Pac-10 "Officials" Are Led By An Idiot

Can you believe that the Pac-10 director of instant replay, Verle Sorgen, would actually say something like this:

...in response to a question about the replay official being benched for the rest of the season: “It wasn’t that egregious. Unless you are an Oregon State fan.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Oh, I see, nobody in the Pac-10 office actually cares about getting calls right! And that's why the Pac-10 continually has the worst officiating in the Pac-10. It starts at the top and I can see that Verle is more interested in protecting "his boys" than his is about doing the right thing.

EVERY highlight show I saw after the game had the EXACT same comment about the play. "That's not a fumble." And that was with one, maybe two TV camera angles. And there was a ref standing 4 feet away! What the HELL was he thinking? Maybe the refs had been tailgating with some Husky boosters before the game and were a little sleepy. You can't blame them, it was a long game.

After the game I made the comment that if the Beavers lost that game the refs would have had to get out of there in a helicopter, because the alternative would have been an ambulance. The crowd wanted someone's head and was going to get it.

This was reiterated by Bob DeCarolis:

DeCarolis pushes buttons - Cliff Kirkpatrick Blog

“God forbid we lost that game. We would have riot on our hands,” De Carolis said. “It would have been like a soccer game at a third-world country. That’s how dangerous it was being at night, alcohol, and the frustration of the mismanagement of the game. That’s something the conference is not taking into account. You had to be there.”

I agree whole-heartedly. The crowd was rowdier than normal and ready to do something. Thank goodness we didn't have to find out what.

Tom Hansen and Verle Sorgen need to be fired. From TV contracts, to bowl agreements, and the officiating, the Pac-10 is the worst. And we have Tom and Verle to thank for that.

Go here if you agree:

Fire Tom Hansen

UW Debacle and More!

Well, I'm a little slower blogging than my normal the last few days because my wife and I had a baby on Friday night! It was a bit unexpected, but everyone is healthy and happy. Of course, that meant little computer access and time to blog.



I did get to see the game Saturday night. Tons of family were in town for the game anyways, so it actually worked out really well overall.

OSU 36* - UW 23. *Subject to temporary brain/eye/arm misfunction by the officials.

It's hard to know exactly what happened, but I don't like Ty Willingham anymore. The "rah rah" speech after Locker got hurt clearly incited his players to take cheap shots instead of just playing football. There were so many cheapshots after the ball was dead that I saw on the replays that I'm surprised that something didn't happen earlier. Also, I question his true motives for calling timeouts at the end of the half when we were clearly running out the time. Didn't he call a timeout after there was already some pushing and shoving? Which of course lead to more pushing and shoving and then the PF on Perry. Great coaching Ty. Oh, and nice grin after Dockery got kicked out of the game by the way. I lost a lot of respect for the UW players and coaches on Saturday.

That said, the worst offense all game happened by the officials. There were many problems with the officials including letting the UW players continue to start fights and only flagging the reaction. But then there was "The Play". Bernard's final (non-) TD. Aren't there two un-disputable rules that get beat into out brains:

1. The ground cannot cause a fumble.

2. As soon as the ball breaks the plane, its a TD.

Both happened on that play, yet the idiots in B/W on the field and in the replay booth somehow missed it. How can the replay "official" NOT replay that play?!? That's the single most crucial play to the entire game up to that point and you don't review the play? Come on, don't be afraid, take a long look at it. Look, if the QB sneak by Bonnell was a TD and reviewed, then that HAD to be reviewed. Bernard actually stretched into the endzone unlike Bonnell. It literally makes me sick. If we lost that game because of that then those "officals" may have had to be taken out of Reser by helicopter.

Mike Riley was pissed, and he has EVERY right to be. Those officials could have literally stole millions of dollars from him. That's his livelyhood. Sure, tell the public its OK. But, you make sure you call each and every official and get an explanation and explain to them that a call like that could cost him his job. Not right away, but in this day and age one loss and no bowl is huge. How do we find out the officials in Pac-10 games? Do they release that stuff? Because we need to boo them the next time they work at Reser.

I'll never get over this one.

Beat Wazzu!

Blackout needs to change to Orange and Blackout

I know this issue has pretty much died down, but in light of our last home game coming up against UW I want to comment on the whole blackout thing.

I don't think the students should do it again this weekend. Its not clear that there is an effort being made in that direction, especially since the last home game wasn't a blackout.

First, I applaud the students for showing some school spirit and unifying for a game to show support for the football team. I think the intent was good and it worked. We won.

However, given the aftermath and the fact that people were offended I think its time to use this as a learning experience. For those who aren't clear on the aftermath look here, here, and here.

By continuing to "Black-out" Reser you are now inviting people who are racist to use the event as a forum. It will attract people who you don't want to be identified with.

Also, ignorance is not an excuse. I thought for a few seconds that maybe its a good thing that they didn't know about blackface. Or that they didn't think it was a problem. Well, those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. Iraq feels a little like Vietnam now doesn't it. Is ignorance a defense? No. We must learn from history and adjust so we don't continue to make the same mistakes.

Look I understand that it doesn't feel like racism because thats not your intent. Great, so prove it.

Next time organize a "Orange and Black-out" day. How cool would it be to have alternating colors? One section is orange and the next is black. That would rock! Boise State does it, why can't we? I don't think it's much harder than a black out and that shows some major school spirit and support for your school. That's your challenge for next year.

Go Beavers!

Weekend Review

I'm not going to spend much time on the USC game other than to say that not having Yvenson made a much bigger impact than I thought it would. Not just in blocking the pass rush or running the ball, but in the play calling. No more short screen passes to keep the D honest. Less running plays called. And without a screen passing game or much of a running game, this year's team is screwed. The QBs just aren't at the level of where they can carry the game. And USC brought it.

The injuries are the biggest bummer of the game. Dorian Smith will be bad, but we have some depth there. The biggie will be the QB situation. It's official that Canfield is out. So now we will find out if the 2 QB system actually prepared us for this situation. I feel a little more confident about Moevao than I have in the past with backup QBs. But I still don't know whether he will turn it over or not. And I have yet to see his mythical "mobility". He looks like he's the same as Canfield except shorter and with a stranger delivery. So who knows.

We need a win against UW pretty bad. Lyle needs to get it done. No excuses!

We are OS(U)

Everyone in Beaver Nation seems to feel good about this game. It's easy to see why. We have a nice 3 game winning streak going, USC has already been beaten at home this year by a team we beat, and USC has some injury issues going into this game. I like the fact that USC is very run heavy and that's what we defend the best. Plus, Booty may have problems throwing the ball and isn't nearly as mobile as Sanchez. So I feel good about this game too.

Here's what concerns me:

No revenge here for USC - Orange County Register
Game preview: The Trojans have too many other things to worry about against Oregon State.

DEFENSE: Edge: Oregon State
SPECIAL TEAMS: Edge: Oregon State
COACHING: Edge: Oregon State
OUTCOME: Oregon State, 23-21

You had to give them locker room material, huh? Sure, we might have the better defense, but don't tell them that! :)

Some interesting comments from the article:

Oregon State has gotten better results than the Trojans because the Beavers play a more aggressive style. They trust their players to make big plays, while USC plays soft, conservative schemes. As a result, the Beavers lead the nation in rushing defense and lead the Pac-10 in sacks by a wide margin. USC ranks last in the conference in sacks.

Ooo. I like the sound of that. After last week's barrage of blitzes and pressure, if we can give Canfield some time to throw, watch out. I don't know how the running game will play out, but I do know this: if we have less turnovers than USC we will have a great chance to win. Less pressure = less turnovers. Excellent.

So, yea, I feel great about this game too. Let's do this Beavers!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween! I thought I'd share a few pumpkins some creative Beavers carved this year:

One Dirty Martini

Our first sketch was of the Beavers logo, but we decided against it in favor of something simpler, something we could safely carve while drinking.

And one from their friend:

And here's mine from a couple years ago (the OS looks much easier):

I looked for some more but came up empty. Anyone else have any to share?

Beavs win, may lose Yvenson for a bit

That was a good win for the Beavers against Stanford on Saturday. They didn't have any let down from the Cal win and the offense continued to take steps forward to not shoot themselves in the foot. Stat of the day? Zero turnovers. This is how the UCLA game should have went. Unfortunately, losing Yvenson and giving up a bunch of sacks (6?) isn't great for the lead in to the USC game.

I think Clinton Polk and Matt Sieverson are decent as fill ins for Yve running the ball, but all the intangibles that he gives us are going to be missed. The way he can catch the ball out of the backfield and perhaps most importantly his blocking. One play last game was a perfect example of this. Yvenson blocked a hard rushing Cardinal play and knocked him to the ground. Yve was also on the ground and he saw the rusher get up and head towards Canfield. So he got up and blocked the guy a second time about two feet from him getting a sack. Brilliant.

Looks like our special teams are getting back on track. They aren't spectacular, but they aren't hurting us as much anymore. Alexis is making Field Goals and his punts seem to be getting better. Plus, we're catching everything in the return game.


On another note, I've been watching the World Series and Jacoby finally got a championship ring :). Great series by Jacoby. He batted over .400 in the series and was huge in the two games in Colorado. Congrats Jacoby!!!


Oh and with halloween coming up, check out the classic Beavers pumpkin stencil!

Big game today

The Beavers have a huge game today against the Stanford Cardinal to continue and build on all the good will they've created by beating then #2 Cal two weeks ago. It's funny how this season is so similar to the last two seasons at the same point in the season. The question is, do we continue building towards a 2006-esque finish? Or do we stumble against a team we should beat?

Stanford is certainly dangerous. Their defense is apparently the second coming of the Carolina Panthers super bowl team with all their zone blitz schemes. And with Tavita out and possibly Roy or Jeremy not at 100%, it could be tough going for the offense.

On the other hand, their offense is banged up and our defense is healthier and more rested than its been all season. They are down to their 3rd string RB and have at least one O-lineman out as well. So we could be in for a major ears pinned back, rush the passer kind of day.

For some reason this feels a little like the UCLA game. The defenses may keep it close and the turnovers or lack of major turnovers may decide this one.

Some stats on the Cardinal to watch for:

* They may be running the ball with their QB a bit. Tavita Prichard has gained 123 yards in two starts. He's lost 73 as well but those are all sacks. So he may keep the ball moving for them if we don't watch out.

* Stanford is among the conference and national leaders in sacks (3.0 per game, No. 17 nationally, No. 3 Pac-10) and tackles for loss (7.8 per game, No. 19 in NCAA and No. 3 in Pac-10). That's from their press release. Sounds a bit like the Beavers defense, huh? Lets hope we've schemed well for this one.

* They have a RS Freshman, Tyrone McGraw, starting this week at running back. He's carried the ball 22 times for 91 yards and a 3.8 average. Not bad. Jeremy Stewart may play with his bum shoulder. He has 158 yards on the season.

* They have a stud punter. He's averaging 42 yards per punt and set to become their all time punting leader.

* Their stats leader on defense is OLB Clinton Snyder. He has 6 sacks, 8 TFL, and is second of the team in tackles. He's pretty fast and will be blitzing a lot today.

* They got 4 interceptions against USC, but they have 7 total on the season.

* They do give up a ton of sacks and tackles for loss. They gave up 7(!) sacks to ASU. They have 27 on the season for an average of near 4 per game. Nice.


I know we should win this game, but their defense could cause problems. Let's take the advice of Mike84 on PureOrange and get fired up from the get go. Don't let the trees get into the game at all!

Go Beavers! Beavers eat Trees!

How Good will the Beavers be at the End of the Season?

Bye week, time to regroup and review.

After a win like that, everybody is excited in Beaver Nation. Maybe too excited. When you see Rose Bowl possibilities being thrown around on the forums, we may getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

So where are we? Well, we're where we would have been if we held serve at home up to this point. That means we still need to win out at home (UW and Stanford) which is very reasonable. Also, we need to steal one on the road (UO, USC, and WSU). Our best bet is clearly WSU there. So, yea, we should be excited because we're back in the bowl hunt. Plus, USC isn't looking so scary these days so who knows!?!

The only way we turn the corner and become an 8-4 team is if the offense and especially Sean Canfield has turned the corner. Why do I think he has turned the corner? Let's review a post from a few months ago before the Idaho St. game.

The QB situation - Saturday, September 15, 2007

Both Matt and Derek had no experience with Riley's offense. Each had prior game experience under different systems with mixed results. But both had a ton of interceptions in their first year under Riley's system.

(Cmp-Att-Int)
Moore.... 211-355-19, 11 td, 271 ypg, 123.11 effic
Derek.... 261-510-24, 24 td, 312 ypg, 124.13 effic

By their Senior years both Matt and Derek "broke out". They looked confident, controlled, and much less mistake-proned. But they were both learning on the job in their Junior years and didn't really know Riley's offense completely.

Canfield is also learning on the job. But he played in 10 games last season and went 28-45 with 2 tds, 2 ints, and 335 yards passing. That's basically a game an a half. Add that to his two half games this year and he's about 3-4 games in to his learning year. So at worst he will start to come around in game 7 or 8 and become a good QB.

However, I have this sneaking suspicion that he will come around sooner if given playing time. Mainly because he doesn't really have to learn on the job. He knows the offense in and out. Now he's just getting the game speed down and learning how to read defenses. Tough, yes, but not as tough as doing both at the same time. So I predict (and hope) that he will be a solid QB around the Arizona or UCLA game. That means less mistakes and basically not costing us the game. By the end of the season he could be really contributing a lot. Especially if teams are still stacking up on the run. I really hope Sean starts it in a big way against ISU today.

I think that this is EXACTLY what is happening. He's nearly a season into his career at this point. Plus, he knows the offense well because he's grown up in the system. He may not be John Elway the rest of the way, but I think he has less giveaways and will manage the game better from here on out. He will do that and our D will keep us close in every game. That means we should have a chance to win every game from here on out.

Do I expect we will win out? No. But I feel much better about going down to Eugene and LA now. And after a great game like last week, Beaver Nation deserves to get excited and dream big. What a great week for a bye week, huh?

Go Beavs!

The Beavers own Memorial Stadium!

Un-Beav-leavable! In the battle of the QBs, Canfield made fewer mistakes and the Beavers were better for it. But this wasn't a game where the Cal QB imploded. This was a great hard fought game and the Beavers just plain won.

Some great quotes and amazing stats after the game:

Beavers' curse on Bears at Memorial Stadium strikes again - SFGate.com

"I knew the clock was ticking," Laroque said. "I was just trying to hold him down as long as possible. I don't know if that's legal or not."

...

The Beavers seem to have magic in Berkeley. Cal has lost only four home games since Sept. 6, 2003 - one to USC and three to Oregon State.

Some stats from OSUBeavers.com

NET YARDS RUSHING: OSU: 153 - Cal 184

                                   OSU      CAL
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.    1-0-0   2-13-0
  Average Per Return..........      0.0      6.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD   3-84-0  7-126-0
  Average Per Return..........     28.0     18.0

Possession Time...............    33:13    26:47

Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      5-5      3-5

Sacks By: Number-Yards........      3-9      1-5

Field Goals...................      3-3      0-1

Passing              Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
-------------------------------------------------
Canfield, Sean         33-18-0   186  0   26    1

Cal
-------------------------------------------------
Kevin RILEY            34-20-1   294  2   64    3

The stats that seem to matter most: Turnovers, Time of Possession, and most special teams categories. All won by the Beavs.

Just awesome. A team effort. I can't fault anyone for anything. Tim Clark had a great game. Greg Layborn made two touchdown saving plays (even if one was a penalty). Canfield didn't throw a single pick and only got sacked once. Bernard met still running defense and still gained over 100 yards and 2 TDs. Alexis Serna had three field goals and the best punting day of his life!

Huge win Beavs!!!!

Game reaction from Cal fans:

Cal fans, please be classy. - The California Golden Blogs

Post-Game Thoughts: Oregon State - The California Golden Blogs

Life of Riley (Oregon State 31, Cal 28) - Excuse Me For Me Voice

The QBs will Determine the Winner

Cal's QB, Nate Longshore, is a game time decision which means the Beavers may see a totally untested QB: Kevin Riley of Beaverton. Riley is the future at Cal, but other than practicing well he hasn't done anything. In fact, one national college football writer says that if Kevin Riley starts, then OSU wins:


Matt Hayes College Football Blog - The Sporting News

9. An injury away. I don't know if Cal can get away with playing backup QB Kevin Riley against Oregon State. But if possible, it has to be done.

Starter Nate Longshore took snaps Thursday with the first team, something he hadn't done since sustaining a high ankle sprain against Oregon two weeks ago. He's a game-time decision (read: the ankle hasn't healed and it's an issue), and really should rest the ankle at least another week.

The problem: Oregon State has won six of the past eight meetings against Cal, and is 13th in total defense. In fact, if the Beavers' offense could hold onto the ball -- 23 turnovers, last in the nation -- they wouldn't be 3-3.

Cal, meanwhile, leads the nation in turnovers lost with four in five games.

Tell me this isn't set up for one of those crazy irony stories.

Look, I'm not sayin' it, but I'm sayin' it: If Riley has to play, the 'Beavs are winning this game. And we can add yet another upset to this wacky season.

We all know where Sean Canfield is at and how the number of mistakes he makes could turn the game to the Bears no matter who is the QB.

After all the talk of the run defense and running games, it will be the team that gets better QB play who will win. If Canfield can have 2 or less interceptions and have an efficient game, then the pressure will be on the Cal QBs.

The question then becomes, will Longshore be mobile enough to avoid OSU's pass rush and keep Cal moving? Or will Riley be able to avoid the Ayoob-esque performance that Cal had in 2005 or Rodgers in 2003?

I know OSU fans don't want to hear this, but it comes down to the QBs. Who can step it up and lead their team to victory? Hopefully its Canfield.

Do the Beavers have a chance against the Bears?

How do the Beavers win this game? Well, we have to follow the same plan as the last two wins at Memorial Stadium. Ball Control on offense, force some turnovers, and not turnover the ball.


Here's what I like going in to the game:

* Nate Longshore has a gimpy ankle. Thus, he's less mobile. Thus, we should get some sacks. Enough sacks, and we may see a UCLA vs. ND situation in our favor.

* Our run D. I think that we will prevent rushing yards and force them to pass. See above.

* Nobody expects us to win.


What I don't like:

* No Keenan Lewis. Tim Clark looks fast enough and seems to tackle well, but he's not making plays on the ball which means he could get burned in this game.

* They're playing well and may actually be the second best team in the nation.

* DeSean Jackson

* A let down is less likely after Stanford beat USC last weekend


I'm hoping to be surprised, but I'm expecting to see how good Cal really is as well. Go Beavs!

Arizona Game: Post-game thoughts

The black-out by the students was a bit weird, but hey maybe we needed a change. I like the orange, but if students in black and orange jerseys win, let's stick with it.

* The orange jerseys looked less "bra"-like. Or maybe I'm just getting used to them.

* I love our defense.

* I'm concerned about losing 3/4 of our secondary. Hughes injury didn't look bad, but Lewis' looks like it may be a few weeks.

* Yvenson Bernard was a stud again.

* The O-line was huge, especially in the first half. Run-blocking or pass-blocking, they brought it.

* I'm not sure why Riley left Moevao in so long. He looked like a mistake waiting to happen. Canfield simply looks better now than Lyle does.

* The receivers are having a few issues they're working through. The dropped passes can't happen on the road.

* I never thought I'd see Rodgers get caught by a linebacker. Either that guy was fast, or Rodgers got tired. I'm guessing that all those fake flys got to him and he was hitting the wall a bit. Great game by the little guy though.

* We have to figure out a solution to the second half blues. Maybe a trick play or something.

* Better job by Serna. Hopefully that improvement continues. Arizona's punter sure showed us what we're missing.


On to Cal. We seem to play well there. I just watched Stanford upset USC. Maybe we can make a stop in San Jose to get some of that magic.

Oh, and how does Olsen last through our game getting hit all game, but gets knocked out in the first quarter against Notre Dame. Man, I wish our D could have played against the walk-on with two names from UCLA.

Want to help fix the Beavers?

Beaver Nation is in Busy Beaver mode! Maybe its because we're an engineering and "hard" sciences school, but everybody is in full problem solving mode. For some of us it's the special teams mistakes. For others, its the offense and the turnovers. Some say the coaching is too conservative. Not too many people mention the defense, but when they do its about the big plays at the worst times.

The answer is of course its everything. Including the defense. But, unfortunately none of us get a vote.

The OregonLive forums are a flaming mess riddled with opportunistic ducks. Buker is evoking Halo 3 and renaming the Dam Cam to the Damn! Cam. And even the callers on the Joe Beaver Show on KEJO have an idea a minute including some ridiculous ones. Hard times people. At least Pure Orange is still mostly sane. Although there is a good discussion about how evil the CPD is.

I know why you want to fix it. I feel the same way. You think this team should be better at this point. Cut down on the mistakes and were at least 4-1, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

Well, what can we do Beaver Nation? The only thing I know is to bring it again on Saturday. Wear orange, and yell loud. We helped last week with many false starts. And that's all we can do this week.

Go Beavs

Oregon State / UCLA game

I'm not going to pile on the Beavers today. Everyone saw what happened. But I've definitely tempered my expectations for the season. I no longer expect a bowl this season, which is sad. If it happens again I'll be rooting for it the whole way and I won't give up on the team yet. But I just think the road ahead is way too tough. I'd love to be proven wrong, but if my expectations are lower then I won't let it ruin my weekend when they do lose. Now I'll be looking for signs from the young players that show they will be better next season.

It is sad that we wasted that great defensive performance yesterday.

You know what? I'd like to try that total dominance thing someday.

Thoughts on the UCLA game and are Beaver fans happy with the football program?

I have a great feeling this game. Sure we haven't beat UCLA in a while, but we haven't had a home game in the Riley II era. Plus, we absolutely have dominated on run defense and I really think that will be the difference. We will win 31-17.

Of course I'm a major Beaver fan so what else would I think? I just read the book "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby. Great read and it really makes you think about how crazy you are as a fan.

After last weekend I sometimes wonder if I will ever feel the joy of the Fiesta Bowl season again. Is this it? Don't get me wrong, times are good. We are currently in a golden era of Beaver football. Last year was about as good as it gets. But after a great year, why must we have a down year?

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be a USC, Michigan, or Florida fan. Is there any euphoria? Is winning so expected that all you ever feel is disappointment when you lose. You never the sheer euphoria of beating a USC. Would I want that for the Beavs? Total domination for years on end? Does winning get old? I'm too young to remember the dominant Beaver basketball teams of the early 80's, but even that wasn't more flash in the pan than total domination.

What would you rather have? Years and years of rarely losing? Or what we have now: Generally pretty good, winning bowl games but never really in the National Championship reace. The question isn't should we expect more, but are we happy with what we have? Do all the 5-6 and 7-5 seasons make the 10 or 11 win seasons that much better?

ASU: The streak continues

The Beavers found another way to lose in Tempe.

If you could script the first 2.5 quarters, then they would have been just about perfect. Jump out to a big early lead. Hold them to FGs when they get close to scoring. Score at the beginning of the second half to keep them down by 2 TDs. recipe for a win, eh?

But then our team had flashbacks of the Cincy game and decided to turn the ball over and give up huge plays. Ug. Four touchdowns in a row and I turned the game off. Our vaunted defense is really good against the run, but not really good at defending the pass.

Looking at things now, we will probably beat any team that relies heavily on the run. But really, that's not too many teams in the Pac-10. Maybe UW. It will be down to who makes less mistakes in the passing game. That's probably who wins the game home or away.

It's too bad we can't just pound the ball more and take some pressure off of Canfield. The stats look good, but the running is too inconsistent. We get 1 and 0 yards way too often.

Well, UCLA next week. We've got a good shot to beat them. If we can get a big crowd for UCLA that will help pick up the Beavs who were very close to pulling off the upset in Tempe. Don't give up yet on this team. Road wins are tough and we need to win all of the home games on our schedule.

ASU: the streak must end.

ASU is a major hurdle for the Beavers. There's not many streaks left from the bad old days, but this is one of them. What is it about ASU that is such a stumbling block? Is it the heat? Maybe the large stadium? The fact that the games are so early in the season and we're a late season team?

All I know is that I want this win. I want to shock the Pac-10 and get rid of that taste of the Cincy game.

Everyone wearing their lucky shirt? Radio only today, so maybe that will change it up and give us some 1960's mojo.


Come on Beavs!!!


Have you seen the look-alike contests from both ASU and OSU? Pretty funny stuff:

Scout.com: ASU roster look alikes

Scout.com: OSU Look-a-likes

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!

The QB situation

Today, I'm more concerned about the weather for the game and my tailgater than I am about ISU. So I'm going to talk about the QB situation.

First, I think that Canfield will be the man this season. I know Riley mentioned Gundy this week throwing another wrench into the system, but Canfield will take slowly improve and will do well this season. Why? Here's my theory: If it takes about a season for new QBs to learn the system from scratch (Derek Anderson and Matt Moore) then a QB who has been in the system 2-3 years will acclimate to game speed much faster (Sean Canfield).

Both Matt and Derek had no experience with Riley's offense. Each had prior game experience under different systems with mixed results. But both had a ton of interceptions in their first year under Riley's system.

(Cmp-Att-Int)
Moore.... 211-355-19, 11 td, 271 ypg, 123.11 effic
Derek.... 261-510-24, 24 td, 312 ypg, 124.13 effic

By their Senior years both Matt and Derek "broke out". They looked confident, controlled, and much less mistake-proned. But they were both learning on the job in their Junior years and didn't really know Riley's offense completely.

Canfield is also learning on the job. But he played in 10 games last season and went 28-45 with 2 tds, 2 ints, and 335 yards passing. That's basically a game an a half. Add that to his two half games this year and he's about 3-4 games in to his learning year. So at worst he will start to come around in game 7 or 8 and become a good QB.

However, I have this sneaking suspicion that he will come around sooner if given playing time. Mainly because he doesn't really have to learn on the job. He knows the offense in and out. Now he's just getting the game speed down and learning how to read defenses. Tough, yes, but not as tough as doing both at the same time. So I predict (and hope) that he will be a solid QB around the Arizona or UCLA game. That means less mistakes and basically not costing us the game. By the end of the season he could be really contributing a lot. Especially if teams are still stacking up on the run. I really hope Sean starts it in a big way against ISU today.

Here's to one more warm Saturday game before fall hits.

Go Beavs!