Go Auburn?
UGH, that feels as bad as rooting for the Ducks.
Also, good luck to Quizz–he is making the right decision. I hope it sends a strong message to Mike Riley, the line he's intent on keeping intact, and the number of carries received by the single back. I realize Quizz is a father, and that drove this decision, but I'd imagine he weighed what he was returning to as well.
In my opinion this is a sad day because we are losing a great player, but it will also force [the inevitable] change a year ahead of schedule.
All that needs to be said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEzotpH6Dqw
It’ll be interesting in the spring to see what RB’s look good. Is Ward participating in the spring?
I turned the game on at 5pm, since that was the scheduled kickoff, only to find it’s now 5:38. Then I saw some Duck gushing. Then I turned off the TV.
Yeah. Go Cam Newton, you massive, glorious scumbag.
Angry… You really really need to add a like button…
Quizz decided that Kraft Fight Hunger or Maaco Bowls were not big enough reasons to stay. The fans don’t care about crap bowls Quizz doesn’t care much for them, yet we are continually sold by Riley and BDC that they are great. TIME TO WAKE UP RILEY AND BDC! WE ONLY CARE ABOUT HOLIDAY BOWLS OR HIGHER. Now take us there!
I look at it this way, what else does Quizz have to show to the NFL…nothing….it is not like he is going to grow three inches in the off season. He can catch the ball, protect the ball, run inside and block. I guess this was inevitable.
I hate phil knight, nike and the Fucks. But I am rooting for them to win.
Pac-10, other than USC, needs some respect.
Fuck the sec.
Riley can’t recruit worth a shit and now it will become evident to even the most ardent Beaver fans.
Auburn is going to lose this game. They’re already winded. Jeez, at least it took the Beavs 3 quarters.
These Duck uniforms are painful.
“These Duck uniforms are painful.”
yeah not a fan of those neon socks/shoes
anyone besides me having trouble with ESPN3?
It’s finally working now
It is nice watching competent college refs.
This guy won the Heisman??
Angry,
Did you ever figure out how to set a script so that we don’t have to type in our email address every time we post? I was hoping for that feature in v.2 of Angrybeavs.. ;)
Yes, if you hit “register” above and go through the process (takes about 1 minute) it sets a cookie that remembers who you are. I do not data mine!
http://angrybeavs.com/?page_id=2988
Doesn’t work for me. I put OS_Beaver for username and then a random password and it says invalid username. Does the same with OSBeaver? Any ideas? Looks like you don’t put your email address anywhere in the registration..
You did that here: http://angrybeavs.com/wp-login.php?action=register
??
It should take it. Let me see if I can manually set it.
What’s your email?
Shoot me an email with it and the password you’d like.
Sure..what is your email? I will send an email.
angry@angrybeavs.com
i just sent you an email to the hotmail account you use here.
Auburn seems to have gotten their second wind. First drive of the second half might be crucial. Stop that 81 yard pass to Maehl and score on the goal-line pass (great call by the way) and this game is looking very Auburn-ish. Feels like the Cal game, Ducks can’t run and have just an average passing game. Only difference in that the opposition has Cam Newton and not a scared redshirt freshman.
Petersen is staying in Boise. I hope Stanford will ask Riley to have a phone conversation with them, but I doubt it happens. Would be a perfect excuse to let Oregon State find a new man and move on to a new era. 10 years is not a short time and my biggest complaint is change occurs VERY slowly with Riley and BDC. Won’t hack it in a dynamic and ever-evolving Pac-12 with plenty of quality teams and coaches. BDC is silent as usual because he has sealed his fate with Riley. Once we demand change, BDC knows he will look foolish for his lifetime contract to Riley. I just would have more respect for them if they actually took the bull by the horns and implemeneted some change and willingness to be more bold in decisions regarding marketing, recruiting, game strategy and preparation. But with Riley all w eget are slow starts and then trying to crawl back to Maaco Bowls. It is the worst Sisyphus Complex with Riley. Comparing the absurdity of Riley’s program with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned in Hades to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. “The struggle itself…is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Maybe Riley and BDC are Ok with this endless cycle they have us in..but I find it the torture of Purgatory.
This game has been pretty good. I like the contrast in style. It’s interesting.
I’m happy. The ‘ucks are losing but they didn’t get blown out and thus the Pac-10 gets respect.
Now if Cam Newton had gotten the same treatment that the USC player(s) got then, who knows.
Yes, that might be the best result possible, though Oregon getting blown out would have been funny.
*Sigh of relief*
I preferred the Ducks lose this way. Feels so great knowing all the fans got their heart’s broken. Naturally, of course Oregon’s broadcasters had to make excuses.
Payback for the past two Civil Wars.
As Bob Dylan said, “the loser now will be later to win!”
Oregon State now has the mold. Be the Auburn of the State of Oregon. Recruit athletic QBs and not guys who take 10-12 yard sacks all the time instead of being able to improvise or throw the ball away. I think James Rodgers will be a stud next year and I am glad we can give him ALL OUR PROMOTION. He has been the best all around Beaver as far as leadership and the big play and making the team try to play up to his level for a few years now in my opinion. I think he could take us to a Holiday Bowl next year if some guys fill in and play with alot more total purpose throughout the season. If we can stay in the North race where the Civil War has enough meaning that would be good. Angry is right that Quizz leaving should force the ball to be moved around more. If we can find some rythym it will help.
Katz is athletic enough. He just didn’t throw the ball away. There are plenty of super athletic quarterbacks who don’t throw it away.I don’t want the Beavers to be the Auburn of Oregon I would want the Beavers to not have the title stripped from them lol
As far as next season goes,if Riley makes the necessary changes on the offensive line(which I think he might) then I think every game next season aside from Wisconsin, OSU has a decent shot at winning.
Did that account I made for you work? Did you get my email, etc?
Newton actually reminded me of Poyer in some weird way…I sort of wish we recruited him as a running QB. Seems he can do anything/everything.
Newton’s biggest asset is his poise. That was the first time I watched a full game of his, and being a Heisman winner I expected a lot. He was somewhat disappointing given the high expectations.
Yes. Thanks Angry. I am now v.2 with autologon enabled. :)
I get the feeling this lose my burn out Chip Kelly a bit. His message will lose some effectiveness. His ego will take a hit. This is a good day, despite Quizz declaring. I think the latter is a blessing in disguise. Good day.
I kind of feel like the P-10 was “WACesque” this year and the Ducks were Boise St. There was not a lot of great defense played, lot of injuries to good players, USC on probation and the Ducks got Stanford at home. I think it padded the stats and gave them a false sense of security that the spread can conquer all if it just keeps getting faster and faster. Sorry Chip in the end, big, mean, nasty offense and defensive lines conquer all again and again when push comes to shove.
I guess LaMike can relate to Quizz a little better since he now knows what it is like to get tackled in the backfield over and over. Good lord, Fairley was a beast, I wish Paea could have been that dominating. Auburn’s secondary looked kind of sloppy, but their run defense was amazing.
Will the Ducks fall to #3 behind TCU now? That won’t even be their best finish ever. And their hoops team in now o-4 going into a new stadium. I guess that dulls the pain of Quizz leaving. Is McCants #1 going into Spring ball?
Angry,
what did you think of Chips play calling. I thought they should have ridden the horse that took them to the dance. Only 17 touches for LaMike? I agreed with your post about wanting/needing 2 effective backs but to me it felt like Chip failed to get enough out of his lead back. I think there is a balance that needs to be struck between having a true duel back system and what Riley does. I am now starting to wonder if you don’t want a lead back that gets ~25 touches and a back up that gets around 10. It felt like James should have gotten around 5 of Barner’s touches. What do you think?
I thought his aggressiveness (going for it on 4th, going for 2pts on the xp, punt fake, etc) were all status quo.
I think James received 17 touches because he was ineffective (or conversely, Auburn’s line was highly effective). Chip has ADD, so he is not going to ride an ineffective horse very long.
Yeah a lot of games though James was ineffective until late in the 3rd or into the 4th once the other team wore down some. Plus James was more effective than Barner with almost 1 full YPC more yardage.
At the risk of repeating myself a bit from earlier posts, I strongly agree with Angry that the departure of Quizz is a blessing in disguise.
If Quizz had come back, it would have been “stay the course” at OSU. And that would probably have resulted in another season like this past season. As the saying goes, if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results.
The departure of Quizz a year early will help shake things up — something that is badly needed in the OSU football program.
What I REALLY hope is that Quizz sits down and talks candidly with Riley. I hope Quizz tells Riley what he (Quizz) really thinks about the Beaver untalented O-line, about Langsdorf’s unimaginative play-calling, and about the laissez-faire attitudes of many of his teammates, only some of whom gave 100% each week. I think a discussion like that between Riley and Quizz might help light a fire under Riley to make at least SOME of the changes that need to be made asap….
The thing about Quizz is that he made 4 yard runs where a normal back would get 0 or a loss. We’re going to see that next year if the line remains intact, so this is a big loss. I expect a piss poor run game next season, which means everyone will/should get a shot.
Agreed that Quizz often made something out of nothing, and we will miss that next season.
We will also miss (just as much or even more) having a tailback who NEVER fumbles. Quizz’s ball security was amazing.
But OSU became reliant on Quizz to an unhealthy degree. Langsdorf and OSU assumed (correctly) that Quizz would usually do something positive, and would always hold on to the ball, so the running game became way too predictable — give Quizz the ball and have him run up the middle. Quizz became OSU’s security blanket.
And, to be candid, Quizz himself contributed to the problem by expecting to carry the ball all the time, and acting grumpy when things didn’t work out the way he wanted.
The problem began before the first game last season, when Quizz publicly set a target for himself of 1800 yards gained from scrimmage (something I found troubling at the time, and even more troubling as the season progressed). Then, when it became obvious, mid-season, that Quizz was going to fall way short of his personal target, Quizz started calling out his O-line in the media (which is something that should never happen, in my opinion). Team unity went south. It all became somewhat dysfunctional.
To me, it felt like Quizz was not quite on the same page as his teammates from the middle of last season to the end. If you took a poll among all the Beavers, I have no doubt that Quizz was — and is — significantly less beloved than James. I may be all wet about this, but I’m guessing that a number of his teammates are not terribly sorry to see Quizz declare for the NFL and move on.
On Quizz – I see no benefit for him to stay, but what effect does the potential lockout have? I agree, Quizz’s departure forces some change that wouldn’t occur otherwise.
On OSU’s running game next season: Read this summary: http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/beavers-sports/article_31ca18b8-1d20-11e0-8a34-001cc4c03286.html
If its accurate, it tells me that Riley can’t consistently recruit or develop the RBs he needs for his system – he ha several RB’s but trusts only one of them. Riley creates his own chicken/egg problem: he has no depth because he doesn’t trust his backups, his backups get no game time to earn his trust. I hope like hell Ward gets a shot to share time with Stevenson (who’s my pick for Riley’s pick). Also, I wonder if we don’t see some vacillation and a potential position switch for Ryan Murphy, who seemed to run hard in HS and has a year under his belt at OSU as a safety.
On the NC Game – I said on a forum thread that Auburn isn’t just big, but big and fast compared to the Ducks just being fast. On the line, that seems to be the key to disrupting UO’s running game. Ohio State seemed to do the similar thing last year. Watching Fairly ignore the fake to James and engulf Thomas was impressive. That guy can move for a big.
On Kelly – I don’t think his ego takes a big hit. Its his third season – he’s won a Holiday bowl, lost a Rose, and lost the NC in that order. Each game progressively bigger. James and Thomas are sophomores, which should make the rest of the pac-12 north wince. Sure, James’ next year will likely be his last, but I bet Thomas sticks around longer because he’s not likely a pro qb prospect. Then you thrown in Barner et al and the Ducks keep on dominating the Pac. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kelly doesn’t diverse the offense further. And he needs to get some of those fast/big linemen himself….
I didn’t mind seeing Auburn win. Newton’s played the system, and the NCAA’s ruling was ludicrous. UO is one of the more ‘pro-franchise’ like teams in NCAA football.
On OSU’s offseason – I maintain OSU loses most of its game with poor offseason prep. Its string of mid-tier bowl games did not pay off in player development and prep the subsequent season; OSU was perennially plagued with slow starts. This off-season will be doubly important. Can OSU identify roles in spring ball, and “form an identity” in fall camp, or will Riley let the team wander in search of their identity until, oh, a November game?
I am relieved with the outcome. They did not embarrass themselves though.
Will Chip Kelly leave Oregon? He must be a hot item for key college and even pro openings in that way that folks want to get a rising star.
What do you think?
If it comes down to $$ and if uncle phil wants to keep him they’ll have to dig mighty deep to pry him away.
Chip Kelly is not an NFL coach in any way shape or form. He will never coach in the NFL.
The only risk (hope?) of him leaving Oregon is if a team like Florida offers him a ridiculous amount of money to take over. If that happens, Phil Knight’s dumptruck of cash won’t do much good, as the draw of recruiting to somplace like Florida would be too attractive, IMO.
Except for Auburn’s D-line and Jeff Maehl, that was a pretty lousy game. Sure, it was exciting in terms of it being close in score to the end. But there was nothing really good happening.
Neither QB was all that good, and T
… homas was the lesser of the two. What was surprising was that Auburn couldn’t do to UO’s defense what most of the Pac 10 did to them–move them off the line and down the field. Of course, the rest of the Pac 10 didn’t have Auburn’s D to fall back on.
Was Chip so focused on innovation and creative maxims that he forgot some of the most tried and true football sayings?
You may ask what my favorite is. And I would say, “PLAY TO THE WHISTLE!”
And what’s with the Ducks looking like human highlighter pens? Their uni’s looked pretty raggedy in the second half. I think they could have worn orange socks and shoes, and they could have had yellow facemasks. Then fill in the O on the helmet to look like an eye, maybe extend the ugly feather pattern down the sleeves, and voila! They’re ducks.
All is well in the World! The yucks lost, and I feel so relieved!!! But uo just making it was way too close for my comfort! Aw, burn! War freakin Eagle! $300,000,000+ still can’t buy Nike a National Championship, which is the way it should be.
My biggest fear if UO won that game would be having to deal with the insufferable idiot fans that claim them as their own.
Was on a flight expected to land in Eug last night during the game, we were ultimately rerouted to Redmond. All I can say is thank God for smartphones and wireless data plans. Watching the fans wail in disbelief especially after the tie near the end was a beautiful thing. Most clad in green were sure Chipper would make all things right for them.
As for the Beavs, I’m glad for Quizz I guess. Money and fatherhood are powerful forces. I’m not sure he showed much this year though and rookie salaries are still unknown going into next year. In any event I wish him well.
Hopefully Riley will reassess where the program is, and is going. A lifetime commitment to him should be more like the lifetime guarantees some companies offer, good for the ‘lifetime of the product,’ whatever that means. I suppose in his case, if the product craps out, the guaranty ends as well.
5-6, 6-6, 7-5 equal a crap product.
Angry,
Curious about how your readership has changed/grown since this blog’s inception…any tangible statistics to share?
I run Google Analytics, so there’s a lot of data. Anything you want to know specifically?
I rarely look at it. I signed up for Analytics to help track down trolls, but it does provide interesting stats, down to the average number of minutes a user stays on the site.
Here’s some stats I gathered:
We’re at 162,600 hits on this version of the site that opened in July. The previous site (angrybeavers.wordpress.com) had ~100,000 for a one year period. So, I’d say this version is doing better.
74% is direct traffic.
15% from search engines
11% from referring sites
Average day for 2010 was 950 hits.
Average so far in 2011 is 1450 hits.
Busiest day was 3,300 hits on December 4th (Civil War).
Average time on site: 4:40
2,131 unique visitors. However, only 31 registered users (I wish more people would register so they don’t have to enter email to comment. This is my one peeve with the site right now).
There’s a neat map that breaks it down by state. Most people are in Oregon or California. Washington is 3rd.
After that it’s pretty diverse. We’ve never had a single hit from Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, New Hampshire, or Vermont. Every other state is represented.
If there’s anything else you want to know let me know.
Not surprising that you don’t have hits from the aforementioned states. Has anyone from any of them ever played at Oregon State? They don’t strike me as states that might have in and out Oregon migration, either.
Riley & crew seem to concentrate areas of recruitment. To me, it appears lazy especially with all the electronic means and ease of travel available today.
Coaches need to build connections with player’s high school coaches for effective recruiting. That is one of the most critical aspects. In order to do this, they can’t employ a scattered geographic approach. Additionally, those states you mentioned aren’t exactly hotbeds of recruiting. In fact, most of those states are sparse at best.
I’m not saying that I support the recent recruiting efforts of Riley & Co., because we need to start reeling in better recruits, but just casting a net over the whole country isn’t the most effective way to do things.
We need to recruit the Pac-12 states first and foremost. We need to stick with the higher yield areas i.e CA, AZ, HI. Can’t leave Texas out of that either, since there is just so much talent there.
One other thing. I really wish OSU would be able to sign the BIG names out of Oregon once in a while. Sure, there aren’t a ton, but I’m getting tired of seeing the Owa’s and Lyerla’s go to UO or out of state.
I agree that recruiting was best concentrated be 10 years ago. Wide nets are easy now and I can’t believe there aren’t good football players or programs outside of Texas, California, Hawaii or Arizona. Does OSU even make an effort? After all, they’re so gung-ho about finding hidden gems and coaching up.
Registered!!
I hope to see some improvement on the O-line or the stable of Ford Taurus SHO like backs isn’t going to cut it. I use the SHO because we do have some quickness.
Seeing the final standings has me wondering if the O-line is as bad as they looked. We lost to #2, #3, #4, and #9. That’s pretty insane. Maybe the competition was just that good…not that I endorse the current linemen.
They also lost to Washington and Washington State.
It’s nice to believe they’ll be battle tested but I’ve seen NO improvement from Remmers or Grant Johnson- and Philipp is in the wrong spot. So it’s safe to say the whole year was a failed experiment brought on from a lack of competition and depth.
Registered also. I read this site every day, just have not posted. Figured I should register though.
Thanks!
Yeah, that’s along the lines…what about post counts?
I guess what I’m really getting at is:
Based on the statistics provided, there’s been increased interest in your blog. One could easily surmise the a portion of the increase is due to longevity – the longer a blog is up, the more people will know about it, the more people will read it irrespective of other influences…BUT…how much of the increase volume do you think is attributable to the increase in the number of dicontented fans?
I remember when you first started (or at least, when I first started reading) there were a prevelance of posters that were either trolls, or so blinded by the organge lights that they thought no wrong could come from the Beavers’ program. Now posts seem to be mostly critical of the programs apparent direction (lack of?). Result of the disasterous 2010 season, or were there always a bunch of dicontents who finally just found a home?
Also…I’ve noticed that most current posters are BETTER posters than before…there’s a pretty deep football and program knowledge pool here.
So anyway…thanks again for the site and uncensored outlet.
Cheers,
GWH
I agree, the comments are way better.
There were a lot of good posters on the old site, but there are more here.
I’m not sure what the increased volume is from. My hunch is that:
a. This community has matured, and people just check the site daily now instead of here and there.
b. Some trolls have converted–some have written me saying, “I first thought you were an idiot, now I agree etc.” Some have even said that in the comment area.
c. There are a lot of latent angry fans, and many are concerned about relevance in Pac-12 play. Even the optimists are disillusioned right now. Bad for Beaver football, but something that would increase traffic.
d. I think people originally thought I was writing stuff to be controversial. Now they realize I’m mostly writing opinions about what is going on. That these “opinions” turn into fact often probably makes them come back.
e. People take a domain (angrybeavs.com) more seriously than a free wordpress blog (prior site).
f. I think there’s still a small faction of trolls who think I’m just being a negative, controversial jerk, and give in to the Howard Stern effect–i.e. “What is this a-hole going to say next? I have to tune in to listen!” Masochists I tell you!
Hope these theories don’t sound egotistical. Truth-seeka’s unite.
I like the fact that we can have a sensible debate/discussion without a bunch of name calling. I am actually surprised that there do not seem to be that many trolls, but maybe that speaks to the absolute apathy towards the OSU program in general??
I always wondered what happened to that poster a couple of months ago who claimed to be inside the program to some degree (ex-player maybe)? I think one of the threads was why Riley only uses one back during most seasons and he seemed to have all of the answers. I thought he was interesting, though a bit of a know it all.
He was interesting. That guy related to Ryan Allen was interesting, too, because both had inside perspectives.
My guess is that he realized how bad the single back system is when it’s literally one back and blew his head off. (just kidding)
Hekker actually had a longer average than Allen this year.
His argument kind of made our overall point anyway (about lack of philosophical adjustments with the program)…something about how that is the way Mike Riley structures the offense and he is not going to change it.
Yeah but do you want to make a change for the sake of making a change or to improve the team? I think we need to examine things and have everything possible put on the table when it comes to making changes but we should just start changing things in a haphazard fashion.
Does anyone feel like we’re in for a repeat of the 2004 season next year? That was DA’s senior year when OSU had virtually no rushing attack (Jackson left early and Yvenson hadn’t arrived yet). DA had a monster year passing (he had Hass to throw to). Beavs finished 7-5 with a bowl win.
I have to agree, Tim. Who knows…maybe we’ll go back in time to 2000-2001…but that means Riley has to somehow get fired, retire, or get mauled by orangutuans so we get a new coach that actually has some fire.
I do think you’re right about 2004 though.
The Beavers will have a decent running game. Terron Ward is capable of being a good running back so it’s a little different than 2004. I also believe they will be more successful than 2004.
I just hope to God that they do not start 1-4. I think the defense was decent that year. Even then with no running game, I think Riley stuck with Dwight Wright the whole season. Talk about someone stuck to his system of doing things.
Starting 1-4 next year would be take a new level of horrible. I think the team starts 4-1 with relatively easy schedule aside from Wisconsin. They have slight hope to beat Wisconsin due to the Badgers losing their starting QB and RB but Oregon State will probably lay an egg in that game. sigh.
Man, it seems really difficult to predict next year. We have no idea who’s going to be starting at a lot of key positions.
The Beavers have the talent to do well if they put the right people on the field and “coach them up.”…I haven’t seen that happen under Riley, though. He is too slow to adapt and it will cost games. That much I know.
This is true. They have guys capable of making the team pretty good but it’s on Riley to make sure those are starting and playing the right position. He’s so unwilling to change and that’s been a problem.
However, I think he will make the necessary coming off such a bad season and knowing they need to be better. He isn’t stupid enough not to make changes.
I think we will see better DE and LB play which seems to be key positions in Bankers scheme. DT will be a huge hole but maybe one of the new guys can step up… we need a beast not sure if Massiani is there yet and I know what Frahm will give us.
Not sure on the secondary. Mitchell should be solid and improved. Watkins or whoever beats him out can’t be too much worse than Tuimani (sp?). Poyer should be solid. Hardin… ugh. I am excited to see the guys behind them and hope that Hardin gets beat out by someone.
On offense it is a total wildcard. I hope some upgrades can be made to the O-line. Maybe one of the OT’s is ready to step up so Phillip can move inside… I think that solves 2 position problems in one if we can be so lucky. I think there is a decent chance of the line being improved next year.
I am hopeful that some time away will allow what Katz say to sink in and allow the position to become more instinctual for him. I think for a position like QB a lot of the growth actually occurs in the off season.
Special teams should be improved. Hekker continues to improve and can hit the Aussie punt, traditional punt and the rugby punt not to mention the fake threat. The kicker coming in has a bigger leg so he can’t be any worse than Kahut.
After the performance the Beavs gave against Wazzu, I am more concerned about who Eastern Washington in bringing back! Bo Levi/Levi Bo Mitchell, whatever his name is, might feast on the secondary.
longtime reader, rare poster, just registered, thanks angry
One of my favorite things about this blog is that contrarian views are often expressed. So here comes a contrarian view regarding next season.
I think the Beavers’ offense may perform much better next season than many people expect.
Improvement on the offensive side depends in large part on Ryan Katz making a big jump, helped by lots of film study and coaching in the off-season so that the game slows down for him, and he makes much better and quicker decisions. I think there is a reasonable chance this happens. Why? Because I think Katz is a super-competitive guy — with an NFL arm and NFL ambitions — who is embarrassed by his own poor performance this past season. I also think Riley has invested a lot in Katz, needs Katz to succeed, and will do everything he can to help Katz improve between now and next September.
Another key to offensive improvement is getting better play from the O-line. Here again, I think Coach Cav was deeply embarrassed by this season’s performance, and will make the changes needed to field a much better O-line next year. (Good luck with those bear crawls, guys….)
Offensive improvement of course also assumes that James Rodgers comes back healthy, motivated to have a great year, and ready to become the full-fledged leader of next year’s team (now that Quizz is gone). Here again, I expect this will happen, and James Rodgers will do all of this, and more.
Moreover, I think lots of players on the offense want to make a statement that they can succeed next season without Quizz. It would be natural to feel that Quizz abandoned the team, and I expect many of the players feel exactly that way. How satisfying — for those players — it would be to have a more successful season next year, without Quizz, than this past season, with Quizz. That sort of motivation can be pretty powerful.
Finally, I think Coach Riley is going to make some much-needed changes. Riley is a more competitive guy than many think. I expect he is at least somewhat shaken by OSU’s failure to become bowl-eligible, followed by Quizz’s early departure to the NFL, as well as by criticism in the media and from longtime OSU fans. Just because Riley is a straight-shooter and a nice guy, with a long-term contract at OSU, don’t think he isn’t stung by the many failures of the 2010 Beavers. I expect we will (finally) see some changes as a result. Fingers crossed that includes a change in the person calling the plays for the OSU offense (I think Langsdorf just doesn’t have what it takes….)
I could go on, but this post is already too long. Suffice it to say that I think many of the people who underperformed this year (including Riley and his staff) are likely to do a better job this coming year, for lots of reasons. Sure hope so….
I agree on many points…another “shake-up” will come after next year when Lomax, Vaz, and Mannion all transfer because Katz has been anointed the “Chosen One” and those kids want to play…somewhere. Anywhere. Who wants to back up Dirk Diggler (shameless plagiarism, thanks Angry) their whole career?
Katz will improve to a serviceable QB, but it’s too bad we’ll never see what the current “backups” will become whilst wearing the orange and black. There’s potential for greatness in the ranks.
And therein lies another problem. Need one WR to round out a class? Let’s recruit/sign a dozen of them. Too many QB’s on the roster right now…bad recruiting? More like bad planning. The successor to Katz needs to be in high school
now.
I think Manion will stick around it will be his job to win as a junior.
You make a good point, all of Rileys quarterbacks have improved from season to season. The thing that concerns me though is can the current lineman improve that much in the offseason or can others step in and actually perform better with limited game experience? I think Quiz gave his opinion on that topic by leaving.
Also, over the past two years the Beavers have been very good with ball security, but even with some of the lowest turnover totals in the FBS, they still were not that good of a team. I think they will have more turnovers next year and I am not sure they can survive them.
A PAC-10 team lost a great runner two years ago (as good or better than Quizz). Many people predicted that team would struggle. In fact, that team greatly improved, having the best season the program ever had, finishing number four in the nation.
I know OSU is not Stanford, and Ryan Katz is not Andrew Luck (not by a long shot). But there is still, I think, something worth noting here.
The most important person in the offense is almost always the QB. If the QB gets much better, the offense (usually) does, too. And (as mccalk says) QB’s tend to improve from season to season under Riley — sometimes a lot.
If that happens with Katz, watch out. With a healthy James Rodgers (knock on wood), plus Wheaton, Bishop, Halahuni, and one or two of the younger receivers stepping up, Katz could do serious damage through the air next year (assuming, also, an O-line that can protect him). And if the air attack becomes super-potent, that could help one or two of the young runners do some damage, too.
Not saying that any of the young runners will be able to replicate Quizz. Of course that’s not happening. But none of Stanford’s tailbacks this year came close to matching Toby Gerhart, and Stanford did pretty well.
Admittedly, this assumes that GreatWhiteHunter is too pessimistic, and that Katz becomes much more than just “serviceable”. If Katz can’t do that, all bets are off. But I think Katz CAN be a really good QB (as Riley has said, repeatedly), and maybe even a great one.
Here’s hoping — there’s that word again — that Riley and his staff make it happen. (But only after they put 100% effort into finishing strong with this year’s recruiting class!)
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It is time for the Beaver fans to sniff out the money trail regarding walk on players that seem to have a locked in position on the team.
I don’t really know for sure, but I just can’t understand why the coaching staff doesn’t acknowledge the importance of the fact the the battle is won or lost at the friggin line of scrimmage.
If was Quiz Rogers I would have been outspokenly extremely pissed off about the quality of the capability of the O-line play and why it was so sub-par. I don’t blame him a bit for bailing out of the senior year. Who wants to come back a get his ass injured because of that?
So the question is begged. Who are these line-men? Who are they related to? And why does the coaching staff protect them and not come out and say that they friggin need to get some monsters (high caliber, non-walkon players) on the friggin O line in order to protect the running back, enhance the running back’s production, and enhance the quarter backs talents? Is it me or am I just a dumb shit. ( I have been called much worse, so I am used to it.)
The GT for Friday, Jan 14 has more information from Riley on the departure of Quizz:
“Riley wasn’t surprised when running back Jacquizz Rodgers declared for the NFL draft on Monday.
“It’s a smart decision,” said Riley, who helped Rodgers gather information about his draft status. “He took all the time and research. I’m in 100 percent support.”
Riley said Quizz went through a lot of anguish to make the final decision. He was torn between the loyalty to the team and what was the logical move.
Even though Quizz was teetering on the fence, Riley didn’t ask him to stay. He would have stayed and Riley didn’t want to make a life-altering decision for him.”
http://goo.gl/TZ1kl
I have two (somewhat inconsistent) reactions to Riley’s comments.
(1) Riley continues to impress me as a remarkably straight shooter — few D-1 coaches would be so respectful and selfless in advising their star running back to do what’s best for him, and in resisting the temptation to ask him to stay for his senior year to help the team and university
(2) Riley may not really be so upset about Quizz leaving. Riley may realize that the chemistry between Quizz and his O-line (and perhaps also with some other teammates) was not so hot, and that it’s time for change. That’s just a feeling — maybe all wrong — but I kind of hope it’s true….
Tremendous things here. I’m very glad to look your post.
Thank you a lot and I’m having a look ahead to contact you.
Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?