Emerald Bowl Defensive Report Card

The Offensive Report Card can be found here.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B+ (88) Dorian Smith led the Oregon State defensive linemen with five tackles, two of them for loss. But a costly offsides penalty by Dorian cost the Beavers a fumble, lowering the line's grade a bit. The offsides penalty came on the play where Chris Turner completed a pass, the receiver caught the ball, then dropped it, then a member of the OSU secondary got on the ball just before it went out of bounds.

However, the line helped hold Maryland to only 19 net rushing yards in 25 attempts. Victor Butler sacked Chris Turner once for a loss of five yards, the only sacked produced by the line.

LINEBACKERS A (95)

The linebackers had a phenomenal night, again, helping to hold Maryland to 19 rushing yards. Derrick Doggett was the defensive MVP of the game, and for good reason. He had 8 tackles, one for loss, to go along with his sack of Chris Turner that wound up as a loss of 14 yards for the Terps. Darlin and LaRocque each had for tackles. We're going to miss this linebacker trio next year, but hopefully some of our new guys (Keith Pankey, Dennis Christopher, etc.) to help fill the void.

SECONDARY B- (81)

Our pass defense, which has been average throughout the season, had a bit of a let down in the first quarter before either Maryland's offense quit or Oregon State's defense started to shut them down. I don't know which one it was, but Maryland sure took it to Oregon State in the opening minutes.

It started off when Isiah Williams caught a nine yard pass from Chris Turner for a touchdown. Then, things really got ugly when Keenan Lewis was literally burnt by Darrius Heyward-Bey for a 63 yard touchdown. If you watch the replay, there is no blown coverage or no communication error, none of that. Keenan Lewis just got burnt. Heyward-Bey, who runs a 4.38 40-yard dash, seemed to have about two or three yards on Lewis all the way down the field. Watch it for yourself:

OVERALL AVERAGE: B 88%

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--