The Wildcats defeated the Beavers 37-32 on a brilliantly sunny day in Corvallis. Here are my thoughts on the game.
Quarterback
Sean went 31-47 with 2 touchdowns and 2 intereceptions. But once again, Sean did not have a good game. His throws were not sharp and forced too many balls. He was lucky that only two got picked off. He did a better job this week of throwing the ball away, but still took too many sacks.
Look, Sean is a fine QB, and if he was our only choice we would be thrilled to have him as our starter. But, we've got better, and his name is Lyle Moevao. And anyone in Reser Stadium yesterday could see that Lyle is the right choice. When they brought in Lyle for one play, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and his teammates jumped around him in the huddle. I don't think I was the only one who got goosebumps when he went under center for that one snap.
Moevao provides a spark we need, and I know I sound like I'm jumping ship a little early but, if we want to go to a Bowl game and save our season, we need to have Lyle under center. Argue with me if you want to, but first watch a little of yesterday's game, then watch a game from last year in which Moevao played in. Then we can talk.
Running Back
Jacquizz Rodgers had 16 carries for 85 yards yesterday. He broke off a couple of good runs including two touchdowns, but mostly had antoher day of grinding out 3 or 4 yards at a time.
Recievers
Jacquizz also had a good day catching balls through the air. He was mostly effective through the screen pass collecting 70 yards on 13 catches. James Rodgers had another great day with 8 catches for 119 yards. Damola "Microwave" Adeniji had a great game as well, with 6 catches for 70 yards. He also had the Beavers first touchdown of the game on a twice tipped ball.
Aaron Nichols had a 13 yard touchdown catch across the middle for the Beavers. That was his only catch of the day. Darrel Catchings had one reception for 6 yards before leaving the game due to injury. Overall, it was a pretty good game for the wideouts, even though it could of been better.
O-Line
The O-Line struggled for the second straight week in a row. They didn't open any good holes for Quizz and didn't give Sean any time to throw. And I don't want to harp on them because they probably wouldn't of mattered but, the blocking on our three final plays was absolutely terrible. There were defenders rushing at Sean a half second after they snapped the ball.
I said it last week and I'll say it again, our season hangs on the play at those positions, and if they don't improve, we might be in for a long year.
Defense
Once again, the defense had a rough game. Mark Banker's bunch gave up 35 points against a QB that had never started a college game before, was missing their best player, and had to play their third string running back for the entire second half.
We also need to create turnovers. Our defense's in the past were very good at creating turnovers, but this year we usually only have one or zero a game. We will definitely need to improve in that aspect.
Usually our defense is the one thing we can rely on. It's not looking that way this season.
Once again, our Special Teams unit was very good. Kahut knocked in two field goals and four extra points, and all of his kickoffs looked good. Especially the onside kick, we might need one of those later this year so it's nice to see that we are good at those.
Also, James Rodgers did a pretty good job recieveing punts and kickoffs, so overall a pretty good day for him.
Arizona
I thought the Wildcats played a great game, especially on offense. Nick Foles had a great game, throwing for 254 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. I wouldn't be surprised if they contended for the top half of the Pac-10 this year.
The Crowd
I thought the crowd of 42,120 was very loud, but I don't understand why we aren't getting at least 43,000 for a Pac-10 game. If we want to start expanding our stadium again, we are going to have to start selling out or at least getting close to it.
Overall, the crowd was pretty loud and drew a couple of false starts for Arizona, so that is all that matters.
Short Pac-10 Recap
Washington-UW looked terrible at Stanford in a classic let down game. They take on Notre Dame next week.
Washington State-Surprisingly, the Cougs didn't look terrible at SC, losing 27-6. They play at Oregon next Saturday.
Oregon-The Ducks are back again, defeating Cal 42-3. They're just in time for their annual October/November slide!
Oregon State-The Beavers just didn't have enough to beat Arizona, losing 37-32. They go to Tempe next week.
California-Tedford poops the bed again in a big game. Cal has to bounce back quickly as they play SC next week.
Stanford-The Cardinal are on top of the Pac-10 after their win over Washington. They play UCLA next Saturday.
USC-The Trojans didn't look all that impressive against Wazzu. They will have to play a lot better next week at Cal.
Arizona-The Wildcats picked up a huge win in Corvallis over the weekend. They have a bye next week.
Arizona State-The Sun Devils played Georgia tough Between the Hedges, losing a heartbreaker 20-17.
Pac-10 Power Rankings
1. Oregon
2. Stanford
3. UCLA
4. Arizona
5. USC
6. Arizona State
7. Oregon State
8. Washington
9. California
10. Washington State
Final Thoughts
The Beavers are an interesting team right now. In one hand, you could look at it as the usual slow starting Beavers, and that they might upset a couple of teams down the stretch and finish with a 7, 8, or 9 win season. But on the other hand, you can see a team that is struggling a ton at defense and on the O-Line, and that they might only have a five or six win year.
I think it is too early to tell right now. We will learn a lot next week at ASU about our team as a whole and how they can step up in the face of adversity. We've got the athletes and the playmakers, we just need to put it all together and get some wins. Simple as that.
It might be a tough year for the Beavers, we just have to acknowlege that. And of course, that might all change when we are talking next Sunday. College Football is like that. All we can do as a fan is root our hardest, and cheer them on when we take on Stanford in a couple of weeks. We need to trust in Coach Riley that he will figure out the rest.
Today's Poll
Who will start at Quarterback next Saturday?