Two Weeks ‘Til TCU In Texas
by AndyPanda on Aug 21, 2010 7:57 PM PDT
in Oregon State Football
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Saturday's practice/scrimmage as usual featured a little work on each of a lot of things, but the passing game got the greatest amount of attention, followed closely by special teams, where everything from practicing corner punts to fair catches got some reps.
While Markus Wheaton is back working on both receiving and kick returns, it's clear that right now, the first unit of receivers in James Rodgers, Jordan Bishop, and Aaron Nichols. Some four receiver sets and lots of specialty packages will be in offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf's tool box though. And the next shakeup could be just a pulled quad away.
Defensive coordinator Mark Banker and linebackers coach Greg Newhouse have to be weighing their options as far as packages as well, though, given the number of players in the rotation. Can they keep both Unga brothers on the second unit? Should they?
It wouldn't be surprising if the secondary remains fluid, and with a bye after the TCU game, there will be a lot more work before Riley has to make any final decisions.
Saturday saw some time on the "jumbo" package on the goal line, and it represented most of the work on the running game. It's also where Ryan McCants excels.
But it's never long before Riley and Langsdorf are back to airing it out, and Saturday saw more deep stuff. Ryan Katz several times dropped balls thrown over 50 yards downfield right on a receiver's hands, and usually it was James Rodgers.
The preseason AP poll has defending National Champion Alabama number one, with Ohio St. who holds the current longest run of being ranked in the top 25 second. And Boise St., the Beavers' end of September opponent, is third.
Oregon is the highest ranked Pac-10 team, in at 11th. USC, which is not eligible for votes in the Coaches' poll, but can receive AP votes, is the next Pac-10 team, ranked 14th. Stanford is just outside the top 25, at #27, and future Pac-12 member Utah is 28th.
James Rodgers hauls in a pass as he sprints past Jordan Poyer.
Ryan Katz rifles another pass in practice.
Jacquizz Rodgers got in on passing drills, both running the Wild Beaver,
and as a receiver.
'Quizz also got some more traditional tailback work in.
Wilder McAndrews (68) got a long look at left tackle with the first unit, and looked good.
Offensive Line Coach Mike Cavanaugh watches the blocking for Ryan Katz,
Markus Wheaton fields a punt during special teams practice.
Joe Halahuni demonstrates how to throw a block during the TE/HB breakout session.
Aaron Nichols escapes coverage for a catch on the far sideline.
Keith Pankey (35), back from an achilles injury (note brace on right leg), and Reuben Robinson work at linebacker.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
(Photos by Andy Wooldridge)
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Wow
I loved what I saw from Wheaton on Monday. I thought he would be a starter for sure.
September 4th, 4:45 PM, ESPN
He's been slowed this week,
but with two weeks to go, things could change a couple of times again.
Aaron Nichols is going to be hard to keep off the field, because he can keep himself alive, get open, and catch anything thrown close to him.
Watch for James to go deep, and/or Jordan Bishop, and then be able to throw Marcus in on the next play, while they catch their breath, and the DB has to run while winded. Opposing secondaries are going to have to be in very good condition, or be very deep.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
Might be a good investment to quietly put a hedge bet down
on Joe Halahuni as well.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
good pick.
on defense i’d consider one of the DBs (Lance Mitchell or James Dockery, maybe) or Taylor Henry
Cameron Collins
Is my pick for breakout D player. But the area in most
need of a breakout player is unquestionably linebacker.
Unless there is significant improvement, the current
group flat out will not do against the offenses of TCU,
BSu, or USC, but most importantly Oregon.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 21, 2010 9:24 PM PDT up reply actions
I just don't see him touching the ball that often.
Quizz
James
Halahuni
Bishop
Catchings
Wheaton
Nichols
Camp
Those eight weapons constituteprobably 95% of
your offense. Meaning however good Gwacham
may be, he’ll only be on the field 10% of the time:
which may be often enough to make the occasional
play, but not sustained or significant impact.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 21, 2010 9:35 PM PDT up reply actions
He could end up being one of those situational guys
Like Kjos, Morales, and Adeniji.
September 4th, 4:45 PM, ESPN
I think Nichols is the next Kjos + Adeniji
Bishop has to fill Morales’ role, mostly because Shane figured out he could make a living up high, and Jordan is the receiver best suited to go up there. This despite Aaron is much more like Shane, as far as speed and ability to work open goes.
I think we are going to wish Nichols had at least one more year left before all is said and done. Of course, I felt that way about Morales as well.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
Agreed
On all points made here. If Bishop or Nichols
can mimic Morales’ clever tactic of finding soft
spots in opposing zones, I think they’ll find the
same results. With all the weapons at our
disposal, adding in Katz’s potential to make
plays with his feet, the defense won’t have any
choice but to pick their poison.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 21, 2010 9:58 PM PDT up reply actions
Obum does present a physical problem
for a lot of opposing DBs. He has a lot of fine tuning of route running and hand work to do.
And nothing has been said here about Mitch Singler. He has shown the progress that such a hard worker would be expected to make. And he is just a good, smart football player. Like Poyer, at some point you have to find a way to get a player like that on the field.
Without a doubt, the several receiver spots is OSU’s deepest position group, and deeper than it has ever been.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
He is very interesting.
Management of eligibility to get the most out of the time available, from both the team and the player’s point of view, is becoming one of the big deals facing the coaching staff.
I tend to agree that saving a season might be best for Obum, but its also two months until mid-season. Could he become a game changer by the time the USC, Stanford, and UofO games roll around?
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
Hope he can save that for the CW.
And I hope Markus Wheaton actually does a lot of scoring this year.
If there’s one guy who could make the most impact
by breaking out, it would be Joe Halahuni. A giant TE
with good hands is a DCoord’s worst nightmare,
unless it’s a scrambling QB.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
Aaaand
That was meant to be a reply to the other
comments regarding breakout players, ha.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 21, 2010 9:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Quarterback
I have not seen any of the practices, but my primary concern is the lack of experience at the quarterback position. It is difficult to win with an inexperienced quarterback. I figure the TCU defense is going to make Katz beat them. I would load up the line with 8 or 9 players to stop Quizz.
Let’s hope Katz has a great first game. That is the only way the Beavers will win against TCU.
In other news
Brett Favre has returned to the Minnesota Vikings…
And Greg Oden is injury prone.
Posterizing Pau since 2008...
by ocho_ocho on Aug 22, 2010 1:53 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Be nice, Ocho.
Haha but seriously.
I would load up the line with 8 or 9 players to stop Quizz.
I rather think we’ll end up seeing only 6 or at most
7 in the box. One thing I’ve noticed is that Langsdorf
is running a significant amount of shotgun sets. This
is of course partly due to the obvious fact that shotgun
is easier on the QB: less need to worry about the footwork
dropping back entails, he can see the blitz more quickly,
and finally it’s just flat out easier to catch a snap than
the potentially troublesome handoff from Center to QB.
But I think there is more too it than that. In light of our
unprecedented depth & talent in the receiving corps, I
really think Langsdorf and Riley are trying to make the
best use of our best weapons. Shotgun sets are inherently
both more wide-open, and more versatile than those
in which the QB goes under center. In other words, you
have more field to work with, and can put more of those
weapons in space. When you have Quizz, James, Halahuni,
Bishop, Wheaton, Nichols, and possibly Camp or Gwachum
to work with, what do you do? You put as many of them
on the field at the same time as possible.
So you’re partly right: they will make Katz beat them. But
it won’t be so much stacking the box as it will be blitzing.
With as often as we’ll be in shotgun, they won’t be able to
afford to stack. It’s football strategy 101: we’re playing to
our strength – a bevy of legitimate weapons.
Let’s hope Katz has a great first game. That is the only way the Beavers will win against TCU.
We actually don’t need a great game out of Ryan. Just a
fairly solid one. Get the ball to your weapons; don’t turn
it over. If we can get those two things out of him, we should
win. Simple as that.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 22, 2010 4:20 PM PDT up reply actions
i think running a bunch of shotgun sets takes away from quizz’s ability as a running back…
one of my biggest mike riley/langsdorf pet peeves is when they constantly go shotgun on every 3rd and 3 or less
Re Quizz: I agree with you to some extent. But two
points.
#1. On one hand, the offensive line is not a strength
right now, and some would say that that is a hardy
underestatement. True, we have arguably the best
ballcarrier in the country, but without a solid, powerful
O-line, you won’t be able to line up and pound it.
#2. On the other hand, we know that we can rely
on Quizz to run the ball well. The passing game is
neither as simple, nor as experienced as our running
game. Thus the abundance of practice time devoted
to shotgun sets, which are of course more prone to
passing plays. It’s a matter of what needs more
work. Right now it’s the passing game.
If what you’re really addressing is our running too many
shotgun sets in games, well… Our offense didn’t seem
to struggle last year. Now on the short-yardage situations,
I share some of your frustration. But again, hard to argue
with last year’s offensive results.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 22, 2010 5:41 PM PDT up reply actions
i’d disagree about the o line being a weakness right now. i’d argue that the offensive line is actually a strength.
and, besides, with the zone running system that riley uses, you don’t necessarily need a real good o line to run for a ton of yards
Oh I didn’t mean to say the o-line IS a weakness, only that with Phillip out I wouldn’t call it a strength.
I understand your point about the zone scheme; however, look at the games we lost last year, and look how many yards Quizz didn’t have on the ground in those same games. Look at the critical moments in the Civil War: we couldn’t pound it on the ground, and thus in Quizz’s own words, “We kicked way too many field goals.” Will this year’s line be better? We’ll see. But in any case, there’s only one kind of successful offense: the two-dimensional kind.
All in all, we’re using shotgun sets to utilize what we all agree is our primary strength – plenty of weapons; and because the passing game needs more work than our simple zone-running game. If we insist on pounding it to the detriment of the air, we limit ourselves by using only one weapon – Quizz – and allow the defense to stack the box. Whereas If we’re lining up in shotgun every other play, the defense has to shuffle in personnel constantly, not knowing whether we’ll line up under center and pound it, or shotgun and spread it out.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 23, 2010 11:21 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
You guys are having an intelligent football conversation here
and I’m just tryin to make fun of people. I think I’m havin more fun.
12 more days!!!!
Posterizing Pau since 2008...
No we're not.
We’re just trying to make the gawldang time between
now and septemberfourfourfortyfoureasternstandardtime
pass at a more endurable rate.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 23, 2010 6:04 PM PDT up reply actions
It's a little longer than that
Its septemberfoursevenfortyfoureasternstandardtime .
September 4th, 4:45 PM, ESPN
Looks like you need to change up your signature then, Connor.
September 4th, 4:44 PM, ESPN
Posterizing Pau since 2008...
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/orst-m-footbl-sched.html
That’s where I got it from.
September 4th, 4:45 PM, ESPN
The closer I get to game time,
The further I get from all other realities.
Even the reality of the actual game time.
James freakin' Rodgers. Beast.
by The Orange Joe on Aug 24, 2010 11:49 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
You're right about TCU
But I’m honestly not that worried about Katz. I know history will tell me otherwise, but it sounds like he’s had a great camp. And when he played agaisnt Portland State and BYU last year, he also looked pretty sharp.
It’s just a gut feeling.
September 4th, 4:45 PM, ESPN
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Pacific-12 Conference Standings
(updated 1.2.2012 at 11:12 PM PST)
| North | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
Oregon Ducks
|
8 | 1 | 12 | 2 |
|
Stanford Cardinal
|
8 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
|
Washington Huskies
|
5 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
|
California Golden Bears
|
4 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
|
Oregon St. Beavers
|
3 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
|
Washington St. Cougars
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| South | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
USC Trojans
|
7 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
|
UCLA Bruins
|
5 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
|
Utah Utes
|
4 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
|
Arizona St. Sun Devils
|
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|
Arizona Wildcats
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
|
Colorado Buffaloes
|
2 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
Pacific-12 Conference Standings
(updated 2.9.2012 at 11:09 PM PST)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
California Golden Bears
|
9 | 3 | 19 | 6 |
|
Washington Huskies
|
9 | 3 | 16 | 8 |
|
Oregon Ducks
|
8 | 4 | 17 | 7 |
|
Arizona Wildcats
|
8 | 4 | 17 | 8 |
|
Colorado Buffaloes
|
8 | 4 | 16 | 8 |
|
UCLA Bruins
|
7 | 5 | 14 | 10 |
|
Stanford Cardinal
|
6 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
|
Oregon St. Beavers
|
5 | 7 | 15 | 9 |
|
Washington St. Cougars
|
5 | 7 | 13 | 11 |
|
Arizona St. Sun Devils
|
4 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
|
Utah Utes
|
2 | 10 | 5 | 19 |
|
USC Trojans
|
1 | 11 | 6 | 19 |
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
