29 days until kickoff vs. Eastern Washington....
EWU Factoid: Eastern Washington was an early trendsetter when it comes to switching nicknames from something un-PC to a better choice. In 1973, the Board of Trustees decided to abandon the original nickname of "Savages," and the student body held an election. 52 percent of the vote went with Eagles. The next two choices were Lakers and Badgers.
Football Predictions and Previews
It's the time of the year that everyone makes predictions, and this year is no different. There are a number of team predictions, as well as individual predictions, and opinions on Oregon State are all over the place.
ESPN's Travis Haney ranks the top 10 QB battles in college football ($) this fall. Oregon State comes in at #4 overall, and is one of three Pac-12 schools on the list.
Ted Miller continues his positional previews with the cornerbacks. OSU is in "Good Shape." Seems fair. Ted Miller also has a video interview with Brandin Cooks from media day, where he talks a bit about who the #2 WR is going to be, as well as whether he or Markus Wheaton would win in a footrace. Apparently, he likes Cooks well enough to rank Cooks as the #22 player in the Pac-12. I know Scott Crichton will be on this list; I'm guessing we won't see any other Beavers, but I could be pleasantly surprised. Rashaad Reynolds, maybe? He also reviews the safeties, where he puts the Beavers in "great shape."
Lindsey Schnell's countdown of rising stars continued Wednesday, and she previews the linebackers, naming coach Trent Bray as the rising star here. Thursday's entry was middle linebacker Joel Skotte. After Thursday's announcement by head coach Mike Riley that Josh Williams has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons, and won't be returning, it's increasingly clear that the middle linebacker job is Skotte's to master, or lose.
Pacific Takes lists 12 players poised to break out this year. Isaac Seumalo is the Beavers' lone representative.
CBS Sports' Randy Cross suggests Oregon State might be the under the radar Pac-12 school to watch.
Bleacher Report puts Oregon State on a list of ten college football teams likely to underachieve this season. They mention the 101st ranked running game, which is a legit concern, but they also bring up the end of the season schedule difficulty without mentioning the start of the season schedule lack of difficulty. OSU's in good company on this list, though, which largely seems designed to generate web hits. The other nine teams read like a Who's Who of college football: South Carolina, Notre Dame, Florida State, Oklahoma, Florida, Louisville, USC, Texas A&M, and Alabama.
UW Dawg Pound previews Oregon State. They don't expect much.
Athlon predicts the bowl games, and projects Oregon State in the Vegas Bowl (the #5 bowl in the Pac-12 pecking order) against Fresno State. Athlon also features 7 players who could determine the north and south division champions, and for Oregon State, they pick Edwin Selva, which is an interesting choice to be sure. Between him and Siale Hautau, there's a lot depending on those two JuCo transfers.
Football (non-predictions and previews)
Turns out that a lot of the new fancy helmets for college football are painted by an OSU grad out of Newberg. And Oregon State played a key role in the development of said helmets. Connor posted this in the comments section of Wednesday's TDL, but it bears repeating here.
The Oregon State football 2013 media guide is here.
As much as you may or may not hate the Oregon Ducks, their new football operations center is ridiculous. Whether that is good ridiculous or bad ridiculous is up to the beholder, I suppose.
Oregon State is doing their Orange Perspective video series, reviewing various highlights of 2012-2013, hosted by Bob DeCarolis. Bob DeCarolis may be many things, but an engaging video MC he is not.
The first one reviews the football season. I'll link the rest of them without video...
Other Sports
Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com has some reaction to the Collier and Moreland suspensions. He doesn't really know what it means either, since they aren't missing activities and could easily be brought back prior to game time.
Rather than an "Oh no, we suck again!" reaction, I think a "Whatever" reaction seems more justified. Does anyone really think they won't be back on the team by the start of the season? I, for one, don't. This seems more like a probationary period to me. Robinson desperately needs improvement to the team this year, I would be surprised if he suspended two of his top four players for any significant time.
Kavin Keyes is now a Corvallis Knight, at least for the shortened rest of the season. He joins Gabe Clark and incoming freshman Kevin Flemer on the team. The regular season ends August 11th, and the playoffs could go as late as August 20th.
The second Orange Perspective video recaps OSU's three conference championships: Wrestling, Gymnastics, Baseball
The third Orange Perspective video recaps OSU's academic success center, and talks about golf. soccer, softball, and track.
And for your unrelated video of the day, we show that even professional athletes sometimes have trouble doing the simple things.
Is Athlon right about their Las Vegas predictions? While that bowl isn't great, the destination is better than many others (at least for some). Vote in the poll below.