The Sunday Sports Page
by AndyPanda on Aug 28, 2011 9:35 AM PDT
in NCAA Basketball
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PrintIt's the last weekend without college football, which means it is the Sunday when the sports pages are filled with football features, getting the casual reader ready for the season. In this state, it means the trend to "green" journalism has reached record proportions. But there are some good reads on the Beavers as well.
The best one is by the Gazette-Times' Cliff Kirkpatrick, who has a wide-ranging interview with Oregon St. offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf. It's always refreshing when someone other than the head coach speaks (from any team), and often revealing into the where the mindset is at.
Langsdorf's comments about having a plan to get the variety of players that are a part of the "running back by committee", which really means by specialty, into the game without giving away the play, don't go into great depth, but are a welcome departure from "coach speak".
Cliff has really cranked out the content today, with a look at the offensive depth chart, the schedule ahead, and his prediction that the Beavers will go to a bowl game.
The Oregonian's Paul Buker has a report from Saturday's practice, where his headline trys to stir up some excitement about Marcus Wheaton (don't worry, Wheaton just took the hot afternoon off as a part of Riley's plan to rest him), and a summary of where recent events leave the Beavers heading into the season.
Buker has promised posted a feature on DE Dylan Wynn on O-Live today as well.
If it seems that this falls injuries have your mind spinning, your not alone. Oregon St. coaches and beat writers can't even keep up with it.
Opinions on when James Rodgers might return range from the UCLA game to the Oct. 1st. trip to Arizona St., and even beyond. No idea what the development that might get a healthy Rodgers cleared for contact might be, but a blow-out loss seems like a good possibility.
RB Jordan Jenkins, cleared by the doctor for contact, apparently isn't as cleared as we thought either, based on Saturday.
And even where health isn't an issue, it is. Opinions on whether Jordan Poyer, who was the leading kick returner in the Pac-10 last year, should be doing that again vary amongst the staff. (It appears Poyer will do some returning.) It sounds like the Beavers won't use Poyer, who, along with Brandon Hardin, were the teams best gunners, on coverage this year though. With Hardin out for much if not all of the season, those Johnny Hekkar punts downed inside the opponents' red zone might be touchbacks instead this year.
It will be interesting to see if indecision about putting the best players in position to make big plays persists once it becomes apparent Oregon St.'s opponents won't hesitate to do so.
A week from today, we will begin to get some of the answers. The Sunday Sports Pages will tell us so.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
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OSU going to a bowl?
I’m really having a hard time seeing it given the brutal schedule (BYU + Wisconsin + the North), the roster churn and the injuries. I find it interesting that Cliff says the Beavers will “still be ahead of UW” as a team when they finished last season well behind them. As much as I’d rather see OSU climbing at the expense of UO, I’m seeing a regression year ahead.
SACRAMENTO STATE (W)
WISCONSIN (L)
UCLA (W)
ARIZONA STATE (L)
ARIZONA (W)
BYU (W)
UTAH (L)
STANFORD (UPSET W)
CALIFORNIA (L)
WASHINGTON STATE (L)
WASHINGTON (L)
OREGON (L)
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
"Finished Last Season Well Behind Them"
is an exaggeration at best. The Huskies finished 5-4, and the Beavers 4-5. Had one play gone different the two would have flip flopped completely in the standings. From a team strength perspective, the two were largely indistinguishable.
I'm not talking about records...
… I’m talking about where they were in terms of momentum. UW rolled off 4 straight wins and a physically dominating bowl victory over a pretty strong Nebraska team. Meanwhile, OSU was putting up stinkers like the WSU game.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
I wouldn't be surprised by a regression
Too many injuries this off-season + no Quizz. Coach Riley and the Beavs have a history of pulling surprises, however, so I could see a possible bowl. Here’s my list:
Near-certain win:
Sacramento State – if we don’t win this…..
Reasonably likely wins:
UCLA – home game for us, Bruin Nation is in desperation/Panic Mode
California – “We always beat Cal at Cal!”
Washington State – we’ll be ready for revenge and not asleep at the wheel again
Washington (sorry Gekko, we’ll agree to disagree – it’s at Reser this time, and no Jake Locker)
Toss-ups:
BYU
Arizona
Reasonably likely losses:
Arizona State – Sun Devil Stadium is historically bad to us, and they’re a competitive team
Utah – very hostile environment against a good team
Near-certain losses:
Wisconsin – obvious
Stanford – we’ll do better than the 38-0 blowout of last year, but we don’t have the horses to win
Oregon – @#$%
I stand by my prediction that OSU WILL upset Stanford this year.
but that it will be an otherwise difficult year until you get all of your bodies back healthy.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
I’d switch Arizona and Cal on Scotty256’s list, but other than that I think he’s pretty accurate. At this point, I don’t see any road games (other than WSU in Seattle) as a likely Beaver win. In the same way that OSU gives Cal trouble, UCLA always gives the Beavers trouble for some reason, I’m worried about that game.
Of the three “near-certain losses,” I agree that Stanford is the most likely win, but I certainly wouldn’t predict a Beaver win. If Andrew Luck goes down at some point, I think Stanford falls back to earth quite a bit.
I'm not trying to start a fight but...
you have to be kidding right you have the beavers losing their last four games but upsetting Standard. Come on. Let’s take a look at your questions of OSU being ahead of Dogs at this point.
1. the dogs have to figure out who their starting QB is going to be and as we all know braking in a new QB is no easy task, heck Katz had some bad moments last year.
2. The dogs only beat the beavers in double over time later year with a hurt JR and the dogs having Jake Locker a proven QB in your house no less. As some think James was and is more important to this team than Quizz was( no disrespect to Quizz).
3. Yes, Beavers’ O-line was bad last year but they have to improve a little just by being around another year.
4. It seems that the both our LB and DB will be better also.
I’m not saying the dogs will be bad but you can’t tell me the all holy jake locker is not a big lose for the dogs and it is going to take awhile for the new QB to be good
And a loss to CAL (no disrespect to Cal) but they seem to be a bigger mess than the beavers are right now.
And if OSU losses to WSU again our season will be turly a lost one. So all I have to is child please lol
oh, them beavers
"losing their last four games"
Cliff confuses things by listing the WSU game out of order. It’s actually between BYU & Utah.
Gekko has OSU 0-3 against Cal, WSU, & UW, and that is a crucial group of teams. The Beavers need to play to their potential, and get 2 or 3 wins in those games.
The thing about the November games is so much is going to happen to all the teams between now and then, it gets really hard to pick the Cal-OSU & UW-OSU games at this point.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
fair enough...
… but Cal has the 2nd best D in the Pac 12 right now. They’ve been vastly underrated in the media (as all teams breaking in new QBs are). By the same measure, Stanford has been vastly overrated based on the presence of a great QB whose aura has led to the overinflation of a number of other players (and a rookie HC) around him. That is a 7 or 8 win team.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
Cal is a special case
For whatever reason, Riley seems to have Tedford’s number. Even the Cal blog here is generally resigned to it.
I actually agree with the Gekko on part of this
I think this season might well see the Bay Area team split he is projecting. I think getting the Cardinal at Reser bodes well for a payback game. I think the % is a bit against us to take Cal yet again but fully expect this to be a competitive game overall.
I agree with Thembevers though that I would be pretty shocked if the Beavers lose to both WA schools, and would even be a bit surprised if they lost one of those games. Maybe a split is realistic, but think there is again good mojo playing UW at home to pay them back for a game we should have won last year and I again agree and if the Beavs can’t lay out on the Cougs in a big time revenge/take them more seriously this year at their place I pretty much going to give up on the season at that point (unless we are are like undefeated and it is a major WSU upset again).
As Connor and Andy well know I’m not totally sold on ASU and think that is a winnable game, but yes I could go with Scotty’s placement of that game as “reasonable” but not guaranteed loss. I would actually put Stanford there (“reasonable” but not guaranteed loss) and move ASU to more of a “toss up.” And cannot overlook Arizona for sure (I would even say UCLA needs to be taken pretty darn seriously for I don’t want anymore ugly repeats of playing them again). BYU is an unknown to me this season so I agree about a toss up there too.
I actually, and maybe I just don’t want to bail on the season already, think the season bodes fairly well for the Beavs. They are riding under the radar. They have what I think is a tough start to the season BUT not an impossible sequence of games to start it out. I think if they can play the games through BYU with only two to three losses, and those being competitive losses, that they should have their legs under them to play Stanford, Cal, UW, and Oregon and at the very least split those last four games.
To be really wildly Orange and Black homerfan I honestly think there is a chance if the Beavs have their game figured out that they may be able to upset Stanford and/or Oregon. Again Stanford is in Corvallis and even though the UO is going to be tough again this year it is at Autzen and for whatever reason the Beavs seem to play pretty well going in there as underdogs the last few years (Katz will need to be in full end of the 2009 season Sean Canfield mode to have a chance though).
But to be realistic about the bowl question I really don’t deep down know, this OSU team is going to be a pretty big unknown coming in. That said I don’t see why not. I think in a very realistic look at the season the team has four “likely” losses to Wisconsin, Utah, Stanford, and UO. The other games are kind-of all toss ups IMHO, except for Sacramento State as a better be a gimme win (I kind-of tend to see WSU there too or at least tending more towards that end of the scale than the other way). So a 7 and 5 record is not out of the question, and I think they can do better. Would I place a bet on my house for it? Nope, for they have A LOT to prove after last year and losing Quizz, but not totally a wild pipe dream either I think to have a winning record this year. Let’s hold Riley to his promise this season will be better than last.
-RVM
Ye of little faith!
I’m going with the 2006 type of bounce back seasons with lots of exciting and close wins and winning season!
-RVM
I have tons of faith in the team!
Just not to win a bunch of games!
Plus this way I can be pleasantly surprised if they do well :)
My unwanted ideas
SAC ST. I’ve hear some good things about this team they are in the top 10 of their division and played ok for the most part VS the tree last year. But, I think that the beavers will take this one and we should see the back up by the fourth quarter.
WI: I’m sorry but if the Beavers can keep this within two touchdowns I’d be happy. Just too many players out with injuries and that darn 0900 start time. This game reminds me of the
Penn St. game a game that new player can step up in and a game the team can build around and always use as a point they don’t what to be in again. Or they could win and then all bets are off for the year lol
UCLA: This game is at home most of our stars should be back playing again and given the bye week before Reily will have his players ready to go and refocused after a possible blow out that was the WI game.
ASU: This one can go either way but seeing how it is down at ASU I’d give the them the edge but I don’t believe all the ASU hype I ‘m sorry they maybe good but I’ve hear this story before and it seems to never have the ending that people think it should or would if they are an ASU fan.
Zona: I don’t think that people are giving the Wildcats enough credit. I dislike stoops more than any other coach out there; I’m sorry but why does he not get an un-sportmen like call against him all of the time is beyond me. Either way I think that the beaver should win this one. It is at home and Reily has the cat by the tall and I do think that the Zona O-line is not very good.
BYU: I have no clue about BYU I’ve not hear much about them and don’t know anything about them. So I’ll say win because it is at home and I’m a beaver fan ( everyone has these sort of picks right???)
WSU: We can take the cougs this year it will not be in Pullman so the home field will not be like home. I think the beavers are the better team.
Utes: This is another game that should be fun between these two teams. The beaver and the Utes play each other tuff. We get to see how the Utes can reach to a year of middle and top teams rather that a few good and a lot not so good (on offence MNT team but let’s be real here) I think that if this game will all depend on the Utes if they are playing will and holding up to the strain of a Pac-12 season they win so I’ll go with a beavers loss here. (I’ll not stay on the fence either wins or loses for me no ties lol)
Stanford: I have the same feeling about this game as I do about the WI game but if something happens to Luck or if the beavers can pull some magic like they do against other highly ranked CAL schools that have red as one of their colors we win. But, their red is not the same shade and I don’t think it will happen
CAL: The beavers will win this one Cal has a lot of rebuilding to do even more than the beavers and I don’t think their coach makes it past the end of the season. This will be a close game in the end and possible CAL coach’s last game. Heck, from what I read FSU is selling more tickets than them at AT&T Park (as the kids say just saying…)
UW: I do believe that doges are not at the bottom of the of PAC heck they may even be good but they are not going to beat the beavers at home this year they have a new QB and a new O-line and did they not lose some top D players also. The beavers should be back to from a heart breaking loses from the tree and a hard fought win VS the bears.
Oregon: I just don’t want to talk about it nope will not talk about it.
oh, them beavers
sorry...
I did not mean for it to be so long but hey these boards are slow and I always like long posts to read to pass the time
oh, them beavers
And much more organized than mine!
Good overall picks/ideas I think.
I do for whatever weird reason think we go the other way with Cal and Stanford.
WSU = “I think the beavers are the better team.” = If we aren’t then it will be a LONGGGGGGG season. I know they beat us pretty easily last season and all but we do have to remember they were a 2 and 10 team last season. The Cougs have improved and I would personally like to see them climb out of the cellar, but even with how bad it got last season for the Beavs this has to be still considered one of those standard Ws coming in (well for us fans, the players need to take it as one game at a time type of deal and no brainfart-overlooking games like last year).
Sac. State = Some good points here, which I did not think much about. I agree I don’t think it will be a total Portland State like blow-out and the starters are on the sidelines five minutes into the 3rd, which then lead to the Debbie-Downer chorus going on about how the season is done because we couldn’t beat them 55 to 7. I do think it should be a win with the Beavs in control for a good portion of the game and don’t think it will come down to the 4th.
UO = Yes, I know, I know the feeling, oh too well trust me this game looms over me now in nasty ways, but I really think if the Beavs are playing some good ball all the way up to this point that this game could be the true upset of the season for us. If the Beavs are playing top 15 to 25 type of ball they will be well seasoned and I know it is cliche and all that but it is the Civil War, and look at 2009 when many thought the OSU season bubble would implode and we would get killed at Autzen (bubble imploded in the bowl game actually!). Lots of football to play so I’m not writing this one off quite yet.
-RVM
UW does not have a new O-Line.
Where does that keep coming from? 4 of the 5 starters were starting at the end of last season
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
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Beavers Football Schedule
| Sacramento St. | Sat 09/03 | L 28 - 29 |
@
Wisconsin
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Sat 09/10 | L 0 - 35 |
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UCLA
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Sat 09/24 | L 19 - 27 |
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@
Arizona St.
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Sat 10/01 | L 20 - 35 |
|
Arizona
|
Sat 10/08 | W 37 - 27 |
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BYU
|
Sat 10/15 | L 28 - 38 |
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@
Washington St.
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Sat 10/22 | W 44 - 21 |
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@
Utah
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Sat 10/29 | L 8 - 27 |
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Stanford
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Sat 11/05 | L 13 - 38 |
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@
California
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Sat 11/12 | L 6 - 23 |
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Washington
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Sat 11/19 | W 38 - 21 |
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@
Oregon
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Sat 11/26 | L 21 - 49 |
