and some that were sold, and count, that weren’t occupied.

Shots of the stands later in the game reflected the typical California tendency to bail out on their team early once a win has become a remote possibility, or impossible.

Early in the game, the place seemed to be pretty full in most sections.

The Beavers quieted and cleared out the crowd, always a nice thing to do on the road.

OOOOOOOOOO
SSSSSSSSSS
UUUUUUUUUU
!!!!!!!!!!

I still remember hearing that in the background at times. Was good to hear.

shows that while the line had some trouble dealing with a clogging scheme that gave very few lanes for Quizz to run thru, they had their best game so far as far as pocket pass protection goes. Sean Canfield is making himself some money in the last month, as he is doing the things pro scouts will appreciate, and a 70% completion rate fairly jumps off the page at you.

Two of the four first half incompletions were off the hands of receivers. Inexperienced true freshman Marcus Wheaton broke his route into the middle of the field about one stride too soon, but we are talking about an NFL grade adjustment here, and one that Marcus will time out better the next time as a result of this experience.

Joe Halahuni, who had a career afternoon, will be keeping Nick Holt, and future opponents’ defensive coordinators as well, up late. When Arizona lost Rob Gronkwski, a lot of folks figured only Oregon’s Ed Dickson remained as a premier tight end in the Pac-10 (USC’s Anthony McCoy, now injured, hadn’t fully appeared yet). The position has been relegated to history in many programs at all levels, what with the advent of various spread offenses, but Oregon St. has kept what can be a major threat in their system.

Halahuni has made almost a quantum leap on a weekly basis, and is a physical mismatch for most defensive backs in the business. This requires defensive schemes that provide secondary support on nearly every play, which restricts blitz schemes, opens seams for the wide outs, and if a defense isn’t careful and fast, limits run support.

Halahuni even added a return, making him the game’s leading all-purpose yardage gainer. Anyone want to think about how nervous it makes future opponents to think that James Rodgers may not be the biggest overall threat out there? Not to worry, James had a touchdown too, so the Rodgers brothers will remain the best two person tandem on any team in the country. Haven’t seen updated numbers, but going into the weekend, they were more than 40 YARDS PER GAME ahead of the next best two person tandem! I doubt anyone made much of a dent in that, considering the brothers combined for 217 yards and two TDs.

The dreaded red zone problems that existed most of the season only arose in the second half sequence where Canfield threw an interception, and after Lance Mitchell returned the favor on Kevin Riley, the Beavers had to settle for a Justin Kahut field goal.

Reviewing the tape, the first interception was the result of the pass being thrown to the inside shoulder of the receiver, when the play called for it to be dropped over the outside shoulder, where Sean Cattouse couldn’t have reached the ball, even with a great effort.

Again, this is an NFL type play, one a player like former Beaver TJ Houshmandzadeh would have helped make by driving his route inside a stride, leaving the ball on his outside shoulder. Saturday, the element of surprise that still almost produced what would have been a game breaker of a score was run by third string slot receiver Aaron Nichols running out of the wide receiver position.

So we are splitting hairs about pro-grade route running. If that’s the worst thing one can find that still needs work, then the offense was clicking pretty well. And evidence that the more aggressive offense everyone was looking for earlier in the season was on its way. It’s worth remembering that Sammy Stroughter and Shane Morales are not out there any more, but also that their replacements are steadily making progress.

As far as Quizz having an off day, it’s worth noting that he still got a touchdown on a breakopen play, and also had an important first down as the Beavers were melting down the clock, which is important in preventing a repeat of the UCLA rally.

Notably, as is so often the case, these key runs came after the Bears defense was beginning to tire out. Even when Quizz is stopped up, the stress he puts on a defense every play has a wearing affect.

Defensively, a couple of sacks, and some impact come closes, kept Kevin Riley off balance a lot of the time. The Beavers defense just doesn’t have the up-front speed of an LSU or a Florida. But it does have “keep coming speed”, and the mindset to match. Especially Keaton Kristick, who got off to a great start, thanks to defensive coordinator Mark Banker’s game plan.

The only thing Oregon St. didn’t have a good answer for was Syd’Quan Thompson. Very few do. Thompson was as much a reason Quizz was bottled up as often as he was as anything, consistently playing sideline to sideline, frequently being at the point of attack even when the play was run away from him. USC’s Taylor Mays gets a lot of note as one of the best defensive backs in the country, never mind the Pac-10, but anything the diminutive Thompson gives away in coverage he more than makes up for in run support, especially against the wide stuff the Rodgers brothers specialize in.

Still, as the game wore down, a lasting image I have (on tape) was Quizz stepping just out of the reach of a diving Thompson. It’s well documented that Quizz does get frustrated when he doesn’t get big yardage, but the second half of the USC and Cal games demonstrate that even when that happens, the opposition is in for some frustration as well. Good backs get better as the game goes on, and Quizz is doing that.

Quizz should “get well” against Washington, but don’t be surprised if his numbers are held back a bit because the Beavers are busy burning the Husky secondary. (Last year, Quizz ran for “only” 94 yards and one touchdown in the Beavers’ 34-13 win.)

There aren’t a lot of upgrades in the Dogs’ defense from last year, and we have Canfield (remember, he is completing about 70% of his throws) against the defense that ranks 111th. in the country against the pass.

A defense that James Rodgers ran for touchdowns of 52 and 55 yards against in Seattle, and also caught a 33 yard touchdown pass, as Lyle Moevao completed 18 of 22 passes for 191 yards, and had just one incomplete pass in the first half for the Beavers.

gets better by the week. Jordan Bishop had his first touchdown, and Jordan Poyer had another good game on special teams, and is being used in more ways. These are two of the best athletes on the squad, and are “living up to the hype.”

Looking at the Duck defensive debacle, there is also reason to be encouraged looking ahead to the Civil War. It’s going to take points, probably a lot of them to keep up with the Oregon offense, which scored what would usually be enough points to win.

But while Toby Gerhart’s career afternoon rushing has rightly received a lot of the credit for Stanford’s success, early on, before Gerhart got really rolling, and the Cardinal had a lead that called for clock melting, Andrew Luck drove Stanford at will through the air.

The Duck defense has been successful in part due to their making big plays, but when they don’t, they leave seams open to timing routes. The kind Canfield is completing with increasing regularity. And it wasn’t just Stanford that put up a lot of points against them (remember Purdue?).

It will be interesting to see how Arizona’s Nick Foles fares when the Ducks visit Tucson in a week. Another difficult time against the pass could lead Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti to drop linebackers deeper into coverage. Which sounds like QUIZZ TIME!

Is they were talking about how certain teams had found themselves a strong team identity and Cal is struggling with it, but OSU definitely know who they are. I totally agree with that and with Sean at the helm of the offense and the way the defense is coming around I just think that the Beavs are team to take very seriously right now. UW should be interesting for I fully expect an easy win, but if the Beavs struggle it could take a some of the momentum off, or completely destroy, the run of late.

I kind-of like the less high stress aspect of the season right now as opposed to last year, which don’t get me wrong was a great run, for the team seems a bit more relaxed this season and I think this is what they needed last year. I don’t like how some things are out of the team’s control, but also like how the last three games stack up. So, yes I agree with everyone that this could well be a very interesting end of the year in the Pac-10!