Last August, after the second scrimmage, I wrote this:
This is the problem: you need the defense to be dominant this time of year. Not good, not adequate, but dominant.
Why?
Because the defense knows the offense's playbook. It's that simple. They practice against these guys daily and know the plays, yet they still can't stop them. The defense has an advantage; they should be stifling.
We know how that season turned out.
In hindsight, it is fairly fascinating to go back and read the comments. Peter Osborne from Beaverblitz visited and threw a tantrum, trying to justify the defense's 700+ yards, yet he never came back to admit he was wrong. Shocker. You can read the entire thread here if interested.
Anyway, I stand by the opinion that as a fan, what you want to see is a dominant defense in scrimmages (for the reasons mentioned above). In that sense, the first scrimmage this year was more promising than any last year.
But, moving beyond results, there is a huge (philosophical) paradigm shift that stands out this year: Riley is allowing, even encouraging, intensity and hitting during scrimmage.
This was not true in seasons past.
The reason for the change becomes transparent once you take a moment to think about it: the Beavers don't have a Stephen Paea or Jacquizz Rodgers on the roster. I don't want to insinuate that those guys were prima donas, but they were definitely coddled by a coach paranoid of losing his best players. Riley did not give his star players enough high intensity reps in practice to be successful once the season started.
I believe this is the prime reason for slow starts. It is unreasonable to believe a team should come out of the gate hitting on all cylinders when they never practiced in that manner. Remember how Stephen Paea and Jacquizz Rodgers were MIA @ TCU? If the same thing happens every year, coincidence becomes an invalid excuse.
This year, since there aren't any clear superstars, Riley is cutting it lose. I'm sure the media will spin this as Mike's personal growth or some other puke-worthy, feel-good crap, but realize the reason you're seeing violence is because the team lacks superstars. Every starter can be replaced with a player of equal talent. The following quote from Riley, taken from The Oregonian, backs up my observation:
The other was by WR Kevin Cummings, who had the ball jarred loose from a big hit by LB Cameron Collins.
“This team has been flying around,” Riley said. “We needed to do this to cut loose. I was just worried about that one hit on Kevin. Those are legal hard hits. That is what we want to be.”
Does Riley really care if he loses Collins? No coach wants to lose guys, but I doubt he'll lose any sleep so long as he has Welch, Akuna, and Te'o on the roster. What about Cummings? Nope, again, there are players behind him who are better. What about Jovan Stevenson? Not a chance. Riley knows the three backups are equally average.
So, you see, by lacking unanimous, all-conference, NFL prospects, the Beavers might actually have a better team come opening day. At the very least, they will be a more prepared team that has hit and been hit.
Angry said: Riley did not give his star players enough high intensity reps in practice to be successful once the season started.
I absolutely agree re: Paea. He did not receive the quality reps he needed last off season. For that matter, I agree about the entire defense. I thought, from what i read, that the defense practiced tenatively.
I disagree re: Jacquizz Rodgers though. If he had gone down in the spring, we might have been looking at a 1-2 win season, rather than a 5 win season. Not that that matters THAT much – we’d still miss a bowl game – but I think the risk/reward ratio of that approach for our only respectable running back was too high.
That said, your post was from August 19th…just before the season started. In the spring scrimmage, the defense dominated the offense. So the same things could have been said at this time last year, with the exception of the fact that they are apparently flying around a lot more on defense this year as compared to last year.
I think the real difference in next season will be better team speed at LB rather than whether or not a player didn’t get all the reps he needed.
I agree we can’t take anything from a spring scrimmage…which is why I did not mention any players/stats, etc. Fall scrimmage is different…you can gauge things from that, so my post from last August is valid.
In the post above, the subject is Riley’s philosophical change, not stats or individual players. What I consider the lone positive so far is that Riley is letting them tackle and hit hard. I then offer my opinion as to why: no star players who can be injured (you backed this opinion up with your comment about Jacquizz Rodgers).
Jacquizz Rodgers was a blessing and curse. Defenders need to be allowed to tackle RBs in practice. RBs need to be cut loose and allowed to practice at full speed.
I understand your point. And I agree about the star player factor, in general. But I also think it was NOT a mistake to allow Rodgers to take it easy in both Spring and Fall. He was a known commodity and his performance during the season was fine. It was the offensive line that was the real issue with his (relative) lack of success. The defense had plenty of opportunities to practice tackling the other running backs, which they attempted to do with limited success in the fall scrimmage.
Anyway, I’m putting it on the record that when the fall scrimmage comes around, the defense will look better, but it’s not going to be solely based on whether or not Mike Riley had a philosophical sea-change (which is nice to see and a positive thing in general), it’s at least partially due to the fact that we’re faster on defense this year.
Yes, agreed, they are faster and will be better for that reason, too. Any team without Pankey is better by default.
Now combine that with being allowed to hit/tackle…it could actually be a fundamentally sound, DI defense. What is frustrating, for me at least, is that Riley doesn’t make the philosophical change until his stars graduate, and the change falls into his lap. I feel like we’re constantly waiting years for changes that should take weeks/months.
It’s frustrating because its reactionary, not proactive.
If the emphasis on hitting and tackling is genuine, I am betting this offseason will pay off more than even those in which OSU went to bowl games and had extra practices and player development time. It drove me crazy that the even with that extra practice time, OSU could not realize early season benefits (i.e. wins) the following season.
Other factors improving off-season play IMO: Having new, enthusiastic coaches will help generate new energy; I am glad to hear that players like Collins and Doctor are “talking” in practice, because they’re the type that can back it up with physical ability, and it should result in a more energetic defense.
I agree Angry.
I agree with you Angry. I think OSU being more aggressive during spring football will only make them better! I will add this from what I posted on another topic, hopefully it receives a better response this time around:
I really like what I’m hearing and seeing from OSU spring football! I love the enthusiasm and the intensity. However, my biggest concerns still remain within the trenches, with both the offensive and defensive lines. If the Defensive line dominates the offensive line, what does that truly mean for the offensive line? Also, if the Offensive line domniates the defensive line, what does that really say about the Defensive line? Both scenarios are NOT good. Still a lot of football to be played and improvements to be made before the season starts. But, I still remain cautious and skeptical about both lines for OSU right now. The lines will detemine just how good this 2011 Beaver football team will be, IMHO. As of now, it appears they both have a long way to go to become dominant.
Baseball up to #9 in Baseball America poll. :D
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top-25/2011/2611557.html
Programs across the PAC-12 are taking the new era seriously.
Now WSU is also getting new uniforms and a new brand identity. I hope Steven Jackson and Tinker Hatfield come up with some winning looks for the future Oregon State that make for an elite and tough brand for OSU.
Here is the WSU player reaction and story..7pm reveal tonight to the public:
http://www.wsucougars.com/genrel/040811aad.html
If we were to have a sports wide brand logo/color…..It would be orange, black, white uniforms for all sports…..the “OS” alone on all apparel from hats, sweatshirts to player hats, helmets, pants, jerseys, and so on…
The angry beaver is only allowed to be on the floor of Gill and Reser…everywhere/everything else must have the “OS”….that should be the OSU brand…or use OSU, but that would be too much like Oklahoma State(I think the real driving force behind the “OS”
The OS actually is good for selling hats and merchandise I think. We do have to differentiate with Okie St who uses OSU on their field and helmets.
Tinker was talking about maybe updating the Beaver with a new look as one of our logos. It probably doesn’t have to say ‘Beavers’. We would probably be better incorporating “OS” or Oregon State than ‘Beavers’ since it is redundant.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the OS on the middle of Reser and Gill and using a modifed beaver as the secondary..kinda like you say, but with slightly diffent use. Maybe where we have the OS on the basketball cout now could be our modified Beaver and we could use that like Florida uses the gator on the football field. (True, they do use the gator for the middle of basketball court).
We do use our beaver on the football pants like Florida does the gator.
Bottom line is I trust Tinker and Steven Jackson can come up with better design/brand identity.
On a sacle of 1-10 we are probably no better than a 5 right now. Plenty of room to reach a higher level of excellence and success with our brand identity/marketing.
I think it is time to atleast introduce an alternate helmet and we should have atleast 8 possible uniform combos and not the four we seem to use now.
The cartoon Beaver can’t be allowed anywhere…not at Gill or Reser.
Let down for the WSU changes. They may get new unis but the main change appers to be just this:
http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4048391.html?
I don’t think you would want that on the helmet.
I doubt they will incorporate a shield on helmets…I bet the changes to uniforms are the way the gray is meshed with the crimson.
Also, they’ve had silver helmets with the “Cougars” cursive, the silver helmets with the crimson Cougar head on the helmet, they’ve also had crimson helmets with silver “Cougars” cursive as well as the crimson helmet with the silver Cougar head.
So I imagine the helmet will either be crimson with the silver cougar head, or it will be white with the crimson shield with the silver cougar head on the side of the helmet.
The pants will be crimson with a silver stripe or 2, the home tops will be crimson with thinner silver stripes than last years home jersey’s and have silver trimmed sleeves and silver lettering/numbers/names….the away jerseys will most likely be white pants with crimson stripe(s) with a crimson belt, white tops with crimson stripe(s) on sides and sleeves/collar, and the helmet will either be the white helmet or the crimson helmet..that’s just my guess of how they would incorporate the silver and crimson….if they come out with a silver uniform…just stick green, yellow, white, and black on it and call yourselves UofO 2.0
you do know that article was posted in 2000 right?
Hahahaha. But it was updated in 2006.
BTW, those uniforms are heinous.
Did anyone see or post this already by Cliff?
http://gazettetimes.com/sports/beavers-sports/article_b2068484-6137-11e0-8642-001cc4c002e0.html
Saw that article and I can’t tell you enough how glad I am that Banker has gotten out of the Secondary completely. Linebackers are the heart and soul of the defense and it seems only fitting that the guy that runs the scheme work with them directly to make sure that aspect of the game works well. Plus I wanted to see what Heyward could do with more responsibility. So far I think he’s a putz that can’t develop faster guys and keeps Molasses Hardin in a starting position, but maybe that move will make their efforts more cohesive and we can get a feel for what this guy can do. Having Mitch help him there is incredible and I really think Darlin will make a great fit.
I think there was some clever consolidation, especially in Locey’s case- It will be good to have this group become stronger. And having two guys dedicated to coaching the receivers and backs will be a phenomenal help. Now, Riley should take the last step by stripping Danny Langstard of his play-calling ability and make him regain his trust by improving on Katz’s foibles as a QB.
Angry,
Allow me to channely my inner, cantankerous old fuck that loves the game of football and hated the last couple seasons of spring practice..
I think you’re absolutely spot-on with this observation. Having Quizz, James, and others sit out over the years during Spring, and having them pussy foot around during Summer and fall made them soft. If you don’t let defenders knock the fuckin’ piss out of the one of the best running backs, wide receivers in the game or have Paea do said knocking of piss then you’re cheating your team of their experience and grit on the field.
Our line and linebackers could have learned a lot about tackling if they were taught to take a guy like Quizz down.Instead, we got to watch the Keith “Piece of Shit” Pankey and Brandon “Molasses” Hardin looking like all-stars in a land of boring, slow play. Having guys get drilled raises the stakes for the offensive line and maybe make them CARE about blowing an assignment when things aren’t as important.
I don’t care what anyone says- when Riley did that he made his team a bunch of pussies afraid to hit and be hit. Maybe Jacquizz getting hurt last season before it started wouldn’t have been such a bad thing- and what irritates me is that it puts our offense and defense into the hands of few players, and everybody just acts like a supporting cast to that player.
Honestly, this is why I don’t blame any younger player who bolt from the team – why waste time at OSU when you can work your ass off, get your shot sooner than you might have expected, and then have to step the fuck up?
Isn’t that football? I think it is and that’s why I like hearing about people knocking the crap out of them but now I want to hear about Banker tearing into someone that MISSES a tackle and brutalizes them when they don’t get low and wrap the fuck up. That would be a beautiful thing….but I won’t hold my breath. I’m also pretty sure that 1-3 “stars” will do jack shit in the Summer.
Why cuss? I don’t see how that makes your argument any stronger. I actually see it as a weakness than a strength. If you were trying to “jack me up” or “Hype up your point”…hate to break it to you…you failed.
I agree that it’s necessary to have the passion and the fire to want to kick the living crap out of your own teammate to practice that, but honestly, I feel that practice is the time to know your assignments, get used to where you’re supposed to be on the field and THEN you go 3/4 to full speed. You don’t need to go 100% in practice. That SHOULD be reserved for games. I remember my high school days and younger where the coaches didn’t “see me” practice 100% or game speed the whole time, but they put me in a game and I was so full of adrenaline that I went 100% in games and gave my full effort then and I knew EXACTLY where I was supposed to be on the field and where everyone else was supposed to be because that is what I used practice for….oh and I was always in better shape than my teammates in games who had been going 100% in practice….by the end of games, my teammates would be gassed and out of breath and what not because they didn’t save their energy during the week when learning the plays. I ran as hard and as best I could during the conditioning and that is when i went 100% in running, sprinting and all that…
When you go full speed in practice, 9/10 times, you’ll be out of position in games and not as prepared because working on footwork at 1/2 speed is actually better than working on footwork full speed….you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk, and you have to learn how to walk before you can run. So practicing plays for me was pumping the feet and keeping your opponent in front of you. I always got blown up in practices, but in games, I have NEVER given up a sack or tackle for a loss. I NEVER got pushed into the backfield, and I have NEVER lost a snap in a game. EVER. I wasn’t the strongest weight lifter, I wasn’t the fastest lineman with a 40 yard dash, but I was the smartest lineman/center on my team. That I can guarantee you.
I don’t think Chip Kelly is telling his Ducks to go at half or three-quarter speed in practice. I heard the opposite, in fact. Then I saw those guys as a confident, well-conditioned machine playing in the Title Game.
I never said that the coaches tell players to slow down, but i’m sure that the best way for a player to work on proper form and have something become second nature, then it must be done at a pace where you will not think about blocking, where you’ll be when you hear a play called, when to cut a player if need be, and so on. Then once you have those down, you go full speed. Also, when I practiced, I was afraid to hurt my teammate lined up across from me, but when we got to the game I could have cared less who lined up in front of me. I was a player and I know the three mindsets: 1) practice player(does better in practice than in games) 2) Gamer(practices slower, but shows up to play and doesn’t suck 90% of the time) and 3) a mix of both practice and game (aka your average player).
Like Tai Chi, the perfect football practice is one play from scrimmage which lasts four hours.
You are talking about staying fresh in midweek practices, but this is spring. And this Beaver team has a bunch of question marks and competition for playing time/positions. This is very smart to up the ante in practice. Plenty of time to heal a few bumps and bruises. I agree that practicing footwork at half speed is important but unless you work at full speed you often don’t know if you’ve fully learned that technique.
I’m fine with reserving a part of your energy, and I don’t believe I was suggesting that people go 100% extreme every single snap in practice. However, by not putting your “stars” in the game you are coddling them, removing an element of competition, and demonstrating just how afraid of injury you are. If that’s the case, they shouldn’t be playing football.
One of the most common things you hear whenever they have shows about “the greatest players who ever played the game” the thing you will hear is how hard they worked in practice. To the point it amazes their teammates and brings the best out of the team. Even if they were going 3/4, it means their 3/4 was more intense than anybody else’s. And I’ve never heard of an interview where a great player admits “You know, I didn’t put my all into practice. Usually I went 3/4 speed and then really brought it out during the game.” To them, they weren’t afraid to make mistakes so they played hard and fast.
Maybe if Riley’s practices hadn’t been so damn slow last season this time of year, people would have a better feel for just how slow Hardin and Pankey were.
Say what you want- but right now Riley’s teams 3/4 hasn’t even been a great players 1/2. That is why we’ve been Oregon’s bitch for the last 3 years running because they play like they have their asses on fire. I might not like the team, the fans, and the coach- but they are doing something right when it comes to practice and we are not.
I can handle the cussing by the way, I’m a big boy.
More on the new WSU uniforms..charcoal gray and a bolder brighter crimson that will “pop.”
http://www.cougcenter.com/2011/4/11/2104995/wsu-new-nike-uniforms-branding-live-stream-preview
The link also has another link for a live stream starting at 7pm.
Buker’s story on hitting during today’s practice: http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2011/04/oregon_state_spring_practice_d_2.html
Whatever the reason behind physical practices, I like the trend.
Pic of new unis at bottom of this link in comments section. They aren’t that good.
http://www.cougcenter.com/2011/4/11/2104995/wsu-new-nike-uniforms-branding-live-stream-preview
Steven Jackson and Tinker Hatfield MUST do much better for Oregon State!
Really? What did you think would happen? Did you think Nike would unleash quality design for once in their life? Or did you expect weird shades of non-colors and armpit horns?
Frankly, I’m surprised Nike didn’t dump the classic WSU “roaring cougar” for some lame whiskered kitty abstract.
And wtf? A Pac 12 school which won’t be wearing Beavs’ colors next year?
Tuesday night will be hilarious. Apologists will love change for the sake of change. Traditionalists will cry. Merchandisers will welcome the new swag until they realize that all ASU fans buy are tee shirts… because they’re desert folk. Let’s hope the rumored construction projects on sports venues around Phoenix are something worth talking about, because I’m tired of Nike and their terrible unis. I refuse to talk about them anymore when they don’t involve our team.
Needless to say, I wish I could never ever talk about Nike again.
those unis are pretty much what I thought, but worse. The away uniforms are way better than the home and alternate. Since when is battleship grey silver? Also, they are UofO 2.0 the grey helmet with the grey cougar with the grey top is absolutely HIDEOUS! The black pants with crimson top is terrible. Why go away from your own team colors? Nike doesn’t realize that schools have team colors. They should stick to crimson, white, and silver, not black and grey. Beavs jersey’s will be a lot better than these. Have to be that is because stephen jackson is an alumnus and he knows about tradition.
Silver is better than plain dull gray. The away are the best.
We can and will do WAY better. This was a wasted effort by WSU for the most part. They aren’t very interesting. It seems like Nike doesn’t want anyone beside Oregon to have real good jerseys. Not that Oregon’s have it all, but the end effect is much better for their marketing than what WSU got from this.
Like must of us believe, our best bet is just slight modifications to the Giant Killers with an away and orange version and an alternate helmet as well. I think we should have about 8 jersey/pant combos instead of the 4 we currently use and have them revolve around the overall Giant Killer ProKombat theme. Add 2 possible helmets and that will have us with 16 theoretical combos minus a few since we probably won’t use certain pants or jersey tops with one of the 2 helmets.
I would vote for two jerseys and one helmet. The Giant Killer theme is a classic. I would like to see us keep it simple. Why do we want a whole bunch of wacky combinations? We will never have the resources to pull out 10,000 combinations or whatever the ducks have. Let’s go anti-duck all the way and keep it simple. I never heard anyone complaining about our lack of uniform combinations when we went to the Fiesta Bowl. Also, one sharp, bad-ass uniform will make it easier to develop a brand for Oregon State.
I vote 2 or 3 home and 2 away with one helmet. Black top giant killer modified with white pants only, black matte helmet with OS on one side, orange top with white pants, and/or orange top with black pants, away with white version of giant killer modified top with black pants and a white top with white pants.
I also think a modified top with black numbers like our practice jerseys and then orange pants would look cool. Like Erickson’s team did that one year with the burnt orange except they wouldn’t have to be burnt and should be Pantome 185 C Orange our official orange.
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3 home possibilities, 2 road, 2 helmets should be the minimum. You could basically take the Giant Killer motif and then just mix and match with black, orange and white in quite a few combos including with atleast 2 helmets and then we would still have our brand because the overall motif and the OS logo on one side of a helmet would still be there. All the same 3 colors would be there. Only difference is where. I think it would work and be pretty cool and ceratinly better than what WSU did. I could handle an all orange jersey/pant combo too for a rare occassion that would look good with a black, white or even orange helmet. If we stick with one motif and just 3 colors but just switch where they are used we keep consistency and brand awareness but give OSU enough ways to mix it up (I say atleast 8-10) so that we could use the jerseys for 5 plus years if we wanted and it probably would not get stale. Some years you could use a certain combo a couple more times and other years maybe orange pants could be used on the road more or something or white/orange helmets or something on the road at times.
One of my biggest issue with our current unis is we only use a couple of the combos like once a year so we are left with either all black or all white for the vast majority. I would like to see it just naturally rotate so that the black/orange combo for instance would feel like it could be used more than once or atleast so the all black or all white is used less.
The Giant Killers with the “sail” pants I liked so I could use those up to a few times a season but then we could mix it up some and not have to use that exact combo for 5 games or anything or could try it with white helmets atleast once even at home. I think we should be comfortable using any helmet color home or away and not “lock” ourselves into only using them home or away. The sail pants for some home games help give us that option.
Oregon State is fairly conservative so I expect something similar to WSU but just 3 unis is not enough. We seriously want atleast 6 uniform combos and the possibility to double that with another white helmet or maybe triple it with a rarer used orange helmet. Make the design work so the colors are consistent so you can mix and match. WSU basically locked their unis in to just those exact 3 combos because the stuff isn’t really interchangeable.
We need more flexibility than that..
Seriously? You’re joking with having helmet, tops, and bottoms orange, black, and white….right? Those would be the most hideous OSU uniforms in history if we had orange helmets and even worse with orange pants. Oklahoma state can have their orange pants. The orange pants were a mistake. We lost horribly to USC that one time we wore them. The white helmet isn’t bad and it does revert back to the bad 28 years with the scripted “Beavers” on the side. The white helmet would only look good with the white pants with black tops. But if we went black pants, orange top, white helmet….we’d look like candy corn! Or even white pants orange top and white helmets might be ok, but stick with the black as the main helmet…i sound like a damn Cal bears fan now. CRAP! Lol
I jus want aleast 5 or 6 combos used during a season. Most can be used twice and one three times.
WSU could switch the helmets up, but they won’t and their home jersey is not that great. They are too restricted in my opinion. I think ASU will do much better.
ASU unveiling is at 2pm today!
I would like to see an end to the OS. As one of Nike’s execs said ” they don’t shout O – S, in the stands, it’s O – S – U . We are reacting to be different than Ohio and Oklahoma. We don’t go with O out of reaction to Oregon. With all the engineers, why can’t they come up with a unique logo. Something that doesn’t look like a high school pep squad thought it up and put that on a matte black helmet.
As far as practice, I agree with Angry. We were always taught, if you practice half ass, you’ll play half ass in the game. We were told to give it 110% all the time.
all of you are missing my point about practices. There are times to go 110% and there are times when you go 50-75%. Haven’t you ever heard of walk/run throughs and put ins? Those are times you start off slow and work your way up to fast. When I played ball, I practiced “slower paced” than most of my team because I wanted to get my assignments down before I started going fast. When it came time for games, the games actually slowed down vs. Practice because my teammates were faster than the opponents. So a mix is a good thing. ithere were 3 times I would go 100% of the time: 1) drills like footwork and blocking 2) conditioning 3) running through plays once I got my assignment down and it became second nature because then I wasn’t thinking about where I was supposed to be, I just reacted to my opponent and knew where the ball was going and I knew if I needed to cut the giy, push the guy to the sidelines, or push him into the secondary. That is why you start “slow” and then go fast. You practice fast all the time and you bllow an assignment 75% of the time in practice, well, then you’ll do that in a game as well.
The ducks offense is a terrible example to give because the spread offense is reactionary upon the defense. It’s much simpler than the pro-style offense OSU runs. Look at nfl practices on tv sometime…a lot of pre-season practices they’re in shorts, helmets, and shoulder pads. Their game is faster than college ball. My main point is get your assignments down, then work on game speed.
I tend to agree. I think some of the best hits are always a by-product of being in the right place and the right time. You don’t know your assignment doesn’t matter how hard you hit. Coaches have to control the chaos. Also, I don’t think Quizz being hands off was a big deal, pros do it all the time. You really want Wheaton to go down from a sloppy hit from the secondary? I don’t. On the other side, let the hogs beat the crap out of each other. I don’t think the o-line could have performed any worse last year.
Regarding Wheaton…I don’t want him to be injured, but I want him game ready on opening day. I also want precise routes, detail, etc that come from full speed, intense practices. I want what Chip Kelly does, tbh. That’s how to prepare a team…if we believe the media reports, then Riley finally has seen the light. Also, if you research injuries, most occur when going half speed and/or trying to avoid injuries etc. They’re also mostly flukes. In other words, I wouldn’t base an entire season around avoiding them. If they happen, deal with it then.
Regarding pros…they’re paid a lot of money to be mentally ready on game 1. It’s food for their family. College players require more motivation. I don’t feel like Quizz was mentally ready game 1, and he was one of the more mentally tough Beavers. Rewatch his TCU performance and his countenance on the sideline…the guy was lost.
On a similar note…I have a lot more issue with Riley giving Quizz 10 unnecessary carries in the 4th quarter of a blowout than making him go hard in practice. A lot of you guys found ways to justify that decision, too, so maybe we’re further apart than I realize.
I find it frustrating that people on this site would argue in favor of resting players and taking it easy on guys, when a good part of the team’s problems stem from attitude and being unprepared (confidence and talent ceiling being the others). Toughening these players up and taking the “pussy” out of them, as BA so eloquently put it, is a very very very good thing. Do not argue against it.
I think smart coaches get the best of both worlds. Not sure Riley is at that level.
Regarding Wheaton…I don’t want him to be injured, but I want him game ready on opening day. I also want precise routes, detail, etc that come from full speed, intense practices. I want what Chip Kelly does, tbh. That’s how to prepare a team. Also, if you read about injuries, most occur when going half speed and/or trying to avoid injuries etc. They’re also mostly flukes. In other words, I wouldn’t base an entire season around avoiding them. If they happen, deal with it then.
Regarding pros…they’re paid a lot of money to be mentally ready on game 1. It’s food for their families. College players require more motivation. I don’t feel like Quizz was mentally ready game 1, and he was one of the more mentally tough Beavers. Rewatch his TCU performance and his countenance on the sideline…the guy was lost.
I find it frustrating that people on this site would argue in favor of resting players and taking it easy on guys, when a good part of the team’s problems stem from attitude. Toughening these players up and taking the “pussy” out of them, as BA so eloquently put it, is a very very very good thing. Do not argue against it.
Thank you, thank you- I’ll be here all week.
Allow me to attempt one more time to create an analogy that people might understand.
If we are to believe that every team have “Stars” that need to rest, according to Riley, then what he’s doing looks like this.
The other 80+ schollie, walk-on, etc players are all worth a fraction of a percent and their efforts as a whole equals 50% of the final product.
Then we have Paea and the Rodgi, between the three of them, make up the other 50% (at least this is what sitting them suggests to me).
You work 50% (the other guys) and do that perfectly, but you’re still failing and now your performance hinges on the big three parts that are left….but wait, you weren’t even WORKING on those so…0% for you- all because you were afraid of failing those projects in the first place.
And the first game is your deadline. It’s too late to do anything. You’re fucked. You could have had at least a passable 70% but you were spending so much time catching up because you failed that first deadline. Sometimes you’ll pull an 80, maybe even a 90, but you’ll never get that 100.
Thus, every single year Riley has coddled his players he has gone into conference play with more losses than wins.
And yet everybody thinks of Riley as a coaching god. The man, in all of his tenure has NOT reached the Rose Bowl- nor will he ever, unless he allows players to run around knocking eachother shitless. And if a player goes down then coach the next one up. If you’re not willing to coach them up then you’re cheating your entire team. People believe Riley is beyond reproach but I argue that until he wins a conference championship he is a mediocre coach, no matter how you try to spin it. The only way he’ll ever break out and do something to be truly remembered by is if he continues letting his players play with a sense of urgency from the beginning of the practice process.
Forget the Rose Bowl, Riley hasn’t made a Holiday/Alamo Bowl in a decade.
Regarding Wheaton…I don’t want him to be injured, but I want him game ready on opening day. I also want precise routes, detail, etc that come from full speed, intense practices. I want what Chip Kelly does, tbh. That’s how to prepare a team. Also, if you read about injuries, most occur when going half speed and/or trying to avoid injuries etc. They’re also mostly flukes. In other words, I wouldn’t base an entire season around avoiding them. If they happen, deal with it then.
Regarding pros…they’re paid a lot of money to be mentally ready on game 1. It’s food for their families. College players require more motivation. I don’t feel like Quizz was mentally ready game 1, and he was one of the more mentally tough Beavers. Rewatch his TCU performance and his countenance on the sideline…the guy was lost.
On a similar note…I have a lot more issue with Riley giving Quizz 10 unnecessary carries in the 4th quarter of a blowout than asking a guy to go full speed at practice. A lot of you guys found ways to justify that decision, too, so maybe we’re further apart than I realize.
I find it frustrating that people on this site would argue in favor of resting players and taking it easy on guys, when a good part of the team’s problems stem from attitude. Toughening these players up and taking the “pussy” out of them, as BA so eloquently put it, is a very very very good thing. Do not argue against it.
I think Quizz was distracted by his girlfriend delivering his child that day(?). He didn’t look anything like I would have expected, given that he had an opportunity to play in his home state. James showed up to play…..
I agree TOTALLY on the contradiction/lack of logic in holding quizz out of practice than giving him additional carries in meaningless game time. Only 6(!) carries went to somebody besides Quizz last year (not counting fly sweeps). It was stupid to expose him to unnecessary risks and NOT give others the opportunity and responsibility to improve.
Cal will have a white helmet option for atleast one away game this year. Not bad. See pic.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2011/3/7/2034595/cal-football-white-helmets-2011-road-game
Those aren’t terrible, but I wouldn’t say they’re not bad. Imagine those on top of Cal’s all white uni with thigh, armpit and collar horns all over them.
I’m still laughing at those Wazzu unis:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/04/11/2014748276.jpg
the white away uni is the best WSU uni in the group. It’s classy and it’s what they’ve always had. ASU uni’s sound terribly awful as well. I agree with angry…i don’t dislike our uni combos and such anymore.
I don’t know why Wazzu adopted Stony Brook’s colors… and did a poor job of it. Maybe they thought they could gain in academic standings by association?
Not to mention Stony Brook could have beaten them a couple of years ago!
Data point #1: Many years ago, I played football for an excellent high school coach. We did a lot of hitting, at full speed, in practice. The guys who performed the best in practice were the guys who played in the games (and I’ll have to admit I didn’t get much playing time in games — the guys in front of me were bigger, stronger, and faster — and they properly got the bulk of the playing time). Practices were nearly as intense as the games. Our team was very successful, and ended up ranked second in the state of New York at the end of the year.
Data Point #2: I don’t like Pete Carroll (not at all). But Pete got it right with “Compete Forever”. To a large extent, that’s what distinguishes successful athletes and successful teams IMHO — the will to compete hard, and keep competing until the other guy gives up.
Data Point #3: I have attended Beaver football practices (a few practices each Spring and Fall) for the past few years. I have been surprised, in past years, at the lack of intensity at most of the practices I attended. Guys goofing around on the sidelines. Lots of standing around. Very little hitting.
Relevance to 2011 Beaver Football: I think the increased hitting and intensity in Beaver football practices this Spring is a positive step towards a more competitive football team and football program. Last year, with Quizz and James and Paea, there were too many sacred cows, and too little competition. That’s unhealthy, and it showed in all kinds of ways last season.
This year, I’d like to see Riley open it up. Let everyone compete for every position on the field, both in Spring and Fall practices. Let the players hit, at full speed. See who competes and who gives up. The ones who compete and win in practice are the ones you want on the field during the games (regardless of history or seniority). Yes, some guys will get hurt. It’s football. But the team, as a whole, will come out much stronger by making practices more competitive.
Good post.
ASU live stream of their poor taste:
http://www.foxsportsarizona.com/pages/arizona_streamplus
I like the block lettering font. But why does an institution of higher learning call a trident a pitchfork?
Morons.
Their mens’ hoops unis are fine. A little simple, but they’re better than their old unis. The womens’ hoops unis have Nike horns all over the back and sides. Poor girls.
The yellow helmet looks funky. Their Beavs’ black helmets are better looking, but the uni sucks pretty hard. The maroon is by
… by far the best of the three. The fish hooks on the sleeves aren’t horns, so I guess that’s an improvement.
All in all, it’s not terrible. But it’s not better than good for some unis, and just plain bad for their Beavs’ black unis.
The new but traditional yellow-gold and maroon uni has the best look. The white uni would probably be better with maroon pants and the black uni is too all black.
I give the ASU efforts a 7.6 and WSU a 6.35
In a duodecimal system… maybe I give ASU a 7. But Wazzu? Theirs is a major fail for all of their away unis. At least one of ASU’s away unis looks half decent. All white with the mustard top is ridiculous.
I wonder if Nike thinks it’s slick to put fish hooks on the sleeves that almost look like their swoosh.
http://asu.edu/itstime-press/
Those yellow hats just look bad.
“Having a black uniform was easy. It is a color that speaks to the athletes. They love the attitude that it brings.” Lisa Love, vice president of University Athletics.
Yeah, it says, “We want to be like Oregon State.”
They’re doing better with black than OSU is…OSU dropped the “U” to avoid confusion with Oklahoma State Univ and Ohio State Univ, and is now passively standing by as others (e.g. UO, ASU) update and clarify their uniforms with one of OSU’s two defining colors….and use black more effectively than OS(U) does….
I’m tired of the Black uni for teams that don’t really have Black for their team colors! Ducks, Stanford even? Now ASU? Boo. Didn’t Utah even have black Jerseys they can wear? Colorado is already Black. The Pac ought to just tell every team to where black Uni’s one weekend as a marketing gimick.
The away WSU jersey was the one I actually liked. For them it looks good. All the gray is too much though and I preferred silver.
Here is a good pic of the ASU black jerseys. I guess the players like the all black football and basketball jerseys. I also prefer Oregon State making the orange top the primary home jersey over all blacks.
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/1029072/img_4206_n_large.jpg
Idea to slightly expand Beaver Uniforms and Keep Classic:
Basically you could do alot with our current uins by just having an alternate white helmet. At home we could occasionally use the JJ Young all black with white helmet or could even try white pants and white helmet with black jersey besides just all black from head to toe.
Then on the road we also would have the all white option besides white with black helmets which we would still use alot.
Finally you can use orange jerseys in a tri color or with white helmets and pants or with black helmets and pants.
By simply adding the alternate white helmet and not locking ourself into what has to be used with what this alone would give us an IDEAL number of possilities (not too much but enough) and allow use to mix it up a bit more both home and away.
(I actually like the contrast of black jerseys with a white helmet and would not be opposed to seeing every once in awhile. It has similar contrast as our white away jerseys with the black helmet.)
O.T. Angry – I’ve sent you an e-mail re Craig Robinson keeping his job because of $17M in stimulus money for OSU from Washington D.C.
Probably an urban legend.
Did you get the e-mail?
I did.
Just read it and chortled.
Is that idiot email still circulating? The whackadoodles who believe this crap are the reason Obama will be re-elected. And the brain dead funding lie isn’t the worst of it. Can you imagine a Republican candidate who will emerge from a party whose majority members believe Honolulu is in Kenya?
Those geniuses need to sit down for a second and think. What happens when an American is born in a foreign land to an American parent(s)?
I guess they would have learned that civics lesson had McCain been elected?
I don’t understand people’s obsession with white helmets. Good god, nothing screams sissy more than a white football helmet. Its bad enough to wear all white for away games. I hope the Beavs never go back to having a white helmet. Besides, the Ducks already have their version of the white sissy helmet…….enough said
ASU complete gallery of uniforms:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=286613&id=22208101853
I can’t stand Nike. It’s hilarious to listen to their self-important “intellectual” designers go into great depth about the innovation and cutting-edge marketing strategies like its so far above the “average” person to comprehend. I still think they purposely try to spite OSU by incorporating the color black into every other school they work with.
Old Wazzu uni change that had it right:
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=78354
Those unis are solid, elegant, simple.
Funny quote: “This look will never go out of style. The stripes and all the stuff coming to points had run its course. Every junior high school across America looked like us, which is fine. But we wanted to change.”
Duh?
And that was six years ago. Yet here we are with Wazzu buying into Nike design crap yet again.
Here is a list of Pac-12 schools who “now” use black as part of their uniforms: washington, utah, whoregon, stanford, colorado, and arizona state. Half of the Pac-12 teams use black now. I think OSU should have and “All Black” uniform, one that has matte black helmets, with shiny “O.S.U.” decals, and black numbers, kind of like Missouri’s http://media.columbiatribune.com/img/croppedphotos/2009/11/24/Tu_A01_MUUniformcrop_1124_t198.jpg?66456c23accd3c22fc032538bbf1dd455a95dead
Only OSU and Colorado have black as their official school colors. For the other schools it’s just a fad.
I think OSU’s new uniforms should look like a mix between the “Giant Killers” and the Pittsburg Steelers uniforms, only replace the yellow with Orange! That would make OSU look mean, tough, traditional and classy! I also think they should include some charcoal grey into the uniforms and apparel.
ASU is honestly using “Fear the Fork” now. That sounds goofy, but mottos are going to sound stupid a lot of times. I think “Just Do It” is pretty lame too but it’s worked out well. I don’t think any specific motto OSU would come up with, even if it sounds great to us, will change the country’s perception of us. Only consistent winning.
Fear the fork is funny because their identity is not based on a fork… as much as they want it to be. It’s based on a trident, which is a fishing tool originally. In order for it to be a pitchfork, the tines would have to be slightly (at least) spooned (like a fork) in order to pick up material (hay anyone?). And they would have to be smooth at the ends in order to “pitch” said material.
The reason the trident is not a fork is because it has barbs on straight tines. It is a gig, not a fork. It is used for throwing and spearing an object, not picking and pitching one.
You would think an institution of higher learning would be able to understand a simple concept like this. But what do we know? We have an angry muskrat for an emblem and a ‘roided rat for an on-field mascot.
I agree with you, but you do realize that a beaver is an over sized rat/rodent? right? They have a distant cousin that is called Nutria..
Here’s an article I just found that explains the difference between Nutria and a muskrat….enjoy. :)
Oh, and what if OSU’s motto was “Fear the teeth” ? LOL or “Fear the tail” Ya, doesn’t quite work for us….oh, but the ducks would be, “Fear the Quack” OOOO “Fear the bark” (For when the beaver chops down the tree? lol ok now I’m just bored.
No wait…here it is for the ducks….”Fear the Fairy Wings”
My favorite Duck unis were the ones with tire tracks on the thighs and shoulders.
Fear the roadkill?
What about “Fear the Muskratted Beaver” ? lol
Actually, beavers and muskrats are more closely related to squirrels than they are to rats and mice. Nutria are more closely related to the latter. And their destructive nature bears this out as well. All they do is dig, destroy and waste.
Muskrats are dependent on their habitat, but they maintain it to their benefit and the benefit of other species reliant on it. When humans encroach, they can be a pest in terms of digging and eating crops, but they are not a burden on the local environment otherwise. Because of their small size, they are also an important food for predators.
Beavers, on the other hand, create their own habitat. Their existence is more than beneficial for all other than encroaching humans and their wont for certain cosmetic or commercial conditions. They create waterways and habitats for numerous species from the top to the bottom of the food chain. They construct homes independent of the natural terrain by going so far as building dams to create the right conditions to build those homes. And they store food for the inclement seasons. Their engineering and adaptive skills are surpassed by only humans.
But unlike the muskrat, the one thing beavers are not are slender and fuzzy as our emblem would suggest. Nor are they demonic, cross-eyed lollipops. We should be sticking to this mascot and emblem:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_57EIm_g3rAo/SwoCH5_J0OI/AAAAAAAAHnk/zKsPO9iWJqg/s1600/IMG_7409.JPG
Why did they ditch the vintage Benny?
That thing is funny looking but classic.
From the Oregonian:
“… this may disappoint his “friends” on the message boards, but CB Brandon Hardin has dropped weight and seems intent on keeping his spot. No plans to move him to S, or OLB. … ”
An indirect reference to this blog me thinks…
I saw that too and thought the same thing….I’ve also been reading the pure-orange.net blog…they are somewhat a mirrored image of the people on this site. They brought up the uniforms, the articles, and so on. The one that separates their site from this one….all of the comments are on one page and you don’t have to click the back button and then click on a different link to see a comment that’s posted…I prefer this site and how it’s set up….Good work on this site Angry, when’s the anniversary of the grand opening again?! lol
In the thinking of motto’s/slogans… I’m so glad OSU didn’t go with, “We..are..Orange! BAPADUBABUM!”
Some of you guys are too caught up in slogans and uniforms.
a. We don’t need a slogan.
b. Our uniform problem could be solved by removing the cartoon off the helmet.
As Juliana Hatfield once said, “simplicity is beautiful”…
Maybe we should go this route instead?
http://ninjabeaver.net/2009/03/buy-the-beaver/
LOL!!!! I thought about the slogan “Fear the Beaver” but I thought it would go in other directions…so I steered away from it.
Oh great, we suck at TV again!
http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2011/04/big_12_conference_fox_strike_l.html
That’s old news, and it’s why the Pac 12’s projected deal has ballooned to $220m.
No, Fox still has a ton of money and they don’t just want to ease in the water of college football, they want to jump in and dominate.
As JackBeav says below, this makes the potential Pac-12 deal bigger than previously estimated.
Riley says the DB’s and co. are stripping the ball more from the receivers. Also mentions how “Quizz carried the ball about 900 times and NEVER fumbled! It will be hard to fill those shoes and keep that going.” So giving Quizz the ball the most was due to him having ball control.
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2011/04/oregon_state_beavers_football_13.html
Quizz endorses Ward as his heir
http://cliffkirkpatrick.mvourtown.com/2011/04/13/spring-practice-day-8-3/
I like how Banker said that they’re focusing on technique and not scheme…technique is where they need to have the most work at. Interesting how he said, “You need to read, then react…otherwise you’ll be too slow.” Wait….how does he know what slow looks like? Is he a good judge of how slow someone is on this team?
Is the spring football game here yet? nope! It’s not the 30th yet! DAMN! lol
I think we need more to talk about in between Baseball games each weekend. What about discussing and getting into softball? I know it’s a female sport, but I mean, it’s something else to discuss besides offseason football and nothing to discuss about baseball/basketball…What say you Angry? I’ll do some research on the softball side of it if you want.
I’m actually slightly intrigued by the gymnasts shot at a national title…
We have 3 ever, right? I’ll take #4 in anything at this point.
Here you go:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/beavers-sports/article_060f1b50-665a-11e0-b172-001cc4c03286.html
You beat me too it, I was about to link this story!
Does this count?
http://www.global-formula-racing.com/en/team/history/gfr/2010/events
Or this?
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/feb/engineering-students-win-seismic-design-competition
1. Fred Thompson in a sling with a shoulder injury.
2. Bibbee running with the 2s and impressing
3. Unga finally got some time with the 1st
4. Enger ran with the 2s at guard yesterday (good to see)
5. Garner ran with the 2s at tackle.
I feel Enger and Garner should switch positions, but it’s also nine to see them moving up to charts. Both should be poised to make a run at the crappy walk-ons come fall.
Hmmm…
Collins and Doctor backed by Akuna, Te’o, Welch and Williams… Johnson and Barnett coming in the fall… Unga backed by Bibbee… for now… and the bigs making a push in the trenches….
Everything seems to be following a pattern which was seemingly obvious to all not so long ago. How strange is this?
I’m going to chalk this up to a successful deprogramming process:
http://twitter.com/Pnbuker/statuses/58539677703094272
Rory Ross has quit the team due to repeated knee injuries. He’s requested a medical waiver so that he can keep his scholarship, but not count against the 85.
Hmmm…who gets that spot?
I would say that either Ward or Trevor Romaine should get the schollie if they haven’t already been offered it if Ross gets the medical hardship…if he doesn’t get the medical hardship…knowing Riley, he’ll allow Ross to keep the schollie because he doesn’t want to leave his player out in the cold for not being able to play the game anymore. I would think that Riley would still allow him to be around practices and games and on the sidelines for home games in this case.
Ward and Romaine are already scholarship players. Tyler Anderson or a grey shirt would be my guess. Who are the grey shirts? I forgot. Is d’Vante Henry one?
Did we have any greyshirts this year? I thought we had room for everybody this time around, but I may be wrong.
How fast in the 40 is Terron Ward? Is he a 4.4 guy? Does anybody else think that the 2011 offense might be better, because of not being able to depend on the Rodgers brothers for 80% of the total offense? I know it all depends on how much the OL improves. Will this be “the year” to eliminate the slow starts? Thoughts?
Ward timed a 4.43 at the Nike SPARQ camp in the Bay Area in summer of ’09.
True.
But I have a problem with those kinds of numbers. Jacquizz Rodgers timed similarly if I recall, but ran a 10.8 100m in high school and clocked a 4.6x at the NFL combine.
Ward also ran a 10.8 in high school, so I kind of guess he may be closer to the 4.6 range than the 4.43 he had listed.
Either way, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have some swerve to your running, which was definitely a strong point for Quizz and hopefully will be for Ward as well.
I think the key is not to expect Quizz, but the next Bernard.
Ward or Stevenson may be the shifty, tough back that reminds of us of Bernard a bit – hard runner, makes some people miss, usually gets caught within 20 yards. But Bernard could keep the chains moving and complement the passing game. That’s the best we get out of this group I think….
No ankle breaking, no 40+ yard runs, hopefully just some toughness and change of direction the D has to respect.
Maybe Storm in 2012 will be more of a big play threat……
I will be going to practice again Friday, I will take a notepad this time. I will have better notes not having to write everything from memory. Anything particular you guys want me to watchout for? I’ll make a list :-).
Maybe how Bibbee (#45) looks compared to the other MLB. If he’s starting to get time with the second team.
Alright, I’ll watch out for him.
Unga, and the overall intensity of veteran coaches. Thanks.
Will do Oldbeav.
Afghanbeav,
Could you take notes on how well the Offensive Line and Defensive Line play? The line play will determine just how good OSU will be in 2011! Also, could you watch the defense and let us know if 1) they are being coached to “wrap up” and 2) if they are turning back to make a plays on the ball?
Since the OL is the glaring weakness, I’d like to know who on the 2nd and 3rd team is making a push. Enger and Garner are two guys who piqued my attention…maybe keep an eye on them.
Two other things:
-Glover at DT. Is this for real, or an experiment? How does he look there.
-Is Ward worthy of the press he’s been getting? Seems like hype just based on his size (“he looks like Quizz! Any short back we sign is Quizz!”) rather than skills (seems stiff/un-elusive to me, and his top-end speed seems more like 4.55 than 4.40 as reported).
Thanks, dude. Send me the report when you’re done, and I’ll post it.
Who stands out at MLB?
Besides Doctor and Collins, who is making impressions at OLB – Akuna, Welch?
Are there any CB’s that legitimately challenge Hardin? Buker thinks so. I’m curious about Ryan Handford (sp?).
Do any of the backup QB’s look ready to play? Vaz sounds inconsistent. Mannion fumbling snaps, Lomax a twig that probably should have went to PSU like his dad…..Hoping to hear that someone besides Katz is ready.
Hey, what time does practice start tomorrow?
What happened to the latest report from the friday scrimmage Afghanbeav or Angry? I was just curious to hear your thoughts and observations. I can’t help it, I bleed Black and Orange, lol.
Thanks guys!
Angry, you going to post that Friday practice report??
I haven’t received it yet.
Oboy! Beavers have most diversified offense:
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1213337
I think they like the wordplay of most diversified “O.” too bad it doesn’t translate into major bowl wins.
Think OSU will ever go after Bronco Mendenhall at BYU?
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1066196.html
I think they’d have to do it sooner, rather than later, before he gets too expensive. I expect they’ll cruise along with Riley for too long to get this OSU alum.
Isn’t Riley signed through 2019 at this point? That is almost a decade, friend. Unless he retires the answer to this one is easy.
Unfortunately, it probably is that easy. Unless Riley chooses to leave. My suspicion is, by that time, Mendenhall may be off to other opportunities. Too bad, Mendenhall seems to have a lot of energy, good defensive focus, and effective offenses. I think he could take OSU up a notch.