Curious to hear what you all take away from this game.

I thought the game would be closer, so I don’t know if I should be impressed by the D, chalk it up to a horrible CO squad, or a mix of both (probably). They played well, which I did not expect, but it was versus an immobile QB who couldn’t throw, either.

Did OSU turn a page today and are this good, or CO is just atrocious. Did we learn anything? Was this a case of program that’s stable and further along beating up on one that’s rebuilding from scratch?

Things that lead me to believe all is the same is that when CO picked up the tempo, OSU folded and gave up two TDs (out of three drives, I believe). Looked status quo to me. The Beavs have a legit passing game (obviously, with a couple future pros at WR and possible TE, QB, and C). But I expect more like 280 yards and 2 or 3TDs (and likely more turnovers) once the competition picks up. Liked what I saw from Chris Brown…a bit of a shifty, slashing style with size and decent speed. Why wait 5 weeks to give him carries? Caleb Smith is another standout. He has a pro body and now the production to back it up. If he can roam the middle the passing game will be that much more effective.

Finally, is “pass every down” OSU’s identity, and are you okay with that and think it’s a winning strategy going forward? My opinion: they need to at least run enough to set up play action and convert short yardage. So something like 60-70 yards per game with a fairly high (4.5+) ypc. If they run that effectively they can probably keep passing this much. If not, no.

Game thread.
Go Beavs!

I don’t have much to say about this game.

Based on recent history, Colorado has been terrible (though, maybe improving?) and Oregon State has been good (though, seemingly in decline). OSU is sick of hearing their defense is terrible, so they’ll have incentive to silence the critics vs this bad opponent, but we said that last week…

Colorado will be eager for a win versus a PAC opponent they see as vulnerable and very beatable. This will give them confidence and motivation. Until they play defense, the Beavs are chum and everyone else is a shark.

Oregon State is at home, in front of all their critics (ha ha yeah right, a Beaver fan not on this site who is a critic) and thus in a relatively high pressure situation. They never seem to excel in these situations. But the moment you write that and get everyone on board is the moment there are too many fans in the wagon for my liking.

So what to expect? Probably some combination of all of these things. I think the OSU program is in a slightly better place so I will pick them to win, but this is the last game they can “not show up” and still win. I also think it’s the last game they can win without establishing a running game. Everyone expects the Beavs to be exposed versus Stanford. I think it can and will happen earlier than that if things don’t change. Washington State is a better version of Eastern Washington. Enjoy this last game before things get real.

Beavs 28, Colorado 24

Game thread.
Go Beavs. Win despite Ranker!

San Diego State is going with a new QB, Quinn Kaehler, this week. I watched some film on him. He’s a decent looking pocket passer. No threat of rushing, at least on film. He should have some success against the Beavs’ secondary, though since game 1 you can see Nelson improving. If he becomes lockdown, Reynolds stock shoots up and things maybe click.

Beavs, though atrocious on the ground thus far, should be able to run the ball on SDSU. I expect Ward to be serviceable and Brown to average somewhere between 4.0-4.5 YPC. Beavs will probably try to run more this week and try to get the ground game going since they’ll need it the back end of the schedule. If they get in trouble, they can fall back on the passing game.

I expect a short game with 150+ yards on the ground, Mannion a more conservative 250/2TDs, and the defense to look good vs a weak opponent and pocket passer.

The risk is Ranker is bad in games he’s expected to win. Keep expectations low for that reason.

34, 17 Beavs