To the dudes asking me to admit I’m wrong: (a) why do you care so much, especially when I’m right 99% of the time and you never admit it lolz? and (b) when I’m convinced Collins can pass I’ll let ya’ll know.
Moving on, Collins made one big boy throw…and it was dropped. Anyone could have thrown the first TD to Bolden. Villamin bailed him out on the other TD. He’s a great runner, but very predictable in that he always wants to run over pass.
Some positives from Collins: he actually made good decisions in the passing game, for the most part. Obviously 152 yards running is a huge positive. Confidence.
Regarding McMaryion, I don’t get too hung up on his INT coming on a bad play call. He has to make the right play there. But I also saw him drop in a long pass right on the money that would have been a long TD, only to get hit with a PI call. It just seemed like he had really bad luck tonight, and now might not get another shot barring injury. It felt like too short an audition, and that’s what is unsettling.
What is more disturbing is GA backed out on his word after just 1 game. He said he wouldn’t pull a kid for a mistake because that was no way to play. Yet that’s exactly what he did. GA’s reputation is great coach who keeps bailing on schools. Now he went against his word again. If he wants a hyper-competitive environment where one mistake costs you a job, then he should say so. Then the players know what’s at stake. But to explicitly say that’s not how you’re going to do things because it isn’t fair to the kids, then you do it…to me that is a lack of integrity and also a manipulative form of motivation. Even though the Beavers won, I leave this game with a disgusting feeling, and it has to do with how GA handled that QB situation. It is like he used McM to motivate Collins, whom he had selected all along. Is that valid tactics? I’ll let you decide.
The defense stood out tonight. The scheme and aggressiveness. I don’t know how much of it was Weber State. To me, Weber State looked well coached, at the very least. It’s hard to know since there was no benchmark for either team — e.g. Michigan could make OSU’s D look bad.
The three big takeaways for me:
- Gary Andersen backed out on his word after one game. To me, this is huge. Maybe it’s not to the players or you guys, but I hated that.
- The D looked good, aggressive, etc. Schemes look so much better.
- The jury is still out on Collins. He was pretty good in the 2nd half tonight. How does he translate vs D1 defenses?
So the adrenaline and buildup of the GA era is over, for both us fans and the players. The players were pumped to have a new coach and get pushed hard, and fans needed this, but now it’s all over. We have our benchmark, and now it’s about seeing how these performances translate versus better opponents. The night overall felt like a whimper, and I think a lot of that was how GA handled the QBs and backed out on his word. If that didn’t happen, I’d be feeling much better about this ugly win.
I’m wondering if it was Baldwin’s decision to not play McM the rest of the game.
Speaking of Baldwin I thought the play that was called when McM threw the pick was a terrible call.
Here’s hoping we don’t have another “dork” (as in Langsdork) as OC.
The play calling was decent and so very vanilla. Except for that call and the other two inside screens… and every fly sweep but two… it was just blah. Nobody threw to the middle of the field.
Who knows whose call it was to bench MM? SC was more loose, and he was able to give himself more time on the field with his legs.
Jumping tp alot of conclusions and that kind of play on your own goaline can 94yds if executed properly. Not saying it was but u need to know if its not there u throw it at his feet.
Okay… how do you throw at his feet with two 6.5′ 300# dudes between you and your target? I’ve read this from a lot of people. Did anyone actually watch the play? I read someone saying he floated it. That’s not true in the least. Someone wrote that he should have eaten it. Is it in a QB’s nature to give up two points and the ball?
He dropped while looking to the right side. After a certain number of steps he did a jump spin and threw a perfect downward spiral at Villamin’s head. It looks like that play is practiced that way. If he had the wherewithal to foresee the guy he couldn’t see, behind two 6.5′ 300# dudes and the 6.5′ 230# target, making the play he did, then he might have had time to tuck it and get out of the end zone… maybe.
Then again, SC would have panicked because he couldn’t see anyone, and he would have immediately run for a 50 yard gainer.
Interesting take, angry, but some questions and issues:
“Moving on, Collins made one big boy throw…and it was dropped. Anyone could have thrown the first TD to Bolden. Villamin bailed him out on the other TD”
I disagree that anyone could’ve thrown that ball to Bolden. That was a deep throw on target. The Villamin TD I agree somewhat, although if Mannion throws that, everyone says how great it was yada yada.
As for Andersen and McM, do we know it was Andersen who pulled him, or could that have been Baldwin’s decision? Still, I have a similar “hmmmmm” swirling around my head.
On the other hand, Collins was outplaying McM pretty soundly IMO. Yes McM he made a mistake, but is that one (big) mistake the reason he was pulled? Or was it the tipping point? If Collins is playing better, play Collins. It makes no sense not to, especially in a close game. I didn’t see any “you messed up, you’re out…. ok now YOU made a mistake, now you’re out”, etc.
*shrug*
I think angry was referring to the TD throw to Bolden where he was wide open after his defender was picked by Villamin. The deep throw to Bolden was an absolute dime that should have been caught. If Bolden doesn’t leave his feet he probably makes that catch.
Ah that makes sense. My bad.
I disagree that anyone could’ve thrown that ball to Bolden
That’s the one I was talking about. It was his one big boy throw, and it was a drop. The rest were dink and dunks, wide open guys, or the WR bailing him out. OSU is going to have to play from ahead or a tie, because if the D knows that Collins is going to throw…not good.
We only saw him play tied and ahead tonight. As the competition increases, that won’t be the case.
On the other hand, Collins was outplaying McM pretty soundly IMO.
McM was barely on the field. I think he got 10 snaps, and Collins had ~80. I don’t think McM ever got into a grove. He had one bomb that should have been a TD, instead gets a PI, and then he never really got to play again. The McM story feels incomplete. I feel we know what Collins is but have no clue what McM can do in the passing game. I guess GA wants a running QB, though, in the final analysis. I’m not even sure it matters if McM had a great passing night. I think GA wants a runner and had picked his guy a while ago.
Watching how reckless Collins is, I have a feeling we’ll see a lot of McMaryion this year
He needs to protect himself. The one play on the sideline was just stupid.
Qbs are 1 STG, 2 3M, 3 Nick. And I agree, reckless will cause all three to see field, hopefully nothing major
Im pretty sure he said not just that he’d pull a quarterback for a mistake but would stick with one in the groove. Seth was effective and is only getting better why cant we be happy to c his development?
McM didn’t just throw a pick, he threw a pick 6 that made the game a one score affair. At that point GA made a decision to put in Collins because Collins was doing better and he wasn’t focusing on evaluating the QB competition, he was focused on not losing to an FCS team.
I know you’re mad because McM was your guy but it was a good move. Collins came in and sparked the O and the team pulled away.
Kind of annoying to see you get caught up almost entirely on McM “not getting a fair shake” and not even addressing how awful the Oline looked tonight. I know you’re usually “99% correct” but I seem to remember you saying that they were an underrated group and would be a strength of the team. Tonight, they were the biggest weakness IMO.
McM isn’t “my guy”. I want the best QB on the field. Probably the same as GA. I just think a QB needs to be able to stage comebacks via throwing. Maybe I’m dated. We’ll see.
The O-line looked bad, but some of those guys I didn’t have penciled in as starters. I didn’t see who specifically was getting beaten, but Mitchell had procedural problems and Isaac was very tentative blocking.
Mitchell should not be playing. Football. At all. Dude was flat ass awful out there
That’s guy continues to frustrate the heck out of me
I haven’t been able to read many comments yet, and I initially thought it was a bad move to pull McM but did you not notice his demeanor after the pick and his sulking on the sidelines? He never shook it off. He looked like that the rest of the game, too.
That scared me and kinda tells me that McM might not be mentally ready to be a starter. You have to shake it all off after that. Clear your mind, don’t let it fester and build. I wonder if the coaches saw it too.
Collins might not have been perfect, but he was confident and decisive. Didn’t turn the ball over either, which is HUGE. He needs to be smarter while running and avoid hits as much as possible, but I was happy with everything else.
We all knew this offense, especially with the personnel was most likely going to be a dink and dunk, mis direction and deception type offense. I didn’t think Collins was gonna even try to throw deep, but he did twice converting one TD and should have on the 2nd as well.
Things will get better as the season goes on. I still think 6-6 is the absolute best case scenario, but I have good feelings and am excited for the potential of this team, not only this year, but as a program going forward. I did not have that feeling for a while, if not before MR’s return.
This can’t be correct. I never saw his sulking on his high school highlight tape! Also had a 4.0 GPA!
–angry
The way the OL played tonight I think Collins has to be the QB next week because his running might be the only way OSU has a running game against UM and they have to be able to run it at least a little bit.
Based on the way the OL played my guess is Malik Staples doesn’t change his commitment to Louisville. Who the hell would want an OL like that blocking for you?
Unfortunately, this staff is using the O Line( and the whole team) from the previous staff, period! Let’s see what happens here in the next couple of years.
Go Beavs!
Stop. It was 5 on 7/8 or 6/7 on 8/9 all game long. They eased back and waited for the QB run while only sending 5 on some pass plays… no more than 4 at MM. But they threw numbers at us all game. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think even the best O-line can stop that.
Was it an anomaly , my imagination, or does McM jump up in the air when he throws?
I would have thought our O-line was better than that.
I think the playbook was constrained. Most of the stuff looked pretty vanilla.
I think McM never got back in the game because the game was in doubt. GA had to make sure the Beavs won that game and Collins had more of a mojo woring.
MM was said to have mechanical issues that kept him out of the QB competition initially. I believe it was his jump passing off his back foot. He worked on them over the summer and made his way back in. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they resurfaced again in a tense game time situation.
He did on the screen, but he had to in order to get the ball over the defender. I’m sure it’s designed that way to avoid bat-downs and to give a rhythm to the play.
“Gary Andersen backed out on his word after one game. To me, this is huge. Maybe it’s not to the players or you guys, but I hated that.”
While I agree that morally it was on the iffy side, I do think that there were some things going on in that pushed him in that direction. He was getting mad at that point because he was expecting to be farther ahead and he wasn’t. He’s got a lot to prove and his temperament in general is aggressive and competitive. So yeah, maybe he went back on his word when the pressure was on but maybe that was the right call to get the win? I’m not on Team Collins either, I like McM better but it’s too soon to call GA a hypocrite.
I think that’s right — he got nervous about the score. Maybe next time he should say “a player won’t be pulled for making an error unless it’s a close game”….lol.
yeah maybe he should just admit that he’s there to win and will do everything it takes. Generally I prefer GA’s mindset over Father Riley’s moral high ground antics
Father Riley’s moral high ground antics
Let’s ask Brenda Tracy how she feels about his moral high ground
I haven’t even finished reading your post game thoughts yet, but I gotta say, I think it was brilliant of Andersen to say Collins is starter. He played most and performed. But I think that he’s keeping the competition open. And now the media will jump off the who is the QB question, and with any luck Michigan will prepare directly for Collins and MMM could be ready to go.
Weber State was 0 for 13 on third-down conversions. Wow.
Fuck me. That’s impressive.
” He’s a great runner, but very predictable in that he always wants to run over pass.”
That’s a move that other teams will quickly latch onto and be on him like white on rice the whole game and he won’t gain any ground.
And then 3M comes in to air it out
Hey! White on rice? That’s rice-ist! ;)
Which makes them cheat and get beAt basic stuff.
GA said the other day in a media session that he doesn’t stick his nose in the business of the offense during the game. That duty is entirely up to Baldwin and McGiven and he trusts them. Said he’s a defensive guy and doesn’t know a thing about calling an offense. That being said, I dont think HE made the call to play SC as much as they did over McM.
I think Baldwin made that call, and he probably did it because SC was the only one who put any kind of drive together in the 1st half. It was a close game so he went with the guy who was putting them in at least field goal range. It’s probably how I would have played it too until maybe the last couple of series to give McM a few more reps.
Next week will not be pretty. Especially if we lost Peko. Anybody heard yet what’s up?
I thought I saw his number on the field in the second half.
Yup, he was there (#99 in the Weber backfield).
Mizell said he was back in the second half.
Peko got kicked in the nuts from what it looked like.
Oh good. Thought i saw him holding his hand when he walked off, but must have just been holding his junk.
Thought i saw a tweet from somebody saying parker on the radio was talking about the training staff looking at his shoulder/arm. (Or maybe, again, his junk was mistaken for another part of his body again)
Parker might have said that, but on TV it looked like he got hit in the junk. It looked minor either way, and he was back out there.
getting hit in the junk is not “minor”
He didn’t want say “Kyle got hit in the nuts” on the air.
Both QBs had FG drives in the first half. Seth Collins was “the guy” so they were just looking for a reason to make him the starter.. McMaryion bailed a little too quick on one throw but in general showed more patience in the pocket and made some good throws. The INT wasn’t on him. Maybe he should have just thrown it at the feet of his receiver with the blocking being so poor and the DB right there for the tip, but I’ll blame the blocking a lot more than the throw.
Collins throws a good deep ball but badly struggles on the intermediate throws. He takes off running when the first read isn’t open. I just don’t know how they can open up the playbook with the passing game when they can’t throw over the middle. They had one throw in the middle of the field and Collins badly missed.
Michigan has a decent defense. If he can make the intermediate throws the Beavers will not move the ball all game. Running the ball will be a struggle with how shitty this O-Line looked run blocking. Pass blocking looked solid though.
McMaryion will start a game this season sometime in the next month, IMO.
Baldwin barely opened the playbook in this game. He’s leaving a lot of unseen looks for the Michigan game and SC gives the Beavs more options for play calling. Expect the fake QB keeper into a long bomb. Also, SC rushes for 2 tds!
This game was the perfect setup to an upset in Ann arbor!
So you’re the moral police now too? You’re truly a gem, Angy.
Cheer up unhappy beav, we’re undefeated.
an unhappybeav is a neglected beav
Or one with a yeast infection.
Thoughts from the game:
1) Beav fans are old and decrepit. I’ve got season tix on the West side and I feel like I’m at a goddamn assisted living facility.
2) defense was lights out.
3) Access to beer at Alumni Center at halftime has gotten a lot more difficult. They did away with one of the serving stations creating huge lines at the other stations. I’m sure the OLCC has something to do with this.
Beav fans are old and decrepit.
Yep
They yelled at me for standing up. Then they yelled at me again for cheering.
Maybe the fans take after the coach. We now have a younger, stronger, more enthusiastic and fiery coach. Hopefully that will rub off on the fans. Can’t blame people for checking out during the Riley era.
I’m not sure it’s olcc. Sometimes at events in Bend, there’s beer everywhere and all you need is an “over 21” wrist band and you can wander around drunk as shit and no one cares.
I was on the old side much younger over there, families its cheaper so young graduates get seats over there. But there are some old folks too have been there as long as I have been (since 1999).
The crowd wasn’t great but not bad, I left Portland at 2pm and missed the 1st Q. Traffic was brutal and it was a 5pm kickoff, it was about what I expected.
I watched from home but that turnout was ridiculous! That place should have been filled up!
Go Beavs!
Friday evening, 5pm start on a holiday weekend. Good luck with filling the stadium unless you’re an annual contender
I watched from home…… That say it all
Filled up with who? It’s the last weekend before school starts. It’s Labor Day weekend. The students at OSU won’t be there for three weeks. It’s a 5pm game on a Friday.
You could have scheduled it for last Wednesday at noon and expected better attendance.
I didn’t like that MMM sat immediately after the pick 6. But even though it was a terrible play-call, he didn’t impress in the least and suddenly the game was on the line.
Collins has attitude to spare and it proved to be beneficial to him as the game went on. I like seeing an OSU QB have that much confidence. His throws weren’t terrible. Bolden should have caught the TD and Villamin’s catch wasn’t even close to miraculous, it was just a good play.
Good on Andersen that he did whatever he had to to get the win. I like his attitude and fire.
Why is #50 so terrible always?
Defense was promising.
Michigan at 9:00 am is scary.
I liked 3M sitting immediately after the pick 6. Although I did want to see more later in the game.
That’s fair, too. Even if they benched him because the game was on the line and they lost confidence, put him back out there once the game is in hand and let’s see what he can do…
Villamin caught that TD with just his left hand. The DB had a hold of his right arm and was pulling it downward.
They were doing shit like that the whole game.
I know. It looked like the AFC Championship where New England made the NFL change the rules about just grabbing receivers.
“Wants to run instead of pass”….hmm so when Collins is wrong he gets stopped for no gain or maybe still gets a yard or two. Drive continues and a few break for first downs. When Mannion was wrong he was sacked for a 7 yard loss and almost 90% we would be punting at the end of the downs. Also less turnover chance because interceptions are higher frequency.
Passing is swell and is needed but liking the run is actually an advantage for Oregon State. A few more quick slants for a Bolden or Lucas and the occassional deep ball is all we need to be in the sweet spot of this team. There are a lot of times in games where coverage is pretty good and hesitating for much more than a split second will cost you. His instincts are good.
I’d rather be a run first team, but not with a QB…
281 rushing yards, 152 of them from the QB.
Say they are down 14 to Michigan with 3 minutes left. A QB who can pass at least gives them a shot. A QB who looks to run first and is iffy throwing gives them no shot. This is why I say, live and die with Collins, because some games (if they fall behind two scores), he will take the team out of the game. Yeah, everything is roses when you’re up on Weber State. Let’s see what it looks like when Collins has to throw when losing…the jury is out.
It may be a long season: ST? is young, raw and looks tiny out there. But he has a bunch of confidence/ mojo. That can’t always be quantified. We will have to wait and see. I don’t think it’ll be pretty, but it will be a lot better than what we’re used to. If he can’t do it, he won’t be the QB next year, or even the next game. I have so much more enthusiasm for this team than for any team of the previous 3-4 years.
We have to face the facts….we don’t have a QB that is going to get probably more than 150 yd passing in a game this season(with the exception of one big play putting us over). Seth is going to get as many or more yards rushing but as teams squeeze down (which is exactly what PAC 12 teams will do) the QB is going to have to be able to throw the football. People keep saying that we have the best receivers in the PAC 12 (and I’m a huge Beavs fan) but bullshit! USC, Oregon and even Arizona have better receivers (and that’s just a few) overall than us (skill wise and experience). But our QBs not only do not possess the passing abilities but our receivers do not possess the ability to make plays on their own to break away from the conference defenses. Our RBs just won’t get enough carries to get 100 yards, especially with the way our offensive line performed.
Go Beavs!
Yeah… we had receivers running open all over the field all day long. If either of our QBs would have taken the time to look, they would have seen the same. SC actually slid in the pocket once and, as a result, hit Jarmon.
And the DB on Villamin was actually very good. I don’t think he sees someone that good for the rest of the season. His stalking was great, and his technique on the ball was superior. His one knock would be that he was hand fighting Villy on the TD. If he would have just turned to the ball he would have had an easy INT.
Really happy with the defense this game. Offense…is a work in progress. Hope it gets better between now and versus Michigan, or things could get ugly.
Also, I’m still confused about how to edit comments, and Seth’s leap over that Weber St. player was pretty dope.
You register an account, then you hit “edit”
Oh, you have to formally register? Alright, thanks!
Yes. I could change that, but then we’d get trolls editing comments and such. So I make it the perk of registering.
How do you make a custom avatar if you’re not registered?
I lost my pink avatar so I said fuck it and registered.
Tie the email you use to a gravatar image.
I stuck with this blog in the beginning because of the no register feature. I still love it.
McM was supposed to be the guy that wouldn’t make mistakes. That seemed to be his only advantage. Then he made a pretty big mistake in a pick 6. Meanwhile Collins was making good decisions and added 150 yards rushing. I missed the PI call that called back a McM pass, but fro what I did see he couldn’t move the ball. Then had a bad attitude to boot.
Collins played well for a freshmen in game 1. He’s out only shot at a good season.
Re: the QB’s, I expect we’ll see more than one QB play this season and that is my main concern with the pulling of 3M. A few reps late in the game would seem to be better preparation for his future game performance. Is the memory of your last play being so terrible a better motivator or confidence builder than going out on a decent series? 3M’s history tells me he is self motivated; I’d vote for the confidence of even a few vanilla plays.
Re: the Oline, While Mitchell’s performance was disappointing, I’m just as concerned with Isaac. He didn’t look like a star against this lower tier team.
Jim Wilson is pretty wise and should especially know the Oline. He said it is often hard for a big lineman to match up vs a smaller/quicker opponent. Haven’t checked the Weber roster to see if this could explain some of the problems tonight, hope so.
Re: D……..How ’bout that Mageo? ……and Peko!
……..and, maybe there is something to that “live tackling in Fall Camp” thing!
He said it is often hard for a big lineman to match up vs a smaller/quicker opponent.
That’s true and a good observation.
But what I saw from Isaac is he was hesitant and then getting no push. Almost like he was afraid to fully test it fearing re-injury. Which makes sense…
“afraid to fully test it…”
Bingo!
I specifically watched Isaac the first couple series and he was killing his guy. Had a couple pancakes. Perhaps it is a conditioning issue?
OT: Washington’s 38 seconds away from losing. It’s like 2nd and 28, and the team is looking rattled. The O-Line can’t protect the quarterback, and the quarterback looks green and easily rattled. Don’t see them as a threat this year.
And…they just blew the game on a missed field goal.
Welcome back Kotter……er Chris.
I hated McMs body language after that pick. Collins may be cocky and hot headed, but he seems like a better leader.
Anyone going to watch Biley vs. Bronco?
Yes. That game should be fascinating. Riley could get in trouble fast…lol
My bro will be at the game.
As a mormon child by birth (not been to church since I left for college in 89) and a Beaver by choice, I’m looking forward to that game! Go Cougs!
can’t wait to see him fail
I thought Probeski (punting and holding) and Owens ( 4-4) and Navarro ( snapping) did a great job tonight.
Read thanks for recruiting them , But not coaching them !
kept us in game early going …
I think Porebski and Navarro were GA guys. Navarro was for sure
I don’t thank Read for anything, the dolt was bankin’ over $300k/year!
Huskers are going to love him!
My Take…..
This was an ugly game but there were some positive things that have been lacking in the past!
Positives:
Seth Collins made several good throws; the throw that Bolden dropped and the Villamin TD were just a couple of examples of of relaxed on the money throws. I think the defense looks very good comparatively to the past few seasons (and remember that this is 7-8 months after a new installation on “D”). The tackling and defensive intensity were much higher and better than years past. Villamin made some nice plays but was underthrown by both QBs (I have mentioned this earlier in Fall several times).
Needs Improvements:
By far, the Offensive Line needs to cut down on the penalties. The holding calls killed some big plays tonight (and there were several of them). J Mitchell committed a couple of them which seemed very uncharacteristic of him.
Underthrows…again. This is killin’ us. It doesn’t matter how well the receiver beats the DB, if you can’t deliver the ball on time (ahead and let the receiver run under it) then the ball is susceptible to being intercepted or incomplete. J Villamin was underthrown a couple of times tonight.
Victor Bolden. I’m sorry but I mentioned this several times last season, and after tonight, I stand by it, he is overrated! He cannot make the first guy miss. was the blocking great on the edge? No! But a guy like Brandin Cooks, is going to make a play or two against Weber St when they corner him in the backfield, V Bolden (5 carries for 4 yards….something like that????) Really?! I think Coach Baldwin is getting the beer goggles for Bolden the same way Riley did unfortunately! I think Dockery and/or Lucas can do what they expect from Bolden! BTW, where was Lucas in that game? I know he was in for like two or three plays but what????!
The offensive line is falling into old form with letting too much penetration (especially on fly sweep/stretch read option plays). Caleb Smith= Non factor. A lot of guys (D Guyton, R Dockery, X Hawkins) were no shows. I have to say that Brennan really needs to remove his “only three guys play the whole game” bias and get some guys in the game. If they’re not ready to play, that’s on him, period! These guys have all been here too long to be just watching. they’re scholarship PAC 12 receivers, right?!
Bottom Line:
We are going to struggle against Michigan. Anyone who doesn’t believe that is in complete denial. I understand what this staff (especially Andersen was trying to do in this game, especially on the first 4th down when they went for it* and didn’t get it in their own redzone) was trying to do in this game. Oregon State could have run the ball 75% of the game (and we probably would have scored more but we will not score more than probably 30 points in a game this season). They (OSU-IMO) were trying to see how the QBs did throwing the football overall and downfield to try and see which Qb may rise to the occasion and/or to prepare them for Michigan. Not that the screen call was a great call but McMaryion cannot float a screen ball (for just that reason- it could become a “tipped” ball drill) out of their own endzone like that. That ball was floated too high and was poorly executed so it doesn’t really matter about the call. But McMaryion may get another chance against Michigan (we’ll see) but Collins did look pretty good overall. BTW, there is no way that any RB on this team rushes for 1000 yds this season (sorry). I was very disappointed with both starting Rbs. Chris Brown was tripped up way too easily IMO by inferior competition. This could be a 4 win season but as long as we continue to improve, it will be an improvement over last season (think long term here)! One thing to think about; The biggest improvement is usually between game 1 and game 2.
Love the Beavs but being real… I say next week’s game is a 21-10 loss. There will be more mistakes and some positives but unfortunately, not enough! One game at a time.
Go Beavs!
I agree, Bolden got anointed the next Brandin Cooks by the media because Cooks left and Bolden looked like him (*in uniform). He doesn’t run or catch like him, though. He’s a decent/good player, but he’s not a game changer. I’d like to see what Jarmon or Guyton can do. Neither had a target.
Totally agree that Jarmon and Guyton should have had a few (at least) targets in that game. This is something I don’t like about Coach Brennan. He is way too conservative with who he plays. That is Riley-esque!
Go Beavs!
Jarmon had a pretty catch and little run right after MM was yanked. It just happened to be Mitchell’s first holding call (his second was bullshit).
Let’s hear some early predictions for the Michigan game?
I don’t have one yet, but I want to throw this out there: they put that blazing fast Peppers dude, who was making ridiculous open field tackles vs Utah, as a spy on Collins. StS then has to throw all game…
What happens?
What happens? Beavs win 24-21.
Collins will just hurdle Peppers, repeatedly.
Collins is going to get his crotch broken trying to hurdle any Michigan defenders! I stand by what I said (trust me, unfortunately) 21-10 loss. The key though, what do we learn from that game???
Go Beavs!
Maybe we will find our identity: getting our crotches broken.
Turn the boys into Beavs….
I think Beavs lose by two scores, but I wonder if UM switch to their junior QB over the grad QB after throwing that interception in the 4th. Andersen can talk to Wittingham, get some intel. But we’re just too young and immature on offense to overcome playing at 9 in the Big House. That’s what I think. I hope I’m wrong.
Woods-Carr, Brown, Clute, Smith and Bolden have 18 catches for 2 yards. Villamin has three catches for 46 yards and a TD. SC’s stat line looks great at 21-22-48-1-0.
Meanwhile, Michigan runs a 5-2, blitzes an eighth man and has nobody more than ten yards deep while SC is in… except on obvious long passing downs… just like Weber did to us all game.
Beavs win, 12-6.
Sorry, when MM was in they ran a 3-3 and stunted, never sending more than four… and not getting near him… not that he didn’t run anyway.
Harbaugh’s D is gonna tear our offense apart. I bet we don’t even get into the end zone, unfortunately…
Michigan 27, OSU 9
UM 45 OSU 3
I sont see the point of whining about something said, and what later happened. A coach should be able to run the game the way it feels at the moment, not based on some platitude said at a presser. You would rather he lose the game than seem “unfair” to a player? Surely not. Recall some of Riley’s QB substitution shenanigans. Yikes. And Riley was looked at as totally a man of honor. SOB….
Ok, it didnt look as good as we maybe hoped. But at least GA didnt pull a Riley and lose. D looks good, and the O was kinda to be expected, two brand new QB’s, new system, yada yada….
I am hoping for that idea that teams make their greatest improvement between games 1 and 2. But I’m thinkin Harbaugh gets his first win.
Bolden catches with his body = A big NO-NO
Attack the ball with your hands !
Just got home from the game. D looked good, Decoud looked very good, Noland-Lewis flat out whiffed on 2 sacks. At one point in the 4th, Beavs had triple the rushing yards over pass yards. 3M (everybody in the stands was calling him 3M) looked like the better passer, doesn’t quite have the speed around the corner that Collins possesses.
3M is a company, internationally recognized for over a century. Wasn’t the reason people wanted to make him sound like a happy meal because he would be confused with a candy or the abbreviation for millimeter if we used MM? We can just call him Marcus and not be cutesy about it all.
Decoud missed on the first whiff. N-L missed the second.
Let’s just call him “the pouter.”
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing = 3M
Jack gets one right!
Speed kills, Collins looks very fast. If the QB run game is important (and I think it is to GA), you have to go with speed and when you pass it needs to be safe. It looks like that’s where the offense is trending.
Slight off-topic……what happened to “Hire Matt Wells”? Anyone else notice Utah St. barely beat Southern Utah (another middling FCS team) 12-9 and Chuckie Keeton threw for a whopping 110 yards? Aggies offense did not score a touchdown.
They did lose their OC.
True…..McGiven is the key!
I think we should hire Matt Wells because Matt Wells is a great coach who will raise the level of play to a level that only Matt Wells could raise it. If you have any doubts about Matt Wells, just know that Matt Wells is a proven winner and will glorify Reser Stadium with a brand of Matt Wells style football that, frankly, only Matt Wells might be able to appreciate.
In short, BDC can do no better than hiring Matt Wells because Matt Wells will secure the brand and image the style of the future of the branding and national spotlight visioning… stuff…
… Matt Wells!
PS — You be right 99% of the time? Hmmm…. I think I need to go over your accounts on that. Stats are a strange dog….
Much more negative than I thought. For a first game of the season with a new program and young players the game went about as I thought. Struggle early to get a rhythm and the defense carry us until the OL wears down their line and they start move the ball more effectively.
Look the defense played really good. The scheme was much better and aggressive like many have mentioned. I liked the different blitz packages. I thought the CB’s did good job of taking away the wr’s, I was impressed with the LB’s who I thought would not be strong. Salo had as many tackles tonight as he did all last season, plus had a couple of QB hurries. Maggeo looked like a stud 11 tackles, 1 pass breakup, 1 forced fumble, and he looks big. Bright had a nice moment. The DL looked pretty solid. Now I thought the Safeties were okay, played with some speed, but Cyril and Strong both overran some plays and missed some tackles. Overall the tackling was much better and they pitched a shutout.
Offensively, the OL struggled early, but started getting things together in 2nd half and I liked the how they played much better in the 2nd half. I was not impressed with the RB’s, much has been said above, Brown looks stronger but his vision needs to be better. Woods is still average too upright, slow or tentative through the line, and too easily to go down. Sands missed some catches. I thought Nall looked good, really just missed a TD after getting tripped up. I think he will be effective down in the Red Zone though.
Now the wideouts, for those calling this one of the top in the Pac12? I don’t think so. I don’t think this is a strength, its not bad but it needs to improve. I hate the sweeps to Bolden, he can’t run those effectively enough. He is fast but he doesn’t run with the ball fast, and he goes down to easily and often takes poor angles. No excuse on that dropped TD catch. Villamin had a dropped pass and poor penalty that cost us 15 yds on one drive. But he did make a solid catch on the TD pass and another one on an out pattern. As far as their speed they didn’t separate from the Weber St defenders until the 2nd half when the DB’s tired (they were playing a lot on ST and got winded according to Villamin). Where was Jarmon? Caleb?
QB: Collins was by far the better QB, and made much better decisions in the 2nd half than the 1st where he looked to run more. But what a weapon he is when he is a threat to run? He will cause a bunch of problems. As far as his accuracy, both deep balls were money and I disagree with Angry on his TD passes. Bolden’s catch was a great call and wide open, but Villamin’s was a dime. He missed some in the first half throwing high and too much power on a couple. His pocket presence was not good in the 1st half. But he looks confident and comfortable. I buying him, now how will he handle adversity? MM didn’t look like he was comfortable, and yes was put in a poor spot on that INT, however he doesn’t grade out well.
Next week: How well do the Beavs handle the physical nature of Michigan is the biggest question. I think both teams after week 1 look very even. If they can play error free ball they should have a very good look at a victory.
You answer your own question about the wideouts. Jarmon and Guyton weren’t even on the field so no 3 or 4wr sets (correct me if I’m wrong), so they were withholding them. Same with Caleb Smith — did he even have a target? With Collins running so much that obviously will take away from the WRs, too. We need to stop thinking about this one game and think of the system (Utah State, Co State, etc). The QBs run and throw for yards. So the WRs will come into play if the QB can get it to them.
Yeah, mcm qbr was 4 vs 71 for Collins
Oregon State will play within 10-13 points of Michigan for the bulk of next week’s game. Collins and the team will learn a lot and Seth’s fight and scrappiness will give us a chance. Andersen’s quote of them expecting to beat Michigan is exactly what a power conference coach who respects his program has to say and I think he means it. Villamin and Seth are the leaders along with a D that should be fun to watch grow under Sitake.
here you go, straight from the horses mouth…………………..
“In a tight ballgame, you have to be able to go into a position to put the young man in that you think is going to best help the team win, and that was Seth,” Andersen said
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/09/seth_collins_named_oregon_stat.html#incart_river
Do look now, Oregon State is in first place in the Pac12 North, right now.
Post game press conference:
http://youtu.be/UrVU-lyUnSQ
despite the fits and starts on offense, did anyone consider just maybe they didn’t want to give Michigan much on film to look at? There were no throws to the TE’s, I missed the first half but I didn’t see any passing down the middle either. Vanilla play calling gets you vanilla results. Either that or I’m just delusional
I do agree. Mainly vanilla, and was pretty obvious which plays were more than vanilla. They beat Weber with the base stuffs on both sides of the ball.
GA post game press conference. at about 6:08 mark reporter asks him this question
“so if Coliins struggles against Michigan are you saying you won’t replace him out?”
GA – “I’m not saying anything at this point. We’ll see what happens”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrVU-lyUnSQ
Smart not to say anything.
Good post game interview.
Agree Collins was better today, but he took like 80 snaps to MM’s 10, so of course he would have more opportunity to put up numbers. Hey, if Collins performs that well at MI I’ll be on the bandwagon, but I think O-live is jumping the gun with the “dazzling” performance talk. Even GA is hesitant.
I think GA views Collins as his Chuckie Keeton pet project. If they can get Collins to 65% completion, they’ll have a Heisman candidate in a few years. If he’s in the 55% range (tonight, which means sub 50% vs good competition), then he’ll eventually be a backup. This is the fine line between StS and StG. The guy should be throwing footballs all day, every day, when he’s not in class.
But at that point when the decision was made it was a 13-7 game late in the 3rd quarter. He had to abandon the 2 quarterback system and put the guy in that he felt was going to give them the best chance to win.
So he could have stuck the D in there?
if only……………
I understand there are going to be games this season where SC looks like a true freshman. There will be going pains. No one is expecting a Pac-12 north title this year. Bumps and bruises are expected. Like I stated, baseline is 4 wins. Anything on top of that is gravy. If they can get to 6 wins and a minor bowl game, this season is a win in my book. If the D can keep up what they did vs Weber St? I expect they’ll be in more games than ones they won’t. But even if they don’t, as long as they improve game to game, I’ll be happy with the results going forward. Let’s keep some perspective here folks. This isn’t a complete program overhaul of a loser. (Colorado anyone?). By years 3 and 4 we should expect this team to be at or near the top of the north division
Oh my god, the coach taking responsibility for the deficiencies!
Not blaming the players and no finding our identity crap.
Wait for it. You will soon hear the dulcet tones of the Rileybird singing that ever so lovely tune:
… we didn’t execute the way we wanted on that play… maybe we gave them too much to think about… we need to run more… I didn’t see the clock… we tried to get the call in, but I guess he didn’t see it… I thought he did great except for the one play that totally lost us the game.
I actually felt like I was a little mean after posting this. Now I feel sad for a whole state.
They each had at least two series to start the game. Collins did more with the opportunity.
Yes… after Collins’ four series… three punts and a FG. After MM’s two series… a punt and a FG.
Note that MM’s first series was aborted by Baldwin when he called sweep when Weber only had six in the box, a stacked 3-3. SC had some of those questionable calls on fly sweeps as well. I don’t understand running sideways when you’re trying to establish a run mentality, even if they do load the box.
Don’t quote me but I think I heard we only had 57 snaps.
Weber St had more punts (10) than first downs (9)
I know the numbers don’t support it, but I thought Weber State looked like a solid, well-coached team. Especially on defense.
time will tell. I don’t think they looked like a 2-10 FCS team. The only game they were blown out in last season was the opener at ASU (lost 45-14 or something like that). They lost several close games
I agree Angry and said so in the game thread. Most times they stayed home and played sound defense.
They loaded the box and ran off the edges all game long. It’s what any of us would have done against a frosh QB as long as it continued to work. It suffocated a vanilla run scheme by overwhelming the O-line. It stopped any sweeps or screens we tried to run because they were coached to drop the D-line and send the edges. It was a complete sell job.
The last time I saw that we had Katz at QB, and he was replaced at half time so we could get someone who could throw more than a bubble screen INT in there. Our new QB then opened up the field, and we could run all over them. Still couldn’t defend worth shit… or hold on to the ball… or manage the clock… or make a FG… or defend worth shit.
I’m betting they would rather have our schedule for next week instead of having to go to NDSU.
I am told to look at the end zone screen again. Am told maybe MM was yanked because he went with the play call after seeing a stacked box and Weber in full man. He should have called an audible to time a fly or post route. As it happened, the only thing he could have done without giving up points was to run back up the middle to lose a couple yards. It would have got him out of the end zone with the ball. He threw a perfect ball to the only place he left himself a choice, but it was the wrong ball to throw.
concur: they would have beaten a Riley coached team
Moving forward.
This still could be a great season in terms of being competitive but improvements are definitely needed. If we don’t see guys like (Lucas, Jarmon, Guyton, more Nall, Hawkins) mixed into the Michigan game, than we might be in some trouble. I think it’s possible that the staff was purposefully using a vanilla scheme on both O and D but I really hope that was the same in terms of the lack of personnel they used. In other words, I hope we open it up a bit more in the playbook but also use more personnel. Either way, I trust the process and respect their decisions.
Go Beavs!
Gonna be hard to recruit receivers if this is our new identity.
last two thoughts for the night……………….
Jay Hill is a friend and has coached with GA. So there is some familiarity there. If it seemed at times Weber St knew what was coming from a vanilla offensive scheme? Well…., duh. GA wasn’t going to embarrass him either.
The defense was pretty damn good. Loved the actual wrapping up and tackling fof the most part. However, the offense is going to have to improve by leaps and bounds between now and next Saturday in Ann Arbor. If they cannot, they will eventually wear down. A tired defense is an ineffective one. No matter how good they are. The drive in the 3rd quarter that resulted in a TD is exactly what the doctor ordered and many of us have been clamoring for, for a long ass time. And GA stated they would play fast when needed and slow down and huddle up when needed. That was a 16 play, 75 yard drive that ate up 6:47 of the third quarter. That’s almost half of a quarter!!! An opponent that runs an up tempo offense cannot beat you when they are not on the field for almost half of a quarter. Also means their defense is on the field for just as long. Genius. Who’d a thunk it????
I thought the change to uptempo was the key for the offense in the 2nd half and it wasn’t a great uptempo either (there was a shot of Baldwin getting pissed that they weren’t moving fast enough), so lots of room for improvement.
Agreed on Weber State’s defense also, I’ve never seen the fly sweep look so slow, they looked well coached on the defensive side.
All in all, I thought it was a good win. The score was a little deceiving, it could have been a 30 point win pretty easily with better execution on a 5 or 6 plays. The disparity in the stats bears that out.
One of my concerns is SBW, I was kind of hoping this would be the break out year and he would become an elite back carrying the ball, I didn’t see any improvement in speed or decision making
again Weber. Hopefully, he gets better.
The D knew what was coming a lot of the time, and like Jack said, had extra men in the box, so that could explain a lot. He’s also learning a new O, and like GA said, it’s a big difference between this and the pro style. I think all of this is combining to make Woods look slow and bad right now. He ran for like 6+ ypc last year and should be at his prime, so I have to think it’s external issues and will improve.
For all the talk of Brown looking better, he wound up running for less yardage and a lower YPC.
Again, I feel this, too, had to do with Weber State’s game plan and also learning the new O.
As Jack said, the O-line was getting outnumbered (I’d want to see a replay to see how often, but it was noticeable). I don’t feel like I can deduct a whole lot from this game. I can induct some things. Let’s all have a primer on reasoning (this isn’t aimed at you, McKalk just think there are issues here, and I’m on the topic):
1. Deductive Reasoning: What is absolutely true.
2. Inductive Reasoning: What is observably most true.
3. Abductive Reasoning: What is most likely true.
4. Reductive Reasoning: What is NOT true.
5. Fallacious Reasoning: What you think is true.
There is a lot of 2-5 going on and very little 1.
That’s probably because there aren’t a lot of absolute truths after one game played by a young team under a new coaching regime against an FCS opponent.
6. Riley Reasoning: Conserving timeouts is good for the environment.
It’s college football, there aren’t a whole lot of absolutes, it’s a bunch of young men playing a sport!
Being at the game, here’s my take (not an expert at this so…):
I predicted 55-3, that’s how much I know. The way the defense played it should have been xx-0. If the offense had gotten going earlier and made a few more plays and a few less penalties they could/should have scored 45 or so.
It certainly seems like MMcM didn’t get as much time as SC, but I think it was because he wasn’t making as many plays keeping drives alive and was off the field sooner. After the pick I thought GA may have done him dis-service by not putting him back in, but he’s the coach. I agree with angry here that GA said one thing about the qb’s then did something different, but again, he’s the coach. I believe it was the right thing to do at the time. I was still disappointed.
We were sitting on the south end zone on the west side so saw almost all the scoring. The pick was a really crappy-called play and was batted in the air. A sitting duck.
I thought the OL was lacking a lot (I’m hoping they move IS back to center and move Mitchell to guard). I expected more from B-W than 63, but the line wasn’t there for him. SC is way more elusive than I thought he was, but he’s not going to make the whole season playing like that unless he’s less fragile than he seems.
Defense was great but not playing Div 1 team so we will see next game how good they really are. Still seem head’s above last year’s D.
All in all a good game. We’re 1-0 in the GA era!
If you go to a game, I recommend the Smokehouse BBQ Nachos with pulled pork! Fucking awesome and enough for 3-4 people.
Well don’t feel too bad. Big Jim Wilson said something like 55 lol. Honestly, 30 points will be a lot of points for us this season.
I do want to mention some things that should get everyone here excited:
-We did lose JUCO Tim Cook, OLB Darrell Songy(permanently), OL Gavin Andrews, all before the beginning of the season. Those guys, I feel, definitely were big pieces (no excuses just putting things into perspective).
-Look what this staff has done in just 8 months or so; the recruiting for this season, strength improvements, defensive and offensive implementation, guys buying in, we’re more physical, we didn’t execute and made some mental errors but it wasn’t from lack of effort…. I mean, these are HUGE step that we have taken to erase that other regime and it’s going away fast (that’s a good thing). Imagine us in 3 or 4 games, then in 10 games, then next Spring. I’m not trying to look ahead, I’m just trying to illustrate how much improvement we will see, if we have seen this much already in 8+ months. That to me, is very exciting!
Go Beavs!
McMaryion just doesn’t have the athletic ability to be a threat on the zone read, and he’s not a talented enough passer to warrant being that starting QB over Collins. Basically McMaryion only brings his passing, which is not great, to the table.
Collins brings his passing (which is also not great), but also his rushing ability. Note that his rushing ability will also open things up for the running backs as well which makes the offense more effective. I though he had some good deep passes and really looked a lot more confident throwing in the second half once the offense opened up a little bit.
In short, McMaryion’s passing ability is just not good enough to be better for the offense than Collins with his, admittedly weaker, passing ability but massively better rushing capabilities.
Every one of MM’s passes was dead on target. And all five were beyond the LOS. You could say the fly to Villy was a smidge short, but it was a good pass… and not nearly as short as Villy’s TD was. Where he failed was trying to run on a play where he had a pocket he should have stepped into. That play could have been a TD or extended the series instead of just ending up in our first score of the season.
He’ll work on that pocket awareness. He’s going to need to do so when they have to bring SC off the field in pieces. If he doesn’t settle down, Mitchell better start working on his game.
Anyone else see the cheap shot on SC’s knee on the Bolden TD-drop? It sounded like some of the crowd saw it on the replay. SC will be sitting on the sideline saying, “I’m Batman,” sometime in the near future.
You know that all as fact after 1 game?
Every one of MM’s passes was dead on target. And all five were beyond the LOS.
Exactly, Jack. MM’s passes were on point. I wanted to see more. The jury is still out on both. I think McM’s passing could be as good as StS’ running once we see more.
It’s my opinion of the situation at this point in time after watching 1 game, two practices, one scrimmage, and one spring game.
It’s subject to change as I observe more.
Bold prediction: Seth Collins will get himself in trouble off the field within the next few years. Mark my words. Probably at Impulse bar.
If there’s one thing a booster can do with his or her money that will make a difference for OSU football, it would be to buy that crappy bar that smells of stale beer and puke and shut it down. The owners were in another business years ago, and if they run the bar like they did that business the law will find reasons to shut it down anyway.
He’s almost guaranteed to be injured, and a lot, if he doesn’t learn to not take on tacklers. There was one where he even lowered his right shoulder to take on a guy, what the heck! This isn’t high school!
No kidding. Justin Strong needs to do a little more on the force outs too. His body will not take all that smacking on those hits. Hell, it almost didn’t take it yesterday.
I know Mitchell is talking some heat, but like Jack said the one call on him was bullshit and the P-12 Network didn’t even bother showing replays on at least two, maybe three of the other holding calls. The official seemed all too happy to throw the flag. Almost 300 yards rushing is a pretty good start to an offense that is in its infancy and if you are going to have a defense that plays hard, but does not make stupid penalties, you can survive while the offense gets it together. It’s when the offense and defense is out of the control like last year (120th in the nation) that you get a meltdown.
He had at least two holding calls on him and one was BS as the commentators said.
My favorite underrated thing so far:
Special teams looked fine without Bruce Read! How ridiculous was it we had a dedicated ST coach for all those years when there was essentially no benefit. Money stolen (millions over the years?) from the university that could have been spent improving literally anything else. Personally, I think campus needs more benches.
Tangent: Sure, GA has hired all his friends similar to Riley, but, though it remains to be seen, he seems like he would be the kind of guy to hold them accountable. If they are not cutting it, he will replace them. Riley kept his friend employed for years when they should have been replaced for sub-par performance. Then he goes to Nebraska and talks about how it’s nice to have expectations. What a joke!
Keep these in mind:
It’s week 1 of a program that doesn’t even have 12months underneath it.
FCS disparity is much closer than it used to be
SEC lost to Western Kentucky
Colorado has a 3 year old program and they looked worse
There were significant improvements from last year (tackling, defensive schemes, etc)
The best player on the field is the QB, and it was yesterday.
Isaac hasn’t played competively in 18 months about.
The program has its FIRST opportunity to watch film and teach
They won and there is still room for improvement
Coach took accountability for the errors
Game management was improved
Good points
Just a correction….Western Kentucky is a D-1 program and a decent mid-major. Vanderbilt is an inconsistent D-1 program and back on a down hill slide after James Franklin left. Now, I would hate to be Kansas who last I saw had given up 31 points to one of the Dakotas midway through the 2nd quarter.
Jackrabbits. SDSU.
audioBoom / Touchdown Jackrabbits! Gotta love this call from SDSU!
https://audioboom.com/…/193427-touchdown-jackrabbits-gotta-love-this-c…
Touchdown Jackrabbits! Gotta love this call from SDSU! Listen on audioBoom. play. Touchdown Jackrabbits! Gotta love this call from SDSU! mahnomen5.
Angry,
I think you are spot on with your analysis and what really bothered me is that MMM got pulled after a mistake- ruins his confidence after GA said he would not do that. I think he acknowledges that in the video above between 5:25 and 6:09,
“In a tight ballgame you have to be able to go into a position where you put the young man in who you think is going to help the team win and at that point it was Seth to put him in there… (after evaluating 2 series) …It’s unfortunate it went that way but sometimes… it is what it is”
So there you have it, his thinking behind the decision seems to be that they had enough time to evaluate and with the score 13-7 they were worried about the game and had to pull MMM which was “unfortunate” the way it went down.
People getting on McMaryion for body language? Didn’t see that. He looked disappointed, but what else? I didn’t see him moping like is being reported. StS, as Beavgirl first noted, appeared to have smiling eyes when McM threw the INT. If you want to play armchair psychologist start there.
He seemed at first when he was pulled to have an “oh crap, I just lost the starting job” look on his face. But as the game went on started smiling again.
That might have been “oh crap I might have lost us a game to Weber State” and then smiling when he realized that wasn’t true? McM handled being 7th on the depth chart with poise, so I find it odd he’d sulk being #1B now. The time to sulk was being #7.
Agreed. Mac, MMM, McM – one of these will stick. Seems to be a high character guy.
Why not use his name or just his initials, Marcus or MM?
Why is this hard? Now an Apple, a sticky note company and a happy meal are what we think will stick?
Why don’t we call him No E… because that’s the only vowel not in his name?
Maybe you need to watch a replay. It was pretty obvious. Every time the camera panned to him on the sidelines he looked dejected. He didn’t appear to shake it off. Doesn’t matter if it was due to the pick or getting pulled.
McM was noticeably distraught on the sidelines after the pick six (and who wouldn’t be). I thought it lingered for awhile and the announcers noticed it also. Once the Beavs scored some points he seemed to perk up. In the end, I don’t really care. GA is going to play who he plays. I’m going to sit back and enjoy (or not) watching the season.
This^
A few observations, a few of which replicate some responses posted heretofore in the game thread and above in this one, for which I apologize in advance.
Stadium vibe: yes, it was pretty quiet in there at times, if not most of the time. Two things about that: Riley et al sucked the life out of the fan base so that’s on him. As oft-remarked, it was a Friday night game on a long weekend and the students aren’t in town yet. In short, don’t read too much into it. This will change as soon as San Jose State
Defense: good open field tackling for the first time in what seems like forever. Since rotation of personnel on the offensive side has dominated the discussion, I think it is worthy of remark that unlike the Banker era when he would have a couple of guys running 30-40 yards to get in position between downs, Sitake usually went with the same three down linemen for a whole (Weber) possession. I always thought Banker’s tendency to keep running guys in and off the field was like a baseball manager that has his reliever throwing out in the bull pen during the course of three of four innings, wearing his guy out. If you noticed our DL never had their hands on their hips while a mobile guy ran rings around us.
Though I played football I never make any pretension to being able to offer Jack-like or OOB technical analysis. Actually, my preference is too look at easily overlooked things on the sidelines. For example, Andersen is nearly infinitely more engaged with players during the course of the game than Riley. And he actually talks to defensive players! Watching the huddle on the sideline before starting an offensive possession (my seats are on the 35 yard line ten rows up from the student section right behind the bench): Collins showed more engagement and energy in that huddle than Mac (my preferred moniker for MMM). In my world, that translates to leadership. From my vantage the offense seemed to flow better well Collins was out there which I believe is partly a function of skill but also the rest of the team responding to his presence.
Angry, you once said (accurately in my opinion) that Mannion was lacking a je ne sais quoi: Moxie. you might want to hear it, but whatever his limitations (and his ego is one) Collins has moxie.
I don’t have a lot to add to the question of the quality of our QB’s throwing abilities beyond what has been oft remarked in this and the game thread except these few: that was a terrible call on the pick six, which Jim Wilson also spoke to in the post game when he said he was sure Baldwin wanted that one back. The bomb that Collins threw to Victor B. (who IS very much overrated IMO) was 65 yards through the air. It was as good a throw as the overly vaunted Mannion EVER threw. it was the proverbial dime. BUT, the pass that stood out for me came late when Collins was in drop back mode a defender was closing quickly and on a play that Mannion would have crumbled to take a sack (if not fumble) Collins whipped a quick release to a receiver turning a play that would have lost 20 yards last year into a small gain.
Also, on Collins’ long throws, they were quick releases with no long wind-up that we were used to seeing with Sean, which is to say they covered much if not the same yardage but got to their destination quicker than Mannion could reach the same spot with ostensibly the stronger arm.
Lastly, Anderson’s post game press conference. Agree with Angry on this: Superior presentation. Cogent, accountable, conveyed utile information rather than babble. I liked the way he handled the question about Mac, who clearly will get more chances to prove himself, and Nick Mitchell for that matter. I think the QB situation is stable, contrary to many observers here. Also, I found it worthy of note that not only was that stupid inflatable helmet gone but so was the obsequious post-game interview that Preece used to conduct in front of the Riley acolytes.
In short: I think we’re in good shape, all things considered, (one of those things being that Riley had run the program into the ground). The coach gives evidence of knowing where the problems are, like runners getting tripped up. I noted that Brown got a lot more of the touches in the second half than Storm. I think last night’s game was a McCants moment for Storm
Does the Nebraska game deserve a game thread? Probably not — that would be a bit JPtheBeaver-level obsessive, right?
chat?
We could. I put a general thread up, so we’ll see what sticks.
It’s nice having two intriguing story lines. Without Riley at Nebraska, I’d be done with College Football for the weekend.
Hey Beavgopher, invite some Nebraska fans over here for the game. Could be funny!
“Nebraska has not lost season open in 30 years”
And it’s all bout to change
You know smiley teams are renowned for ‘slow starts’ why would that change just because he changed venues? Nebbie fan is in for a year of firsts, today’s loss will just be the beginning.
Of course it deserves a thread, the first time Riley has head coached another major college program? How could you think otherwise? Now, not every Nebraska game will, but this one is a no brainer.
Hey Beavgopher, nice prediction — I think you had the closest score. So what happens next week, Nostradamus?
I will go into a trance-like state later in the week and get back to you LOL.
Lady Beavergopher and I are driving over to Ann Arbor. I could give a little travel guide for any Angrybeavs that are going there.
I’ll be there. I was thinking of parking on the golf course driving range. Good idea? or one of those public lots at the south end of the campus. what time do you recommend arriving?
Angry you doing a podcast recap of the game and preview of MeeChicken?
My lady has begun working at home, so it’s become tough to find a quiet spot for any amount of time. I’ll see what I can do.
@SportsCenter
SC is going to be live next Saturday from Michigan!
After game Coach said, “But we still have got to be in a position to give Marcus reps.”
Decent quote, obvious since there are three frosh quarterbacks, they will all play at some point, no?
Definitely a motivation to announce the two-quarterback system, and really wanting to motivate SC, but and motivating for Marcus as well.
3rd qtr and Northwestern doing a good job against tree.
Looking forward to watching riles and banker bend over for bronco
Hogan looking terrible.
As usual.
Except vs Riley’s Beavs…
I was going to add that, but realized it was understood on this site.
Good point.
If I was an opposing coach, and Seth is the starter, I teach my defense to flip him when he tries that hurtle crap, hit him high or in the back leg and send him flipping in the air and landing on his head. Also, knowing he won’t slide, you hit him hard. But then again, in the spring game he flipped and landed on his feet.
A coach like Sarkesian would coach this.
That is some Karate Kid level dirty coaching right there.
This is just an impression I have that either if coached or not, he’s going to get upended one of these days hurtling like that. It’s flashy but dangerous. The play was called back, but it’s so flashy that it’s becoming the media showcase for Seth and the identity of the new beavers that we have a guy who can hurtle like that. Comparisons to another Oregon player …
Maybe he will incorporate a spin move as defender expects the hurdle? Or a shimmy-shake?
You see that hurdle so infrequently though it seems a waste of time trying to unprogram kids that have been taught since pop Warner to tackle at the waste. It’s not like in a weeks time lead up to a game you can undo that muscle memory, nor would you want to for a freak occurrence that may happen once in a game. At lightning speed.
Opposing coaches should, and will, however coach their defenses to hit sts as often as possible, when he runs, when he pitches, when he fakes, make him feel the pain of being hit everything he has the ball in his hands.
I could see Harbaugh doing that.
Everyone here bitching about which QB looks more professional while standing on the sidelines is woefully missing the point. The O-Line looked like TRASH. They looked like they would struggle in Big Sky conference play. I know McM is a great passer and all because you guys say he is (?!?) but we won’t be doing much downfield passing at all this year if the line can’t block a 4 man rush.
That was more than a 4 man rush for a majority of the game.
Stanford about to shit the bed vs northwestern.
Wildcats look pretty good. Imagine how good they would be if they were unionized?
Wondering why they didn’t try get the ball into Paul Lucas’ hands. Hopefully, coaches where just trying to keep him under Michigan’s radar. If OSU coaches don’t plan on using him much this year, that would be a mistake.
For those that have not seen him play much, you will be very pleasantly surprised.
I liked how the game seemed to slow down for 3m during his first two series. Better command of the offense. He throws a better tight ball and if Villaman catches that pass he stays in. Also different backs were in while he was running the offense. I never saw Storm in there during the two series. But then Collins came back in and hurdled a player and Woods was back in. Collins is more explosive but more of a liability. Hoping 3m gets another shot. Glad the BEAVS won.
Go BEAVS!