Welp, if you were to draft a blueprint of how to blow an upset bid it would look like this:
1. Turn the ball over in the 1st quarter and gift-wrap the opponent 7 off said turnover.
2. (a) Settle for FGs (b) Miss a chip shot FG that you settle for.
3. Rough the passer on an INT inside the opponent’s 20, only to follow that up by yielding an 80 yard TD drive. Can you say 14 point swing?
4. Devise an offensive game plan around not using your best player.
5. Luck out and have the Pac-10’s crew of clowns referee your game.
That’s how you blow an upset bid. Congrats on following the blueprint to a tee, Beavs.
Some other notes: why did Riley call a timeout with 9 seconds left in the first half? A FG doesn’t take 9 seconds…which means you have to kick off. Just stupid clock management and playing with fire. The DL is getting a better push than I thought they would, but that’s been negated by Kristick and his bonehead play. The OL is playing average to well, at least in the passing game; they aren’t able to open any wholes for a back not named Quiz. Mike Patrick, the telecaster, should retire–the dude is practically senile…mispronounce names, imperceptive, blind. Reminds me of Keith Jackson at the end of his career. Barkley is ordinary and unimpressive…kind of dread having to hear about this guy for the next 3 years. Hopefully he bolts after his freshman year–the way Pete talks all homo about him you’d think he could.
Halftime. Haven’t had a drink yet, but it’s time to hit the gin, boys.
Final analysis: great effort by the Beavs…showed heart coming back. Frustrating game for we fans because the Beavers outplayed USC and simply made a couple critical mistakes and had every call go against them. The good guys would have won in spite of themselves were it not for that refereeing crew. Clear block in the back on the USC punt return TD wasn’t called, yet they called Adeniji for the phantom block in the back. The telecasters had dropped jaws watching that crew, and keep in mind they’re paid to hype U$C.
As far as on the field play, we’re going to be good next year. Dockery is approaching shut-down corner status. Our TE is a monster. I need to learn how to spell his name because I’m going to be writing about him often. He does need to tuck that ball away, though. Quiz should be in the Heisman discussion after putting up a buck twenty and 2tds on that defense. The fact the Beavs didn’t win might curb such talk…he’ll have another chance versus Oregon. Our coverage team had their first slip up of the year and it was the difference. Kristick is an overrated player. He’s a complimentary player but not a star or game changing player as we like to portray him. As the defensive captain you can’t hit the QB late and high–the refs actually had that call correct. Adeniji is hard to root against. The guy has very good hands and he was out there throwing some great blocks for his teammates. I was impressed. We all watched the game so it’s academic and redundant to note that the defense killed us in this game. Not just Kristick but the front four. I don’t want to hear any talk about Paea–he didn’t clog the middle at all. Every big U$S run went straight up the middle. We really need to recruit better at certain positions. I’ll accept we can’t land a bunch of 4-star skill players if we simply land them where it matters–OL and DT.
Anyway, this game went much as I thought it would…had a feeling we’d be playing catchup the entire time. What is really positive is that our offense didn’t turn it over while doing so–that’s what I expected. What is negative, and this is a big one, is our inability to make clutch stops on D. The D did have some nice turnovers, but there were a handful of times the game was on the line and they didn’t win one of those battles. If they did, perhaps we win. Overall, I am really impressed with our effort and heart. The Trojans, and specifically Pete Caroll, respect this team, and it’s not one of our better vintages. We’ll win 7 games this year. This game was a crossroads…a win would propel a Rose Bowl run, but the loss gives us little to play for, as 2 conference losses is a death sentence, and hence it’ll be hard for the team to know what they’re playing for in games versus Cal and Oregon. Pride only goes so far.
Unfortunately, I believe you have to play college ball for 3 years before you are eligible to go to the league… Sorry Angry, I don’t wanna hear about Barkley anymore either.
Damn…society and their rules.
There’s something unlikable about Barkley. Sanchez and Leinert didn’t even bother me this much, and they had the looks, too.
This game is going pretty much how I thought…thought we’d score, but constantly be playing catchup. Also thought we’d make a key turnover late while playing catchup. Hasn’t happened yet but I’m sure it will. Defense just getting gutted…really letting the team down.
Block in the back on the punt return, not called. Yet they called Adeniji? Wow.
I think this requires an angrybeaver petition…this crew needs to be held accountable.
Every time I see that clown white hat at a game I get worried because he clearly influences the outcome of games on a regular basis. Besides the block in the back on the punt return there was also a hold. Kristick didn’t have a PI against that TE either.
On a side note, not sure why Kristick choked so bad tonight. Our D overall was pretty disappointing, they let the team down. USC is gunna look back and say we got away with one.
Agreed.
Post updated with post-game analysis and thoughts. A lot of good tonight, but it was a 2 step forward/1 back kind of deal. The telecasters kept saying the Beavers weren’t intimated by the Helmet, but this game had all the elements of fear. Beavs should have put their foot on the Trojans neck as the opportunity was there.
Riley pulled boner _again_ by not challenging a call. First half. Can’t remember the play now because there were so many other bigger things that happened after that, but what I do remember is that it was a no-brainer that even the TV guys commented on.
Why couldn’t the defense tackle Bradford, the _backup_ tailback?
Lets be honest, the backup at USC could start many other schools.
I’d love to have the first half back with a healthy Quizz – we made too many mistakes during the first 30 minutes to win this game. Big props to Canfield, Halahuni, and the O for making clutch play after clutch play against that defense. Our D still needs some major work.
PS After listening to the game on TV, I wasn’t sure if Barkley was a true freshman or not – I wish they would have mentioned his class status once or twice…
OL did a nice job. Even Remmers.
Barkley is a true freshman. He graduated from Mater Dei (sp?) early and showed up for spring ball. He basically won the starting job in the fall, after spring ball aaron corp was projected to start.
I forget sometimes that sarcasm doesn’t come across well on a message board – if I had a drink every time the announcers mentioned that he was a true freshman tonight I would have been done before halftime… :-)
Sorry, I often turn the game on mute so I don’t have to hear the announcers. Seems that OSU always gets the worst. If it is FSN I leave it on to laugh at the dumbass announcers.
Oh yeah, and the Barkley thing–right on. Can’t stand it, man. Not sure what to do about it other than mute the TV and/or make fun of it as much as possible.
I do have to disagree about not having anything to play for, it could get interesting if the right things happen. Its not as exciting as it could have been but IF we win out, we can get 10 wins (including a bowl win) and maybe the holiday bowl.
Well, I don’t see how we beat Oregon this year, so that’s 3 losses. And I don’t think a 3 loss team will represent the Holiday Bowl–especially with Arizona having beaten us. So, I’m trying to find what we’re playing for here.
The games vs Washington and Cal are coin flips. Even UCLA won’t be simple. But, my guess is we beat Washington, UCLA, and Washington State and wind up with 7 wins. Loses vs Cal and Oregon–I simply don’t like this team vs (a) sub 4.30 RBs and (b) spread offenses.
By the way, Matt Barkley is a true freshman.
I agree, I saw 7 wins as a worst case. I think that tonight we should a lot of heart and can beat Cal in Berkley. Oregon does look pretty damn good this year but it is a rivalry game, anything can happen. Especially if UO finds themselves in a position to go to the rose bowl, could be great payback for last year.
On the defensive side, we can’t keep up with speedy backs and the spread because our defense plays slow, including slow reads. Cal and UO will be shootouts.
Yeah, I mean historically we’ve always been a “power” team rather than speed oriented.
We’re slowly getting faster. How do you like that sentence?
Man, worse case scenario is if the Ducks have a chance at the Rose Bowl and we *don’t* exact revenge.
Haha true, that would be worst case. I did like our speed tonight against SC in a foot race but I saw the linebackers making slow reads, particularly Kristick. I know you go back and watch the games, Kristick is the last person to move and often fails to take his read step. I know OSU doesn’t coach a true read step but they definitely don’t coach players to keep their heels planted either.
I sure hope we can make 10 wins but arizona is now our biggest uncontrollable road block on the way to a possible Holiday Bowl, otherwise its Las Vegas.
I do believe we can be at 7 wins as well. I think if we play tough and smart though Cal could be a toss up; if between Oregon and Cal, if we were to come out with a win it’d be at Cal in my opinion. But then again, like you mentioned too… it is the civil war, sometimes track records don’t really speak as loudly as who’s wanting to come in there and come out with the good ol bragging rights for the year. It sure would be some nice redemption for last year’s blunder if we’re able to take the ducks down this year, especially if the rose bowl were in question. But I’ll be honest, they scare me at the moment.
We looked pretty damn good last year, we probably made some of their fans nervous. Not that they would admit it.
Honesty is a good thing, though, and the Ducks are good. There are many things I admire about their program and I’ve written about some of them here; and if their fans weren’t such nitwit twits I’d want them to do well. I’ll even root for them in OOC games or bowls. They’re good for our conference and even our team. For example, if Quiz is going to make a Heisman run (which is something the team can rally behind), his remaining publicity will come in the Civil War. Especially if the Ducks are sniffing Roses.
Of course they wouldn’t. Yeah we played good last year though, I guess i didn’t mean blunder per se, maybe i’m just still a little bitter
I think we could have 2 Pac-10 losses going into the Oregon game. If they lose to SC, then it could be for 2nd in the Pac-10. Civil War = anything can happen.
After the last two games on offense, I think we can beat everyone on our schedule remaining. But I don’t know if we will. But I don’t see worse than a 7-5 season.
It’s kind of scary, but with better execution on offense in the first half, the Beavs has a chance of laying 49 points on the vaunted men of Troy. Small thing that annoyed me….did you catch Riley having to waste a time-out when it was obvious we needed to go for two at 42-29, but the OSU coaching staff didn’t catch it and sent out the extra point team. Someone on the sideline needs to be thinking ahead for all scenarios. Timeouts are precious when you are behind.
I have to disagree, I really like the team I saw tonight. I think the big let down was special teams tonight and a couple of key mistakes(Kristick???). I think we win out, although it will be another nail biter in Eugene. I think the Ducks lose steam and lose to the Trojans at home. We will see though. Here is to finding a QB to start next year that can move in the pocket!
The offense was very very good. Canfield was very very good. It was the defense that sucked. Which is very very odd for a couple of reasons.
First, defense was supposed to be SC’s strong suit, not their offense. So just based on that alone this figured to be mostly a defensive battle with the better defense winning. Instead it was an offensive battle.
Second, when was the last time we could say the Beav’s offense was great but their defense sucked? Not in my memory, and particularly not in the last 10 years. Bradford averaged 9.8 yards per carry. He ran right over the defense like a bowling ball. What was that? And he was their _back up_ tailback.
Yeah it’ll be interesting to see what QB holds for us next year. Katz played in the Portland state game but I failed to pay a whole lot of attention to how he looked. Though I can’t imagine it being anything the would come to fruition, I heard there was talk on trying to get one more year out of Moevao. Anyone have any thoughts on Lalich?
Katz looked like John Elway–he honestly had that much velocity on his ball. He didn’t run down field, but several times he was able to move outside the pocket to elude defenders. It was against PSU, so who knows, but he looked excellent. Keep in mind that Sean looked excellent when spelling Matt Moore as a freshman, too, and it wound up taking him years to develop.
Does Kristick look slower this year or is it my imagination? Did he bulk up? RB’s seem to get the corner on him more often than not. Gains that were three yards last year end up being 7 or 8 this year.
I spent the afternoon fishing rather than grimacing over another blow out, and I was quiet surprised with what I had missed. We always play tough vs. USC, so a close game was expected, but the show-up of our offense was impressive. Canfield? I’m not quite ready to take back all those nasty things I’ve said about you, but please, please-please prove me wrong. Looks like by the numbers, our 3rd down conversions (7-15, dammit Canfield) and our penalties were our Achilles heel. Oh, and the typical damn pac-10 officiating. What do I know though, I’d rather be fishing.
As far as being surprised at what I had missed, i’ve been there. While I wasn’t fishing, I passed up a ticket to the ’06 USC game while I was a student and watched from home of all things. Then again, I had a chance to go to the ’08 game and while I wasn’t a student anymore and lived a couple hours away, I almost went then didn’t. DOH! Reser was screamin’! Perhaps, maybe I should stay away, don’t wanna jinx it!