Idaho St. Game Thoughts

Beaver fans can't complain much about a 61-10 victory over a team that we were supposed to kill. The good part is that eventually all phases of the game that we were concerned about came around.


The Offense

The running game took about 2 1/2 quarters to come around, but it did. Maybe the Bengals were tired, but I don't think they were putting in their 2nd string until late in the game. I'm disappointed that the starting O-line wasn't able to get Yvenson 100 yards by the end of the first half. However, we appear to have some nice depth and great change of pace at RB. Bernard is the shifty one, Polk is the fast slasher type, and Sieverson is the physical pounding runner. That may help us if teams are keying on Bernard too much to switch it up on them. Another thing that may help our running game was the huge passing day from Sean Canfield.

The passing game was very good. Just what the doctor ordered. Hopefully, Sean has some confidence and the game has started to slow down for him. Plus, we put doubt into opposing coaches minds now. They can't completely focus on the run because Sean may drop a perfect pass to Sammy at any minute. Sean throws a nice long ball and he showcased that yesterday. The receivers made some good strides yesterday as well. Brown is more solid and Sammie appears to be the old Sammie. Plus, Catchings and Rogers still look good as will be the next great receivers at OSU. Just a few drops and missed passes, but otherwise a great game.


The Defense

Overall, a strong performance from the defense. The Beavers continue to prove that teams will have a tough time moving the ball against us. Especially against the run (we had a change to hold them to -yards rushing). However, the pass defense wasn't quite what I thought it would be. Their QB kept getting away from potential sacks and then completing passes to #6. That guy killed us. Teams will pass on us this year I think. If we can get a few interceptions then that will help a ton. 4 interceptions was great to see. Hopefully that gets us rolling on the turnover margin. Oh, and what was up with the missed tackles. That will get corrected, I'm sure of it.


Other Thoughts

The best part of the game was the peek at the future. The reserves all played well and in some cases, as good or better than the starters.

Most of our turnovers and rushing yards came after the starters were done for the day. Maybe we will start rotating even more to keep people fresh.

Next year's kicker got an extended look and was perfect on XP and FGs. His kickoffs looked pretty good too. We should be OK after Serna graduates.


Next

On to ASU. I watched them a bit last night and they look good. If we can shut down their running game, we might have a good shot at a win. I know Riley would love to beat Dennis. But since we haven't won in Tempe against the Sun Devils since 1969, I'm not predicting a win. We always find some stupid way to lose the game down their even though we play better than them. Maybe Canfield will take another step forward and surprise us. I'll be hoping for that. And plenty of forced turnovers by our D.


Game Reaction

There were some interesting quotes from the game.

OSU crushes ISU - Idaho State Journal

"He picked apart our defense," Idaho State defensive tackle Micah Cloward said of Canfield. "We stopped the run, which was what we wanted to do. Unfortunately we let him have a big passing day."

"Yeah, it was 61-10, but it didn't feel like we just got thrashed," Zamberlin said. "I didn't feel like guys ever quit. ... There are lots of positives we can build on."

It may not have been a thrashing, but they had NO chance.


Energetic Stroughter leads Beavers' romp over Idaho State - The Portland Tribune

"I was out there having fun again," said Stroughter, who caught 74 passes for 1,293 yards and five TDs as a junior. "That felt good. The whole team came out there with that theme today – having fun. Overall, we did a great job. We executed. The line did a great job protecting (quarterback Sean Canfield).

"To be out there with my teammates, with them having the utmost confidence in me – the team was always behind me 100 percent. I thank them a lot, them and the whole Beaver Nation."

Awesome. Best quote of the game because I'm happy Sammie is back!

"The biggest thing for me was having a couple of games under my belt," said Canfield, who was intercepted four times and had only touchdown passing the first two games. "The game is starting to slow down a little bit and become a little more clear to me."

The game is slowing down. I love to hear that. I really think he will come around faster than Matt and Derek did because he knows the offense and just needs to adjust to the game speed.


Go Beavs!

A Review of the Offense

The Enquirer / Ernest Coleman

Time to try to find some good news somewhere. Game film takes too long for Saturday morning so I'll go with the stats.

The Beavers offense seemed to be the biggest problem, so I'll look at that.






Cincinnati vs. OSU game stats

                                      Drive Chart (Final)
                 Drive Started             Drive Ended             Consumed
Team     Qtr Spot Time   Obtained      Spot Time   How Lost      Pl-Yds   TOP 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OSU      1st O35  12:58  Punt          O35  12:00  Interception   3-0    0:58
OSU      1st O34  10:31  Kickoff       O35  08:57  Punt           3-1    1:34
OSU      1st O12  06:40  Punt          O49  01:00  Punt           8-37   5:40
OSU      2nd C23  14:38  Punt          C21  12:28  Missed FG      4-2    2:10
OSU      2nd O20  10:11  Punt          C14  06:00 *FIELD GOAL    13-66   4:11
OSU      2nd O29  03:54  Punt          O48  01:46  Interception   4-19   2:08
OSU      2nd O12  01:08  Kickoff       O25  00:00  End of half    3-13   1:08
OSU      3rd O27  14:55  Kickoff       O34  12:53  Punt           3-7    2:02
OSU      3rd O02  00:00  Punt          O02  07:27  Fumble         0-0    0:00
OSU      3rd O22  06:43  Kickoff       O22  06:20  Punt           3-0    0:23
OSU      3rd O32  03:13  Kickoff       O31  02:13  Punt           3--1   1:00
OSU      3rd O23  02:07  Kickoff       O35  00:56  Interception   4-12   1:11
OSU      3rd O20  00:02  Kickoff       C27  13:16  Interception   7-53   1:46
OSU      4th O32  09:36  Fumble        C35  06:36  Interception   7-33   3:00
OSU      4th C43  06:36  Fumble        C39  04:54  Downs          4-4    1:42
OSU      4th O10  02:34  Punt          C36  00:00  Interception   8-54   2:34

Our best drive of the day also happened to be the only drive we scored on. We gained 66 yards and moved the ball from our 20 to their 14. Probably should have scored a touchdown on that one, but at the time we needed the points.

We had another drive two drives before that that was nice as well. It ate up 5:40 (longest of the game), but we started on our own 12 and it sputtered at midfield.

After that it was bad until the 4th quarter when the game was out of hand. But we did have 3 drives that ended within FG range with INTs. They were playing their starters until the end, so that is a little positive. Not a lot positive in there.

During the game I really felt like we didn't throw the ball down the field until the end of the game.



We weren't exactly prolific past 10 yards. Take out the 4th quarter and the passing game is pretty pedestrian. And only one rushing play of over 5 yards!

Man, we were way out of balance considering Mike Riley likes to be 50% run / 50% pass. But I guess that they were keying on the run pretty well.

            Play Breakdown Summary (Final)

Oregon State                           Cincinnati

Down               RUN PASS  Total     Down               RUN PASS  Total

OVERALL..........   20   55     75     OVERALL..........   30   26     56
1ST DOWN.........   11   20     31     1ST DOWN.........   15   10     25
2ND DOWN-SHORT...    1    1      2     2ND DOWN-SHORT...    1    1      2
2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    3      3     2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    1    0      1
2ND DOWN-LONG....    5   15     20     2ND DOWN-LONG....    9    8     17
3RD DOWN-SHORT...    3    2      5     3RD DOWN-SHORT...    1    0      1
3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    1      1     3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    0      0
3RD DOWN-LONG....    0   12     12     3RD DOWN-LONG....    3    7     10
4TH DOWN.........    0    1      1     4TH DOWN.........    0    0      0

Only 20 rushing attempts total. Seems really low.


Here's the best I could find on the positive side:

NET YARDS PASSING.............      274
Third-Down Conversions........  8 of 18
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     3-31

Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long
-----------------------------------
Bernard, Y.        7   17    0    5
Powers, Brandon    5   76    0   35
Sieverson, Matt    5   31    0    9
Catchings, D.      4   34    0   12
Morales, Shane     4   28    0   12
Croom, Howard      3   43    0   18
Brown, Anthony     2   24    0   15
Johnson, Chris     1   14    0   14
Camp, Brady        1    7    0    7
Totals...         32  274    0   35

We passed a lot, thus we got a lot of yards. I think the drops are just about done. I think the receivers did pretty good. Especially Powers after he tweaked his knee. Catchings is starting off fast at OSU. He could be a good one here.

Not bad on the 3rd down conversions considering how our day went.


Well, that's about it for the offense. ASU is going to be scary. Can we break the streak of losses in Tempe? Will Dennis learn from facing us last year with Idaho? That game becomes a big game for the Beavs.