Don’t like that the Beavs haven’t practiced since the Civil War and aren’t taking advantage of the 15 extra practices leading to the bowl game. I realize since it’s a Dec 22nd game they can’t get all 15 in, but how about 10? Are they even going to practice for BYU? Jeez. This is a great opportunity to finish ranked 15 or lower in the final polls and start next season ranked, and the Beavers seem to have this lull over them, starting with the head coach. Riley reported to work late after the Civil War, then gave the team a week off, etc. Just don’t like it.
I think that it was okay that Riley gave the team the week off for finals. He normally gives the team the week off for finals, it just so happens that this year the last game of the season was played in the week before finals, not two weeks before.
Interesting side note, just saw an article on ESPN by Bruce Feldman (need insider status) that mention how OSU could have been playing for the BCS championship if Suh had transfered here two years ago. Bruce Feldman credited Paea with his dominant play and suppose that if we had Suh our D-line may have been great enough to win those four games we lost by 10 or less points. I always worry that this team will slip at some point during the season but this shows just how good we can be if we can get Owa. If we can have two dominant inside players on the d-line special things can happen, maybe that Rose Bowl dream could be achieved.
Finals are important, but it’s looking like 7 or 8 practices. That’s not really taking advantage of the bowl game. And I feel we’re not going to be prepared for the game. I think Riley could have given the team off Monday-Wednesday (plus Fri/Sat/Sun last week) and had the players/professors work together to get finals done early. I mean, I took 5 classes per quarter at OSU and worked full time and still graduated with high honors. There’s enough time to do things.
Read on another meeage board that if OSU had Suh and Kuli (and he was as good as advertised) that OSU would likely be 12-0. I think that the lack of a pass rush really did hurt OSU this year and was a major factor in those first 3 losses.
Owa’s a DE, not a DT. He will be coming off the edge wherever he goes. Let’s hope his heart to heart with Suh convinced him to stay home.
Forget that. I’m not going to bother hoping. He either does, or he goes for the glam. It’s his choice, and it always has been. Still, I hope he does well wherever he goes so that Oregon can gain some respect from the football gods. One day we’ll have Polamalu, Suh and Owa all representing our state by playing in the NFL.
Good for them all.
And yeah… the early bowl cuts the potential practices. But these kids are students first. Let them earn their way, then they can play.
Riley gets an extended week to prepare the Beavs for BYU. I think we’ll be ready.
I do not agree with you on this one Angry. You have a point about “not taking advantage” of the bowl by getting in the extra practices, but that risk was taken by moving the Civil War date which was a money, money, money thing. That worked out because of the magnitude of the game, but now is not right to throw the hindsight card in and say that Riley should change his method of preparation. He and his staff have given the kids finals week off in the past, and this season extended almost two weeks long. Give them the time off, go after it hard when they return, and this group will be ready to play. It may not give the younger guys the extra prep time they have received in the past, but the coaches will work them up as they can.
Fair enough.
Anyone know what BYU has been doing this week? If they get in all 15 practices I don’t like our chances in this game, and 8-5 looks a lot worse than 9-4.
Riley’s record in bowl prep is pretty good. But, that said, I agree in principle. Underestimate BYU at your peril. It appears that these are evenly matched teams.
I agree that we may not be taking advantage of our 15 practice but I also believe that we will be ready. The only real loss is for the younger players who could use that time to get better for the future. I think it was good for the players to get that time off to focus on grades and take care of business so that they would be 100% focused on football after finals. I don’t think we should underestimate BYU but we could be at least 11-1 with their schedule…
OSU has finals right now so I’m not worried about it. Besides do you even know if BYU is doing that much more to prepare. They should be practicing by Saturday. That’s one of the problems of the Las Vegas bowl it happens too early.
The “problem” with this end of season competition is when do the kids get to “relax” (and enjoy the experience of the bowl atmosphere)? My ego would be tempered more by poor citizenship and poor academic achievement than a non-perfect season. In contrast – how many Chad Johnsons would you want to have representing us in society? (CJ did give lots of $ back to the A.D. BTW when he “made the pros” so I’m not down on his total character – just sayin)
When the Basketball team was on the East Coast last month they were able to take in lots of sight-seeing as hopefully no one begrudges. I believe LaVonda too tries to expand the team’s life experiences. When Gerry Faust brought Akron out here I believe he took the team to the Pacific Ocean. He may or may not have a few years prior when he was with the Domers. If you’re a kid on a team I’m not sure what the right answer is. . .
Angry-
I will respectfully disagree with you on this one. I think Riley is doing the right thing for both the psyche’ and academic success of his players, who undoubtedly put every ounce of themselves into preparation for the Civil War and unfortunately came up short.
Yeah, he could have made all sorts of plans to force the players to get their finals out of the way early, and I appreciate your comment that you worked real hard when you were in school- but in the end, they should be treated like normal students and unless some real personal crisis comes about they shouldn’t be expected to get done with finals ahead of time. They deserve that week to study and take their finals like everyone else.
Also, I would like to trust the judgment of a guy that hasn’t lost a bowl game yet. It would seem he knows how to get his team ready for the big game at the end of the season.
Another thing I’d like to suggest is that maybe this is best for the players, health-wise. The Civil War was brutal for us, and I think that a week of rest would do wonders for the team.
Those are all fair points, BA.
But at the end of the day, the lack of practice make me nervous about the outcome of a game that has a lot riding on it.
Angry,
If I were a student athlete, I would appreciate not having the stress of fitting in practice(where I would be tired afterwards) and then go back to my dorm room and study really hard for a test where I may forget everything I just learned either on the field or in the books. When you worked, you didn’t have to memorize other peoples routines and schedules did you? I think not. So I think it was smart for Riley to let his players focus on studies only and not worry about football until they were done studying. Riley’s wants his players to worry about graduating vs. them getting ready for 1 football game in 15 days. See the difference in this argument? Risk getting bad grades on finals to prepare for a football game or risk losing a weeks worth of practice time when there is no game that weekend. You be the judge though.
It is also important to note that if your team doesn’t reach a certain graduation rate you can be penalized with scholarships. This is part of maintaining scholarships for future success. I imagine that a bunch of players are in watching film after finals, usually people finish with finals on Wednesday or Thursday. I also think that part of it happened because Riley was out of town for the media days. I think the players are getting ready Angry, they just aren’t practicing yet. The timing of this bowl game makes it tough, that is all. On a side note, does anyone know if BYU has quarters or semester? They may have finished with finals weeks ago which is kind of an unfair advantage for them. This thought also brings me to a thought about Riley’s slow starts. Look at when the team picks up pace, it is always the week before or of school starting. I wonder if the fact that the team starting schools allows them to settle in a little more and have success.
There was a Utah guy who posted here–he’d probably know what BYU is up to, but I haven’t seen him in a few weeks.
Again, I understand the importance of academics–I’m an academic guy. But I also understand the importance of this game in taking the next step (i.e. starting next season ranked should be a big priority) as a program. It’s a balancing act, and I think it could have been handled better.
As far as slow starts–I’m convinced that is due to lack of depth. Riley holds back in spring and fall because depth issues. Also, the past few years we were breaking in a lot of new players. We really need more depth on defense and RB so we can go all out in the fall camp.
I think he’s already conceded these points twice now
“Riley is so confident of this team’s work habits, he does not worry about having less time to prepare.
BYU, a slight underdog in the game at Sam Boyd Stadium, has been practicing since last week.”
Well there you have it. BYU has been at it for a week.