The Beavers defeated the Bruins on a cloudy, Halloween afternoon in Corvallis. Here are my thoughts on the game.
Quarterback
It's tough to improve after you have a game like Sean did against the Trojans, but he still played very well. His throws in the first half were not as crisp as usual, but he had all the kinks worked out by the final two quarters. Sean went 25 for 34, with 305 yards, one sack, and zero touchdowns.
But the play of the day goes to Jacquizz Rodgers, whose 14 yard touchdown pass out of the WildBeaver formation gave the Beavers a 12-0 lead. Fun Fact of the day: Jacquizz leads the nation in completion percentage.
Running Back
Jacquizz Rodgers had another great day, despite not getting a touchdown on the ground. He rushed for 112 yards on 24 carries. Overall, another grind it out, lunchpail day for the Quizz Show.
Ryan McCants also saw some more game action, rushing for 9 yards on 3 carries.
Recievers
Not a bad day for the Beaver recievers, although I felt like they could of done a little better. James Rodgers lead the group with 10 cathces for 106 yards, including the catch of the day on a 42 yard bomb from Sean Canfield.
Jacquizz followed his older brother with 7 catches for 92 yards, and Damola Adeniji had 3 grabs for 39 yards. Damola didn't look himself though, dropping what seemed like sure first down catches. Tight End Brady Camp had the only recieving touchdown, a 14 yard catch via Jacquizz Rodgers.
O-Line
The O-Line played very well I thought. They only gave up one sack and opened up some great holes for Jacquizz. Not much else to say here, just a nice, solid performance.
Defense
Unfortunately, there are four quarters in a Football game. The Beaver D played three great quarters of Football, but did an absolutely horrible job in the 4th Quarter.
After forcing a stop to the Bruin offense with just over four minutes left, the Beavers were almost assured a victory. But then the Beavers got a penalty on the punt. Alright, that sucks, put your helmet back on and get another stop. But no, on the very next play, we give up a 40+ yard passing play and put the Bruins inside the 10 yard line.
It's hard to go back out there after you get a very emotional stop that you think you've won the game with, but come on, the Beavers have to be more resilient.
Anyways, my rant is done. Overall, not a bad game for the defense, but we've got to play four full quarters of Football.
Special Teams
Another great day for the Special Teams Unit, with Justin Kahut going 4 for 5 on Field Goals. The only one he missed was after a five yard Delay of Game penalty that set the Beavers even further back with the wind blowing in the other direction.
The Beavers also introduced a new Punt Return formation, with both Taylor Kavanaugh and James Rodgers out to return the punts. This way if they kick it away from James, we will just have Taylor run it back.
UCLA
The Bruins played one good quarter of Football, and it was enough to make Beaver fans have a mild heart attack. QB Kevin Prince had a pretty good game, going 22 for 34, with 323 yards and two touchdowns. I'd expect the Bruins to at least get two Pac-10 wins before the season is over. I know that sounds like a stretch, but if they can put together four good quarters of Football they should be pretty good.
The Crowd
The Reser crowd of 41,010 was definitely a disappointment, considering there was no live TV and the kickoff was early enough to get back for everyone's Halloween festivities. I don't want to get into any argument about going to the game or not, I know times are tough and when you put tickets at $65 bucks a piece, some people aren't going to be able to attend.
But the fact is, we are going to have to start selling out the stadium if we want to start expanding again. Oh well, hopefully a different result agaisnt Washington in a couple weeks. I also thought that the small crowd was very loud, especially on third and fourth downs. Keep it up Beaver fans, I think that the Defense really feeds off of it. Plus, the more False Starts the better for the opposing offenses.
Short Pac-10 Recap
Washington State-The Cougs kept it close early, but in the end they would fall 40-14 against Notre Dame in Texas.
Oregon-Oregon demolished the 5th ranked Trojans in Eugene, 47-20. The Ducks now travel down to Palo Alto.
Oregon State-The Beavers played three great quarters of Football, and defeated UCLA 26-19.
California-After letting the Sun Devils back in it, Cal defeated ASU 23-21 on a final minute Field Goal.
USC-The Trojans kept it close for a half, but in the end the Trojans were demolished by the Ducks, 47-20.
UCLA-The Bruins made a furious comeback after getting down by 16. In the end though, the Bruins fell 26-19. Arizona State-The Sun Devils kept it close against the Golden Bears, but in the end they fell 23-21 in Tempe.
Pac-10 Power Rankings
1. Oregon
2. Arizona
3. Oregon State
4. USC
5. California
6. Stanford
7. Arizona State
8. UCLA
9. Washington
10. Washington State
Final Thoughts
The Beavers played three great quarters of Football on Saturday, but failed to put the opponent away once again.
Now we move on to the Golden Bears in Berkeley, where we have been very sucessful over the years. We should give them a good fight, whether we win or lose it should be a close game.
Today's Poll
If Oregon wins out, will they play in the National Championship Game?