Home Football Riley’s Refusal to Play Backups

Riley’s Refusal to Play Backups

79

Could hurt OSU again if Mannion goes pro.

From October:

Brent Vanaderveen should get the mopup time, rather than Cody Vaz.

Vaz will be gone in a few months. Vanderveen, we are told, is the future QB. Mannion might leave early. So what is the logic in putting Vaz in blowouts? He has experience already, so they don’t need to groom a backup, they need to groom a future starter. Now that the schedule becomes difficult, the opportunity to get Vanderveen time has passed. Riley overlooking another (logical) opportunity. Watch how this hurts down the line.

People go nuts in the comment section: http://angrybeavs.com/football/9537

Riley could have played him the very next week versus Cal, or versus Washington (early season opportunities vs Hawaii, WSU, or Colorado).

For those who argued Vaz had to be the backup to stay engaged. Well, I have news for you, folks: Vaz never played in those games or became engaged, and now he is gone, and Vanderveen has zero snaps. How do you like that foresight? How do you like them apples?

79 COMMENTS

  1. I’m past being frustrated with seeing the obvious not happen. This season ended perfectly for BDC, Riley and co. 99% of the fanbase disconnected with the team/results and no pressure felt.

    • wait till the reports on BASF (oops, OBN) donations come in, or more likely, season ticket renewals. I think this is the year the folks vote with their pocket books.

  2. I’d be more impressed with your foresight if you’d added that you were 100% certain that Mannion wasn’t going to get hurt during that time period and that we absolutely wouldn’t need Vaz fir the rest if the year. That’s how I like your apples, sauced.

    • Vaz was a former starter and senior–didn’t need a ton of reps to perform in a game. And I am talking game reps, not practice. Split backup reps in practice between Vaz and VV, then have VV jump Vaz during meaningless game action, and Vaz jumps VV during any meaningful game action.

      If Vaz were a sophomore and the Beavs had a Rose Bowl caliber team I wouldn’t really care that Riley handled it the way he did. Riley is on record saying he sticks with starters too long, fwiw. At least he realizes it; he just doesn’t seem to ever do anything about it.

    • Well, if were clear we were headed for the conference title game, then you finesse whenever you can, and keep Vaz as fresh and game-ready as possible. But it was pretty quick into the second half of the season that we weren’t going anywhere. So prepare Vanderveen for the future.

      But we all know Riley doesnt work that way. He doesnt really give a shit about any conference title, and…..yes, has never won one. No rationality in decisions is required.

      So he could leave a decision about who to play QB to anyone…..what the hell does he care about the future, or even the last part of a game?? …. he has his contract and will end up as one of those iconic retired coaches, despite having a mediocre record overall — wait and see….lol.

  3. I’m pretty ambivalent on this topic. It doesn’t seem like freshmen quarterbacks getting their first game experience against the Beavers ever have any problems functioning. Uncomplicate your famous “pro-style” offense, MR and let the damn kids play ball!

    • the “we can’t get good play from a QB until their 3rd, 4th, or possibly 5th year”
      is another one of the OSU football “cover stories” that just drives me nuts. Everyone else seems to manage to get their young guys to play well early; including the kid for Oklahoma just last night. I still remember NIck Foles getting his first start in Corvallis and lighting it up. It’s all a part of the protective cocoon around this program to explain away mediocrity if not failure. getting sick of it.

  4. There were a couple of games where it was just stoopid to have Mannion/Cooks still out there late, but Riley was enjoying the roll of his one-dimensional offense and yucking it up on the sidelines. He could have given Vanderveen reps and worked on run blocking…I remember posting something like “win or lose, Riley is a grinning idiot” due to the unnecessary risks to which he was subjecting Mannion/Cooks.

  5. Vaz didn’t even get many reps in these games. Only had 18 attempts all season. Those 18 reps wouldn’t have mattered too much to VanderVeen… and the starter could always be Kempt or one of the true freshmen if they end up looking amazing.

    Riley just doesn’t put backups in. Ever. It’s funny because it seems like he’s being aggressive and running up the score, but he is actually being overly conservative and afraid to let a team back in the game.

    I wonder if that lack of confidence started with Riley, infected the team, and eventually filtered its way to us fans after years of watching this team.

    http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/482557/cody-vaz

  6. This morning I had coffee with WANNABEAV . He both take a few months off from BEAVER Sports – He waits for baseball to start and I follow my adopted MBB team – Gonzaga to the tournament each year.
    The subject of special teams performance surfaced, so this afternoon I compiled a few stats on the performance of OSU vs. our 2013 regular season competitors. Only the opponent’s OSU game is included.
    Average of all 2013 Kickoff plays in rank order by field position.
    Avg Avg
    Field Return
    Position Yards
    UW 30.6 36
    WSU 28.6 18.3
    ASU 26 25.0
    EWU 27 17.0
    CAL 28.3 20.6
    CU 26.5 15.3
    UTAH 25.4 21.7
    USC 25 –
    Oregon 24.8 19.1
    OSU 24.6 19.0
    SDSU 23.6 23.3
    STAN 23 16.7
    Hawaii 21.8 13.0

    NOTE: Stanford had a 14 yd return which impacts their average, they also returned two other kickoffs past the 25 yd line.

    USC’s decision to always take the Touchback was interesting and I wanted to see if USC had a sound strategy to simply take the ball on the 25 yard line and avoid a holding penalty or injury. When a team does decide to field the ball, this was their resulting field position:
    Field Position
    UW 48
    WSU 30.5
    ASU 30
    EWU 29.7
    CAL 28.3
    CU 26.5
    UTAH 26
    USC 25
    Oregon 24.7
    OSU 24.3
    SDSU 22.7
    STAN 22.3
    Hawaii 19.7

    No doubt OSU needs to make better decisions here. If USC had a strategy, it certainly was better than OSU’s decision. I’ll assert that USC simply didn’t want to get anyone hurt and taking the touchback was the best approach and certainly didn’t hurt. OSU’s low yield on kickoff returns is alarming and begged the question, “how often do we field the ball?”
    Touchback Fielded
    UW 3 2 40%
    WSU 3 6 67%
    ASU 4 1 20%
    EWU 4 3 43%
    CAL 0 9 100%
    CU 3 4 57%
    UTAH 5 3 38%
    USC 3 0 0%
    Oregon 1 7 88%
    OSU 8 61 88%
    SDSU 2 3 60%
    STAN 1 3 75%
    Hawaii 2 4 67%

    No surprise to see Oregon field most of their kickoffs against us with DAT receiving. And CAL was playing catchup most of the game, but at some point the OSU special teams coach must recognize that we aren’t making it out the 25 yard line so why keep trying and risk a turnover? Is our special teams coach mathematically impaired? Or just stupid? How much are we paying for this underwhelming performance? Time to look at salaries –
    UW Johnny Nansens $225K
    WSU Eric Russell $226K
    ASU Joe Lorig $190K
    EWU
    CAL Mark Tommerdahl $206K
    CU Jeff Hammerschmidt $160K
    UTAH Jay Hill $225K
    USC John Baxter
    Oregon Tom Osborne $367K
    OSU Bruce Read $305K
    SDSU Kevin McGarry $167K
    STAN Pete Alamar
    Hawaii Chris Demarest

    YEP, we’re not getting our money there! 2nd highest paid special teams coach and delivered the worse performance against PAC12 teams with only 1 exception.

    In fact, there are a couple of guys that I hadn’t heard of before today’s research that have an interesting background. Eric Russell took a $50K pay cut to come to WSU and work under Mike Leach with hopes of accelerating a chance at a HC position. His impact is clear!

    Utah’s Jay Hill was named HC for Weber State this month. And John Baxter at USC released his book this year titled “I Hate School” that helps coaches motivate young people. Sark didn’t keep Baxter, but the school is likely moving him into a classroom to continue to teach and work with student – what a nice recognition!

    • Comeon, man, we all know Riley isnt looking to win, just to get the game played. So he doesnt need to scheme anything, and probably doesnt want to hear of such from assistants.

      Get the games played, the paychecks roll in, and when he retires he becomes an OSU icon, remembered and honored forever. He is already honored by announcers, who always speak of him as a great coach.

        • …yeah, BECAUSE announcers say it 47 times per game. Casual fans just regurgitate what they hear the night before on tv during the game and think it’s gospel.
          They also say Riley is the most respected coach in the nation by his peers all, of course he is! They all wonder how the hell he keeps his job.

        • I think his wife has called him a great coach and probably the postman as Riley passes by him on his bike on the way to afternoon practices in the spring. Longevity and greatness often get confused.

          • I don’t have an issue if people think Riley sucks, but let’s not be oblivious to others opinions of him at the same time.

    • I would have accepted $20 an hour to tell Victor Bolden on kick-off returns to run as fast as he possibly could into the closest defender and fall down at the 19 yard line.

  7. Before receiving increases last week, Michigan State coaching salaries ranked in the bottom three of the Big 10. Reward for achievement over a long period of success. Success earned rather than success purchased with financed debt. We know how that ended in 2007-2008.

    • I don’t think there’s enough money in the world to adequately compensate the Sparty coaching staff for shutting up Urban Meyer!

    • Next year the Beavs aren’t reloading, they’re rebuilding.

      Is there ANY defensive end threat next year? I’m predicting Riley goes long with a desperation scholarship heave to a JC DE who produces nothing in his “3 years to play 2.”

      I’m also betting Mannion goes next. What is the win cap next year, 4 games? Throw in the Riley coaching handicap, three games?

      And BDC wants to grow support for the next Reser upgrade? Who is going to travel to Corvallis to sit in the stands and watch a non-competitive team play 7 pm night games?

      This year’s team only run-blocked 2 games this year. They better plan on LOTS of running next year, and maybe lots of 3-4 D to get LBs on the field in the absence of any DE threats.

      • I guess Riley’s main concern is if he can still get six wins out of a fairly easy schedule depending how much the P-12 bottom feeders improve next year.

    • “I do not fear clichés, they often tell the best truths” anon, and in a very funny line somewhere, someone said “what’s wrong with clichés – “Shakespeare used them.” I am leading up to Scott Crichton declaring for the NFL. He could see the writing on the wall.

  8. Because the difference between Vanderveen being a good QB and a bad one will be a few snaps he could have had in blowouts this year? I don’t even know who that kid is, sure he’s going to be a stud. Or would have, if only he’d have played 2 drives vs. Cal.

    Just watched his HS video again. Kid has no arm strength and a long, weird throwing motion. Superstar, if only he had experience!

    Worrying about a backup QB that wasn’t good enough to play, now, with Cooks and Crichton leaving, no OLine, and no running game, is like worrying about the 5th lock on the back door when the front door is wide open. And the burglar is inside killing you.

    • Vanderveen doesn’t look like a good QB, but that’s missing the point. It’s that Riley missed an opportunity and that oversight is now commonplace.

    • OLine will be better by subtraction. Andrews was always on the ground. The two tackles could not hold a block for more than one count. Why does everyone automatically think that juniors and seniors are better than underclassmen? The union mentality of seniority rather than merit is precisely the problem….more of a problem than money or number of stars per recruit. I would like to see Mannion back. But if he goes, this will be very good new as well. All qbs, including the incoming freshmen will all have the same level of experience and hopefully the same opportunity. If Vanderveen had played this year, all the other guys would be screwed with no chance to prove their worth. I think that many of you guys would like Beaver players to have 10 years in the system, with four years of gray shirt/red shirt.

  9. There is some ridiculously good football being played tonight. Really puts into perspective how far OSU is from the elite teams in the country.

  10. I think the QB drama will not be in 2014 but in 2015 when Kline shows up. Curious to see how that plays out. If Mannion leaves this year Vanderveen better play great in 2014 because I can totally see another Riley QB drama when Kline shows up. If Mannion doesn’t leave, Vanderveen may never see the field in his stay at OSU. I’m in-Klined to believe it will be interesting.

    On a different note I have actually had an internal adjustment this year concerning college football and OSU. I have really come to realize that winning in college football is totally dependent on 3 factors… money (and the willingness to spend it), recruiting and coaching. It is like a 3-legged stool. You have to have all 3 to work.

    Yes some would argue that the main factor is money or location. But I see now that all 3 have to be in place and if they are they will feed on each other and grow. Especially in this TV driven college football day and age.

    USC will always be competitive as there has always been these 3 factors working together for years and years. I have come to realize that for OSU the football program is not as important to the school as it is to say USC. OSU will not, because of the lack of money and emphasis on must win to get our monies worth, get good coaching, which leads to poor recruiting, which leads to less money being generated from the sport… the stool may stay upright for a little while but it will fall without all three legs in place.

    So with that, I will always root for the Beavs to win, but unless there is real change in the leadership I will not hope or expect for the Beavs to be anything more then they already are, a middle to lower tier team amongst Pac-12 schools that have decided to have a stool with 3 legs.

  11. Would be interesting to know what they looked like in practice this year. I’m guessing VanderVeen having 2 years to work on his arm strength/throwing motion would have big benefits. I would bet that he’s improved it a lot. Seems pointless to say which QB is better when all we’ve seen are 1-2 year old videos.

    Still, Mannion may return and all this talk will be moot. The lack of news makes me think he is waiting to see if other underclassmen stay or bolt to the NFL.

    I wonder if the Zach Kline news has any of our QBs wanting to transfer already. We also have two QBs coming in this year (Mitchell and McMaryion). Seems like way too many QBs.

  12. Coach Rob took responsibility for Moreland being rusty. But the other players play is on them. Should it not be the other way around?
    Utah 80-69 win

  13. From the Oregonian:

    “These were a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” OSU coach Craig Robinson said. “We shot ourselves in the foot. You can’t play on the road in the league against anybody and not execute defensively.”

    For clarity, GreatWhiteHunter does NOT play for the Beavers…Pettibonehead’s prophecy not yet fulfilled.

  14. Glad to hear Mannion is staying (per his own tweet). If he can be consistent against the top teams and clean up his stray passing, he’ll place better in the draft.

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