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Thoughts from the Couch: A Tale of Two Halves

The Beavers played pretty well in the first half, but got complacent in the second half.

By BeaverBeliever12
Terron Ward tore up the Rainbow Warriors.
Terron Ward tore up the Rainbow Warriors.

By the Numbers:

  • 75% - 4th Down percentage from Hawaii.
  • 13 - Number of Beaver penalties.
  • 124 - Terron Ward's rushing yards.
  • 8 - Number of receivers Mannion threw to.
  • 23 - 4th quarter points given up by the Beavers.
  • 20 - Yards gained by OSU in the 4th quarter.
  • 4 - Sean Mannion's current standings in the Pac-12 passing yardage records.
Turning Point:

The real point where the game turned was the Iosefa fumble. Hawaii had been marching down the field and the Beaver defense was getting knocked around. They were gaining 6.56 yards per play, and things already seemed dire. The Rainbow Warriors entered the red zone and were in position to gain an early lead. When push came to shove the

defensive line held up and Jabral Johnson came cleaving through and knocked the ball loose. Oregon State went on to rack up 31 points in the half and with an early score in the 2nd half that was enough to hold off a late Hawaii charge.

That was not the only momentum shift however, the game was still going after a 4th quarter score by Hawaii. The Beavers could not move the ball though, and they were forced to punt. Hawaii had a slight shift moving the end in and the Beavs missed their assignment. He ran past the second wave of blockers and smacked the Keith Kostol punt out of the air. This set up a furious rally by the Rainbow Warriors and if they could have finished it, that would have been the defining moment. The Beavers are lucky that it was not that moment.

Thoughts:

Bolden still does not blow me away with his elusiveness. He had a great game running routes and got open fairly often, but he rarely made a guy miss. There was one catch over the middle where he ran through an arm tackle, but I would like to see him get past a guy one-on-one in the open field, especially on fly sweeps.

On the pass interference where a ball was deflected and intercepted by Hawaii, a Rainbow Warrior lays out Mullaney on the other side of the field and he was injured for a bit. It was a real cheap shot but there were very few notes about it.

The defensive line is still not as disruptive as is needed. Especially on passing downs the tackles need to crush the inside of the pocket and not let the quarterback step up.

The offensive line had a much better game but still has growing to do. The one that stands out to me is Gavin Andrews, defenders are routinely getting into his body and he is losing leverage. He needs to use his length and control opponents with his power, allowing him to drive them.

Mannion is starting to concern me a bit, as he has thrown some questionable passes, and without Cooks to bail out the really bad ones, things might turn. He also has taken more time to get through his reads, and it has resulted in some sacks and missed throws as he has been taking hits when he waits that long in the pocket.