Home Football Utah Post Game Thread

Utah Post Game Thread

282

27-13, not a bad prediction (5-0 in Pac picks this week, but they were pretty easy)

I think you guys saw pretty much what I saw–a team playing their B game and winning by two TDs. Not bad. But not a great performance tonight. Utah handed them the game. Sans those four turnovers, which really weren't forced by the D, the Beavs would be 5-1. The offense laid an egg. The defense was very good, but I think Utah made them look good to some degree.

Like someone said in the other thread, Martin and Zimmerman as the future is terrifying. Especially Martin. Zimmerman is a converted player who is still early on in the learning process. Funny to see the closeup of #13 whiff on that one tackle (that was the only time I saw him all game lol).

Kostol another great game. No Romaine FG attempts again = good.

DJ Welch/Alexander is the best LB since Doggett. Love that guy's play.

One thing about Storm Woods–he's been getting some hype, but it always seems like he's one gear too slow or one shake away from the elusive big gainer. Looks more like a plodding 4yard type…Agnew actually has more breakaway ability. I wish Agnew could hang on to the ball. Use him between the 20s and Woods inside the red zone.

The O-line and defense won this game. Skill players didn't really show up. It's nice to have good trenches.

282 COMMENTS

    • Really? I thought he played average, and fine for a backup. Not many backups can come in and go 2-0. No turnovers, that one clutch throw for the long first down. Not bad.

  1. No turnovers was great. But he couldn’t get the ball to Cooks to save his ass and his decision making was suspect at best. Thanks for the wins broseph but it’s time to ride the pine.

    • Play calling sucked. 3rd down and inches and QB sneak was not called. How dumb. Riley had better start opening up the play book. I hope they don’t play this way against Washington. Because after that we have AZ and Stanford. We need to see more out of our offense. Defense can’t keep holding the line for us. The defense overall did a great job.

  2. Sorry, some disjointed thoughts before I hit the sack.

    1) We certainly seem to play better on the road. My thinking is that there needs to be some sort of change to the pre-game ritual. On the road there is a lot more control. Do the players get sequestered the night before at a hotel?

    2) I think the Beavers were further hindered by it being a night game, we just don’t play many of them.

    3) I agree with you Angry… Woods appears off since he got banged up. I think he has been off since he got his bell rung during the WSU game.

    I am just glad this happened this week. Hopefully next week, with Mannion back in the saddle, we come back ready to play some offense. The defense looked pretty good considering the amount of time they were on the field. Overall ugly, but hard to complain with a backup QB, freshman center against probably the best DT we will see all year, and no turnovers.

    • I had made the mental note that it seemed like Woods was going down on first contact more than I had remembered, so it’s interesting that others thought there were some differences, but we have to give Utah credit, they do have a good defense.

    • OSU stayed at the Comfort Inn in Albany the night before the game.

      Riley/Banker have enough confidence in the D to win that game that they went real conservative on offense. For example, Utah goes for it on 4th down on THEIR 45 and we punt on THEIR 35.

      BTW, the win means Riley’s contract gets extended a year. Just sayin’

  3. Can’t ask more from a backup quarterback, 2-0, 0 turnovers. But I think our offense is better with Mannion. Defense played a bend but don’t break game. No rhythm on offense. I was at the game so I couldn’t really watch the matchup that I wanted very closely, how did Isaac do against star?

  4. Yeah… that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Mannion will never lose his job.

    Vaz missed a ton of open reads. And I’m not talking about missing Cooks. Utah was smart to double him with a third cover over the top on most plays. But intermediate tosses to TE’s were open all night, and Vaz was looking elsewhere.

    Alexander, Doctor and the front four won this game. This should have been a 41-7 knock down.

    • Exactly what i saw with the coverage and the tightends. Vaz seemed to have trouble making the reads, and the 4inches maybe a difference maker there. Anyone at the game, how was the Mannion / Vaz interaction? Mannion wasn’t there last week, was he making Vaz nervous on sideline? Or was he a helpfull extra coach?

      • @ Jack and Numbers

        Aren’t issues like this expected when it’s a QB’s 2nd start ever?

        Aren’t the coaches partially responsible for not calling plays, such as moving the pocket, which help compensate for the fact that Vaz isn’t a tall QB?

        If Riley had let Vaz get some game time experience last year and even this, he’d be further along in his development.

        Personally I’d like to see Mannion back in there when he’s as close to 100% as can be expected figuring that there’s less likelihood of him having permanent damage from coming back too soon.

        That said I’m in favor of letting Vaz play against UW and see how it goes. But I doubt if that will happen if Riley continues his pattern as I expect he will.

        That pattern that I speak of includes having Woods carry 17 times while Agnew only had 2 carries and Anderson had none. I’d like to know what the heck Riley’s thinking is.

        • If Mannion was cleared to play yesterday as back up, I assume that means he is physically redy to go. I would be shocked if he did not play against Washington. My guess is the only reason he did not play yesterday is rust and lack of a full week of practice.

    • I agree Jack- I was at the game with son and daughter and my son said at least 3 times that the TE was wide open- once for a sure touchdown. These are things that are coachable and I am sure to be addressed during film review. Mannion is the starter for a reason and this may be the main one. Nice to have a solid backup.

    • Reynolds deserves some love too for both the run and pass game. The last two games he was the best cornerback. Utah had a game plan to put their defensive tackles over the guards, shading the outside shoulder. They knew that the Beavers are completely predictable in blocking assignments (and location for holes) and almost never adjust line spacing, or combinations during the couse of the game. What Utah did was occupy all of the interior linemen except Seumalo, forcing him to pull and lead…which is not his strength at this time. While the Beaver linemen did most ly good jobs, especially Andrews, they did not drive anyone off the line which allowed the Utah lbs and safeties to scrape and fill at the point of attack. The Beavers then mostly had no blockers on lbs and safeties which is why Woods looked deceptively slow. The Beaver adjustments should have included widening the line splits, running directly over center and/or having Isaac seal the backside while pulling the backside guard. Wittingham had the better plan. The Beavers were a better team.

  5. My biggest coaching complaint was near end of first half. We had 4th and 5inches (the 2nd down play was spotted horribly.). Anyways, shouldn’t have punted from Utah 43. It was a 30 yard punt and we gave it all back up on first play. I’d rather see us go for it on 4th to close out the half with some momentum and at a min, a field goal attempt- probably points.

      • Exactly,the D playing well there is my point. I would’ve liked to have seen a struggling offense get 5inches. The D basically took over at same point anyways.

        • I was thinking, here comes Anderson on that fullback blast play, but then I’m thinking….has that play become too predictable? No other opponent has “Star” clogging the middle. I guess Riley thought the same thing, but it has not been stopped yet this year, so run it until it doesn’t work.

  6. I am thrilled with Vaz. He held the fort, won two games, and now Mannion should be back next week. Can’t ask for more, at least in my world.

    Last week people thought he should start. Now they think he’s garbage. It’s bipolar. The guy hasn’t done anything to lose a game, and has played a part (to varying degrees) in winning both his starts. Many thought the 4-0 start was in jeopardy when Mannion went down. Now people are complaining the sixth win wasn’t pretty enough and the backup QB didn’t throw for enough yards. Come on, now.

      • Mannion has had some average games, too. Not sure Vaz’s resume is large enough to conclude he’s a worse QB. He threw some brilliant balls tonight and many vs BYU. If OSU had run play action in the red zone he might have thrown 3TDs, and then everyone would be raving, and his box score would look a lot different. I honestly don’t understand bashing Vaz. Mannion missed tons of reads and has been poor in the red zone. At least be consistent and make sense, people.

        I think the issue tonight was that the Utah line was pretty good, and the offense was a little flat. OSU never established the run game, so the play action wasn’t fooling anyone. Vaz played fine given the type of game it was.

        • Yeah I would agree with that. I’m not saying vaz did a bad job at all, we could win a lot of games with him. My personally think Mannion is better and a quarterback controversy is one of the last thing beaver nation needs. Vaz did everything I wanted him to do.

          • Vaz vs BYU=better than Mannion
            Vaz vs Utah =worse than Mannion but fine.

            I don’t know what to conclude from that. Definitely nothing definitive. The only knock I have on Vaz are the batted balls. That’s like a strikeout in baseball–gotta at least put the ball in play to have a chance.

          • I think what kind of hurts Mannion is his last game wasn’t one of his better games so that game is more fresh in our memory. I think we can win with both quarterbacks but I have seen more of Mannion so I think I lean a little more his way.

        • Seems to me that there’ve been a couple of games where Mannion had a number of passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage. The Washington State game comes to mind for one.

    • People look at Utah’s record and think there’s a shitty team. Utah has tough, nasty players on both sides of the ball, but has been offensively challenged with injuries and with Whittingham making a conscious decision to get further away from the spread. I think the P-12 will need to watch out next year because it looks like Wilson is the real deal.

      It reminded me of a NFL game where both teams were pretty equal, but one couldn’t hold on to the ball and the winning team played conservative, but very smart and walked off with the W. Vaz absolutely played intelligent football and now they are 6-0.

    • Although I wasn’t happy with Vaz missing some open check downs he had some absolutely beautiful throws including the 26 yard gain on the drive that lead to a TD. I was worried not about the team but Vaz this week. Not because Vaz is bad, the opposite, but because of all the hype from last week and the pressure to match last week. This game was Vaz’s trap game and he survived.

  7. Disappointing for a home victory because this team still cannot put it together in all three phases of the game. That’s not a quality of a top-10 team in my view. I think the beavs are a little overrated.

    While history is not necessarily the best indicator of the future, an optimist could say that Riley’s teams usually play their best ball starting november and this team seems to have more talent across the board (if not deep) than his past teams.

    I’d welcome Mannion’s return if he is truly good to go to practice this week.Otherwise, I’d start Vaz again and bet on OSU still being able to beat UW.

    • The only quality I see in top ten teams this year is consistently winning vs mediocre opponents. Beavs beat anyone right now, one at a time. That’s why they are 6-0 and why they were #8.

  8. Vaz did fine. No INT’s …no lost fumbles. Had he been sloppy, might have been the game.

    UCLA only beat the same team by one TD.

    One thought — are we playing to the level of the opposition? That happens in sports. I think it is a step in a team’s development to play and execute their game, no matter what the other is doing. WSU and Utah are bottom feeders but we cant blow em out.

    I like that Wisconsin is doing well, and BYU came close to beating ND. AZ kicked Udub all over the field so I like our chances for yet another win.

    Yeah, a blowout would be nice, but last year we probably would have lost these close games. And, close games keeps our guys from getting complacent. Look at UO….is getting easy wins preparing them for USC, us or their bowl game?

    • That’s why Cody Vaz did so great tonight. 0 turn overs. If he had thrown just 2 picks, we probably lose. He missed some big plays, but didn’t force it. Past QBs have thrown those picks.

  9. According to S-I’s box score:

    Utah: 19% third down efficiency, 4.2 yards per play, 3.0 yards per carry, 172 net yards passing.
    OSU: 18% on thirds downs, 4.2 yards per play, 1.9 yards per carry, 174 net yards passing.

    Thank goodness for turnovers.

    Maybe not a statement game, but as others have pointed out, Utah lost at home to BYU by 3, USC by 10 and at UCLA by 7.

  10. Utah beat BYU, and they also got jobbed on a PI call in overtime vs Utah State.

    Interestingly in post game interviews last night both Storm and Cody said that the Utah defense was similar to Wisconsin’s.

  11. A couple notes:

    I’m not bashing Vaz. He played not to lose, and that’s what he got. I’ll take game management if surgical proficiency isn’t available every game. Utah’s front four were good enough… better than BYU’s. But their secondary left some receivers wide open with wide open fields behind them, and Vaz was stuck in a tunnel for this game. We know he can perform at a higher level. So I would call this performance disappointing compared to what he can do, not what Mannion can do. Mannion will remain the starter because he is capable of the better games, and his bottom shelf is higher than Vaz’s. A look at the Wazzu game shows some INT’s. But it also shows how Mannion can keep the D on its heels then take over the fourth quarter.

    I thought it was cool that the students donned I-N-O caps as the game wound down… and the announcers noted as much.

    Only three teams have beaten three top 30 teams this year… Florida, Notre Dame… and some team I can’t think of right now. ;)

    Nikegon and OSU getting no love in this week’s rankings if opinion pieces around the net mirror likely voting. Many suggest Florida solidified their #2 ranking by pummeling SC. And some are suggesting that KSU should jump them also because of a better SOS. I think it’s funny that the SOS gap is due to KSU backing out of the Nikegon match-up. That game could have cleared up a lot of things for voters. OSU will jump SC, but it sounds like a one loss OU will take their spot, leaving the Beavs at #8.

    Someone mentioned Jack Del Rio was at last night’s game. He was. He was there with his son Luke, an early QB target Riley really liked… before he committed to oSu. Interesting that he’s still making visits. He will graduate this fall and enroll wherever he truly commits for winter term. OSU or oSu?

    Another unofficial last night was Joey Alfieri from Jesuit. He’s a 2014 OLB prospect, and he’s probably the #1 2014 prospect from Oregon. He’s already getting national interest, so I wouldn’t mind him staying close to home… closer than Eugene that is.

    Beavs #9 in coaches poll.
    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/polls/coaches-poll/

  12. My Fansided Network Top 25 Ballot:
    1. Oregon
    2. Alabama
    3. Oregon State
    4. Florida
    5. Kansas State
    6. USC
    7. Oklahoma
    8. Ohio State
    9. Notre Dame
    10. LSU
    11. Florida State
    12. Clemson
    13. Mississippi St.
    14. Texas Tech
    15. Louisville
    16. Stanford
    17. Georgia
    18. Rutgers
    19. South Carolina
    20. Boise St.
    21. Texas A&M
    22. West Virginia
    23. Wisconsin
    24. Ohio
    25. Michigan

  13. Vaz 4-22 (18%) on 3rd downs. Mannion 27-68 (39%). Mannion makes the play in obvious passing situations to move the chains.

    As far as Rueben Robinson goes… he is terrible but the fact that he is better than Feti in pass coverage says a lot about how one dimensional Feti’s game is. Feti is a hell of a run stuffer though.

  14. Crowd was solid last night. Fans are ready to explode if theses guys can ever put a game together at home. I didn’t like the blackout. Not sure how it looked on tv, but at the game everyone just blends in. I feel th sea of orange is much more intimidating. Thanks for doing your job Cody. You did everything that can be asked from a backup. Welcome back Sean, lets go smash on the fuskies!

    • It didn’t look good because many people didn’t do it.

      Probably because the “controversy” left people confused and no one wanted to look like a racist.

      • One thing that I noticed about the black out was that it worked really well in the first half, during haft time they gave a stat that Reser was 91% blacked out (minus Utah section) and the student section was 98% blacked out. How they got this statistic is a mystery to me. But when the second half rain started, out came the orange ponchos. So it definitely didn’t look as good the second half.

  15. Loved the black uni’s but the crowd looks best in orange on TV. BTW I thought the lighting for TV was perfect last night. Reser looked better then most on the tube last night.

    • After a very productive official visit to Oregon State, Memphis commit Damien Haskins (New Boston, Texas/New Boston) has a lot to think about.

      Haskins, a three-star running back, took his first official visit to Corvallis, Ore., and took in Oregon State’s 21-7 home victory against Utah. He watched the Beavers improve to 6-0 for the first time in 105 years, and he was one of 45,769 rowdy fans.

      While he is still a Memphis verbal, Haskins said Oregon State made its case in his recruiting process.

      “It was very good. I met a lot of people and saw a lot of things,” said Haskins, a 5-foot-10, 210-pound running back. “I got to meet a bunch of the players. I ate breakfast with them and had a chance to talk to them. It was a lot of fun.”

      Freshman running back Chris Brown was Haskins’ player host. Recruited by running backs coach Chris Brasfield, Haskins said the overall environment of Corvallis reminded him of New Boston — something that left a lasting impression on him as he prepared to return back to Texas.

      “It was actually kind of surprising,” he said. “I was thinking [Corvallis] might be like a bigger city, but it’s a small town. Everybody knows everybody. It really reminded me of back home. I really liked it there.”

      Haskins, who committed to Memphis in June, has been one of the most electric running backs in Texas high school football for the 2012 season. He has rushed for 1,825 yards and 28 touchdowns and is averaging better than 13 yards per carry through seven games.

      • This kid must want to play right away, I’m sure he realizes Memphis is one of the worst D-1 programs right now and it’s not going to get easier in the Big East.

    • OSU is going up against some D1 powerhouses for this kid. Not sure Riley can pull it off.

      Offers:
      Memphis: Committed
      Oregon State
      Arkansas St
      Louisiana Tech
      New Mexico
      UTSA

    • I believe this is wrong, probably Riley’s loyalty makes him feel guilty. I can see the difference when Riley calls all the plays, like against UCLA. I wish Riley would just stick with what works best. I see a definite conflict here that could affect future games. Thanks for posting.

    • Langsidiot was probably involved in the 3rd down and inches play where they ran to the outside instead of a QB sneak. Obviously we did not get the 1st down.

    • Where in that thread do you see confirmation that Langsdork was definitely involved?
      It looked like he was.
      If so, that is ridiculous. Riley is going to blow his one shot at a magical season.

      • I’ve changed my wording in order to make what I was trying to say less confusing.

        Reworded to: Suspicions confirmed that Langsdork was involved in the play calling?

  16. I can’t blame the offense on Vaz, there was no flow to the offense, we ran a season low 54 plays to their 73! One of reasons I thought Riley should have gone for it on a few 4th downs to try to keep the chains moving and keep the offense out there. I don’t think we play down to the opponent, but I think Riley respects the opposition TOO much at times. Last week he ran only 5 times in 1st half and said afterwards, you just can’t run on that front 7, yet we had 125 yd in 2nd half. Utah I think he just didn’t think we would get any short yardage on them, and so he let that dictate his play calling. We need to develop some determination, stop letting the game come to us. Although, we got the win so Riley did figure out a way to do that.

  17. “The sky’s the limit,” Wheaton said. “We’re shooting as high as we can. Maybe even the national championship?”

    Nice to know we have high aspirations.

  18. I think the party may come to a sudden and sad ending in Seattle. After stealing (for $700,000 a year) defensive genius Josh Wilcox from Tennessee, the Huskies are virtually impenetrable. Look how he held Arizona and Oregon to a only 52 points! Woe is us! Woe is us! JB

    • As long as we beat Washington it will be very hard for OSU to not go Holiday Bowl or better. Add the fact that it also would be the stand alone all-time best start in program history and I am definitely one who will be very satisfied with beating the Huskies. They are never a pushover in Seattle so Oregon State will need a strong showing and try to take a quick first half lead.

      Will be interesting if Mannion gets the start. I think we will need him, even though I think Vaz has played smart. Mannion has to come out focused and spread it around. Should be a great game and I will be happy as long as we win it. We are close to landing a few more big recruits so we need to keep winning. :)

      • This is unfolding well, imo. If Mannion comes back for Udub, he gets a very winnable game, and a chance to get back in step, hopefully ready for the tougher games. And for those games we also now have a seasoned backup.

        KEEP THE FOCUS, TEAM!!!!

  19. last night was an average performance overall in my eyes. i thought the pass rush was disapointing, fufita and welch/alexander had nice sacks (fufita’s that forced the fumble and then quick score was probably the biggest play of the game) but they didn’t really force consistent pressure. the play calling was very conservative which was frustrating because utah’s secondary was what, 99th? i’d like to think that riley/langsdorf were trying to be as vanilla as possible because they knew they could be and win the game and they didn’t want to show anything to future opponents.

    • That 99th rating is based on what numbers? Utah had played some pass effective teams. A hell of a lot better than 99th. That’s why I just hate those numbers. They are so make-believe they should have an i attached to them. IMAGINARY!!!

  20. Nothing to add that hasn’t already been said, much of which I agree with.

    But, for all the hype Star Loteleli(sp?) is getting this season, and pregame, and not having watched him previously, I was amazed at how ineffective and non-disruptive he was. He did get doubled but I saw numerous times he was handled one on one and easily at that.

  21. At first, I thought the same thing as others here: “Is Landsdorf calling these plays? Because they’re terrible.” But then I thought about it a bit more, and came to a more obvious realization.

    The playcalling was boring and conservative because that was all we needed to beat Utah; why give more tape to our opponents than necessary?

    Think about it: despite almost-bad playcalling, we won the game by 14, and were never really in danger. Why open the playbook up? We give our opponents tape of our best plays, and even more importantly, our playcalling tendencies regarding those plays, and for what gain? To beat Utah by 21? 28?

    It doesn’t really matter what the scoring margin is, we aren’t moving up the polls except if someone else loses, and Riley probably knows that. So instead, we play conservative, safe, and boring, knowing that we’re going to win the game regardless, and keep more important info away from our future opponents.

    Also, regarding Storm; he looks like he lost that second gear he had (remember the screen that got called back in week 1-2?) after he tweaked his knee. And he does seem to go down just a bit easier than he had previously. I think, at this point, Agnew is a better back; at least until Storm is healed physically and mentally, but since he can still technically play, he’ll keep starting.

    • That sounds like revisionist speculation to me. The game was one score most of the night and wasn’t decided until the 4th quarter. So you’re logic is the staff knew in the 1st quarter they wouldn’t need to open the playbook all night? Highly doubt it. And that is a risky way to coach if true. Just doesn’t make sense. Seems more logical that Langsdork was calling plays than what you wrote. If it were Nicholls State I might agree with you.

      • Like I said before, Utah has a tough front four, Vaz didn’t take a sack but he didn’t have a ton of time either. In addition, Utah’s offense was satisfied to run on first and second down and that took up a lot of the clock.

      • Sure the score was 14-7 for about half the game, but did you REALLY feel any danger? I didn’t; Utah’s offense was bad bad bad, and our defense looked pretty good all night.

        I don’t think the staff realized in the first quarter they wouldn’t need the entire playbook to win; I think they knew well BEFORE the game. Because Utah is bad.

        Here’s a question back for you; if Langsdorf is calling the plays, why did Riley tell everyone he would be? Especially when we’ve seen his playcalling in several games this year(Wisconsin, UCLA, Arizona for sure)? What possible purpose would he have in lying to the media, or not mentioning that he switched playcallers half-way through the current season?

        There is no reason I can think of, and that isn’t in Riley’s nature; he doesn’t lie, and he doesn’t make mid-season changes. If he said he was calling the plays this season, he’s calling the plays. And if you have any problems with that playcalling, it lands on Riley.

    • Good point on play calling. We don’t know for sure the why of it. It would be OK if you were correct but what if you are wrong? It seems like the ucks open up their play book and still win as do most teams. There is nothing wrong with using plays and getting players used to execute them.

      I would still like to see a decisive win and complete control of the game offensively before I would fully agree with your “possible” reason for the poor play calling. We have some tough games ahead especially with Stanford and Oregon. I sure don’t want to see us lose the Civil War again.

      I hope you are correct.

      • Riley kind of lowered his voice, but you could hear him say at the press conference that they needed to put both sides together in the same game soon. He’s not stupid, all these games have been close and football is a fickle game. His guys have executed in the fourth quarter so far and that’s nice, but you can’t count on it over 11 games can you?

    • Storm is much better than Agnew after initial contact. He’s just flat out stronger. Most of his (admittedly few) yards last night came after the first hit.

      Agnew is more explosive, so he’s more dangerous if he gets some space to work, but he seems to go down easily.

      • I like the explosiveness that Agnew brings to the table and wished we mixed him in a little more, but my feeling is that the reason Storm is in is that he does a better job of picking up blitzers. If Agnew picked up that part of his game he could get some more carries (that and he hangs onto the ball.)

        Honestly both of these guys need to pick up their game in that aspect. Quizz was pretty small for a back but he was pretty effective about getting a hat on a guy.

  22. Angry, from your original post:

    The defense forced 2 of the 4 turnovers through quality play.
    Our pass rush hit the QB hard to force the first fumble, and bad as Martin has been, you have to give him credit for a quality pick at the end. The other fumble at the goal line was dumb luck, and Doctor’s INT was more or less dumb luck (and poor offensive play on UTAH’s part).

    That being said, there’s a lot to be said for making the most of opportunities like that. And for the record, we actually should have had another turnover with the bad call on the backward pass. Our guys jumped on that one too.

  23. @BryanDFischer
    BCS standings: 1. Alabama 2. Florida 3. KState 4. Oregon 5. ND 6. LSU 7. OregonSt 8. OU 9. USC 10. Georgia

    Next week who do you root for ND or OU? Have a feeling if sooners win they move above us even if we beat UW. LSU could eventually lose to Alabama they should be playing soon.

    • Root for ND and count on USC. Really bummed BYU couldn’t finish. I believe if they finish that, we are sitting at #5. Alabama Miss St is interesting, more so if not in Alabama. Should MSU win, then numbers guys like myself will wanna smash things, as we watch sec catchup math in action.

  24. The basketball team starts playing in two weeks. Looking forward to seeing some of the new guys in action. Did we ever get video highlights of their European tour?

  25. It seems to me the playcalling lands on Riley no matter who’s actually doing it. I’m not particularly questioning the conservative playcalling – he addressed it in the postgame so he’s at least aware of it and of the critics. However if Beaver football practices are so notoriously wide-open and, assuming the more complex and imaginative plays are practiced where anyone can observe them, is the trick simply to have opposing teams wonder if they will actually be used? :)

    • It matters less who calls the plays than who is recognizing what the oposition is doing in real time and reporting this information to the guy in charge. You do not need imagination or secret gadget plays to identify the weakness of the opposition and to adjust your game plan and play sequencing. Good teams concentrate on recognition and reaction.

      • Thanks for that. My comment about the playcalling was because many posters who question playcalling in a given game have given me the impression that they believe the Beavs use a formula too often and there always seems to be “langsdorf must be calling the plays again” angst.

  26. Some post game thoughts – It did seem like a lackluster offense but in the crowd, it never felt like Utah ever had momentum in the game. Everyone seemed to expect a win even if Utah was able to tie it up.

    Some positives –
    1. ZERO sacks and no holding calls.
    2. Converted 2 of 3 turnovers into TDs(not counting the pick at the end of the game) In the past we’ve settle for FGs.
    3. Punting – 5 of 8 punts inside the 20. Zero yards on returns.

    Negatives –
    1. Only got Cooks the ball 3 times! He’s got to be in the offense!
    2. Lost the time of possession battle by a bunch. Need to give the defense more time to rest for them to be effective.
    2. This is nitpicking but Marable hasn’t done anything on kick returns. Doesn’t seem like he has any burst. He hasn’t had any ball security issues so it’s kind of a wash.

    It’s a strange thing. This was the most points the beavs have scored at home. It appears the offense only shows up on the road and the defense at home. Like Riley said after the game, hopefully they can have a complete game soon. Huskies will be tough at home, the most points they’ve given up is 24 at home to USC. The positive is that the most points they’ve scored against fbs teams is 21. They got 52 on portland st.

    • Positive #1 is a big one….no holding calls. Actually, the whole penalty situation was much better. And, there were no celebration penalties though there were only a few opportunities for that type of thing.
      Just a little improvement could see this team in the 40 yard penalty area, I’d like that.

    • It appeared Utah purposely kicked short on kick offs. I think we will start seeing more of this because most of the time it equals less then the 25 yard line. Marble got about 15 to 20 each time and I believe he fielded the ball inside the 5 yard line each time.

      • Marable did have one pretty good return when Utah kicked off from the 50 due to a penalty and pooched kicked it, got to about the 25. That tough to do.

  27. Whatever happened to Larry Scott (the Beavers CB)? I remember folks were big on him around here and haven’t seen him on the field. I like Poyer and Reynolds but am having a tough time getting optimistic about next years secondary. Is Tyler Hasty the real deal?

      • Hunt tweet: “Sean Mannion showing good wheels sprinting into the indoor practice facility in nasty downpour.”

        Cliff tweet: “Mannion throws have been a little wobbly lately. Very hard knucklebals.”

        • I thought Mannion looked as good as he ever has today in Truax. He was throwing beautiful balls, except one crappy mid range knuckleball, and was running all over the place. Most of his throws look a little wobbly, they always have, but I got to say, he was ON today

          Side note, practices are open, but Cav jumped all over some old codger taking a video on a cell phone today, “Hey turn that f**king camera off!” Then gave the old dude the cutthroat sign. It was cold, and scared the shit out of the guy. Never seen a phone disappear so fast.

          • Cliff has made some strange comments, ever since spring ball when he talked about wanting to see a fight break out, and he doesn’t really come across as very interested in the team or excited about what’s happening.

  28. The next several weeks we need elite performance from both sides of the ball. One thing I noticed different this year, obviously no slow start, but they have had to be in it for four quarters. At some point like AZ, they will need to dig deep at the end of the game. Hopefully they bring the D & O units A game and keep the pedal to the metal for four quarters. Saturday reminded me of a couple of years ago with Katz. Go long on 1st down, run on second and third, punt.

    • I think we certainly need to play well on both sides of the ball to win games from here on, but I think only UO and Stanford will require elite performances.

    • We also need more imaginative and aggressive play calling. Didn’t Riley go on 4th down at least 3 times against the Badgers? What happened since then?

      • okay, so here’s by deep background Machiavellian theory. Knowing inevitably he would face the prospect of having to start Mannion again, and with Vaz getting huge pub on the BYU performance and an incipient QB controversy (as seen in this very blog), Riley thought ahead, minimized Vaz’s prospects to shine, and let the Defense win the game.

        • I like that….. exactly what a canny coach should do. So….beneath that aw shucks image is a devious, scheming head coach… I love it.

  29. More recruiting info.

    According to the Trib, Luke Del Rio contacted OSU in order to get the official, and he had a great time. I wonder how much oSu playing with two frosh QB’s this year weighs on his decision to make such a visit. But he and his father apparently had a great time mixing with the players, their parents and the coaches. I smell a poach.

    Damien Haskins will be poached. Will it be by us?

    I said before that Joey Alfieri was on an unofficial. I forgot to say that I think his parents are Beavs. And he’s one of the cousins in my favorite extended student-athlete group in the state right now. Those cousins are AJ Lapray and Brayden Kearsley. The latter was at Reser yet again with Alfieri, Sam Riddle from Century and Johnny Ragin… yet again for the last two also.

    I’m also told there were some kids from Fresno visiting Gill and attending the game as well. But I’m thinking they’re walk-on prospects who did an unofficial and are likely just making the normal college visits we all made way back when.

        • Hope you right Jack. It would be nice to have commits switch to the Beavs instead of the other way around. There have been others, but Cooks is the only one I can think of. That has worked out pretty well. One of the fresh QB’s for Okie State blew his knee out last Sat. Hope we get Del Rio, unless dad turns out to be Craig James part 2.

    • One of the kids from Fresno was supposed to be 4star CB LJ Moore, maybe he came up with some buddies, hopefully Keller and Brown can get in these guys ears and help recruit them here?

    • So, I have not seen anybody mention this and I apologize if it has been something thats already been talked about. What I noticed during the game and then confirmed it on watching the tape of the game on defense line we are using the ends on the inside more and more. I saw several times Wynn and Crighton line up at the tackle positions while we rushed Fernando and/or Fifita on the ends. In fact on the fumble that Fifita caused and Wynn recovered they had four DE in the game. How long has that been going on? Is it just for passing situations, or are we injured/ineffective up front? It seems like we are a little light for running downs.

      • They’ve been doing that with as many as five DE’s at once. Wynn wreaks havoc on the inside, and the speed of the other guys just makes it all look like a jailbreak. I imagine it’s a WTF moment for the QB when he sees that line-up followed by a Chinese fire drill.

        • I saw it once and don’t know how many more times they did it. But they used Rusty as a QB spy. The team has a lot of talent at the d-end position, why not maximize it on passing downs.

        • Would love to hear that from the commentators: “Tom, that looked like a jailbreak blocked by chinese firefighters – you could see the “WTF” look in Price’s eyes right before Chricton leveled him. THAT’S not going to help US relations with China.”

  30. Sounds like Wheaton will be fielding punts this week while Poyer wears a soft cast to recover from a wrist sprain that occured vs. Utah.

  31. To bad, Poyer is a sure catcher. I too worry about Wheaten getting hurt. But gotta have sure hands back there. Just hope Poyer teaches him how to wave above his head.

  32. L.J. Moore (Fresno, Calif./Central) is one of the more highly-recruited uncommitted prospects in California, but the four-star cornerback continues to wade slowly through the recruiting process, checking into each of his options. After official visits to Notre Dame and Texas Tech, Moore spent the weekend at Oregon State and was able to witness the Beavers stay perfect on the season with a 21-7 victory over Utah.

    “It was a great visit,” Moore said. “I enjoyed myself, and I loved it out there. You can tell it’s a close-knit community and definitely what you can call a college town.”

    Moore said he was impressed by the community’s commitment to the Beavers.

    Oregon State’s successful weekend wasn’t limited to its 21-7 victory over Utah that kept then undefeated and ranked among the top 10 teams in the country. While the Beavers didn’t gain any commitments from their official visitors, the three recruits on campus all had very positive things to say about the experience.

    Cornerback L.J. Moore (Fresno, Calif./Central) would be a big pull out of Southern California for the Beavers. This was Moore’s third official visit, and the Beavers have been in the mix from the beginning for the four-star cornerback. He said he enjoyed the college town atmosphere and has a close relationship with the Beavers coaching staff.

    One of the few Pac-12 programs without a quarterback commitment in its 2013 recruiting class, Oregon State received an official visit from a big-time prospect in three-star quarterback Luke Del Rio (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Valor Christian). Del Rio committed to Oklahoma State in May and said the Cowboys always had been a favorite program of his growing up, but the Beavers put their best foot forward over the weekend, and used the arm of backup quarterback Cody Vaz to do so.

      • Moore had an opportunity to spend plenty of time with the Oregon State coaches, which takes on a special meaning for Moore, considering cornerbacks coach Rod Perry coached Moore’s father during his time at Fresno State.

        “My dad always told me how good of a coach he is,” Moore said. “They have a great coaching staff, and I can see why they are the team they are this year.”

    • Sounds like Moore has made a decision and given that it’s right after the trip to Oregon State, the Beavers may just be where he’s committing. He cancelled his visit to Oklahoma. ND, UCLA and OSU are his top 3 schools and things are looking good for the Beavers. He would be a big time get.

  33. Yea but are these recruits Republicans or Democrats? LOL

    Looks like we came out of the Utes games a little beat up. Poyer hurt wrist, left guard Josh Andrews (ankle). On top of that right tackle Colin Kelly (sick) and defensive end Dylan Wynn sat out after getting a wisdom tooth pulled.

    Dang, with Mannion coming back from knee surgery… me no likey!

    • Fans following three-star running back Damien Haskins (New Boston, Texas/New Boston) wondered how long it would take for him to switch his commitment from Memphis to Oregon State after his official visit to Corvallis, Ore., over the weekend.

      It took a little longer than 24 hours, but Haskins pulled the trigger late Monday, decommitting from Memphis to become Oregon State’s 10th overall commitment and the program’s first running back commit. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound back, recruited by running backs coach Chris Brasfield, said the opportunity to play for the Pac-12 program was too good to pass up.

      “It was the coaches. I felt a connection with them,” Haskins said. “I felt I could trust them, and they could trust me. I liked the environment with the school and everything. I just thought with everything, it would be nice fit.”

      Haskins was on hand over the weekend to watch Oregon State defeat Utah, 21-7, and improve to 6-0 for the first time since 1907. Oregon State — and not Memphis — was Haskins’ first official visit, and freshman running back Chris Brown was his player host.

      What Oregon State gains is one of the most productive running backs in Texas in any classification. Haskins has rushed for 1,825 yards and 28 touchdowns in only seven games this season. He averages more than 260 yards per game and better than 13 yards per carry.

      Haskins said playing in the Pac-12 will be something he cherishes.

      “That’s kind of like every high school player’s dream, to play college ball at the highest level,” Haskins said. “Playing in the Pac-12, I know I’m going to get a chance to compete against the best. It’s going to be a pretty fun experience.”

    • Nice to get a guy to commit almost immediately after his visit. Rivals has him as a 2 star. He is so underrated. Beavers are his only offer from a BCS school but I really like his film. Runs with power, patience and has good speed. No idea why bigger named schools weren’t after him. Really love this commitment.

      • He runs a similar style to Maurice Jones Drew, short compact with tree trunk legs. Isn’t afraid to lower the boom on defenders. Doesn’t have that elite speed but given a couple years to develop, he should get a little faster. Likely won’t see him until his sophomore/junior year. If he sticks around, he’ll be a solid contributor.

  34. Haskins is a great commit. I wonder if his decision will affect Lawrence Mattison’s opinion of us? I know we were in the top 2 or 3 for him, and probably in the driver’s seat.

  35. The Utah game provided useful information and insight for the Beavers and foes. Utah essentially wanted no part of Isaac. They mostly lined their four guys over the other linemen and made Isaac into a secondary blocker. The other four Beavers did an admirable job neutralizaing Utah. But that is not what the Beavers want. They want Isaac to take on somebody one on one and then have a double team advantage elsewhere. Their are many ways to adjust to the Utah alignment. Here are two. An unbalanced line occasionally would force the foes to line up square on Isaac and create the double team that the Beavers covet. Also, if they would occasionally move Anderson back to tb and run straight up the gut, they would force the foes to move a dt or lb over center. You have to keep the other guys guessing, even if you are only makiing subtle changes.
    Utah had modest success on the other side of the ball when they brought in a bigger back. The Beavers must be cognizant of this and have several strategies. I can guarantee you that someone else will try this very same thing.

    • Are you saying Wittingham outcoached Riley in this aspect of the game? Does MR understand what you describe? Will he practice what you suggest? Will he use these adjustments in a game?

      • Riley is much smarter than me and he is probably 3-10 steps ahead. I am just making observations because I want the Beavers to win every game. I hope other fans understand that when they say “Storm looks slower”, that they need to understand other factors may be in play. Ultimately, Wittingham chose to start a freshman QB and live with the big errors in lieu of playing it safe with a more limited QB (who makes fewer big mistakes). So in this sense he got outcoached by Riley since he blinked first.

  36. UW’s offensive woes:

    “….Asked Monday if there would be any thought to exploring options at quarterback other than Keith Price, coach Steve Sarkisian dismissed the question as quickly as Arizona did the Huskies on Saturday night in Tucson.

    “That’s a crazy thought,” Sarkisian said. “Keith Price is our quarterback.”

    Indeed, while Price’s play the past three weeks — specifically seven interceptions and three fumbles — might have fans wondering if there is anyone else the Huskies could turn, the reality is Price remains the team’s best option.

    “Sarkisian said after Saturday’s 52-17 loss at Arizona that Price was having difficulty trusting the team’s offensive game plan.

    Monday, he said he was confident the issue would be solved.”

    http://seattletimes.com/html/huskyfootball/2019498471_huskyfootball23.html

    Insecure quarterback, meet Scott Chricton……

    Chricton, Mannion, Isaac, Wheaton, Cooks, and hopefully Poyer if he is able to play, will get a taste of the NFL experience playing in Century Link stadium…

  37. Any word……..is Mannion going to start against the Huskies? I hope we have a good practice week. At this point any team is going to want to take advantage of our weak points. I’ll feel better when the team and play calling is “firing on all cylinders” and we have a decisive win.

  38. Just heard Mike Riley say, “There is never a ceiling on getting better.”

    A good comment IMHO; made it while discussing weekly practices wherein the game plan for the coming Saturday AND fundamentals are taught and practiced.

    So much more impressive than the old “searching for an identity” line.

    • I listened to the DJ Alexander interview on the Canzano radio show. He said Riley is more strict this year than last year, and he is more to the point in his talks.

      • An interesting, but not necessarily productive, discussion could be had on the question of, “WHY is Riley different this season?”

        So many factors: distractions like the declining health and death of his dad, the birth of his grandchild; or the team chemistry factors surrounding Katz, Quiz, Banker; the CW losses which cost the Rose Bowl; the fans and the hot seat factor. I’m sure there are more possible explanations.

        I actually think Riley is the same guy he has always been with respect to football knowledge and personal ethics. The change has been in the area I can only describe as focus/passion/intensity and, maybe, energy.

        GO BEAVS!

        • Maybe that ride on Chip Kelley’s private jet after media day in LA helped. He might have been inspired by Kelley’s motivation to win and win big.

          • To honor our LB’s, I’m going to change my last name. Seems like the thing to do.
            Seriously, when is Doctor going to change his name? Nurse, Intern would work.
            Sack by Alexander. I’m thinking, WTF is Alexander? Then I remembered that it is
            requirement this year for all starting LB’s to change their names. Trying make it seem like we have
            Alabama like depth?

        • The biggest change I see is in approach to leadership. For awhile he was drifting towards the CEO approach, kind of like corporate America prior to the big fall. Today he operates more like a COO. Mo betta.

  39. I was curious how Haskins and Tyner stack up against each other.

    Damien Haskins – 2012

    143 carries,
    1873 yards,
    13.1 yards per carry
    29 TD

    Thomas Tyner – 2012

    209 carries,
    2428 yards,
    11.6 yards per carry
    31 TD

    Of course, Haskins comes from a small school. (Enrollment ~400)

    Then again, it’s Texas. They’ve got a lot of talent in some of those small schools.

    • People will likely have fun comparing the guady stats of these two. The other difference besides school size is Tyner’s obvious speed edge.

        • It won’t be avoided however. People will talk about Tyner first picking OSU, then committing to UO, then de-committing for 12 hours thus getting Beaver hopes up, then recommitting, so “little brother” had to settle for a back out of a small school…blah blah blah..

          • Keep in mind, Tyner said he was putting off the whole decommiting and visiting of other schools until after his football season was over. Aloha plays 1 more game and then the playoffs. Don’t be surprised when you here his name come up again. It was just becoming too much of a distraction for him during the season.

            On a related topic, it sounds like his teammate and friend Brayden Kearsley enjoyed his visit to Corvallis this weekend.

            Brayden Kearsley55 ?@BK55_ERA

            Oregon State was great with the fam! #BeaverNation #6-0

  40. Can’t imagine what you could get for $7600 at a strip club. Some guys just can’t handle Vegas, including the Mizzou director of video operations apparently.

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