More photos » Michael Conroy - AP

8 days ago: Indianapolis Colts center Kyle DeVan, right, throws to offensive tackle Michael Toudouze before team practice in Indianapolis, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010. The Colts are to play the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl XLIV NFL football game on, Sunday, Feb. 7, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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Super Bowl XLIV is set to kickoff from Miami in just a few minutes. The game features former Oregon State offensive lineman Kyle DeVan, who is the starting right tackle for the Indianapolis Colts. 

SBNation.com has you covered: Saints-Colts, Super Bowl XLIV: Your Excuse To Party On A School Night

Who you got? 

--Jake | (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

News from Boise St. is news around Corvallis when the Broncos are on the Beavers' schedule, as they are this fall, and there have been some recent developments that will be factors come this fall.

The Broncos' made for ESPN showcase game with Virginia Tech that will be played at FedEx Field in Washington DC has been moved to Sept. 6, Labor Day. As a result, the Beavers will be the Broncos' opponent for their home opener when they visit at the end of September.

Boise St., like Oregon St., have a bye in the second week, after both teams have played their season openers on the road for ESPN. The Broncos visit Wyoming the week before the Beavers come calling.

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As far as the offseason goes, today is right up there on the list of most important days for the Oregon State football coaching staff-- it's National Signing Day. It's the day in which we find out if the high school players who have verbally committed to Oregon State actually sign on the dotted line, and it's the day we find out if any of those players decide to bolt to other schools. 

At Oregon State, this is generally an exciting but low-profile day, as the Beavers are known for assembling teams full of two and three star recruits, and matching up well against teams who bring in the high-profile four and five star guys. Of course, the Beavers hope to land several big-name recruits, but for the most part, these are guys who you probably won't hear about for another year or two as they learn the system and climb the depth chart. 

As the letters of intent pour in over the Valley Football Center fax machine and thy are announced to the public, feel free to share any excitement or disappointment in the comment thread below. See the two links below. 

Oregon State Signing Day Central

SBNation.com Signing Day StoryStream - up to the minute updates from around the country

If all goes according to plan, Building the Dam will also have representation tonight at the annual recruiting dinner, and a brief recap of that event will be delivered to you in the near future. 

GO BEAVERS!

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Former USC assistant Lane Kiffin, shown at left in Kim Klement's US Presswire photo from a game this past season, created quite a stir when he announced tonight (Tuesday, 1/12) that he is leaving Tennessee after one season, to take the top job with the Trojans that Pete Carroll, whom Kiffin coached under, vacated to take over the Seattle Seahawks.

After making a brief statement on campus before proceeding to clean out his office, Kiffin found the parking lot blockaded, as Volunteer boosters and students responded with a minor riot. Roving groups on campus set a fire in the quad, and were in search of Kiffin to vent their frustrations. In another difference between the Pac-10 and the SEC, Kiffin inadvertently discovered that coaching changes in the SEC usually involve, tears, or yelling and something being set on fire.

Ed Orgeron, another former USC assistant who was also assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator for Kiffin in Knoxville, will be coming to the Trojans too, and will join Lane Kiffin's father Monte, who was defensive coordinator for the Volunteers, and will assume the same role in LA. Orgeron was also recruiting coordinator for Pete Carroll when he was with the Trojans the first time.

(Updated 1/14)

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More photos » Jae C. Hong - AP

Pete Carroll's days at USC are done. Who going to be the one to fill his shoes?

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The Latest (3:15PM):

Many people are trying to say this is a done deal, while just as many others are saying the process of Carroll accepting an offer to coach the Seattle Seahawks will take longer than everyone thinks. The things that seem to be for certain are that: (1) whether this happens today or tomorrow or next week, Carroll is going to go to Seattle, and (2), when he does, the Trojans will have Mike Riley as #1 on their list of candidates.

Original Post (2:46PM):

Since the rumors started yesterday, there really has been no doubt that the Seahawks had zeroed in on Pete Carroll to take over for Jim Mora. Futhermore, there was no doubt that Pete Carroll was going to turn this down. 

It now appears that the Seahawks have satisfied the Rooney Rule, and an agreement has been reached. 

With Carroll likely gone at USC, there is also no doubt that the Trojans are going to come after our very own Mike Riley. Will the Corvallis-native, Prius-driving Riley buy what USC AD Mike Garrett sells him? That's up for speculation. 

It's like Pat Casey being courted by Notre Dame, but to a whole new extreme. 

More as it breaks. 

ESPN is reporting... (as of about 2:00PM):

Pete Carroll has reached an agreement in principle with the Seahawks on a deal to be their next head coach, multiple NFL sources confirmed to ESPN's Adam Schefter early Saturday morning.

Carroll was fully expected to be introduced by the Seahawks as early as Monday, after the team interviewed Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on Saturday morning.

According to the sources, Frazier met with the Seahawks in Minneapolis, satisfying the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head-coaching and senior football-operations hires.

Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke had told Frazier that Carroll definitely does not have Seattle's job. Frazier had been unwilling to talk with the Seahawks about the head-coaching vacancy if Carroll had been promised full control of the Seahawks. Multiple sources indicated to ESPN he had been.

UPDATE, 2:59PM: The Associated Press is saying that an agreement hasn't been reached, but all signs still point to Carroll taking over in Seattle:

Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks do not have an agreement despite widespread reports but are closing in on a deal, according to a league official with direct knowledge of the coaching search.

The official told The Associated Press on Saturday the team is in "discussions" with the Southern California coach and do not plan on giving him the additional title of president. The official added the Seahawks will hire a general manager and coach separately.

"No, they do not have an agreement. They are not there," the official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Seahawks are not commenting.

When asked if Carroll will become the eighth coach in Seattle's 34-year history, the official said all signs point that way, just "not so fast" as has been reported.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Kevin P. Casey - AP

Craig Robinson-- who welcomed a child on Monday of this week-- and his team are back in action tonight, trying to pick up one final non-conference win before Pac-10 play resumes with the Civil War on Sunday.

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Oregon State vs. Seattle U  /  5:30PM  / TV on FSN NW

Pac-10 play is just one week old, but it already feels like the Beavers are in the thick of the schedule, as they've been on the losing end of two close games and just finished a grueling weekend of basketball. 

That's why what should be a mid-week confidence builder like the Beavers have tonight is a good thing before Pac-10 play resumes in Eugene on Sunday. If the Beavers win, of course.

Seattle U is 6-9 on the season, and has lost four straight entering tonight's game. Their most recent lost came at the hands of Harvard, who beat the Redhawks 92-71. A common opponent to both OSU and Seattle's schedules in Fresno State, a team in which the Beavers beat convincingly two weeks ago. Seattle also beat the Bulldogs, squaking out a 85-85 win back in mid-November.

A quick glance at the statistics for the Redhawks show that their weakness is on defense. They're giving up a very high field goal percentage, and opponents are getting to the line at a relitively alarming rate.

It's interesting to not that the Redhawks are more reliant upon one player than any other team in the nation, and that guy is their 6-9 junior center, Charles Garcia. Garcia is averaging 23 points per game and has 10 rebounds, and is involved in 37-percent of Seattle U's offensive possession, the statistic in which leads the nation. Garcia is one of the best defensive rebounders in the league, and although he hasn't been picking up offensive rebounds at as high of a clip, he will be a challenge for the Beaver defense to box out for sure.

Rounding out the starting lineup:
Chris Gweth, 6-1 senior, 11 points per game
Aaron Broussard, 6-5 sophomore, 10 points per game, 9 rebounds
Cervante Burrell, 5-10 sophomore, 10 points per game, 4 assits
Mike Boxley, 6-5 senior, 9 points per game

Tipoff is set for just a few minutes after 5:30 on FSN Northwest. Feel free to jump into the comment thread with your game observations. I'll have my postgame thoughts up within a few hours of the game's culmination.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Another Pac-10 season has come and gone, and like usual-- things didn't go exactly as expected. Arizona State underachieved, as did California, and Arizona did far better than expected-- except in that 33-0 schlacking they took in the Holiday Bowl. The Trojans lost four (should have been five!! ugh!) games, which most people didn't expect. The Ducks won the conference, which was a bit of a surprise, and the Beavers had an opportunity at the Roses, again, and lost. 

Building the Dam will have more on the Pac-10's 2-5 bowl record later in the week, but for now-- let's take a look at how our Pre-Season Poll held up.

Back in July, we sat down and hammered out our Building the Dam Pre-Season Poll in advance of Pac-10 Media Day. The Beavers came in relatively high at #2 in the BtD Poll, which USC claiming the top spot and Oregon coming in fourth. Here's a look at our poll and the final Pac-10 standings, side-by-side:

Now, it's time to cast our ballots for our final Pac-10 Poll.  The voting form can be found after the break or at this link. Beaver fan perspectives, only, please.  

--Jake | (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

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More photos » Mark J. Terrill - AP

about 1 month ago: Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel holds the championship trophy after his team beat Oregon 26-17 at the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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For Beaver fans, and Duck and Pac-10 fans for that matter, the only problem is it is the wrong OSU. The Buckeyes' Terrell Pryor showed Duck fans why Duck coach Chip Kelley wanted Pryor to come west so badly that he visited Pryor weekly during his senior basketball season.

Pryor led Ohio St. past Oregon for a 26-17 win in the Rose Bowl, with an effort that was incredibly similar to how the Ducks won the Civil War, and earned their way to Pasadena in the first place. At least now the Ducks know exactly how the Beavers felt on the night of December 3^rd., except they aren't as cold.

Just as in the game that decided which team from Oregon would go to the Rose Bowl, the team that lost tonight scored first in the third quarter, for a lead that felt like it would hold up, but allowed a long, time consuming scoring drive in the first half of the fourth quarter. Continuing the pattern, the losing team, having fallen behind, couldn't score on their last possession, and then could not make a defensive stop to get off the field, as the winner converted multiple third downs, and eventually was able to run out the clock.

The Ducks just like the Beavers had a young team with 18 starters coming back. And the Ducks just like the Beavers saw both their offense and their defense not be able to make a big play with the game on the line.

The loss concluded a 2-4 conference bowl season, where the LA schools prevailed, and the rest, well, didn't. Only Stanford was even within a score at the end. The upside is a lot of very young teams in a young conference should have learned some life lessons as well as some football ones, and will have the opportunity to redeem themselves next season.

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