It's been hard for Buildinthedam.com, and the rest of the Oregon St. "beat" outlets for that matter, to find the time to talk a lot about this season's opponents, because nearly every day, we are talking about which Beavers did, or did not, do what in practice. It changes every day, and Monday was no exception.
Today's trending up news that still isn't great has to do with left guard Josh Andrews and WR/KR James Rodgers.
Andrews, who suffered a concussion last week, did return to the field for practice, but did not participate in contact drills. Coach Mike Riley indicated he does anticipate Andrews playing in the opener Saturday against Sacramento St.
Another positive sign was that Rodgers returned punts in practice for the first time.
Not such good news was WR Marcus Wheaton missing practice. Riley hopes Wheaton will also be able to go against the Hornets, and is holding him out of action to try to help that happen. Word is Wheaton is suffering a sore hip flexor.
Defensively, Reuben Robinson was held out due to a sore back, and Cameron Collins again saw limited action in difference to his abdomen. Also, Dominic Glover was in class instead of at practice, continuing to work on getting back into academic good standing.
Tuesday's big news will be Riley's plan to announce a decision on the starting running back for Saturday. Widespread speculation is that it will be Malcolm Agnew, in a history making moment. If Agnew trots on with the starters for Oregon St.'s first offensive possession, it will be the first time a true freshman has ever done that at running back in the first game of the season.
Oregon St. also made a roster addition, as walk on Wesley Meng was added to the team as a full back/h-back. Meng gets the spot that opened up when freshman Kellen Clute suffered a knee injury that probably put on the shelf, and a red shirt on his back, for the year.
Just so you don't think there isn't anything going on elsewhere in the world of college football, rest assured that BTD participates in the SB Nation blog poll, which has Alabama atop the pre-season top 25, which differs from both the Coaches Sports Information Directors USA Today and the AP polls, both of which went with Oklahoma.
The AP poll only grants one ballot to the state of Oregon, due to relative size of the market, and has a number of voters who don't even cover FBS action regularly. SB Nation has a blog that focuses on nearly every BCS automatic qualifier conference school, so the voters have a better focus on the teams.
The bad news for Beaver fans? Week 2 opponent Wisconsin is ranked eighth, compared to 10 & 11 in the other polls. But we wouldn't want any easy opponents now, would we.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com