Oregon State Football: What We Learned From the Arizona Game

The Arizona Wildcats racked up 534 yards rushing, with 602 yards of Total Offense as they rolled the Beavers 49-28 on Saturday night in Tucson. Arizona was hot coming out of the gate as they led the Beavers 28-0 at Halftime. The Beavers Offense was out of sorts in the First Half and couldn’t find consistency.

The Beaver Offense was able to get going in the Second Half, but the Beaver Defense could not stop Khalil Tate and the Arizona running game. Tate rushed for 208 yards on 16 carries and 2 TD’s, including a 71 yard run early in the 3rd Quarter. Arizona RB JJ Taylor had 130 yards on only 10 carries, and RB Nick Wilson had 101 rushing yards on 17 carries with 1 TD. Arizona only punted once and had 1 turnover.

Beaver QB Darrell Garretson, who had struggled in the First Half, managed to throw 4 TD passes in the 2nd Half. Freshman WR Isaiah Hodgins had 4 catches for 34 yards and 1 TD. TE Noah Togiai had 3 catches for 56 yards and 1 TD. RB Ryan Nall had 95 yards rushing, with 2 catches for 40 yards, and 1 receiving TD. WR Timmy Hernandez had 31 receiving yards on 3 catches and 1 TD. Here is what we learned from the Arizona game.

There May Be Dissension Among the Coaching Staff...again?

Before Gary Andersen’s departure, there were rumors of infighting amongst the coaching staff. Andersen had text messages that were published critiquing his Coaching Staff and that hinted, “he hired the wrong guys.” It was apparent that there was turmoil amongst the coaching staff, especially evident in Andersen’s departure and how the team was struggling, looked lost, and did not have a positive identity on the field. There were rumors of a divided locker room that was likely caused in part by the dissension among the coaching staff, similar to a home divided where the parents are constantly fighting.

Defensive Backs Coach, Cory Hall, took over as the Interm Head Coach, and had two impressive performances against Colorado and Stanford, where arguably the Beavers outplayed both opponents, but just came up short on the scoreboard. It had looked like Coach Hall and his staff finally broke through to the players and the Beavers looked more organized. Team morale seemed to be boosted, and Beaver Nation was feeling better. Local Media was feeling positive about the Beavers chances of being strongly competitive in their last four games. There was a push among Beaver Nation for Hall to be the guy to become permanent Head Coach, and they felt that the Beaver Program would continue improve.

The Beavers were pushed around at Cal 37-23 in a game that didn’t seem as close as the score indicated. Early on in the Arizona game, the Beavers faced a 3rd-and-1 from midfield only trailing 7-0. It looked as if Nall and Garretson had a miscommunication and Garretson desperately overthrew Timmy Hernandez on a broken play. The ESPN cameras quickly panned on Hall screaming at his Offensive coaches. After the game, Hall quickly expressed frustration with his Defensive Coaching staff. Hall mentioned that he “absolutely” needs to take more of a hands-on approach with the Defense. In addition, Hall constantly mentioned in his Post-Game Conference that the kids “deserve better.” In addition, Hall critiqued his coaches by mentioning how they need to do a better job putting the kids in better positions to make plays, and finding ways to defend the edges. The million dollar question among Beaver Nation is, has the turmoil among the coaching staff returned?

Road Woes Continue

The Beavers current road losing streak is 18 games. They are three losses away from tying the school record of 21 consecutive road losses that started in 1979 and ended in 1982. Beaver Nation hopes that the streak will end in Eugene on November 25th, which words cannot express how huge a victory at Autzen would be for Beaver Nation.

There is No Quit in this Team

If I am applying for the Head Coaching position at Oregon State, I would be excited about the fight of this Beaver team. The Beavers did not lay down in the Second Half against the Wildcats, which could pay dividends in the last two games of the season. Despite the coaching situation, expect the Beavers especially the Seniors, to give it their all against Arizona State and Oregon.