Just began.
Rome has a guest host. Riley sounds pumped.
On containing the spread, Riley talks about assignments/gaps while remaining aggressive. Key for players is to stay with assignment/responsibility. Pretty general stuff.
On Masoli: “we’re spending a lot of time looking at film and what others have done to control him”
Did not say if the coaches feel comfortable with what they see/controlling him.
On differences in Kelly vs Belotti offense: Kelly has “taken the spread to a new level”…Riley also feels the Ducks are a well-rounded team with an underrated defense and impact special teams.
On the program: Riley wants to keep the program going in this direction, used the ambiguous phrase “recruit to OSU”, and says he’s having fun, etc. Sounds like he’s really enjoying what he built. Any talk of Notre Dame was clearly out of line. Riley is going nowhere.
Broadcasters mention Autzen is the one clear edge. Riley agrees. Calls it a “big factor.” Riley talks about Canfield and the center doing silent counts in practice, then adding crowd noise, but says the mindset, mental toughness, and poise are the key. Says it’s a conscious decision going into the game that you, as a player, will not let the noise fluster you. Personally, that was my favorite line from the interview, as I strongly believe mental preparation is everything in any competition.
Riley concludes the interview by sheepishly admitting he’s never wanted a game this much.
Why would he leave a place where he can have a couple down years and still have a job? I do wonder when Langsdorf will be noticed by other schools. He’s starting to break out of his shell, and this kind of success only brings interest from others.
Is there any news on Chip Kelly talking to Rome? I would love to know if he gave Rome the cold shoulder. He likes that sort of thing.
Apparently Chip Kelly refused to talk to Rome this week. Not sure why. But I do love that Riley “sheepishly admitted to wanting this game more than any other.” It appears to me that the coaching staff and the players are taking a completely different approach to this years game than last years. I think Coach Riley knows exactly what it means to the fans, and I think the players have started to grasp what exactly it means.
You have to remember, that this is a learned rivalry for most players from both teams. Down at Alabama and Auburn, a lot of those kids grew up in Alabama, rooting for one team or the other, so they understand as soon as they step on campus what the rivalry means. Same with a lot of schools. At Oregon State/UO, most the kids are from Cali, or elsewhere, and don’t really understand the rivalry until they play in it for the first time. I think everybody realizes it now.
Both teams are flying right now, and I’m more excited/nervous about this game than I have been about any other game. And honestly, forget the Rose Bowl, I just want to beat the crap out of UO
Good post.
Riley “sheepishly admitted to wanting this game more than any other.” It appears to me that the coaching staff and the players are taking a completely different approach to this years game than last years
Let’s hope the outcome is different in this year’s game as well!!
Good post Angry. I totally forgot about the radio interview this morning. :( Thanks for posting the highlights though. I feel Riley is trying to make sure his players know how much this game is riding on fan base, recruiting, and all sorts of other things by his attitude. He doesn’t have to verbally tell them a lot rides on this game, but players do feed off their coaches attitude in practice. If Riley doesn’t make his players want to have every play down to the last detail perfect, but says, “ok that’s not bad, but it can be better.” The latter is not the attitude he needs to have. Instead he needs to say, “That’s not good enough, run it again and get it right or you won’t play!” That threat shows urgency and attention to detail. All I’m saying is, get it right in practice, and you’ll get it right in the game!
GO BEAVS!!!
Just so you know, the guest hosts today were local (Portland) radio personalities that interview Riley every week or so on their local show. I think they chose not to interview Kelly since he has been aloof to the local media especially regarding his flip-flopping on the Blount situation (ironically he seems open to discussing it with ESPN and other national media outlets).
Go Beavs!
Thanks for the highlights. I knew there was a reason that the Portland radio station didn’t say much before the Riley interview, because they don’t carry Jim Rome anymore. I was hoping to listen to the show to hear what Riley had to say and what Belloti had to say an hour later. Once again, thanks for the highlights. Also, I agree with the posts above, Riley must understand the implications of this game, he will get it done.
No problem. I figured people would forget to tune in.
“Any talk of Notre Dame was clearly out of line. Riley is going nowhere.”
I don’t believe that for one nanosecond. Put it this way: if the right opportunity came along Riley would be outa here bang—>zoom. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
In 1998 all it took was a little soft siren song from the San Diego Chargers and Riley was gone after two short seasons. After he got fired from that job and after a short stint with the Saints, don’t forget that in 2003 before he begged to come back to OSU he really wanted the UCLA job which was also open at the time. That was the one he wanted, but UCLA went with Karl Dorrell. And don’t forget the “hometown hero” who led Corvallis High to two state title games was outa there and off to Alabama for his own college days. And in 1970 when Riley made that choice the Beavs were still pretty good.
None of this is to disparage Mike Riley. Just don’t be fooled into thinking Mike Riley isn’t going to look out for Mike Riley. Of course he is. Maybe as it should be. Okay, fine and dandy, but the point is he will leave if the right opportunity comes along. The questions are: (1) Would ND even offer him the job? And, (2) if they did would Riley see it as the “right” opportunity”? Weighing on that is the also blunt fact that if he takes a different job –any different job– the door permanently closes behind him at OSU as he leaves.
Yeah, but he’s older. When younger you wonder what you’re capable of and so you’re willing to take bigger chances. Just like young investors put their money in high risk stocks while as you age you move towards bonds and diversity. I don’t hold any of that against Riley–he wanted to leave the small town and see what he could become.
I think he learned lessons and returned home, where he’s built something out of nothing. Even D.E. admitted after his NFL stint that his biggest career mistake was leaving Corvallis. Riley, though he hasn’t said as much, appears to have had the same epiphany.
You can see when a guy genuinely loves where he is (Riley) and when he’s content but looking around (Craig Robinson). It’s all written on the face–you can’t hide it.
You may be right. We’ll only know for sure after we watch it play itself out in real time. And then we’ll know. Here’s where I’m at: I came to Oregon in 1967 and immediately became a Beaver fan in that “giant killer” season. I’ve bled orange and black ever since, which means I suffered through the end of the Dee Andros era, then in succession through the Craig Fertig era, the Joe Avezzano era, the Dave Kragthorpe era, and the Jerry Pettibone era. All that. Then along came Mike Riley and he seemed to be making the right changes and the dark cloud finally seemed to be lifting. And then –poof– he was gone. It was a very lucky thing that Dennis Erickson was available right then and wanted the job. I was disappointed when Erickson left, but not so much as I was with Riley. Erickson already had a reputation for quitting and moving on before he came to OSU, so it was to be expected. I’d never want Erickson back though. I like Riley, but I have no illusions about his capacity to move on if he wants to. He’s not as bad that way as Erickson, but he is a few steps down the road that way.
I read a while back that Riley was offered the Alabama job in December 2002. If that is true then it is about the right opportunity for him. I personally hope Riley stays, I have heard dessent about the way he coaches but I must say that without him we wouldn’t be where we are at. I also fear that one day he may be hard to replace, especially at one million/year. I think our athletic department will have to spend a lot of money to get a good coach in here. The way coaches are paid now, Langsdorf and Banker may want more money than Riley gets now.
Riley signed an extension a few years ago and said Corvallis would be his last stop. He also makes well over 1 million per year (more like 1.25 I believe) and is on par with most coaches. Data can be found here:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2007/04/rileys_contract_extension_fina.html
I believe Riley signed a new contract after last season. I don’t know all of the details but it was very similar to that. I believe it may have placed him back at the bottom of the payscale on that contract but added a couple more years back onto it.
What I meant by the increased pay is that another coach may ask for between 1.5-1.75 million to coach in Corvallis. Although, 1 million (more with bonuses) is a ton of money in Corvallis.
The extension only added 1 year. It was a six year deal in 2006 extended to seven years. For every bowl game he gets a year added, so he’s locked up through 2016 now so long as he wants to be here. His salary has remained the same.
I believe Riley is going nowhere… I believe him when he says he plans on staying put… I met the guy, he and comes across as so genuine you would not believe it….go beavs..
Beaver Nation needs this win. I hope the coaches are doing their very best to come up with a winning gameplan and getting the players in the best position to win. Almost every year will be like this for the Beavs..if we don’t seize the Rose Bowl we have to be at the whims of the conference bowls and play Sun or lower most likely. Once we grab a Rose we will see more chances to play Holiday and up and finally get our due RESPECT!
I agree. The Holiday Bowl is being nice in saying they’d still consider us, but we all know that won’t happen. We’ll never have the respect of USC, but if we can get on par with Oregon/Cal we’ll start landing in those bowls instead of this all or nothing scenario (i.e. Rose or Vegas). Hate to beat a dead horse, but a lot of this perception comes from recruiting class rank. Look at preseason pac-10 rankings vs recruiting class rankings and it’s fascinating and enlightening.
This Texas/Texas A&M game has the pace I envision for the Civil War. I see the Beavers playing catchup the entire game but unable to get a key stop and bridge the gap to less than 7, a lot like that USC game. Then again, I can see the Beavs winning by a point or three. Both teams are so erratic that it’s an impossible game to pick.
If Canfield can go out and play like the aggies QB we sure have a chance. I think the aggies D Coordinator has done a good job against the spread for what he has to work with. If banker can follow this performance we may have a chance.
49 points, ouch. I can’t call that a good job no matter what he has to work with.
On a side note, just started crunching some stats for my writeup on the Civil War. Some very interesting insights in examining the numbers…
Seven of the points came on a kickoff return. I would say looking at his scheme to stop the zone read he did a nice job, he just has young players and not enough talent. We have more talent, with a similar scheme we would be able to capitalize.
What we have to hope for, in addition to Canfield, Jacquizz, and the rest of the offense having a monster day, is for the defense to show up and to some degree throw a monkey wrench into Oregon’s spread and Masolii particularly. We have to hope that they’ve improved enough to where they can do that. We have to hope that Banker has some schemes and packages designed to do that. The Beavers can’t afford to get into an offensive game of trading touchdowns, a game where it just comes down to scoring and scoring and scoring, and the team with the most touchdowns at the end wins. If the ducks get that machine up and running at home in Autzen, that’s not good for our side. In fact it’ll be lights out. It’s gonna take some defense.
re autzen, it is tough but maybe not as tough as perceived per this article by daschel over at buster. http://www.bustersports.com/blog/pac-10-news/2009/11/27/pac-10-the-myth-of-autzen-stadium/
The first quarter is everything. The Ducks need to get in to the backfield and make some stops or their defense will be out of it by halftime–if not before.
We need to disrupt their run game while making Masoli pass with someone in his face. Easier said than done obviously.
Mike Riley isn’t going anywhere.
Chip “Purdue… Oregon State… same difference… Civil War is a cute name” Kelly will be at Michigan this time next year. Then he can ho-hum to the Michigan faithful when they play the other OSU. If he doesn’t leave, it will probably be because the Ducks have a lousy season next year, and his suitors find another unsuspecting debutante to prey upon.
Either way, there will be much whining in Duck country… well, more than usual.
I’m in the minority who liked Bellotti. He had some pizazz and hatred that made for a good rivalry. Chip Kelly is simply a poseur, both in trying to have Oregon ties and his feigned “i’m intense, I’m Pete Carrol” shtick. And what is with the red lips, dude?
I like to tease Duck fans–my wife included–about their brilliant yet moronic coach.
In reality, my biggest fear is that Belotti takes over even as an interim when Kelly leaves.
Beaver Nation (Help Quizz pass Keenum),
Vote Quizz for Heisman:
http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/theheismanvote/2009/
Quizz has a legit shot to be invited to NY for the Heisman if we beat the ducks. It will help if he pass Case Keenum in the fan vote in the next few days. From ESPN where Quizz is #4:
4. Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State: Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy deserve consideration in these final two spots, but under the given criteria, I simply could not put either ahead of Rodgers or Ndamukong Suh. Much like Spiller, Rodgers is the most outstanding player on a surging Oregon State squad. It likely will take a monster showing in an upset victory over rival Oregon for Rodgers to get the invite to New York City. As of right now, 1,749 total yards of offense (1,313 yards on 239 carries and 436 yards on 67 receptions) and 20 touchdowns (19 rushing, one receiving) earn him a spot in the top five.
Vote Quizz for Heisman:
http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/theheismanvote/2009/