it all over the yard? Langsdorf loves the pass so much he would call on an armless QB to throw.”

      “We don’t have the skill at corner to play quarters coverage
      I’m gonna go watch “Bridges of Madison County” and cry it out with my dogs.”

      Those poor bastards

      • Lots of funny tirades, especially liked “Langsdorf loves the pass so much he would call on an armless QB to throw.”…At first I wondered if those comments were taken from old AB posts.

    • Gotta love how all of the sunshine pumpers have yet to show up and try and defend this shitshow. Their acceptance of incompetence and mediocrity is just as toxic to the program as these coaches are.

      Six games in….

      • What happened to those Sunshine Pumpers that would give Biley a standing ovation after he LOST a game? It’s amazing what people will fall for – letting shit slide just because they want to be or at least look polite. They’re still a few nimrods around on some other sites but the majority are nowhere to be found (heard from). Some guy said on the BIG 10 blog that although he was in the camp to fire Opie & the Misfits asap that the Huskers would never agree to pay 3 former coaches and hire another (Callahan, Bo and Opie???). We’ll see but my money’s on that they allow him to retire to so that he can spend more time with his grandson, which will most likely be announced next season. Reality tv for another 12-18 months, hip hip….

        BTW, Canzano tweeted that if Opie were still in Corvallis that he’d be the #1 candidate for the USC job. What an idiot.

        • Canzano might be right. Riley would get the “can’t-recruit-to-Corvallis” excuse, he’s coached there previously, he’s beaten them while at OSU, AND, he’s the anti-Sark just as he’s the anti-Bo at NU. Plus, USC likes pro’s style qb’s and offenses.

      • Hey …. at NU there ARE NO sunshine pumpers. He is a blank slate to everyone. He has no quality years there, for anyone there to fall back on.

        That is why its so weird he hasnt jumped in with real energy and got a couple of those. As it is, he is only failing. He hasnt followed his own formula! …and that’s gotta be a big mistake, esp with those fans who expect success. Here, one could point to that 28 yr losing stretch. There, they look back to the previous coach and its….yikes, 9-3!!! Already, he cant even match that, and they DUMPED that guy.

        Not good, Bikey, not good….

    • With Woods/Nall/Brown/Collins running you’d think – or I would – OSU could get three TDs.

      Baldwin confessed too calling the last game poorly, not enough running. I think he improves this week, and WSU’S D isn’t special.

        • That’s fair after this last week. We’ll see if he responds with what we think should be real football. I’m totally with you and against the finesse idea. I want our team to be the aggressors. I think we’re going to see that. But I have to see that.

    • Was just reading that WSU is nearly sold out for this weekends game, which got me curious….how much are tickets to watch the Beavs in Pullman?

      One sideline has seats for $16.00, plus fees. The other sideline has upper level seats for $40 plus fees. So even the expensive tickets at WSU are half what we are asked to pay for our cheapest seats at OSU($80). Our pricing is completely out of whack compared to the product we are currently delivering. Expect to continue seeing 1/2 to 2/3 full Reser stadium on game days.

  15. OT, sorta.
    I notice a comment on Egger’s piece which bad mouthed Andersen has been deleted. Apparently didn’t like Riley’s 2 of 14 conference record and the friendship between the two being mentioned. Truth hurts.

    Question: Is this a regular thing, Eggers deleting comments? I have noticed his articles seldom show responses but didn’t suspect that it was due to comments being deleted.

  16. Horowitz with a quote from J.James which furthers the conversation about “culling the herd”.

    “A lot of guys, I’m not sure who they are, but according to the coaches there are some guys that act like they don’t wanna be here. They’re not giving 100 percent at all,” James said. “Those guys eventually get weeded out of this thing. Once we start winning they’re gonna regret not being on this train.”

    Any significance to the coaches knowing who is dogging it while James doesn’t? Political speak?
    http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/sports/blogs/horowitz/2015/10/14/losing-leads-commitment-question-beavers/73929264/

    • Ouch. Nice find.
      Probably just doesn’t want to say names so as not to stick his neck out or throw teammates directly under the front wheel of the bus. If a guy isn’t giving his all and the coaches are calling him out for it, you have to think the team knows very well who is being talked about.

      This is where it would be nice to have reporters able to spend more time in practice. Maybe Gina will follow up with something, or blitz will have a minion track down the info.

      http://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/minion-150.jpg

    • Yeah, it’ll be good to get rid of some of the dead weight. Allowing that to continue is what made Oregon State teams lack depth under Mike Riley. It’s also why Oregon sucks right now.

      I bet, when all is said and done, we bring in a class of 20-22 guys this year.

  17. Re guaranteed schollies: One thing that occurred to me is even though it’s guaranteed for 4 years I’d bet that if the coaches let it be known that player X wasn’t welcome that there could be enough pressure put on the kid (both peer and from the coaches) so that he’d get the hint and transfer out.

  18. PHIL STEELE REPORT:

    This is homecoming weekend in Pullman, but Wazzu has lost 8 of the L/11 meetings
    between these P12 rivals. After opening the ssn with an embarrassing home loss to
    FCS Portland St, the Cougars have turned around their ssn, winning 3 of their L/4 incl
    at Oregon. Their lone loss s/the opener was at a ranked Cal team by less than a td.
    OSU meanwhile has dropped 3 of their L/4 and this is their 2nd straight gm on the
    road. Cougars QB Luke Falk is coming off a ssn high 505 yd passing effort and has a
    15-2 ratio on the ssn while the Beavers are worse than what the NCAA will have you
    believe on pass D. According to the NCAA rankings OSU is #24 in pass D, but my pass
    eff D rankings have them at #58 as they are all’g 60% completions and all’d a ssn
    high 276 pass yds against a run based AZ offense LW. My computer is calling for an
    11 pt Wazzu win but I’ll go higher than that and call for a win by 2 td’s, making this
    one of my “Best Bets.”
    BEST BET: * WASHINGTON STATE 34 OREGON STATE 20

    POSITION BY POSITION EDGES
    WHEN OREGON STATE HAS THE BALL:
    Oregon State QB/WR’s vs Washington State DB’s: ORST +1.03
    Oregon State RB’s vs Washington State LB’s: WAST +0.77
    Oregon State OL vs Washington State DL: ORST +0.40
    WHEN WASHINGTON STATE HAS THE BALL:
    Oregon State DL vs Washington State OL: ORST +0.33
    Oregon State LB’s vs Washington State RB’s: WAST +0.10
    Oregon State DB’s vs Washington State QB/WR’s: WAST +1.73
    MISCELLANEOUS
    Special Teams: ORST +0.26
    Kicking: ORST +0.43
    Coaching: WAST + 0.80
    OREGON STATE: 2.45
    WASHINGTON STATE 3.40
    TOTAL POSITIONAL EDGE: Washington State +0.95

    PROJECTED BOX SCORE (ORST/WAST):
    Projected Rushing: 138/77
    Projected Passing: 134/306
    Projected Yardage Total: 272/382
    Projected Final Score: 20/31
    Experience Rankings: 120/84
    Team Schedule Strength: 23/67

    COMPUTER:
    Las Vegas Line: Washington State by 8
    Las Vegas Total: 63 Points
    +/-: Washington State by 19.0
    Game Grade: Washington State by 8.8
    Computer Yards: Washington State 382-272
    Computer Points: Washington State 31-20

  19. This program is not headed in the right direction outside of the recruitment wins. We all expected a rebuilding year.. But we are currently headed in the wrong direction. MAYBE it’s a week to week thing in a rebuild? Not sure but we took a huge L and step back last week and I fully expect a potentially worse beatdown this weekend to the Cougs of all people. GA has his work cut out for him.

    More-so than I ever thought possible.

    • It’ll be very interesting to see how this team responds after hearing about the coaches calling out some players due to lack of effort. I still believe at some point the Beavs put 4 quarters of football together.

    • Just think where OSU would be if Mikey and the boys were still here. Maybe one win….maybe. let that sink in for a minute. The fact is, we are not Michigan, Florida or Nebraska with 4 and 5 star recruits peppered throughout the roster. We have 2 and 3 star guys, who, dispite saying they were ready to play in the big leauges, aren’t. Mikey left the team in shambles…but thank God he left.

      GA has my support. I would love to see improvements each week, but that’s not happening, and it sounds like there is a ho-hum attitude coming from some players in the locker room and on the field. I fully expect GA to deal with it. And it sounds like that will happen sooner rather than later. Hopefully it’s not coach speak

    • It is my opinion that I think you are putting to much emphasis on 1 game. Most teams have about 1 game each season where they really performed abominably and it showed in the score. Now if you remove that 1 game then everything appears to be going about average to me in a rebuilding year. The coincidence is that Arizona the team we played extremely poorly against did the exact same thing for 2 weeks prior. With parity in the Pac 12 a team getting schooled one week means very little other than they performed poorly. Arizona again is a good example as they will probably be bowl bound, yet were humiliated by 2 teams this year.

      Lets wait to see how this team responds to a poor performance before deeming the season lost. Just my opinion which is worth just what an opinion is worth.

      Another differing thought: If you look at Oregon State’s pass defense for the whole year it is actually pretty good and that is almost 70% of what WSU does. So this could actually be a good game situation for the defense to bounce back. I know that part of the reason the defense has allowed a pretty low average in pass offense per game is the power 5 teams only needed to run it down our throats. Even in the Arizona game if the secondary had not had mental breakdowns and allowed the big passes then the passing yards would have been more respectable, but as it was it was still just under 300 yards. Arizona actually had a very mediocre completion rate just over 50% which has been pretty standard for the year with our defense so far. WSU will not continually cram it down our throats with runs so this game might be just what is needed. Now remember I am not at all saying that our defense will stop WSU, but the conditions are not too bad for them having a chance of slowing them down enough to keep us in the game.

      • Exactly right. Everyone is overreacting because of the score. Arizona was penciled as a loss pre-season. So, they lost by more than expected. Makes sense since Arizona had gotten killed two weeks in a row and were pissed, and the Beavs had zero edge and clearly wanted nothing to do with a physical game in hot weather. The Beavs are mentally weak, but that’s Riley. Look at Nebraska. Weak weak weak. Can’t finish games, aren’t physical anymore, etc.

        Beavs are 2-3, which is exactly where I had them after 5 games, and picked every game correctly so far. Things are right on schedule. I think Riley would be 0-5 at this point. I don’t think he could have beaten Weber State — they played well, too well for Riley and whomever his new QB would have been. But that is speculation.

        Bottom line is things are on schedule at 2-3. That’s what any reasonable person would expect. The next two games should be wins to bring that to 4-3. Then it’s a bunch of 50/50 games. It’s funny that people don’t understand how this works. I bet Arizona fans were on the ledge after two blowouts. Ebb and flow. The bigger issues right now are not W/L but the (a) lack of improvement in the passing game and (b) GA saying the players are quitting/not giving max effort and all the animosity brewing there. This is awful for morale when trying to build something. The lack of leaders on the team is astonishing. Riley really did leave little.

        • even best case scenario they would be 2-3. No way they’d have beaten UA, Stanford and UM with Riley in charge. Some of you need to be a little more fucking patient and stop with this “the sky is falling” bullshit. GA has won everywhere he’s been. It probably won’t be this year. Give this guy and his staff a chance to build the program. I know that sounds just like Nebby fans in denial. But look at the track record of both coaches.

          • And GA isn’t riding the, “It’s all good. It’s one game, and I’m sure they’ll get back to work on Monday and work on blah blah blah,” train.

            He says it’s not acceptable, and it was a result of both coaches and players not doing the right work in the past. And those who don’t want to do it right going forward will find themselves not doing anything. Baldwin and Sitake came out all humbled most likely because GA chewed them out for their units’ performances on Saturday. Sitake said he’s not going to ask why practice warriors are game scrubs anymore. Baldwin called himself out for being pass happy. I’m thinking GA had words more choice for those two than any of us had here. Players will be found and played. We may not have enough to compete consistently. But we will have players who are at least in position and progressing, whether they get beat or not.

            I like that GA called out the open middle on third and longs in that game. And he said he didn’t know why that was consistently covered in practice but not the game. It was pretty obvious that RichRod beat Sitake, and Baldwin beat himself. I won’t guarantee it, but I think we’re going to see more power going forward despite us not having the personnel to do it for a whole game. I think we’re going in the same direction Harbaugh took his team from the start. The way to get better at something is to do it repeatedly in practice and not to finesse the process. There will be no more touchy feely clever stuff. There will be us coming out and trying to push the other team down the field.

            I feel like this game showed us what we can do. It’s like the Alamo Bowl when Mannion came in, and Riley didn’t let him pass the ball. We went and marched down the field for a TD against the worst run D in football by just pounding the rock. Then we went back to finessing the game and lost. Zony was not handling our power runs. So we went and slung it around and tried to be cute. It was only obvious because MM had to come in, and Baldwin went conservative. But it was obvious and should have remained obvious. The, “You have to pass when you’re losing,” canard might finally be going away. Yes, with two minutes and no timeouts, you have to pass. But you just pound the other team for three yards and a cloud of dust time after time after time early in the game, and it will turn into 13 yards and cloud of dust late in the game.

            I have the whole history of football to fall back on for this hypothesis. I saw us doing the Riley thing against Zony with two passes and a run that went and equaled a punt. If you practice and play the run, there will never be an incomplete run.

          • This does not mean we don’t reserve the right to be upset with poor play, as we were this last week. It’s to say it’s nice that we finally have a head man who is more upset about it than we are. Yes, we can’t continue to see that week after week and still believe the head man isn’t all talk. But one setback like that (after a bye) isn’t the sum of our season. A whole season of that would make me question the direction. But I notice nobody was crying about how UCLA is headed in the wrong direction, and Mora has a lot of work to do… just because of last night.

          • Right? I mean if you want to go down the ‘comparables’ rabbit hole, OSU was more competitive against Tree than the Bruins were last night.

  20. off topic but I can no longer see the twitter feed at the top of the page since I installed ghostery. Anybody know how to remedy that?

  21. One needs to utilize the tools that you inherit. Cleaning house may be necessary but right now it is merely a lame excuse. Lot’s of dollars were thrown their way. It is time to man up without this macho weanie talk. Please earn the right with respect for the process and the people.

  22. Hoops news: Looks like the first scrimmage of the year will be two Wednesdays from now on the 28th at 6 PM. Free for students, not sure for whoever else. But first chance to see the team in its full form.

    • Looking forward to that… And hoops is a shining example of what a rebuild should look like. Coach tinkle had hands down the worst talent in the Confrence last year yet we saw growth and improvement from our guys in almost every game until they tired out down the stretch from having 5 scholarship players…

      Contrast that with Ga and crew…. Football is different I get it.. It takes more players to win etc. But why is the morale seemingly low? The reports from this week confirm what our eyes told us last week. The team just didn’t come to play and was lethargic from the jump. That’s squarely on the staff.

      Hopefully they can get it fixed soon but I remain skeptical.

      • I think the hoops guys were glad to see a new coach, who COULD coach, and played their hearts out. For GA its different — he has a bunch of Riley guys who were allowed to cruise and liked it. They arent jumping in and giving their all, like in hoops. So the morale is bad — the Riley guys are pissed at being asked to play hard, and the guys who want to play hard have to be alongside guys who want to cruise, so they might be pissed as well.

        It will sort itself out. GA needs to stay the course and insist on performance and effort. Might take a couple years to weed out the cruisers. Its not a thing you can “fix” with coaching…

  23. Judging from the beatdown ucla is taking from stanford the Arizona game seems like one of those letdown games. Hopefully our coaches light a fire under their asses and we come out and play competitively.

  24. It seems like one of those are made every year in football where they catch it against the defenders back. Granted different levels of difficulty. One person has ever caught the ball with three fingers

    • Honestly? I was thinking just the opposite.

      If anything it seems like, because of the sticky ass gloves every offensive player wears, you see one handed catches several times a weekend, from high school to college to pros.

      When I saw Owusu’s play last night, I had never seen play where the player is essentially hugging the opponent, had no line of sight with the ball, yet caught it with hands wrapped around the defender, and held on all the way to the ground.

      Guess I’ll have to be more observant.

        • Check out the grab by Isaiah Hodgins in his HUDL highlights, from his Sophomore year of highschool. It isn’t in HD so it might not look as pretty, but the degree of difficulty rivals that Beckham catch. He’s running across the field and the ball is thrown way behind him but he somehow is able to reach back and catch it one handed, while maintaining his momentum in the other direction.

          There are 2 angles, starting around the :30 second mark

          http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2653560/highlights/165325375/v2

          • Nice plug got the Recruit!

            Speaking of Recruits you’re following: How good would Charleston Rambo’s name be for a Line Backer! “Ohhhhh, That play was blown up by Rambo!”

          • I don’t think he’ll end up here, only because he seems more interested in teams close to home, but I love the kid’s name. Does it get any tougher than Chuck Rambo?

        • great catch? Yes. Difficult? That too. Owusu’s catch had a greater degree of difficulty as he was impeded by the DB interfering and he could not see the ball. Thus the reason I rate it better. My two worthless pesos

      • There was one similar a couple years ago with the hug and everything. I can’t remember what level it was on or where it was. I want to say it was a Miami (college) player. But it was just like that.

        Yes, the Beckham catch was great. But I agree. The gloves make it easier than the Stickum days.And he had the opportunity to bring the ball in. That’s what’s amazing about this catch. If the DB rols over, he loses grip and the catch. All he had was the ball in his hand. I also think that’s not a catch if he’s not wearing gloves, though.

      • Murphy stealing third on a walk was the difference in that game. I think Ethier needs to let that foul ball drop. It’s like Murphy said, 90 feet are precious at this level at this time.

        • Tough call with only 1 out and still more than half the game to play.

          IMO – You have to take the outs you’re given. The risk goes up considerably when give the other team an extra out.

          • But it’s not an extra out. It could have calmed Grienke down. He was completely pissed after the shift allowed that steal. If you’re Puig, you make that catch and dare Murphy to beat your arm. If you’re Ethier, you make that catch because you’ve always been a poison in the clubhouse and out for nobody but yourself.

            There is nobody who will instruct a player not to make that catch, though. IMO, that’s just not smart play. And baseball likes to think it’s a smart game. This goes against that mentality.

          • Yeah, tough call. The manager should have signaled to the outfielders to drop a foul ball if that’s what he wanted done. Otherwise you catch it and take the out (unless it’s the 9th inning, then obviously let it drop).

            Grienke has nobody but himself to blame. Great pitcher, smart guy, but lacked awareness and it cost him the biggest game of his life.

            That was a great game. I think the Mets are a better team than the Cubs, so that one base could be the difference between them going home and them going to the WS. Pretty amazing.

          • Should be a great matchup. You have to wonder how the young guys on the Cubs will deal with the spotlight. Not necessarily in the games but all the media obligations leading up to and following the games.

            Fun stat – Mets went 0-7 vs the Cubs in the regular season.

          • I’ve gotta pull for whichever team comes out of the AL. I despise the Mets with all of my being, and the Cubs winning the World Series would end up breaking one of the most sacred streaks in all of sports. The futility must continue!

          • heh heh… I just can’t root for any team that doesn’t play real baseball.

            That makes it hard on the college level. But I understand immediately that I’m rooting for my team and nobody else. I already know I’m not watching the best of the best, and it’s not like I pretend the DH is anything important in an already junior league.

          • I won’t pull for the Jays after their classless fans pelted the field against Texas in game 5 over a call that went against them that was the right call! Fuck Canada.

          • It’s hard to tell who you’re responding to.

            But then I’m in the camp that thought we should have hired Scioscia and still should hire him. And I will still hire him tomorrow. I never bought into Mattingley. I never will buy into a front office who keeps Ethier two years beyond him being a poison.

            Hire Mike dammit!. He is Blue. He will win. Pay him that money.

          • And if you think baseball is just a moneyball thingy, then you have no clue.

            The Dodgers were successful for years because they had scouting and coaching on the lower levels which allowed them to fill their roster with great players. In the late 80’s, a GM who lost this ideal started trading away those players. And still they had the ROY for four straight years in the 90s. And they all ended up somewhere else anyway.

            I think Beltre was one of them.

            In that time… so many good players left the program in trades for crap. And scouts left the system. A couple good ones went to the Giants. Oooh! where are the results?

            This is why I have the doom message when we make the play-offs. The system is not the big league team. It’s the culture that was once the minors. That went away. A once proud system who could only point to the failure to protect Clemente in FA can now point to a bunch of dumb moves to buy a bench.

          • I was replying to your post about Murphy going from first to third on the walk/shift and it costing the dodgers the game. Murphy just killed the dodgers in that series. I was behind Mattingly in the past but not anymore.

          • I was never a Mattingly guy. I don’t understand who we were under him.

            Just hire Scoscia and get it over with. We are great pitching and better D. We are not some mish-mash of good hitting and great pitching and whatever D.

            That, and Ethier would have been gone four years ago under Scoscia. I have had no fun watching da bums while he’s been there.

          • I also disagreed with brining in Rollins and Utley. Seager should be the everyday SS next season. Why bring in more washed up, over the hill has beens? A healthy Ryu should help next year but honestly I think Greinke walks. Then what? Bring back Kendrick at 2nd? Let AJ Ellis walk? The bullpen needs a ton of work. I am ok with brining back Ellis and Kendrick. The rest, see ya. I agree Eithier should be traded. Bullpen help should be available on the free agent market. I was ok with JP Howell, Luis Avilan and Chris Hatcher with late innings guys and Jansen as the closer. I’d really like to see Jansen develop and utilize another pitch instead of consistently relying on his fastballs The rest of the ‘pen? Not so much. The iron was hot this previous offseason and they could have gotten Joe Maddon. But instead decided to stick with Mattingly. Lame. I’d be ok with Scoscia if they could pry him away from the Angels. Ron Roenicke is the other name being mentioned and maybe that was why they brought him in? IDK, but I don’t see many other names out there worth considering right now.

          • They should pay everything to move Scoscia out of Disney’s parking lot. Don’t even bother trading Ethier. Dump him. Jansen would be a great set-up man. Yes, Seager at short… I think Grienke stays.

            Time to bring up Verdugo. Seager and Pederson are a good restart to a once great farm system. Verdugo is too young, but we gotta Harper the kid. Put him in LF with Pederson and Puig in the other spots. Let them grow up together.

            That’s all I got. I knew this would end before I wanted once the trade deadline passed.

    • He was likely going to redshirt. But I hope he recovers well. He now will redshirt, and he can concentrate on the season off to rehab and build himself up while getting used to the college game. It could be a blessing.

        • He was going to be asked to grow first anyway. Tinks grabbed him now rather than try and fight for him next year after he showed out in prep ball. Now he can learn the system and rehab against top notch talent in order to be better than he would have been after that prep year.

          • Appreciate the insight. One thing I didn’t lookup before asking was the recovery time and found that it’s 4-6 weeks so he’s not missing much time at all so he’ll be able to practice later in the year.

          • Well… the standard for a broken bone is 11 weeks. Regardless, he will rehab with the full weight of an NCAA program behind him. That will pay off in his later years.

  25. Let’s start something new.

    We’re going to pick five games. And they’re going to be straight up. Fuck this ATS shit. The tie-break will be the score differential on the Beavs. So let’s go.

    Michigan State @ Michigan
    Cincy @ BYU
    Air Force @ Colorado State
    Alabama @ aTm
    OSU @ Wazzu (pick the score)

    • The problem is that the ones who haven’t “bought in” don’t have the awareness to realize that they’re not giving themselves fully to the team/process. Most every believes that they’re bought it. Accountability is key though. Those who we wish to keep on scholarship are the guys who never complain about the uncontrollable factors that they encounter and take complete responsibility for their part regarding what they can control and strive to achieve.

      • I thought about that. You’re correct. Some people don’t have a broad spectrum understanding of life.

        I think they’re not stupid. I think their parents were little league parents. But I don’t thin they don’t knwo what goodness is.

        I may be wrong.

  26. We got seven in. I know there are more. bring it people.

    Picks s/u:

    Michigan State @ Michigan
    Cincy @ BYU
    Air Force @ Colorado State
    Alabama @ aTm
    OSU @ Wazzu (pick the score)

    • 1. Michigan State
      2. BYU
      3. Air Force
      4. Texas A&M
      5. Washington State (38-13)

      -Upset not in your list: Memphis over Ole Miss
      -Should include Oregon and Nebraska games in future weeks, since we’ll inevitably be talking about those games around here anyway.

    • Michigan State @ Michigan – UM
      Cincy @ BYU – BYU
      Air Force @ Colorado State – Air Force
      Alabama @ aTm – aTm
      OSU @ Wazzu (pick the score) – OSU, 27-21

      The last line I saw had WSU favored by 8. I don’t know how in the hell anybody picks a line on the game. I remember WSU’s ability to lose at home to PSU and think OSU OUGHT to be able to beat them too.

    • Good idea Jack, thanks.

      Mich St…Screw Harbs
      BYU…Bronco screwed MR so he gets a thumbs up from me
      Air Force…Come on, you know I have a flyboy kid
      Aggies…F Kiffin, F Saban, F the south
      Beavs…21-20…Low scoring, I mean come on, we know Seth can’t score, and if they win, that means by default a low score

  27. Kind of weird to think of Michigan as the trendy upset. Not sure who’s actually favored, I just mean who has been regarded as the better team in recent times.

    Also, as we do with Riley, I wonder how Michigan would be doing if Hoke were still there this season. Obviously, Harbaugh is benefiting from Hoke’s recruiting, and Hoke had good Ds while there. I guess BYU and perhaps Northwestern would have been additional losses.

    • Michigan’s defense has just been so dominant this season. They’ve allowed only 14 points in the last 5 games, including the Jarmon touchdown. So one score since Jarmon’s TD. That’s just nuts.

      Michigan State had trouble putting away Rutgers(took a spike on 4th down to call it final) and Purdue the last 2 weeks. They just haven’t looked impressive, despite the undefeated record.

      Also, it’s a home game for Michigan. Wolverines win big.

      Harbaugh has Michigan playing well far ahead of schedule. It’s been pretty impressive to see.

    • FWIW… that Prothro catch was not the same. And it’s not the catch I think of when seeing this one. There was another a couple years ago that was exactly the same with the whole hug thing and the catch. I’ll find it… three weeks from now… when it’s OT….

      Oh well.

      • Yeah, I agree, the Prothro catch was not the same, yes his arms were around the defender, but the defender was not impairing his vision nor was the defender between the qb and himself. Amazing catch though.

        And I still contend the one handed catch, due to sticky ass gloves is a weekly occurrence, the Beckham catch just happened to be on a very big stage.

  28. The cougs finally have something going for them, and just beating OREGON!?!? Man, they are gonna be riding HIGH…. they are gonna be pumped. So cant see us winning or even coming close. Not really criticizing our state of development or the coaching…..just saying that team is gonna be tough for anyone, right now….

    GO BEAVS!!!

    • Everyone has been bringing up the wins against Oregon:

      A) Oregon does not appear to have a good Qb on the roster right now, and I think in general just kind of sucks this year. They might not suck as bad as us, but they still suck.

      B) the Cougars have been knocking on the door of upsetting Oregon almost every year. They’d always be in the lead or close to it into the 3rd quarter and then imploade. This year they finally kept it together, mostly because Oregon kinda sucks.

      In fact, I pretty much guarantee all 3 teams we’ve lost to would also kick Oregon In the teeth. Shows how great Mariota really was: a once in a lifetime type Qb for their system who was almost perfect. He single handedly kept Chip Kelly’s Oregon alive. Now it’s fully Mark Helfichs ducks and they aren’t the same.

      • Win not wins.

        Also, it’s funny almost every friend of mine who’s a Duck fan tells me they wish they had Seth the great instead of all the other cats on their roster.

        Has to be one of the biggest fall offs from a team one year removed from the national championship game

        • I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Oregon, not this year. I think they bounce better than the Beavs do after this start.

          I have WSU 34-17

          • Natch, dude. They have lots of talent. But the already 3 losses is a disaster to the bandwagon….. and man, are teams gonna be laying for them now….sharks with blood in the water….payback time!

            I see lots of 30sometning to tensomething for scores for us an WSU….probably about right….sigh….

  29. Beavs are starting to hit paydirt with comic/superhero recruiting so let’s get our Guardians of the Galaxy on and go get the W in the Palouse. This game will go to the team who gives the most heart to win it.

  30. When was the last time UW was favored over the ducks? I will love to see that go UWs way.

    And sorry Beav/Goph, I think Riley is gonna take you to the woodshed today in one of those made for Pollyanna dreams games.

    • Naw, nebraska will lose on something incredibly stupid, like a fumble pickup that goes for a 60 yard touchdown with like 8 seconds left. Or a safety or a forth and goal on the one and Tommy Armstrong will spike the ball to stop the clock.

    • I think it’s interesting and refreshing that GA’s assistants speak up and accept responsibilty. I don’t remember Langsdorf or Banker ever going into this type of detail or saying outright that a poor performance was their fault. In the end, it’s all about wins and losses, but I like the accountability.

    • Sounds like Baldwin knows how talented the receivers are and wants to get them the ball, so he tried force feeding it last game with a Qb not capable of getting it done. Nice to see they’ve taken notice and are going to try to adjust to a run first offense.

      Hopefully they follow through and try to ground and pound WSU. If they do and still lose, I’ll be happy at least knowing the staff follows through. I’m used to hearing we need to run more and seeing the opposite.

      GO BEAVS! You got this!

    • The money quote:

      “I have to take the blame,” Baldwin says. “We took ourselves out of situations by throwing the football. That’s not who we are right now. We have to be able to run and make sure we’re capable of moving the ball consistently. That’s on no one but me.”

      Umm… wow!

    • That whole article answers every complaint I’ve made over the last six years. Why is it so hard for coaches to do just what Baldwin is doing here?

      Or is it that Pollyanna has wrapped OSU football in bunker mentality for so long that we’re just now seeing what other schools get all the time? That’s not really the case either, since I see what happens at Nikegon on a regular basis. Where does this honesty come from?

  31. It’s typically good scheduling to play the Cougs after a big win. They will find a way to revert to their norm and find a way to lose to a lesser opponent. Martin Stadium slowly drains into the Pullman gloom as the promise dissipates.

    Unfortunately this, potentially dysfunctional, Beaver edition doesn’t have the potential to capitalize on their proven likely hood to “Coug it.” JB

    • @ginamizell Oh, I got you: Flying Goat Pizza for dinner, Madeline’s for breakfast of maple bars, collapsing in a diabetic coma along the picturesque river walk.

      Ftfy Linds

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here