Many times in the history of human thought a belief once heretical has become a universally accepted truth…the history of science is partly the history of paradoxes becoming commonplace and heresies becoming orthodoxies
–Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959 edition, on "Heresy"
We've had a week to digest the fact that the Beavers are not a National Championship caliber team. How's that going down for you guys? Over here it's fine.
As time passes and reflection sets in, I start to see reasons for optimism. For starters, the coaches (specifically Banker) are saying the right things. "Need more speed on the edge", "middle linebacker is a weak link", etc. Last year, it took Banker three games to admit #28 shouldn't be on the field. Banker seems more open to scheming for opponents as well. What a wild and crazy guy. What's next? He tells cornerbacks to turn their head and make a play?
The only bad news I've heard so far is that the coaches have given the players three days off. To me, this should be interpreted as rewarding the players a loss. I know it's not, but that's the message a player will (subconsciously) receive. At the very least, it's mismanagement of time and a lost opportunity to improve execution through repetition. If I were the coach, and I saw how much work lay ahead, I'd reschedule that recruiting trip. Three days off when Cameron Collins needs to be worked in at a new position in order to salvage the defense/season? Yeah, with that I have an issue.
What should be done:
1. Move Collins to linebacker permanently, this year, now, today, this minute.
2. Have a nickle package where Poyer plays CB, #28 and Mitchell play safety, Hardin moves to rover, and Collins/Doctor are both on the field.
Such a package would afford the team speed, pass coverage, and run support necessary to defend spread offenses. Against standard pro offenses in the Pac-10, a lineup of Roberson (MLB), Doctor, and Pankey would be an upgrade. If Pankey could be replaced with Unga, things would be looking even better.
Without shifting the defense as described, I don't see any possibility of the Beavers shocking the world later this month. In fact, it's hard to be confident about the Louisville game with the status quo. Hopefully we see creativity and change once the coaches return from their…vacations.
Is it sad that possibly the two best LB’s are a Freshman and an out-of-position player? Nick Barnett, where are you? And is Akuna really THAT raw that he can’t compete for time with this current LB corps?
Maybe this recruiting trip will score some decent LB’s who can actually move laterally and watch for the blatant option.
Is Jabral Johnson still going to de-commit from Arizona in favor of the Beavers? The more designated LB’s on the team the better… odds are that at least one will turn into a D-1 player.
I saw a commenter on another site suggest that in recent years, it took a loss to an excellent team to expose the weaknesses in the team so that the coaches had the opportunity to fix them. They had noticed that those tough losses seemed to be the turning point for the team to really begin improving (not necessarily winning immediately; cf. Penn State in 2008, Cincinnati 2009). There might be truth to that, but my memory isn’t long enough to say so for certain.
My only concern with that philosophy is the lack of a playoff system in D1. It’s basically, one loss and you are out. No room for improvement. You need to survive bad games and then get better, but you can’t ‘learn’ from a loss, as that means you just learned you are out of it. There a just a handful of teams that can get away with a single loss, and that’s if there are several others in that category that happen to get this loss. I live for the day (or another day) when all the BCS conferences have a team that is undefeated or with one loss. Tough to find a two teams from 6+ for that one game playoff (BCS Championship game). I love the controversy. It exposes the crappy system for what it is. Old, rich, fat white guys deciding who gets to the ‘best’ team in College Football, and which schools get to reap the rewards. In the case of some conferences (See Big 12, or Notre Dame) it is then unevenly split amongst the rest of that teams fodder in their conference.
The best thing for college football would be a cap on the number of scholarships/roster spots you can give to a player from CA, Fl, TX, OH, or PA.
The sport would become bigger than the NFL with that simple rule. Force the talent to spread out more, and you have a real game. Right now there are 120 DI teams but they may as well be 10.
Money of course is the issue. The non-BCS schools like the $800,000 payouts like Idaho is getting next week when it comes to Lincoln to face Nebraska. They like the idea of getting the scraps of the BCS and rarified quality bowl like the BCS Bowls offer.
Otherwise, I’ve always thought the non-BCS, Mid-Major schools should just create their own division. D1-A.5 if you will. Somewhere beween 1-AA and A. Maybe even merge with 1-AA. Either way, you can play and get paid for getting beat up by D1 Schools, but when the regular season starts, you are playing for playoffs spots and seeding. Tell the BCS to fill the Motor City bowl with a 1-11 Washington State and a 2-10 Maryland since they are so much better than us per their affiliation to a BCS conference. We’ll take our 10-2 teams and play each other in a playoff and have a true champion.
Do it in hoops too. Of course there are rare exceptions like Boise/TCU and Butler in hoops. But as a whole, they get shafted. If it wasn’t for the Amercian Dream delusion so many in this country suffer from (Hey! I’m a minimum wage legalized slave now, but I can be Daddy Warbucks if I work hard enough) they’d opt for fareness.
3 days off? who cares? I am sure they are still hitting the NCAA max for the week so what does it matter?
So you are sure 3 practices is the max, huh? The rule is actually 20 hours of practice per week. It has nothing to do with # days. So apparently you believe they held 7 hour practices the 3 days they did practice? Okaaay.
Also, if that’s your stance, don’t complain if they get beat by Louisville.
I think they should stick to the practice schedule/routine as close as possible to the one they would normally have if they were actually playing a game this weekend, and in lieu of a game, you have a scrimmage or something.
I agree that Collins needs all the prcatice time possible so he can play most of the game at OLB. Hardin as a rover is an interesting idea. I think Banker is too much of a one trick pony though.
Angry,
What are the odds we get those 4 recruits that want to play together. Do you like them and think they will be good gets if they do join Oregon State?
Q&A with Banker over on Miller’s blog, worth a look. Confirms most of the impressions I have about him.
In response to Daveman Deluxe’s comment I think it speaks poorly of our team if we have to get our ass whipped to figure it out. It means our coaches cannot see their own flaws and correct in practice. A team like that will inevitable lose 3-4 games per year (which is why this blog was started because we are a stagnant team). Really I see 3 people that are culprits: Banker, Read and Riley. I really like Riley so I can live with the fact that he doesn’t make adjustments well. I think if we eliminated Read and Banker then Riley wouldn’t have to make adjustments because the staff would do it for him (see Langsdorf).
This was the best bit:
“Cameron Collins, who started for us at safety last year, has moved to outside linebacker. If we thought he was one of the best 11 guys last year, we still feel he’s one of the better players on our team. We’ve got to figure out a way to get him moving along at that position. From a starting standpoint, the only starter I can see at this point in time, possible change, might be inside. But that would just be who starts the game. The same guys will rotate that position. It looks like Kevin Unga, who’s been our third [MLB] in camp so far, will push for more playing time. ”
This blog said Unga should get the look at MLB and Collins at LB! Why are these coaches so (a) blind or (b) stubborn??!
Just read angrybeavs.com, Banker, and your life will be better for it. Blood=boiling.
And speaking of vacations, I’m headed to Yosemite for 2 days. Figure it’s a good weekend for that since Labor Day has past and the Beavs are off. See ya.
Have fun at Yosemite. I don’t have a way to post the Rome show bit with Doc but he did a nice job representing OSU. Rome really liked him.
I wish Ted Miller had the cajones to ask Banker why his teams have been unable to stop spread option teams over the past two to three years.
Angry,
you may know your x and o’s but keep your fucking mouth shut when it comes to background stories on the players. Your ignorant snivelling comments on the O live player profile stories had every Beaver there calling you a mental asshole, which you are.
You sound more like a duck fan. The rest of us humans enjoy hearing who these football players are. You may only care about football with a video game mentality, that’s fine, but you do not need to insult the article or the player subject of the article. You have insulted yourself, the players and the fans with your behaviour several times.
The rest of us are tired of your bullshit.
For anyone who wants to read about Lance Mitchell, try this link. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2010/09/pushed_by_a_desire_to_make_his.html
That’s nice.
Read the story. It’s a retread of an article written last December. I love how the comments section gets hijacked by some self-righteous potty-mouthed Beav fan and a Longhorns fan.
Btw… nice potty-mouth above. You take what is at worst an out of context comment and you make yourself to be a pathetic whiner with a foul mind. How can anyone call someone a Duck fan and feel good about themself?
Can’t sleep, either, huh? Came back from Yosemite late, and my rods and cones are fried from the 8hr ride home.
As far as those player pieces: they’re filler for off-season boredom. That’s their place in this world. There are more pressing topics right now that are not being covered. That’s the frustrating part.
Ryan Allen:
8 punts, 335 yards, 41.9 average, 49 long.
Stats can lie, but that’s a pretty good line.
The issue is that Hekker gets a 50+ roller once game, so his average is high. The issue is the shanks when their backs are against the wall. Something that you have to see (and feel) when it happens. I think our Ray Guy pickers haven’t watched a game, as I’ve mentioned before, when you include him and not Alex Henery at Nebraska.
The Ray Guy thing is due to punts inside the 20, which have little to do with Hekkers’ skill (as evidenced by his inability to control the ball in the open field). When you’re punting from the 50 and the farthest you can kick it is 30 yards and shanks at that, you’re going to put a lot inside the 20.
Maybe they need a stat for ‘Punts under 30 yards when kicking from you own territory’?
Fail.
It’s just clear the writers who put Hekker on that list don’t watch OSU games and simply looked at stats, specifically punts inside the 20. The sad thing is it makes the award a crock, but that’s college football for you.
Are the Beavs practicing yet? Haven’t heard anything about that.
Beavs favored by 17 over Louisville? Wow. That is a bad line.
I’d love to feel confident on that one. But I take Louisville on that. Beavs, please make me lose my money on that one. Did they even beat Portland State by that much last year with a Veteran QB?
I hope those guys are right.
Sans Idaho State or Washington State, who have the Beavers put a 17 + differencial on in the past 5 years?
Besides WSU and crappy teams:
2006: ASU, Stanford.
2007: Utah, Stanford.
2008: Hawaii, Washington, UCLA
2009: Cal, Washington
So, I guess it’s possible. Seems like a good bet, though, getting 17 points. I think the Beavs win, but more like 10.