Ah, the difference between playing in the Rose Bowl and playing in The Rose Bowl.
Hey, as Beavs we're taught to settle.
Anyhoo.
I've tuned into UCLA each week, and what impresses me most is the QB and overall intensity. In the past, UCLA slacked off. They relied on "out-athleting" teams like OSU. But now they seem more disciplined. Mora Jr is acerbic, but with that comes focus and determination (see his quote on not even knowing OSU beat Wisconsin) the last few Bruin coaches lacked.
Franklin is averaging 8.2 yards per carry, and UCLA is second in the nation in total yards. This with a decent OOC schedule of Rice, Nebraska (#16), and Houston. For those who didn't see, Franklin put up 300+ yards and 4Tds vs Nebraska, and Franklin ran for over 200 yards. Now, is Nebraska any good? Who knows. Does the transitive property relate to football? Nope.
So, who knows what to take away from three games, other than UCLA seems to finally have a QB, some intensity, and look like an improved squad. Beavs look improved, too. But with Wisconsin likely being terrible this year, some wind came out of the home opener's sail.
I'm not sure what to make of this game. Beavs rarely play well vs UCLA. UCLA likely isn't as good as their record or offensive stats. Both Beav's lines looked good in week 2, and as we know, that's where games are won. So taking everything into consideration I see this being a close game. My biggest concern is UCLA running read option. That combined with them being at home gives them the edge, but I don't think it's +11 like Vegas does. Until Banker shuts down decent read option teams consistently I can't even think about picking the Beavs, even though I'm willing to concede they have a decent shot to win this game.
UCLA 27, Beavs 21
Also, if anyone has two seats in sections 17-20 write me. We’re interested in going down, but not going to pay the $55 per ticket that they want on stubhub, and general admission sucks.
Have you tried scorebig.com It is like Priceline where you enter the price that you are willing to pay and in which area of the stadium. I took a quick look for this game and it looks like you could get pretty good seats for about $30. Might be worth a shot.
No I will check it out. Any idea how much a parking pass is, and how bad the traffic is?
It’s Socal, traffic always sucks right?
You will be parking on a golf course fairway (not kidding) and it was 20 bucks last time I went. The 405 freeway will be closed on Saturday, this will cause HUGE problems so plan a route that gets nowhere close to the 405 freeway.
A little hard to avoid the 405 going from SB to Pasadena. At least you don’t have to take the Studio City and Downtown exits.
I would suggest something like this since it’s pretty much the nearest concentration of restaurants in the area anyway.
http://www.rosebowlstadium.com/RoseBowl_shuttle-dropoff.php
Yuck.
I’ll just watch on my computer.
You don’t have rabbit ears?
Angry! Come on, make the required sacrifices to make this game. It’s your only chance to see them until Jan 1st, whereupon you’ll have to make the same trip to the same venue.
I know it sounds like a serious pain to make it, but nut up and support your Beavs. You’ll either be glad you did when we win, or you’ll cuss me all the way home (in bumper to bumper traffic) for talking you into it.
If I can make it to Vegas, Boise, Madison, and Eugene to see the Beavers get boat-raced, surely you can make it to Pasadena just this one time this year.
Go very early and find a tailgate to join, even if the scene is weak there is ALWAYS someone near the stadium you can share a few cold microbrews with.
If I had it in my budget I would go to this game just to share a couple pops with you before the game. I still want to make it to every Pac-12 site; only have Corvallis, Eugene, and Seattle checked off my list so far.
I was in Westwood back in February, and the traffic was bad then, midday. I can’t imagine it during a game. I’m thinking I’ll try to go to the Stanford game. My brother lives in San Jose, so I can spend the night there and get up early to beat traffic. Plus nobody goes to Stanford games.
I really would love to see a game in the Rose Bowl, but I just go nuts in traffic. If you think Riley makes me angry…
I went to the UCLA game a couple years back, it was fun as heck. We parked on the golf course and joined the gigantic tail gate party. There was some traffic, but not a big deal, and hell, I’ve been to the Rose Bowl, at the game I can afford, not the one I can’t.
After the fog bowl against USC a few years back my wife was frozen and pissed off the game went long, and then the traffic… two hours to get out of Corvallis to I-5 because of road construction on Hwy 20. I ended up taking round houses off the side of my head passing over the Willamette on Van Buren and we damn near divorced over it.
Hahahha That sounds like my sister and my poor brother in law. Hahahha, i can’t call for post game celebrations anymore cause I feel so bad for his abuse.
I was thinking you join me along R. Robinson’s father and 3 older brothers at a tail gate party. I’m sure they would love to meet you ;)
lololol
You don’t have ABC? or ESPN 2?
Sweet, I’ll be at the game, hope to see you there so I can punch you in the throat ! JK
I like the fact that OSU has 3 games worth of film to study and UCLA has one.
Hopefully Mannion has spent a week in the film room and another week throwing deep balls to Cooks and Wheaton. And Wheaton has spent the same week not dropping them.
Here’s hoping that the faster more athletic players can help defend the spread.
According to the GT Riley and Banker put in the dime for the first time since at OSU. Expect it to put more athletes on the field and help with spread offenses. Nice that they have evolved I suppose better late than never.
It’s really hard not to be sarcastic about that article. Banker and Riley probably just got these really cool new tvs too, you know the ones that have this fancy clear picture thingy..HDTV or something like that…
key line in that link is the reference to Perry and his NFL experience. Every intution I have tells me he’s the one that said to Banker (and Riley): “we can’t succeed in a standard 4-3-4; not in this conference.)
I do kind of find it humorous when the media writes “playing in the Rose Bowl”
One of the differences that I see in this years defense and ones in the recent past is speed. Against Wisconsin we didn’t only look a little bit faster, we looked MUCH faster. I know Wisconsin’s isn’t known for their speed, but the speed from the OLB and DE were impressive. Also the tackling looked better.
UCLA does provide a new challenge, if OSU could cut UCLA’s offensive output to 300-350 yards. I like our chances. The offense hasn’t shown they can win a shootout yet.
I think the game will be very close, but we lose something like 24-21 after Lettuce misses 2 FGs.
The score could actually be lower because both defenses are, I think, better than the offenses. 17-14, maybe?
I don’t thik UCLA presents a new challenge, other than they don’t appear to be the UCLA of the past few years.
The challenge is the same that OSU has failed to answer consistently the last several years – how to defend a mobile qb and effective running game. As Angry pointed out in past threads, in such cases, the beavers make it look like the offense has 12 players….
OSU’s victories against teams with mobile qb’s have come against Washington and against Utah (when the QB was knocked out of the game on a clean hit by a beaver defender). Locker wasn’t particularlry accurate, nor UW’s defense particularly good. It would help this saturday if UCLA would play like UW….
I think OSU’s D line could be very tired by midway through the third, thus making it really tough for the LB’s to make the plays of which they are capable.
On offense, OSU needs the kind of running success it had against USC in Quizz’s breakout game – O line moving the pile, RB’s ripping off yardage in chunks, and dictating the tempo.
Then OSU needs TO’s, which could be expected from the likes of Wynn, Chricton, Murphy, et al. I think it might be time for an OSU LB INT….
I see the Beavers putting up a decent fight and the special teams costing OSU the game.
UCLA has superior athletes and superior scheme (certainly when playing OSU); the Beavs only shot at this comes down to a far above norm performance by Mannion and a few breaks with Turnovers.
I don’t see much of an advantage for UCLA until you start talking depth. I think UCLA has advantages only at TE, DT and RB. We have advantages at DB, MLB and DE… and possibly O-line.
Now, if you’re talking about “athletes” as in Hundley is a better athlete than Mannion. Then DUH!. But is he a better QB? I don’t think so at all.
This game may come down to ST play. Both K are having issues, but they do have a much better P than we do.
I agree Mannion having a big day is the key. That is probably true of every game this year, though. LBs need to wrap up and bring down Franklin, too. He’s slippery.
I think we should know how the game is going to go after the first 2 series. Either the O shows up and the D come out fired up or they don’t. I think we have the talent to beat them, its just a matter of getting it done. If we lose though it might end up deflating the team going into the Arizona game. So this isn’t make or break for the season.. but could mean bowl game or no bowl game. We have to beat these mid-tier teams.
I just finished watching the UCLA/Houston game.
Here’s what I saw,
Houston made a lot of mistakes. The majority of the interceptions were because the QB just lobbed the ball up into double coverage. Many many dropped balls. Houston’s drives were all very short.
UCLA was bringing pressure a lot. Houston countered with quick WR screens which were effective.
UCLA’s oline looked vulnerable to a stronger pass rush but did a good job run blocking. Franklin looked as advertised. Can catch well too. UCLA’s two starting tackles are freshman.
Hundley made mostly bad decisions while under pressure. He tended to lock onto WR’s a bit. Looks to be very mobile.
So my keys to the game,
Offense –
Need sustained drives, Keep clock moving and the defense fresh. Use screens to counter UCLA blitzes.
Establish a run game. 100+ yards.
Defense –
Limit the run game. Franklin will break off a few. KeepHundley in the pocket.
Own the edge, UCLA has 2 freshman tackles. Crichton and Wynn need to take advantage. If they can create pressure only bringing 4, it will cause Hundley to make poor decisions.
I’m thinking both teams will start off slowly and be a one score game at half. Whoever can make the adjustments at halftime will win. OSU will need to figure out where they can bring the heat to Hundley.
The Beavs will need to really smack UCLA in the mouth early on and keep the pressure on to win. I can’t see Mannion leading a late game comeback quite yet this year.
We are going to find out if the effictent offense we saw in practice, can be so in a game… I think we will see a lot more than we saw against Wisconsin, and that should have scored more points than we got.
I see no reason why the D shouldnt be as intense as before, and take down a lot of the UCLA offensive productivity.
We play like we can, we can win
During camp, you take the reports of the offense moving the ball efficiently with a grain of salt because you figure, our defense blows. But then you see the D tear Wisconsin apart and it leaves you wondering what was going on with the offense during that game. If our offense was handling THAT beaver defense all camp, why only ten points against Wisconsin? True, the offense did move the ball better than the score suggested, but was the Wisconsin D pretty damn good? First game jitters? I am not sure what to make of this offense. I suppose there is not much you can say after one game, period, so this weekend should be revealing.
With our defense showing marked improvement I believe our chance to win rests on our offense. The factors which could decide the game are:
Riley’s predictable play calling….he has to pull some new stuff out of the bag.
Turnovers and special teams.
Riley’s ability to “play to win” and score points all the way until game is over.
28 – 17 UCLA
go beavs!
I do not see it mentioned, another former Fresno State player transferred to OSU. Long snapper Harrison Linksy will walk on. OL David Keller is the other ex Fresno State player to transfer
This is a scary matchup but I expect Mannion and Co. to show improvement. If the time of possession goes the way it did against the Badgers then the Beavs D will stay fresh enough to hold the Bruins to less than 21.
Poyer gets his first interception and Beavs roll 24-17.
Per Angry’s question about Nebraska being any good. Older siblings are Neb. grads. Brother has been to two games and I have received calls after each with him ranting and raving about how much their defense sucks, particularly in missed tackles. Houston is way down this year and Rice is……….Rice.
So their stats may be a little inflated. However, UCLA does have some talent and now appear to have a coach. Could this be a replay of Pete C at SC? I hope not.
Aside on Nebraska. Pelini’s brother is now the head coach at FAU. The rumor in Lincoln was that he was porking the wife of one the board of regents. Tom Osborne told Pelini to fire him and Pelini said if he goes, I go. He got the FAU job and the crisis was averted. The Blackshirts have not been the same since Pelini got anger management classes and perhaps got put on a happy pill. The stoic
fans and administration were appalled with him going psycho and frothing at the mouth on the sidelines. My brother is convinced he is either going to stroke out or pull a Woody Hayes on the sideline one of these days. He is not being himself, what made him a great defense coordinator.
“Porking.” It’s amusing when (some) nouns are changed to verbs…it wouldn’t be so amusing if he were allegedly “beefing her” or “chickening her.”
What if the terminology had something to do with fish?
You did know that Pelini went to the hospital early in the second half of last weekend’s game?
Yup. My brother was at the game.
I think UCLA’s ooc sched has been pretty weak. That, and only one game for our Beavs creates a lot of question marks.
What can you really say about this team after one game. The things that keep me optimistic are: I think they have the best team chemistry of any Beaver team I’ve seen, the starters all seem to not only be incredibly hard working but also heady players (most seem like they would have gone to college even if it wasn’t to play football), and last (especially on defense) you can’t teach speed.
The obvious achilles heal is special teams. If it doesn’t improve it will absolutely lose games for the Beavs this year, as there figures to be a lot of close ones with the league wide improvement of the Pac 12. My fandom has the Beavers winning 31 – 24. One defensive touchdown, 3 offensive TD’s and Ceasar Salad goes 1-2 on field goals. Speed of the OLB’s contains Hundley and forces some bad plays. I think Mora is already getting over-confident.
I don’t like Mora and would enjoy the look on his freshly smacked mug. But if the special teams continue to play like crap, I may not get the chance.
I agree, he comes across to me as a dickhead.
Lettuce Boy may cost us some games. We don’t have much margin for error and need to excel in the kicking game. No backwards punts will help.
Who is lettuce boy? I thought that was Hekker…there’s a new lettuce boy?
Romaine = Lettuce
Haha.
Didn’t people call Hekker lettuce boy? I thought they were talking about his curly locks. Guess that one went over my head.
Somebody here coined Romaine as “Lettuce” right after the Sac state game. I’m not a fan of Lettuce “boy”. Just Lettuce is cool.
Hekker’s nickname was “shank-a-game” or “Angry’s least favorite Beaver of all time”.
I think Pankey has Hekker’s second nickname :)
I like shankaponamous for Hekker.
My least favorite beaver of all time is Pankey.
(JD, good call!)
I don’t like “boy” either, but I think we go spanish on this one. “La Lechuga” has a nice ring to it.
Head of lettuce that is.
I’ve been calling him Lettuce since his first kick. It’s hilarious, and I’m glad it is spreading.
we basically had a backwards punt last game with the fumble
I think our D plays well but we will have trouble moving the football. I see this one as a 21-10 type of loss. I am afraid this UCLA team is probably pretty good.
The optimist in me keeps thinking that Mannion was playing super conservative against Wisconsin, trying to limit mistakes and not make any turnovers. He was in “game manager” mode and playing not to lose. Also with last years O-Line you can’t blame him for being a little gun shy and checking down too quickly.
He wasn’t just checking down too quickly. He was also releasing the ball to the check downs far too quickly. He looked nervous and wanting to just move the chains. And that’s all he did.
But what he did nicely was just throw the ball to where only his receiver could get to it or nobody could get to it. Even some flares which could have gone for a yard or two he just decided to chuck it ou of bounds instead. I like those decisions a lot better than forcing it in there and risking all sorts of wacky things happening.
On top of all that, you could see a handful of plays in which he looked comfortable. There were some absolutely spectacular tosses made which I had to rewind and watch just because there was no humanly possible way to put the ball where he did. And he made these throws without forcing them. They were just that on target.
The game looks like it’s slower for him, but it’s so slow that his mind is moving through the play faster than the actual play. That might be a function of having to beat a new found team speed on D while in practice. Maybe he knows better than to force it or waste a toss on a low percentage/moderate risk play because he learned to do so against our own D.
If UCLA plays as fast as our D did against Wisconsin, that quick read and release will be a good thing. But when we face slower D’s like Wisconsin he just needs to know how to adjust his thermostat.
I totally agree with this entire post. Throwing the ball away is what Canfeild, Moevao, Moore, et. al. did in the end of their Jr. year and the start of their Sr. year!
Also, with the D’s speed and knowing their assignments, that has really helped Mannion’s progressions to quicken up as well as know who he’s practicing against, but he needs to learn who his receivers are being covered by in regards to CB’s. I don’t think Mannion was realizing that our WR’s were faster and crisper on their routes for the Wisc. D to defend them well. If Mannion had realized that, we would have burned them with more passing yards. On the flip side, the O-line can pass block, but again, Mannion didn’t recognize this to know he had time due to feeling pressure against Wisc. last season.
Oh my, Colorado is sooooo sad. A linebacker taken out by a safety tripping over the field umpire…. man, I just feel bad for those poor, hapless kids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utWuf4qIgTc
Love it.
And one of their commits is getting season-ending knee surgery this week.
Too bad Colorado is not on our schedule!
No kidding.
The luck o the Beaver. The exact opposite of the luck of the *ucks! What are the chances all these young dudes being thrown to the wolves are seasoned and strong when the beavs begin their series with them.
Did you notice the block in the back just before the TD?
This whole “luck of the Beavers” thing is fucking stupid, you all know that right? Please tell me I’m overreacting and it’s something you all do tongue-in-cheek, especially when compared against the luck-o-the-ducks.
Does anyone seriously think the Beavers have bad “luck” compared to any other school?
You are fucking stupid. Calm the fuck down you stupid mother fucker. “Luck” is just randomness. Are you telling me that Oregon intentionally recruited Phil Knight to attend the university with the hopes that he would one day become the founder of Nike and donate inordinate sums of money back to the school. Yes, that was fucking lucky. Just like we were fucking lucky winning back-to-back championships in baseball. Luck(randomness) is a part of the equation in everything we do, get fucking used to it. No point getting caught up in it though as there is no ability to affect randomness.
Hey giardia, I think you need to be the one calming down. Jason just made a statement asking if they were for real or just tongue in cheek?
Wait, you call me stupid then help me make my point? You can’t see that you just agreed with my post?
Looking around the room and shrugging my shoulders on that one.
Thanks JD.
I just thought your response was a little overboard, hence the sarcasm. I think many just use the bad luck excuse as an outlet for their frustrations. Certainly not something to get overly upset about.
I missed your sarcasm probably because I don’t know you. We see people freaking out like that in here so I thought you were just another whack-job.
You still haven’t proven you’re not a whack-job of course, but you’re certainly not one based on that response alone.
Now, in response to me, lay a knee-deep rant laced with words that would make a sailor blush with shame and we’ll get your sarcasm.
Ha maybe the worst reading comprehension I’ve seen on this site. Dude goes off on a profanity laced tirade while accidentally agreeing with the original post. Classic.
Worst comprehension? So you are saying you just started reading yesterday. My whole point was to overreact to an issue that is truly irrelevant. Glad I got the reaction I intended. Your wife/girlfriend/victim must manipulate you with ease.
Don’t ever cut-off BeaverFever in traffic. I predict a newsworthy road rage incident. JB
Sorry if you couldn’t catch the sarcasm. The profanity was only to prove a point, no you can’t sit on it.
Point proved your’e a dick.
Whoa dude, you should reserve much vitriol and f bombs solely for expressing how you feel about the ducks or the refs.
That being said; regarding the luck of the beavs I do feel like a cub fan whose in state and hated rival just became the yankees. And believe me I just threw up a little bit in my mouth typing that comparison.
It has to do with the fact that Oregon State tends to play teams when they are at their best. Cinci, Louisville, Penn St, LSU etc.. —- especially Cinci and Louisville. The Ducks seem to play some power schools once in a while and it seems like they get them in down years e.g. Michigan.
Perfectly stated. This is why I pray The Rodent Bowl series with Minnesota does not get cancelled.
Minnesota should be Rose Bowl bound by that time if “the luck of the Beavs” , sorry Jason, holds true. LOL.
Beavs just play shitty on the road in OOC. Close wins in the past against bad teams like UNLV and New Mexico.
It is tongue-in-cheek bro, take it easy. Hello beavers states it perfectly below. It’s just the way things have played out in recent history, and something that’s been discussed here quite often. We’ve been getting teams at there best, while the Ducks have gotten a lot of teams when there down. These games are scheduled years in advance (often times when the teams are good), so it’s random stupid luck.
All these comments are true, in the sense that “bad luck” and “good luck” are kind of meaningless terms, when you think about what luck really is. I think the feeling is, if any team has bad luck, it is the Beavers, but maybe if you dissect what happens to the Beavs compared with other teams, it doesn’t hold up. Is that what you are driving at??
Yes. I don’t believe in good or bad luck any more than just random coincidence, like BeaverFeaver stated so wonderfully.
“You just won the lottery? You lucky bastard!”
“Can you believe my luck, I’ve been dealt 3 blackjacks in a row!”
“As luck would have it, my last 3 customers have been complete a-holes.”
“Andrew Luck is the quarterback for the Colts.”
It’s when people start seriously believing that someone or some thing is lucky (or unlucky) and they start making decisions based on those beliefs that I start to wonder and be concerned.
Really, we can drop it, I just heard “the luck of the Beavs” one too many times on here. I’m over it.
I think this might be the biggest game this yr. A loss here and it could damage the psyche of team, probably not as bad as I originally thought before the season. However, a win would be huge for the teams confidence (even if they lost next week at AZ). It ciuld propel the team to get on a roll and sweep Oct (a notoriously good month for Riley’s teams).
Ucla looks good to me, but they too might have depth issues, they start quite a bit of freshmen on the OL, and although the heat could be a factor (hope we are in shape- didn’t like takening off the three weekend) I like the depth I saw on the DL. The defense looked fast, but what I was most surprised at was how much bigger our DL looked from last year. The other I saw was much better tackling from everybody. Hundley is still just 3 games of experience, and if he wants to challenge our corners he might be surprised there isn’t much to throw at. So I can see us putting lots of pressure on him and if he runs we need the LB’s to get him down on the ground. I liked the defense using the nikel and dime packages, but I also liked the stunts I saw from DL, we rarely tried any of these in the past, and they proved effective against Wisconsin. I think the heat could be factor, but the depth has to help us there. Fifita, Kell, and Braun can have goog games we will do well. I think the game olan will be to keep them in front of them and try to limit the big ppkays by hundley and franklin. I like our defense against their inexperience.
Offensively, I have more concern. We need to run the ball with more purpose, and if we can’t we will lose. But this game has to be won by Mannion. He will need to be poised, because from what ucla has shown is an ability to get after the qb and make turnovers. But they have also shown that they can give up yards. Mannion will need to be exceptional on 3rd down and in the red zone, our kicker is not reliable so we need TD’s.
I see this game being fight between the twenties, and the team who can be efficient with their red zone opportunties likely comes out on top. Special teams can be an area where we have an advantage as I see opportunities for Poyer hitting a big return. Their punter can boom punts and if he gets one that out kicks the covrrage watch out.
Keys: play with confidence, tackle soundly, and a cooler marine air would help.
I am going to the game and sitting in sec 14, any idea on how the seat are? I have been there before so the site lines seemed good.
You might want to put your posts in a word document first, then correct the mispellings it finds, and then copy it all and post on here so we don’t have to guess a lot of what your saying. Just a little advice.
*misspellings
*you’re
*your
*yore
touche
*touch
*tushy
also, a lot of our players are not from the NW and the only way I see it being a factor is if the team decides not to hydrate before the trip and/or the teams conditioning hasn’t improved over the offseason from last year. The more tired the D gets, the poorer the tackling will be this Saturday. So let’s hope for hydrated team and a conditioned team! I think the Offense has cleaned it up a lot since last season as well as using the bye week to help Mannion slow down his progessions. The good thing is, he knows them and sees them extremely fast. That’s a good thing because that shows it’s second nature. He just got a little too anxious and felt “pressured” when there wasn’t pressure at times.
Sorry about that phone doesn’t have word doc or spell check, thanks for that though! Damn sausage thumbs!
lol your phone isn’t making you the victim of auto correct?! That is actually a better thing not to have in a forum situation. :)
Hey just think if you’re ever in a survival situation you can eat them.
AHAHA
Week 4 coverage maps out:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/CFBmaps/2012-espn-college-football-tv-maps
Glad to see that most of the West Coast gets it on ABC and not ESPN2! When was the last time OSU played on ABC with a 12:30 pm kickoff on the West coast?!
Was it the Civil War in 2010? My point is simple, Oregon State rarely gets these ABC games.
Must be the luck of the Beavs?
I wonder what’s an ABC in Missoula during that time? Weird.
*on
Colorado Coach Embree to shuffle his staff, no firings announced at this point. I can’t imaging it making any difference this year. They are truly abysmal. Maybe BDC could replace the Nicholls State game with the Buffs. JB
Nichols state may be more respectable at this point.
Embree will just need to “shuffle” the hell out of Boulder soon enough anyway.
I’m taking the Beavers to win 30-28, Romaine wins it on a 41 yard FG with 3 seconds left
Live Civil War Volleyball at 7pm on Pac-12 Networks! DISH Channel 5453. #PAC12onDISH #GoBeavs
This isn’t twitter. ;)
Civil War Volleyball also in HD on Dish Channel 5454. :)
Anyone notice that the volleyball team is wearing Asics uniforms? Not Nike…….
I noticed we got swept. That sucks.
my random scramble of thoughts about this game- for some reason i have a feeling that special teams may be the difference in this one. if the beavers are the best defense the bruins have seen so far, things could be a little more difficult for them, but obviously this bruin offense is miles better than wisconsin’s was. i think the front seven will do okay, but the fifita’s and lopez’s probably aren’t going to be able to contribute as much. i’m with angry on a game in the twenties. the offense has to be better, but i feel like UCLA doesn’t have the same front seven that the badgers did. i’d guess they’ll need two td’s from mannion instead of just one.
I re-watched the OSU/UW game last night – predominately just looked at our defensive series’. What really encourages me headed into a game against a running attack that we’ve seen from UCLA is how well we neutralized/eliminated cut-back lanes. A big part of that was how well Castro played – he got just enough penetration, and then effectively was a huge roadblock between him and the (usually) two linemen engaging him. Our LB’s filled fast and hard, and often tackles were made in the vicinity of Castro – the statless impact.
I also loved our 3rd and Long packages with Kell, Crighton, and Fafita down and Welch playing at the LOS. We ran some great stunts d-line stunts from this package, including the first sack of the night. It was a great look that we didn’t see at all last year.
I don’t see us rolling into town and folding if things start rough – this defense showed up with an identity,and I like it.
OSU 35
UCLA 24
Call me crazy.
Game could go either way. Hope we can overcome our historic ineptitude in Sept. A win would be huge for confidence and recruiting.
You do have to like the D’s attitude:
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2012/09/oregon_state_football_lineback.html
That doesn’t sound like last year’s team at all…
According to the article Trent is 29; time for a paying job and Riley/BDC better step up soon or the Beavs could be facing his skill and enthusiasm rather than benefiting from it.
He brings some of Eriksons attitude without (so far) the downside.
I agree. Get this guy on the payroll. Anywhere on the payroll. Just pay him and keep him on the field.
I also agree. We need this type “winning” attitude. Trent is the best coach on the staff. I don’t get what you mean by “downside”….is that going to a BCS bowl?
Trent has a great attitude, and certainly seems to have made an impact this season. But, “best coach on the staff”, I am pretty sure that is not the case. It would be great to get him on the payroll, and I expect they will assuming he is a good recruiter. We really need good recruiters at all coaching positions, especially on defense.
Downside I believe Sad is referring to would be leading the nation in penalties (mostly personal fouls for late hits and excessive celebration) and bringing in questionable characters that win you games, but give your program the “Thug” label (the infamous Marine Night Club Assault). I attended OSU from 99′ – 2003′ and was kind of in the athlete party circle. Most the guys were cool/chill dudes, but a couple were complete maniacs. They’d try and go all fista-cuffs if you dared to foul a football player at Dixon. One of them got busted by a teacher in the middle of a class cheating on a test (actually was just sitting in the middle of the room with a copy of the test, coping the answers straight over) got up, yelled at the prof., stormed out of the room, didn’t miss a practice. It was fun to be a fan though. I had electives where the profs. actually took roll call, and a couple players didn’t make it to a single class. That type of stuff.
Thanks Dwill03, I see where you are coming from. Yea, that side of it was not pleasant. But to see the “swagger” on the field, the confidence, Erickson’s wanting to win big and getting the Beavs to the Fiesta Bowl were the positives. I miss that now. It was a very exciting and electrifying time for fans alright.
Email from Pac-12 Networks on Online, iPad acess for DISH subscribers coming soon:
DISH and Pac-12 Networks are working together to make our Pac-12 Now service, also known as TV Everywhere, available in the coming weeks. Once this service is launched, DISH Network customers who receive Pac-12 Networks on television will be able to access all seven networks on their computers, their iPads, and eventually, their iPhones and Android phones.
You guys would make some pretty good gamblers. Piece in the LA Times that Schnell just posted on Twitter about the line falling to 7 pts and “sharps” are betting on Oregon State to win straight up. At least that’s what I gathered from it. I’m not all that familiar with the gambling lingo. Maybe it just said that the “sharps” are betting on Oregon State to cover.
It could mean a lot of things. But the fact the line continues to drop means that people (most likely sharps because who bets on OSU mid week?) think the game will be at least close. Also the sharps have historically liked Riley coached teams since they are consistently under-valued by bookmakers.
Aren’t sharps used heroin needles?
Ew dude.
I created a college football pick’em league in Yahoo for anyone who wants to join. We will be picking the Yahoo games of the week plus all the Pac-12 games against the spread. First game is tomorrow: Baylor vs. the mighty LA Monroe, so if you’re interested make sure to sign-up before then.
The Beaver’s line has dropped from +11.5 to +7 which is HUGE. Crossing 10 and hitting 7 means either a ton of money has come in on the Beavs or some very smart people are wagering on the them.
Anyone who wants to join can. Just go here:
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college/register/joingroup
Group ID#: 22531
Password: angry
What’s the prize for winning your league? A trip to Angry’s house for the weekend?
The winner gets to be the Beavs new starting kicker or punter. I talked with Riley, he says he doesn’t care which one as long as you played QB in middle school.
What if you’ve never played organized football but have 14 years of soccer under your belt? I can be the Danny Wuerffel of OSU kicking!
If you’ve played Madden ’08 or later you should be good.
My bad, I meant Chris Weinke. Totally shanked my own joke.
You mean hekkered your own joke.
Kicking Pun intended.
I was the starting long snapper for my high school my senior year and only had 2 bad snaps all season and we had no blocked kicks all season.
Neat
I wish Riley would read this statement by Mora:
****
Mora is banking on the fact Oregon State coach Mike Riley hasn’t changed his ways too much.
“Fortunately they haven’t had a whole lot of changes in their coaching staff,” Mora said. “There’s a lot of similarities in what they did last year.”
But, Mora said, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be exactly the same because Riley is an experienced play caller who knows how to disguise plays through the use of different formations.
“He understands how to dress things up,” Mora said. “So the challenge for us is try to see through the window dressing and recognize the final formation when the ball is snapped and put ourselves in the right places to make the play.”
***
Pretty telling stuff. Let’s hope Riley pulls something new out of his hat and shoves it up Moron’s ass. http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/ucla/post/_/id/11869/ucla-defense-wont-be-spread-thin
That’s gotta piss Riley off (in his own pissed of way, of course).
BYU looks like a very beatable team.
I agree. From the little we know about the Beavs so far, I expect a 10 point win in Provo.
Luck O’ the Beavs example #205….Boise St. has a crappy team by their standards for once and of course they are not on the schedule this year for our beloved trunk gnawers!
It is luck of the Beavers seeing BYU’s offense that looks a lot worse this season. Game looking a lot more winnable
Seriously, this is probably one of the 10 worst football games I’ve ever watched.
does anyone know why Feti changed his last name? I noticed his brother playing for BYU is still Unga
I can’t believe I am still watching this debacle it is awful
In honor of his mother.
It’s his mom’s last name and he did it to honor her.
Seriously Bronco!?? Going for 2 with under 4 mins? I had cash on byu to win outright and the hc makes a call like that?
I officially hate Mendenhall now despite his beaver background. We better beat this mistake prone team! Furious right now but mostly feel bad for the byu defense, what an outstanding performance to overcome FIVE turnovers, hold the bsu offense to a shutout, and a 4 play goal line stand at the 1 only to have your coach pull a boner like that. I used to respect the guy but that is deplorable.
He had to. If BYU had made the PAT, they would have played for 3-4 more days.
Hilarious! Needed a smile, thanks.
Uh oh. Not sure why you would play staight up, Vegas was giving BSU 7. Betting on byu should have won some $…. BYU has done something right though. How else did I find myself watching 3 BYU games already. BYU is crushable. Yeah, we better win. It’s in Provo though and that place SUCKS!
Why would I play BYU ML? They ended up one play away from winning at +240 so my play was the correct one. I would do it again too. +240 was great value IMO, just didn’t work out this time.
lol, I had Boise -6.5. it took everything I had to not fire my remote across the room when they could score from first and goal at the 1 to go up 14.
*couldn’t
That goal line stand was amazing wasn’t it?
I knew at that point right there that it was unlikely that Boise would cover.
I have a question. Is there a limit on the number of coaches on a team? If OSU hired Bray would they have to let someone go or lose a coach to another team? I see Bray as a positive with energy that would be a dynamite recruiter. If the OSU D holds up this season and shines the vultures will be descending on Corvallis. I can think of one vulture up north in particular that still needs to shore up his defense.
Yes, according to Lindsay Schnell’s “Live Chat” review, Every team may only have 10 coaches ON staff and 4 GA’s at one time. So Yes, 1 of the 10 would have to leave the OSU program. Right now, we have the following in no particular order:
1) Mike Riley (Head Coach)
2) Mark Banker (Defensive Coordinator)
3) Danny Langsdorf (Offensive Coordinator/ QB’s)
4) Joe Seumalo (DL)
5) Mike Cavanaugh (OL)
6) Rod Perry (DB’s)
7) Brent Brennan (WR’s)
8) Chris Brasfield (RB’s)
9) Bruce Read (Spec. Teams)
10) Jay Locey (Asst. Head Coach/Tight Ends)
So out of this list…who do you cut to add room for Trent Bray?
The obvious choice is Danny Langsdorf, but then who would take over QB’s AND Offensive Coordinator? I just don’t see that happening. Taking an Offensive type coach to only replace with a defensive coach. That will not happen.
Mark Banker, obviously
Hmmm, that’s a tough one. Banker or Langsdorf? If only one could go, I’d have to say Langsdorf.
I think it would be interesting to put Banker up in the booth and Bray on the sidelines. I think the perspective change for Banker might be helpful and it would be a progressive increase in responsibilities for Bray.
Locey would take over. If Langsdorf isn’t calling plays what is he doing exactly? He’s gotta go! We had Newhouse on staff for years as a LB’s coach.
Newhouse was there because Banker took the DB’s as his responsibility
Locey covering for Langsdorf sounds like the best move to me. Though not as publicized as in the past, Locey is responsible for team building activities as well as his stated duties with tight ends. Other than QB’s and (now) sitting upstairs during the game I don’t know what Langs does.
Adding QB’s to Locey seems like something he should be able to handle, especially if a GA was used to help with TE’s.
As to the “asst head coach” part of Locey’s job, he recently said that that doesn’t amount to much more than some speaking engagements which could be passed on to ……Bray? Cav?? or??
I would say loose Bruce Read. Riley doesn’t seem to put much stock in specialists anyway. I never see Read as doing work on the recruiting trail. Langs (for all his faults) does get some of our better recruits and is a good quarterback coach. Locey gets good recruits too and has enough overall football knowledge he could probably take over special teams.
Seems to me very few teams have a dedicated Special Teams coach, am I wrong?
Still, special teams is about a third of the game and it has to take lots of time in practice and sideline organization. Agree that Locey probably has the knowledge to run special teams but a little concerned about his other duties; again, a GA working with TE’s might be a good way to free up Locey’s time.
I hadn’t considered the recruiting advantage of Langs over Read, seems like a good point.
Who knows. I like the idea of swapping out energized youth for the old guard. The last coaching hire was Perry for KHJ which was the other way around, but a good move to coach up all this young talent. Langs is relatively young and still needs to make a name for himself (Riley probably won’t be around forever) so he should still be hungry. Especially after all of the criticism the last couple of years. He was Mr. Up and Coming a few years ago and has quickly become the bastard step child.
Angry –
Can you please, please, please keep the game thread rather than chat room — really enjoy going back and reading the comments while watching the taped game…I’ll be at the game and don’t ever look at my phone while the game is on.
thanks in advance for considering.
Hell yes. We can take non-beav games to the chat room but let’s keep the Beav game here.
I agree.
I agree. Chat should be for non-beav related games.
I disabled it. Will enable after the Beav game so we can go in there and discuss other Pac games.
thanks!
Stroughter placed on IR today. Probably looking at a new team next season. Hopefully he gets healthy and gets another shot.
He played last Sunday, something must’ve happened.
Broke his right foot.
http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/nfl/5441/sammie-stroughter
Oregon State need to bring its ‘A’ game to Pasadena to pull off a second consecutive upset and start the season at an impressive 2-0. The game is expected to be entertaining and OSU having 2 weeks to prepare should keep it close. I still don’t think our run game is a big enough threat to have the offense in top form. Woods needs to be explosive and high energy. Mannion needs to not throw any picks to give us our best chance. I think the pressure to make something happen near the end could decide this one. If OSU’s defense can cause a couple turnovers we should have our shot and the offense will need to capitalize when inside the 30.
Oregon State at UCLA:
http://beaverbyte.com
My #1 question when people bring up the “upset” factor is this…
How many games must a team win against non-ranked teams and ranked teams before they are no longer CONSIDERED the underdog for a season? When OSU wins tomorrow in Cali(Calling this a win now), will that end the suspicions that OSU is now no longer the “irrelevant” team of the Pac-12 North or even in the Pac-12 iteself? I bring this up only because are we relying on what the media(AP poll) or the Coaches(USA Today poll) say about all the teams in the country? I honestly don’t think we should start taking anything away from Wisconsin right now after only 3 weeks of football. Start doing that around game 5 or 6.
OSU is a team with “fresh” athletes that still need to get into a rhytmn game wise. UCLA is in a good place with their tempo, play calling, and their personel for their play calling. They just haven’t found a defense that can stop them….yet. I believe the OSU defense will test their offense in their run game. Our pass defense has really only improved in regards to the CB’s turning their heads around and the DL for creating havoc.
On a completely unrelated topic to the actual teams….I hope and pray to GOD that we don’t have Jay Strickerz and his aweful aweful people around him he calls an officiated crew! They are TERRIBLE!!!
To the victor go the spoils. If OSU wants to make a national name for themselves they just have to back it up with a big road win over UCLA. That will get them ranked atleast #21 and very possibly Top 20. We’ll see if they are ready to seize it.
What a long two weeks this has been. Only 24 hours to go.
Game is gettin closer, finally!
John Hunt in the O has the Beavs winning 31-28; sure, that and $3 or $4 will get you a cup of coffee but I like it nonetheless.
GO BEAVS! only one game this week, go for it!
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2012/09/oregon_state-ucla_preview.html#incart_river
FWIW, Lindsay’s pre-season call was for Boom to catch 16 for 183yds…WOW, I’d love to see half that! http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2012/08/oregon_state_beavers_football_119.html
Props to the Giardia rip on the dick.. FightingBeaver. Made me laugh. JB
Thanks. This site could use a little microbiology humor.
Just saw Mora say that UCLA will be moving to placards like the ducks this weekend to speed up their offense on plays and substitutions. The manner in which the brain can process visual cues as opposed to auditory ones makes me think that this will be the start of a larger trend across college football.
Hmm, I like the timing on this though.
Their first game using the placards, you could conceivably have some mistakes/miscues.
Sounds like a chance for the prank of a lifetime. Picture of Mora with Kiffen’s wife, bending over in front of Chip Kelly, etc. Possibilities are endless.
I doubt if they will have many mistakes. Placards are always backed up by sideline hand signals anyway. The placards are a cool way of exciting players and fans alike. It will be another 10 years until Riley thinks of doing something cool like this.
Go away your Duck troll… you are truly a waste of space.
Riley will never go to the placards/cards on the sidelines because that won’t help prepare his players for the next level if they so choose. Anyone hear John Gruden’s interview with former Auburn QB, Cam Newton?! Newton said at times the play would be a # like 2 and the team knew what that meant. That doesn’t help when the NFL offenses are calling plays in huddles where it’s almost a paragraph of play calling. Simplifying the play calling will not help them in the future…even from an NFL Coaches son
So I was flying out of Italy and grabbed a USA Today (international version) and saw this on page 2 of the sports section:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/pac12/story/2012/09/20/mike-riley-says-hes-in-a-good-place-at-oregon-state/57808938/1
Not a bad article…Riley specifically states a goal to win the PAC12.
“This is something bigger than a team or a game,” he said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports. “That’s why I fight, claw and scratch to stay here. I’ve been around the block — I want to fight like heck to make this my last job, to make this place as good as it can be and win a championship.”
It looks like coach may have re-engaged. Good to read some of that fire is back!
That’s always been his goal. It’s not his priorities that need adjusting; it’s his process… methinks.
I doubt it ever left. He was likely well aware that the team was not going to be good the last couple years, which is probably why he didn’t say stuff like that. I’m with you on liking his confidence. If he is this confident about the team then I should be too.
Is there a cap to how much a GA can make… maybe pump up Bray’s pay to be coach level to keep him until there is movement in the coaching staff.
Yes there is a cap on what a coaching GA can make.
I believe the compensation is Graduate school tuition, housing stipend and up to $12,000 per year.
These guys basically work for nothing and are limited to 2 years as a GA unless they complete 24 hours of graduate level classes in the 2 years, which is nearly impossible. If they do, they can get a third year.
In addition to the above the rules, cited by Kenny Beaver, rules have been tightened within the last three years. The grad assistant must now be a true student and I think there may even be an age limit.
The Ducks had former player and NFL retiree Peter Sirmon on their staff as a “grad assistant.” Sirmon didn’t care about the low salary and wasn’t interested in attending grad school. At the time Sirmon was in his mid-30’s. It was a “loophole” that has been closed. JB
PS: KBeav please don’t jump on me for citing the Ducks or Kenny Beaver.
Who are the officials for tomorrow’s game?! I hope it aint Strickerz!!!
amen to that. I hate that prick. He usually has the SC games though.
Yes, very clever, as is calling me a dick. Pulitzer, here you come.
Pettibone is just a little butt hurt about they way they tossed him and his bronze beaver out.
Anyone know what happened to the bronze beaver? I kinda want to buy it. :)
Bronze Beaver is in my den. Sometimes scares the wife late at night. Along with lots of Beaver gear circa 1996. 200 game jerseys, home and away. They are in great shape except for the grass stains on the backs and cleat marks on the fronts.
Also….logs left from the ‘beaver damn”. We were going to build a damn with a log from every win. Didn’t work out so well.
Also a few sleeping bags left over from the night that students guarded the “bronze beaver” from UO students prior to the Civil War game.
Make on offer…or stop by and take what you want. JB
You saved some trees bro. You were green before it became cool.
LOL! My buddy had a shift guarding that thing, they just threw the football around the field on night.
You might notice it received a lot of +’s….dick.
Wow, you must be the cool kid! Can I sit with you at lunch? I am a dick, just stole your response.
i forgot about the beaver dam. good one
Yeeeessssss! My sister’s buddy just gave me 2 tickets to the OSU game tomorrow. 40 yard line. Taking my 20 year old daughter who is a OSU fan. I’ll be sitting with the old folks of UCLA on the press box side wearing my BEAVERS shirt. Sweeeeeeet!
It’s going to be a beautiful day.
I have nothing to do besides put my dryer back together and watch football.
Your dryer fell apart?
Usually a belt or water pump project.
Had to restring the heating element. One of the coils was burned through.
Decent amount of beaver fans tailgating outside the rose bowl so far. Lets get it done today beavs!
Sept., OSU on national TV & @ the Rose Bowl. Yuck.
I just hope it isn’t an embarrassment.
As long as they don’t look like they used to look when they’d get their asses kicked by Boise State I’ll be happy.