The Beavers' final scrimmage before the start of the season went down on Saturday, and again, the defense dominated.
There are a few rule modifications for scrimmages, such as there's no kicking, every drive starts on the 30, sacks don't count, and others. If there were sacks, the passing numbers wouldn't be what they are.
Before we start talking about the scrimmage, Sammie Stroughter did show up before the scrimmages, according to reports, he sat in the end zone bleachers quietly as the team warmed up. Some say he looked subdued, some say he looked tired, but however you stack it, Sammie wasn't acting like the normal #19. Let's take this as a good sign, but move on. Obviously he's taking care of his business, and that's that.
The quarterbacks both started slow, but overall QB play improved as the scrimmage went on. Lyle Moevao got almost 3x more passes than his counterpart Sean Canfield, but we don't know whether to take this as a sign of the coaches making a decision or not. Everyone still likes Canfield for his deep ball and overall presence, but Moevao seems to be doing the little things to make up for his physique. He looks like the kind of QB that would get most of his passes batted away, but we'll wait to make that assessment until the games roll around.
At receiver, Anthony (Wheat) Brown had a solid day, as did Darrell Catchings and Brandon Powers. This has to make Beaver Nation feel better about the WR position, but we still need #19 back.
After the scrimmage, Riley alluded to the strength of the defense: "I did not like our execution, just procedural stuff, the fumbles, the not getting the handoff to the tailback. There were isolated stuff that I liked; we just have to put it together. Defensively, I thought we were sound and flew around."
The Beavers return to the practice field today for Utah preparation. It's probably safe to say that a QB decision will come sometime this week.
The stats from the scrimmage:
Rushing | Carries | Yards | TD |
Patrick Fuller | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Andy Stewart | 3 | 15 | 0 |
Ryan McCants | 5 | 22 | 0 |
Ahmed Mokhtar | 7 | 23 | 0 |
Matt Sieverson | 7 | 23 | 0 |
Sean Canfield | 3 | -16 | 0 |
James Rodgers | 3 | 8 | 0 |
Lyle Moevao | 3 | 16 | 0 |
Ryan Gunderson | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Passing | Attempts | Completions | Interceptions | Yards | TD's |
Lyle Moevao | 33 | 17 | 0 | 213 | 2 |
Sean Canfield | 13 | 6 | 0 | 77 | 1 |
Ryan Gunderson | 12 | 10 | 0 | 101 | 0 |
Brennan Sim | 1 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Justin Engstrom | 3 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
Receiving |
Receptions |
Yards |
TD's |
Darrell Catchings |
4 |
87 |
1 |
Anthony Brown |
3 |
75 |
1 |
Shane Morales |
4 |
67 |
0 |
James Rodgers |
3 |
51 |
0 |
Sam Oltman |
2 |
40 |
0 |
Brandon Powers |
5 |
30 |
0 |
Ryan McCants |
4 |
21 |
0 |
Ahmed Mokhtar |
3 |
20 |
0 |
Taylor Kavanaugh |
1 |
12 |
0 |
John Reese |
2 |
10 |
0 |
Aaron Nichols |
1 |
7 |
0 |
Patrick Fuller |
2 |
4 |
0 |
Joe Halahuni |
3 |
4 |
0 |
Gabe Miller |
1 |
1 |
1 |
GO BEAVERS!
--JB--