Use this post for your in-game comments, frustrations, etc.
Five key questions I'll be looking at early on:
1. Can the Beavs get off the field on 3rd downs? This will be critical given their depth issues. If they can't, the Broncos will be even more effective running as the game goes on.
2. Conversely, are the Beavers converting their own 3rd downs?
3. Does Quizz have any lanes?
4. Are the coaches calling aggressive plays that results in touchdowns instead of settling for field goals?
5. Can the Beavs survive Boise's initial punch? When momentum is against them, can they find the will to counter strike?
These are the things that win games, so watch for them early on. Sit back and enjoy, boys…I'm off to load up on some gin.
OK…so I watched the VT/BSU game again (love DVR)…I think the aggressive D-line of BSU plays to our advantage – that’s what gave us so much success against USC in ’08 – over pursuing front 7. I see Quizz picking up some good gains on our zone blocking scheme. He’ll take what the D-line gives him and make them pay.
VT got behind BSU’s secondary time and time again…but the VT QB failed to recognize or capitalize (think “run first” type QB). We’ll torch them for a couple deep balls and maybe a td or two.
We win this game. But then again, I’ve have several cocktails, so what do I know.
F the Broncos (and the Ducks, of course).
I’m on cocktail #1. What are you having?
Oh, and one other note: speaking of the USC game, I’d love to see the Beavs come out with that mouth-punching attitude. I feel like they’re going to (on offense at least). I have no idea what to expect on D. Saw flashes in the abyss last week, but I don’t know what that means.
Started with Kettle One on the rocks with a dill bean and a splash of the juice…nice alternative to the olive. No. 3 coming up.
I am oddly optimistic here…
The atmosphere looks pretty wild. For 30k fans they’re waaay louder than ours.
1. We improve on defensive holds on third down, but BSU will convert roughly 40-50%. The key for us will be forcing 3rd and long.
2. We improve our 3rd down execution with check-downs and better execution on 1/2nd down. We need to dominate this part of the game – 15-25 play drives. 4 yards. Clouds of dust.
3. See my first post. BSU will dictate the lanes by their deep penetration and over-pursuit. Quizz goes for a buck-fiddy.
4. We see the end zone…but the game will be decided by mere field goals, so if we have to kick them, we better make them.
5. This is the million dollar question. We are at a cross roads with this season…two lack-luster performances…makes it easy to imagine packing it in when BSU comes out swinging. Our reaction will define our season.
6. Hekker gives up a touchdown by line-driving a punt to a BSU returner who catches it in stride and blows by our protection.
6A. Hekker gives up a touchdown by shanking a punt OB from our own 10 yard line setting BSU up 1st and ten inside or near the redzone.
James and Jacquizz didn’t exactly look confident in that opening shot!
Pretty much the worst start possible. This is what I was saying about weathering the storm.
OK…c’mon d!
Yeah…not that unexpected. We need to get the run established on this possession. Enough of the “spread out with the pass to get the run going.” Give it to Jaq. and let him carry us.
Boise St’s aggressiveness = begging for a screen pass.
Uh..nice punt Hekker.
We get on Hekker a lot: that was a great punt. Poyer is such a great instinctual player. Needs to be on the field more.
Poyer is a footballer. You need to add Poyer to the dictionary…lol.
OK…so why not dump it down to Jaq. on that play? maybe not a first down, but positive yards. anything can happen in open space.
I don’t know man, that was begging screen. Also, Katz is not a very good runner. I’m tired of hearing we have fast/running QB’s when we don’t. They said Lyle was a runner…
HOW DID THEY NOT CHALLENGE THAT SPOT!!!!??
Agreed. That should have been challenged
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs.
Can you guys tell how much I loathe Boise?
F those blue smurfs.
that field sucks and hurts my eyeballs.
go beavs!
James is a stud
Notice the non-block in the back? So close. Think it was Poyer who lifted his hands at the last second.
That was great defense on that series…should have been punting 3 downs ago.
WOOOO!
That was a great kick return! he was due..one of the best in the NATION!
Whoa, I got home and turned on the tv just as Boise punted that ball. A decent time to start watching I’d say.
No DVR eh? Join the 21st century bud. :)
Anyone notice the DL never gets their hands up? On that last past (first and goal pass) all the DT had to do was stick a paw up, and he would have batted down the pass. Okay, so you didn’t get the sack, but stick a hand up. I did this in pick-up ball on the school yard. It’s really not intellectual football.
I mean, notice my #1 point above. Can the Beavs get off the field on 3rd down. The answer is no, and it’s killing them like it did the first two weeks. The first and second down D has been great so far.
Agree. We’ve stopped them on one third down, and we’ve got them to pretty good third down position.
When we get the ball back, we need to hammer them on the ground. Run first, pass second. Katz looks rattled. Let Quizz carry us! No one has shut him down yet – we never ran the ball against TCU.
Nice stand
I was supposed to be home an hour before pre-game, but I should have known better.
Great to hold them to a FG there. Our D is looking much improved.
That score is the one that could break the Beavs will. It’s imperative to score a TD on this next possession.
Also, Hardin has been burned in 3 straight games. It’s time he steps off the field.
Watch Ruben Robinson. He is so bad. He is getting pushed 5 yards back on runs and soo slow on the edge.
Can we please bench Brandin Hardin?
We better after that
Ugh, that dude is responsible for the BS lead.
Why don’t we have more plays where running Katz is the goal, not the last fallback?
I’m re-reading my 5 keys to the game here at halftime, and the Beavs get an F in every one.
They’re only going to wear down in the 2nd half, and their will is broken. This is another national embarrassment…I can’t believe it. What a waste of paint.
Yeah, we lose by 30 at this rate.
BSU scores a TD to open, and it’s all over.
Katz does not look good. I’m officially off the Katz Koolaid.
Dude, lay off Katz…Langsdorf has been calling a weak game…and well, our D is as terrible as ever.
Katz hasn’t turned it over, and until he does- be patient with him because Vaz isn’t as ready and probably more likely to toss picks.
Trust me.
I hear you guys, but remember that BSU is NOT a second half team. They come on like a Sunami and then recede. There is hope, but it has to start on the first BSU drive. Keep the faith boys.
If anyone hates BSU, it is Duck fans – go Beavs PLEASE go Beavs
At least the Ducks looked like a D1 team in their loss. This MLB, Robinson, is giving me an aneurysm. He is SO bad I can’t get over it. Him receiving a scholarship is like the state of California giving me a pilot’s license.
Angry, you are fixating on the wrong position. Our secondary is playing like shit..I’d be more pissed at Hardin, who was beat twice in one series.
That is going to happen twice a game, which it has. We’ll do it to Boise, too. It’s normal.
What isn’t normal is a MLB being pushed 5 yards down field on every run.
How many times have one of the two Rodgers been facemasked right in front of a ref with no call? Seems like a lot.
F’n wac refs!!!
Okay, where are the flags? Petition time?
Could that possibly fire them up?
FUCKING ASSHOLES…. dirty hit on James, and trying to hurt quiz once his helmet is obviously off and the play is dead. They should be fined.
seriously. that was fucking ridiculous. fuck boise
Pushed in the back and speared in the side of the head. Throw in all those facemasks not getting called, and I’d say the WAC officials suck harder than Pac 10 officials.
Fuck BSU.
I hate these fuckers.
U of Duck, you nervous about ASU? They have a nice/fast defense. I’m intrigued.
We need to stuff these assholes.
FUCK
That’s two missed challenges on the coaching staff.
Is Stephen Paea still on the team?
Fuck it, I want Paia to break one of these assholes in half now… Blount the shit out of someone.
Exactly!
Beavs have no fight. They should be taking cheap shots, especially inside the 15 where you know Boise is going to score. Just level Moore after the pass–I mean, they hit Quizz in the head after his helmet was off. Just go after these clown/punks at this point.
I agree. time to bloody a nose or two.
Another head punch by Boise.
fire brandin hardin.
3rd missed challenge by the coaches.
YAAAAA
This is getting a bit sloppy. Oh and I agree we need to knock the crap out of Moore soon, although maybe not with a one touchdown game.
Wilson has been impressive at MLB. Again.
No idea why Robinson saw the field, but he cost us points.
Duck game kicks off….ASU driving. Gut tells me the ducks are in for a game.
About time they play a game
oh okay nice penalty for ripping off a helmet when boise has been doing that the entire game and hasn’t gotten called on it. ugggghh
another guy down…
Is Stephen Paea still on the roster? Just wondering….
Good question.
Still laughing about an argument I had with delusional fan who insisted 54 was better than Suh, because he could bench more in the weight room.
Hysterical.
A twenty yard fg coming back to bite us…
Beavs seem content to lose by 10 rather than win. Last series was the first time we saw any tenacity on D. Missed FG looming large.
Secondary sucking, Riley has no balls, play calling sucks, special teams allowing BS to start every drive at the 50, missed FG, BS officials finally get on a couple personal fouls…strangely Beavs only down by 10, thank God for lucky fumble recovery by ‘Hulahini’.
Any of the Beavs issues improve, this game is still winnable(?).
ASU goes up 7 on the Ducks.
A 3rd down 10 Draw…with holding.
Wow. Wow!
That draw doesn’t even give your team a chance. If you intend to go for it on 4th, okay, but not if you’re going to punt (into the end zone).
Here comes that power run game…Beavs will is broken. No fight in this defense. Their offense had their heads ripped off and it still can’t make these guys rise to the occasion, intensity wise.
angry, that 35-24 prediction was pretty accurate.
Yeah. There will be a point where even the skeptics realize I have my finger on the pulse of this team.
I realize that sounds arrogant, but give me a pass, I am hammered. And rightfully so after that game.
Can’t wait to do a write up on this performance…so much to discuss.
‘D’ just laying down at this point.
If BS QB is only 6′ tall, why have I only seen the d-line put their arms up once on a pass play?
Kellen Moore looks like a hipster lesbian.
And over to FSN, maybe Oregon can at least make a little of my money back on the weekend now.
If that team plays in the title game the NCAA might as well dress Kellen “the Fonz” Moore in a leather jacket and jump over a shark.
Ha
The most disenchanting aspect of this game is that there was zero improvement from last week to this week. 3rd downs still sucked on both sides of the ball, the line was pushed backwards, Katz is inefficient, etc. I have a feeling in week 12 we’ll look back on this and say, “oh man, if we could just play them now”…but that’s the story of OSU in their OOC games. They probably could have beaten Cincy, TCU, Utah, et al if later in the season.
I’ve got 4 blown calls by the coaching staff marked down. Can’t wait to discuss this.
I’m concerned about the Sun Devils next week. They’re hanging with Oregon, and there’s no way we would. I think they’re a better team than we are.
Game over on the coin toss. Win the toss and receive. You give BSU the ball to start the 2nd half. As soon as I saw they elected to receive, it pissed me off. If your down 14 or up 7, you don’t want to give it to them to start the 2nd half. I hate receiving to start.
Once in a while down there deep you gotta go for it. You aren’t going to win with a FG, and he missed it anyway. Shocker.
After the holding call that would give Boise another down, but put them in precarious field goal position, you play the ‘lets get out of here without a blow out’ call, decline the penalty, and give them a damn near free 3 points.
Beat many, many times on the deep ball as they just don’t know where the ball is, as they aren’t playing for takeaways. They will be 2nd to last (next to WSU, maybe) in takeaways this year. The play to ‘not lose’ mentality from the coaching staff is blatantly obvious on this team.
And I’m not a doctor, but for some reason I think other teams get their best or 2nd best player back into the game if he can even friggin’ walk and spell his name. I don’t want James to have permanent damage, but I just can’t help but feel they new they weren’t going to win, and were just looking forward to hopefully pulling out those 6 or 7 Pac 10 Wins and heading to a bowl game of any sort so a Marquee win is not important.
Minus WSU, UW, and maybe ASU, they are the underdog in every Pac 10 game as far as I see it. They play like they don’t want to look bad in the box score, and this team is 5-7 this year at best (WSU, UW, and maybe ASU are wins. Maybe they beat Cal but get upset by ASU or UW to even it out.
I have no confidence in this team. They are sloppy, inconsistent and predictable on offense and frankly are a DI-AA defense. No way that D, with those guys out there give much better.
Sometimes 2-star and walk ons play like it.
Are you watching the ASU game? They are going to beat us.
Yeah, they will. No way the Beavs go to Wisconsin and almost win. They’d tank for sure. They might only win 3 games this year, 2 in conference.
I know I’ve said that each of the last several years, but at this point I think they should. They seem to pull it together and look better, but I think the Pac 10 is way better overall this year, and WSU, UW and OSU are the 3 that are not. Everyone else is.
Even if they find a way to win 7 Pac 10 games, it’s hollow. They had a chance to prove they are more than a Texas A&M, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Ole Miss type team. But they failed. That 45k seat stadium with empty seats, and lack of a killer instinct on the field puts them in fodder class. They’ve surprise the last few years, but at some point, that will not work. They will fail miserably.
They’re going to lose a lot of fans with this type of play. We went through this in 2005 and came out of it, but I think fans are tired of these pseudo-athletes who were found hiding under stones. Turn on this ASU game. We landed David Ross over Bolden…look at Bolden. We don’t have the speed or athleticism as these other squads. Forget coaching, just take the eye test. I’ve always harped on recruiting (less so lately for whatever reason), but it’s just so clear now that Pac-10 play has started.
Exactly. UO – ASU is one of the most exciting games I’ve seen in a long time. It’s 12:30, and there’s still a half to play, but there is no way I’m missing it.
Beavs don’t have the athletes those 2 teams do.
Man, Oregon has a system and athletes. 10 point lead gone in the blink of an eye. ASU is probably done.
1. Banker sucks.
Leaving Hardin in for the second half after he completely killed us in the first with stupid plays and fail tackles, and being unable to put together any kind of pass defense. Then, in the last 7 minutes, when it’s obvious they’re going to run the ball, we can’t stop that either.
2. Langsdorf sucks slightly less.
Called about 5 Shotgun draw runs, none of which worked. Didn’t call a single run outside the tackles. Called 2 screens all game. Just terrible play calling.
Hardin is a total disaster. Can’t believe he missed that sack, which allowed a huge gain. If you’re going to blitz the QB and have a wide open shot, you’d better finish the job. How he doesn’t get his hands up to knock down those long lobs of BSU’s QB is beyond me. I played better in high school.
Flashes from Katz. He definitely plays with some fire, the spider monkey play to get that fist down was impressive. Can’t wait to see him in a year or two.
The lack of a pass rush is insane. Zero pressure – its just absurd. No coverage is going to hold for that long, especially when you’re not allowed to turn around and look for the ball.
What is the story with both lines? What happened in 2000? I thought those were Riley’s recruits. Good god the run game is anemic. Reminds me of 2001 and Simonton.
Here’s hoping this is just another late blooming team. We’ll find out next week…
The important question now is, has our brutal non-conference schedule motivated or demoralized us for the difficult upcoming tests? This will be the measure for future pre-season schedules to come..
Well, if the results are negative, confidence will be low. That it’s a home game will help a little.
These two (TCU and Boise State) games were the season. These were our bowl games.
I saw very little positive tonight other than kick returns, and that doesn’t win games.
And watching this ASU game, the Beavers are in trouble. These athletes are superior and execute better. Threet is throwing the ball nicely (sans the INTs). ASU has put up over 600 yards on the Ducks, who have a much better defense than OSU.
I agree with the confidence piece, but hope that these weren’t the only bowl games we were playing for this year.
Unfortunately, this will most likely be the last season for both Rodger brothers now that we’ve found out Quizz became a father to a baby girl (Channing) the night of the TCU game. He’ll most likely look to get paid with his brother and I fear for the stability of next seasons offense; even with a seasoned QB.
Riley soon may be more exposed then ever..
I’m not sure what scouts think of Quizz. Being drafted might not even be an option, especially after his slow start.
I think Quizz will look like a draftable candidate by the end of the season. His first baby girl ought to provide more motivation to get paid for his skills than any Heisman or Rose Bowl berth.
Unfortunately, you can tell that his skills are governed by his emotions. He tries to get up for big games (USC, Penn St., etc.), but becomes distracted and inept when other factors infiltrate his focus. (TCU baby, concussed brother, etc.)
I’m worried now that we’ve taken a (mostly) seasoned team and demoralized them with an excessively difficult schedule and early season losses. Though this has become our “norm”, I feel like we have potentially done more harm this season by being beaten down to the bottom of the FBS in all statistical categories without creating as much of an identity as expected.
Was the marketing machine worth it?
I have a lot to say about this game:
1) Cheap shots by BSU makes them look like a bunch of thugs.
2) gotta play the game no matter what and I think the beavs allowed the “Are you kidding me’s” into their head and let the cheap stuff get to them too much.
3) 3-13 3rd down conversions will not cut it in pac-10 play, 0 int’s in 3 games, 12-26 completion ratio not cut it, 159 yards passing, might cut it, but maybe not. I’m not that worried about Katz so much, but only his ability to check off on receivers.
4) Banker has to A) recruit real players B) leave to be another person’s coach due to lack of ability to recruit and/or C) needs to find a good amount of speed and put them 90% on the game(leaving 10% in garbage time if need be)
5) Quizz was more worried about his brother than his own playing to be able to make a difference in the game.
6) Punting needs to improve and Kahut needs to practice kicks from the hash marks more than straight on kicks.(no wind to complain about in this one)
7) I called the play action pass when Moore threw the TD pass when they were about 5 yards out….I think I ought to be the Defensive Coordinator… I can predict the goal line to red zone better than the game plays….maybe not, but still, BSU got predictable at times.
8) I think Pac-10 play will amount to better record than we expect. I mean 37-24, 30-21, 35-28 all close games, but the difference is, 2 of those games are against top 5 teams….I’d say that gives us a good chance against pac-10 play. I look forward to next week actually…I just hope we have James Rodgers…I know Wheaton is just as good, but no one can match up to James’ smarts.
By the way, I’m not sure you can blame Banker when he calls a CB blitz and the corner completely wiffs on the tackle. At some point these players have to have enough control of their body to tackle a man who is standing right in front of them.
What I saw out there was a defense of half DI talent, and half FCS talent. There’s been a lot of recruiting “misses” in the past few years. Look around the Pac-10 to see what a real defense looks like.
Is Paea playing poorly too? I am not much of an interior line guy, but was his name even called once tonight? If he is being double teamed, why aren’t others making plays? Guys, unless things turn around this team is in big trouble. The only saving grace has been no turnovers and a great kick return game. The offense is under 300 yards and the defense is giving up over 450. That usually spells a bad season.
We’re in for a long season. Boise’s offense doubled our production. We have a porous defense that can’t stop anybody; Hardin sucks at corner; Poyer didn’t do much better, and neither did Dockery. Horrid tackling. Paea with a disappearing act; a defensive line that can’t put their hands up, and can’t get a sack; a linebacker group that can’t make plays; one with the name of Reuben Robinson with a body that looks more like Pee Wee Herman than Vontaze Burfict; a lousy kicking game; a bunch of slow fat slobs on the offensive line that can’t create holes; a scatter armed QB; and tremendously unimaginative play calling by Danny Boy Langsdorf. We are in serious trouble, people….
We’re 1-4 guys. I’ve been to each of those games but now I’m beginning to feel like a fair weather fan because I can’t stand watching the same mistakes repeated over and over within each game.
Hekker in Vegas is an example.
Last night’s biggies (and I haven’t even watched the tivo yet) were:
Not pulling Hardin. Is his backup so bad that he would do worse? Come on, give someone else 2 series.
Not recruiting for kickers. Special teams is exactly one-third of football, period. Those coaching staffs that disagree are losers.
Not challenging calls, then still taking 3 timeouts back to Corvallis.
Not using timeouts on defense then still taking 3 timeouts back to Corvallis.
Not putting 11 in the box when the entire universe knew what was coming on BSU’s final drive. What’s the worst that could happen, we get scored on and lose the game?
Riley, please play to win. You owe it to me the least, it’s your kids that are counting on you.
Completely agree with you point on not challenging, and poor overall game management by Riley. Your are dead on in that it looks like Riley was managing the game to not look bad instead showing the fire and aggressiveness needed to win the game. He should have been all over the refs for the bad spot, and when BSU players were taking shots a James and Quizz..
I decided to take some time to cool down before commenting on the game last night. I went to sleep an woke up today an re-watched parts of the game again on my DVR. Here are my morning after thoughts..
1) Secondary – as I expected, were tested early. Unfortunately they did not pass the test. The corners just did not get is done. Can’t blame it all on the type of coverage they play, as they got burned on mental mistakes (Hardin), and simple slants up the seam (Poyer).. The safeties were not effective in run support (Tuimaunei 2 tackles, Mitchell 7 or 8 tackles but got ran over a couple of times in key situations). The trick play was BSU BS.. But you have to expect something like that from them.
2) Linebackers – continued to get beat to the edge, blocked or caught up in the wash.. The middle linebacker rotation should end. Robinson just is not getting it done (a MLB consistently getting to a running play 4/5 yards down field is unacceptable. When a mike linebacker is on the field it should be Wilson. OLB – Pankey made 1 or 2 plays, but spent the rest of the game getting blocked again, and wiffing on tackles. Robeson plays hard and made some plays, but consistently gets beat to the edge. Good player, but I’m starting to agree with those who have said he would be better in the middle.
3) Defensive Line – Pass defense – No sacks and no significant pressure from the D Ends on the outside, and no significant push up the middle from the D Tackles. Run defense – D ends did not maintain outside leverage, and BSU ran to easily up the middle. Paea, Frahm, Castor were really non factors in the game.
4) Offense Line – Poor exhibition of blocking in support of the running game, and absolutely embarrasing pass blocking. (Katz essentially had to scramble for his llife every pass play)
5) Running game – See my point above. No blocking = no running game.
6) Passing game – Receivers made a few key plays, but did not help the quarterback a lot. When your QB is spending the game running for his life, you half to adjust routes to that. Create space from the defender and give the QB somewhere to throw the ball quickly. Katz – has got to get more accuracy on the deep ball, stop overthowing receivers down field, and get more control and touch on the shorter stuff.
7) Specail Teams – The return game (kick off and punt return) continues to look good. The TD and solid field position for several starts kept the team in the game. The punt team and kick-off teams gave up to many return yards.
8) Coaching – The O coordinator called an overly conservative game. He was too predictable and never made adjustment for what BSU was doing. It looked like he was trying to manage Katz so he would not make a mistake, instead of giving him an opportunity to make a play. The D coordinator did make adjustments for the game. He tried to dial up more pressure ( blitzing , the linebackers and the corner). Banker also introduced a much needed nickel package. Looked like it was used for 2/3rd and long situations (swapping out the MLB for Collins). The problem on defense this game was NOT strategy, it was execution (see points 1, 2, and 3 above).
9) Officiating – The WAC refs were horrible.. The 2 pass interference calls on OSU should have been NO Calls, and I couldn’t believe the personal foul call on Beavers late in the second half when there were NO Calls on the play when James had his helmet to helmet concussion shot, and on the play when Quizz got his helmet torn off. Not to mention the very BSU favorable spot in the 1st quarter.
It did not matter to the outcome of the game, but I would love to hear the WAC officials interpetation of the helmet to helmet rule. That spear of James Rodgers looked like it happened right in front of the official. P-10 refs were calling it very tight in the Oregon/ASU game and rightly so.
I thought BSU lost their composure in the second half expecting to blow out the Beavers. I would love to see Nevada hand it to them later this year.
Banker did not adjust in the second half, sorry. He continued to start Hardin, even though he cannot cover or tackle. His “dialing up the pressure” resulted in no more pressure or sacks. The Broncos continued to throw wherever they wanted. And finally, the last 8 minutes, when everyone and their grandmother knew BSU would run, we got run right over. You can’t just blame execution for that.
Nobody should be blaming officiating for the loss, but comments about how it was horrible in general are acceptable. The Facemask-to-horsecollar right in front of the ref that gets a no-call should be suspension-worthy; he was too busy trying to not get knocked over on the sideline that he missed TWO huge calls, and James could have been seriously hurt (and was later on another no-call).
Langsdorf called a terrible game, no doubt about it. Shotgun-draws that didn’t work, 2 screens all game, only running between the guards, pass plays that created no separation or easy reads for Katz…playing not to lose results in you losing anyway.
Katz overthrows receivers sometimes, but all young QBs with cannons do their first year or two; see DA 5 years ago (or now). Glad he’s decided that running when in trouble is a good idea, but he wouldn’t have to if we could design pass plays that got players open in a reasonable amount of time, and our tackles could stop an edge rush.
By my “dialing up the pressure” comment, I refer to a coaches recognition that the front 4 alone will not bring enough pressure, and as such to increase the number of blitzes that you call. In my opinion this was good strategy, because the front 4 clearly were not getting it done. The Blitzes were called, the players failed to execute an make plays.. That’s not to give Banker a pass, because I agree that in the last 8 minutes OSU was just playing to manage the loss margin not playing to win. As far as benching Hardin, his replacement would have been Poyer, who himself got burned easily in the game.
Normally I would agree with a modification in strategy, but Banker has to know his players are terrible pass rushers, and bringing more of them was not going to result in more pressure, only in even worse coverage. Which is exactly what happened.
The 3-4 idea is intriguing, but would never happen. Riley and Banker are former NFL coaches, and the 3-4 only recently resurfaced there. That’s not to say it is a bad idea, just that we have some very conservative, NFL-minded coaches who would probably never consider it.
Finally, Poyer got beat on that slant, absolutely true. But he’s still far better in coverage, and an actual playmaker on the field. He’s also highly intelligent, as 3A player of the year at QB in high school. Hardin should be moved to safety, and someone else, Poyer or otherwise, should start.
I’m still hot about the poor officiating. The refs let the game get out of hand, and it got worse even after someone was hurt.
The PI on Collins was a pathetic homer call, and the unnecessary roughness call was a no-call. You can flag someone for hitting high (like they did only twice all game), but the receiver went down to avoid the hit.
I’m going to give Kellen Moore some credit for our seconday’s poor play. Yes, there were a couple bone-headed plays. But Moore was hitting receivers with perfect passes over good coverage. Then he completely took advantage of the bone-headed breakdowns. And he has great feet and a superior feel for the rush.
Every time I saw a BSU play for a nice gain up the middle, I saw #13 standing there. Martin’s run to start the second half was broken on the edge where Pankey was dancing with yet another blocker, but Robinson was clipped at the point of attack. Wilson would not have hesitated, so the clip would not have happened. Still, I’m surprised Robinson wasn’t hurt on the play.
I haven’t looked at the defensive numbers, but I think Pankey may have tripled his solo tackles on the season… to three.
Why, on most pass plays, was Michael Philipp the only guy blocking? He would circle his man past the QB or stop him dead on the line. But while he was still on the line, the other o-linemen were going backward. I tried to defend the right side last week, but there was nothing good from them this week. If Remmers is going to let his man get a clean run at the QB, he should just have the courtesy to just grab the guy instead. I’d rather have 1st and 20 than 2nd and 17 with a crunched QB.
Oh, and UO’s defense sucks hard. Threet was making some nice plays, but the Ducks’ D made him look all world. ASU’s D is pretty good, but that Ducks’ O is pretty damn fast. The UO passing game sucks about as hard as their passing D, so ASU’s secondary is suspect as well.
We’ve scored a lot of points against the Ducks the last two years, but they’ve scored a lot more, and they’re going to likely do it again if changes aren’t made in Corvallis.
We just can’t get over Fresno State.
I thought a couple years ago that we should transition to a 3-4 defense. Miller and Henry are hybrid guys. They should not be playing with their hands down.
In fact, I think Henry should be the stand up LB on the line, and Gabe Miller should be moved over the middle as a LB. He likes to run downhill for 10 or 20 yards on every play. Put him where downhill is pointed at the play.
I could live with a D-line of Paea, Castro, Glover and Frahm and a LB crew of Roberson, Wilson, Miller and Henry. If the coaches aren’t going to put speed on the field, maybe they’ll listen to this suggestion.
The ASU game is going to be interesting and potentially crucial. There is a lot of glass half full stuff on other sites because the Beavs played tough teams on the road. If the Beavs lose in the same way at home to ASU it may be a long season. When you see the national statistical rankings for the defense and offense it is truly shocking. You would think it was 1980 again except that there have been no turnovers and the return game has been outstanding.
Stats courtesy of the ESPN PAC-10 blog:
“The Beavers rank 119th in the nation in third-down defense. Opponents are converting 58.7 percent of third-down plays into first downs. Meanwhile, the Beavers’ offense is 115th in the nation in third down conversion percentage (26.5 percent).”
Note: there are 120 FBS teams.
These stats are of course a symptom of the problems, not a cause of the problems. Still, these stats are significant, or so it seems to me.
Bottom line: the Beavs rarely convert on third down, while the Beavers’ opponents convert third downs at an alarmingly high rate. This means the opponents will dominate OSU in time-of-possession and number-of-plays per game. And of course that is exactly what has happened so far. It’s a recipe for losing football games.
So the question becomes: how do Riley and his staff turn this around, and start winning the third down battles on offense and defense? Because if the Beavs can’t turn this around, we’re toast….