WSU postgame « Cliff Kirkpatrick

category: OSU Sports

WSU postgame 492CommentsWSU+postgame2008-10-12+03%3A05%3A14Cliff+Kirkpatrick

The offense clicked for the Oregon State football team in a 66-13 victory over Washington State, except for a glitch in QB Lyle Moevao’s passing.

He threw four INTs in the first half. One was returned for a TD, another set up a TD and one took away a score. That was his worst INT day of his career. He had three in a part-time effort at Cincinnati last year.

“I made a few mistakes, and some of them were pretty costly,” Moevao said. “There’s still a lot of stuff that needs to be done, even if it turned out that way.”

RB Jacquizz Rodgers continued his stellar season with 168 yards and a TD on 23 carries. Backups Ryan McCants had 51 yards and a TD on eight carries, and Jeremy Francis added 46 yards on seven carries.

“We’ve seen Ryan, and I was proud for Jeremy Francis for everybody to get to see him,” coach Mike Riley said. “I told Jeremy he’s practicing very well. He has been hurt (knee), and hasn’t come back from the injury very fast. He’s a lot healthier now, and playing better because he’s not worried about his injury. It’s good to see them all run because it shows the depth we have for a long time.”

Several backups played, including QB Sean Canfield and the entire second-string line. OG Jeremy Perry did not play. Canfield’s first pass since the Emerald Bowl was a 39-yard TD pass to WR Damola Adeniji.

There was some rumbling on the WSU side about the Beavers going deep for that score late in the game. Adeniji was the second option on that second-and-12 play. The first was to a midrange pass for the first down, which was covered and the second option was deep.

“When we get in those (blowout) situations, I don’t think about it,” Riley said. “I’ll play all our players, and I let them play. Sean Canfield hasn’t thrown a pass in a year, and he got a chance to do that so I don’t feel too badly about that.”

Defense
The defense played even better than the score showed, mostly from the INT return for a score by the Cougars.The other WSU TD came from a short field.

Cougars QB Marshall Lobbestael was pounded. He didn’t look like he was all there a few times in the first half, and sprained his knee in the fourth quarter. He’s expected to out for four weeks.

The CBs allowed some uncharacteristic receptions, but the safeties played well. The younger guys played a bunch.

Special teams
PK Justin Kahut came back with a strong game after two bad ones in a row. He was 7-for-7 on extra points and hit a 28-yard FG.

Sammie Stroughter was dynamic in his punt returns. The coverage teams improved from recent weeks. Adeniji even blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for his first career TD.

Clock management
Riley has been criticized for his clock management in the past. Stuff happens in the heat of the moment, but it should have been better at the end of the first half in a game well in hand.

The Beavers were the WSU 11-yard line with 43 second left. The offense struggled to get a play off, so the Beavers had to settle for a FG. They took three timeouts into halftime.

Resting starters
S Al Afalava (groin) did not start. Suaesi Tuimaunei started in his place. … CB Brandon Hughes (hamstring) missed his second straight game. Tim Clark received his second start in a row.

“Im proud of Timmy Clark,” Riley said. “He continues to do a good job, and I’m proud of our young safeties. And S Austin Hall gets as much as he can out of himself.”

Video report
The first video is on Rodgers going over the game. The second one is Riley on the second quarter breakdowns.

[youtube][/youtube]

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492CommentsWSU+postgame2008-10-12+03%3A05%3A14Cliff+Kirkpatrick

Matt Bixby says:

October 11, 2008 at 11:56 pm

I think getting Sean Canfield an opportunity to throw a deep ball trumps any concern about running up the score.

I’m sure I would not share that viewpoint if roles were reversed, but I do think it was important to let a healthy (first time in over 11 months) #5 test his left arm.

What was up with the TV play-by-play? Terrible. Mistake-laden. Unprofessional. Weak.

Just a few of the word that came to mind as I watched.

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Chris says:

October 12, 2008 at 12:21 am

Yea, Jason Gesser is horrible.

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Steve says:

October 12, 2008 at 12:27 am

He is a Coug so you know it was painful for him to watch. Still, FSN needs better help up there.

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Tom says:

October 12, 2008 at 5:31 am

“The CBs allowed some uncharacteristic receptions”? Umm, what? Have you been watching the same Beavers team all year? I wouldn’t call those “uncharacteristic”.

I certainly cringed when Canfield threw that bomb. I was 50/50 on the play, nice to see him throw a strike like that after so long but why throw it with a lead like that? Then to come out with 2 minutes left in the game and throw it again? Yeesh. Just run it out. I can understand the Cougs grumbling about those decisions.

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Ken says:

October 12, 2008 at 7:53 am

Why do we care AT ALL about Washington St’s feelings. IT IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT to make sure our backups get some good reps. If the other team doesn’t like it…..too bad. Wash St had all game to do something about it. They didn’t. Riley owes a lot more to his back ups than he does to WSU. You don’t play back ups and tell them to run oout the clock. The back ups would get pissed. If I was a back up, I’d be thinking…”let the starters run out the clock, I don’t want to go in to do that, I want to play.” Anyone that doesn’t get that, is clueless about team sports.

Now, if the starters were still in, then it’s “running it up.” But with back ups in, NO.

It’s like clearing the bench in basketball. You don’t ask the 12th guy to just hold the ball. HE NEVER PLAYS. Let him play. If the 12th guy hits a 3 at the buzzer, it’s not running up the score. It’s letting a kid that never plays, play. And have a little fun.

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Mr. G says:

October 12, 2008 at 8:46 am

7:35 left of a beatdown and Canfield throws a 39-yard pass? Be careful Coach Riley. The next time you are on the receiving end of a blowout and the other coach runs up the score, remember to smile politely and say, “The other coach shouldn’t think about it. His backups need to play too.” A totally classless ending to an otherwise good victory.

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Rian says:

October 12, 2008 at 8:52 am

For all of the complainers about running up the score, do you not remember Mike Price in 1993 vs OSU in Pullman?

Just like Dennis, you live by the sword and die by the sword. Running it up counts both ways, and OSU has been on the receiving end plenty of times.

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Chris says:

October 12, 2008 at 9:12 am

Tim Clark was beat quite often in the backfield. He’s lucky this was not a good team. He never looks at the ball because he is trying so hard to catch the receiver.

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Mr. G says:

October 12, 2008 at 9:17 am

Bad behavior on your part does not justify bad behavior on my part. Most of us learned this in kindergarten.

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Matt Davis says:

October 12, 2008 at 10:16 am

Never let up on your opponent. I always want my opponent to play there very best all game. Letting up shows me that he feels sorry for me which is something I don’t want nor need. This is football “Mr. G” not kindergarten. The point of football is to score points while there is still time left on the clock which is what Oregon State did. If WSU didn’t want that to happen then they should have done more to stop it.

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lynnda joyce says:

October 12, 2008 at 10:17 am

Mr. G: I completely disagree with you. i watch these 18 to 22 year olds practice day in and day out, going to the meetings, taking care of their student responsibilities. The 3rd and 4th stringers do everything the starters do except get to play in the games. if they get the opportunity, then let them play! Damola, Francis, McCants, and the rest–I was thrilled to see them get their chance and shared in the joy of their success. Its about the players–if WSU can’t stop the 4th string that’s their problem.

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Mr. G says:

October 12, 2008 at 11:46 am

It was 59-13 in the 4th quarter! The Beavs had achieved their objective. Continued destruction of WSU was unwarranted. It was neither moral nor legitimate to further embarrass the WSU players and coaches. Run the ball up the middle and wind down the clock. Don’t throw a 39 yard pass.

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Bryan says:

October 12, 2008 at 12:25 pm

WSU’s coaching staff is upset about the td pass, because the Cougs still had the 1st team defense in the game. Why should Riley have his second unit risk injury running up the middle against the opponent’s first team defense.

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BeaversFan4Life says:

October 12, 2008 at 1:55 pm

1st team defense complaining about the 2nd team offense scoring on them? How ridiculous does that sound when you write it out? Maybe they should concentrate on playing the game right, considering the the qst team corner man was out of position on the deep ball against the 2nd team receiver.

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nick says:

October 12, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Oregon state let up after starting 21-0 and wsu turned around and made a game of it. Riley had every reason to continue to play hard. Also Adenji caught that even with pass interference. I think WSU should think about there coverege problems not how teams react when their losing to them by 45+ points

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Tommie T. says:

October 12, 2008 at 2:42 pm

Canfield’s pass made me very uncomfortable. I’m for letting the kids play, and nobody can expect a running back to take a dive, but that pass was out of line. I like Mike Riley and think he’s a good guy, but his time he messed up. Run the ball. If I was the WSU coach I probably would have been short with Mike too.

All I have to think to myself is, “If somebody did that to us, how would I feel about it?”

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D.Erickson says:

October 12, 2008 at 3:41 pm

So did you want Canfield to hand off the ball? The Beavs were running at will, even with 2nd/3rd string RB’s.

Does Riley have the QB take a knee for the final 8 minutes?

Riley was emptying the bench.

If WSU’s 1st string D can’t stop our 2nd/3rd string offense what do you expect him to do?

Unfortunately for WSU, it wasn’t rubbing it in. Their team is historically bad.

I will not be surprised if we see the remainder of WSU’s opponents put up similar scores.

If I was WSU’s coaching staff, I wouldn’t be worrying about the score. I would be worrying about how to prevent those scores from happening again.

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Doug says:

October 12, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Let me understand this. Bellotti and Tedford put up 60+ on you and you are OK with it. Riley does it and he is evil. Say what you want about Mike Riley but with the possible exception of Tyrone Willingham no other coach in the Pac-10 comes close to having the class and character of him. But it is nice to see Riley getting heat for this instead of a blowout the other way. Oh and for WSU next week USC will be the 4th team in 5 Pac-10 games to put 60+ on you. UCLA’s offense must really stink to only put 28 on them.

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Ken says:

October 12, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Was I the only one that noticed that we were running the ball for 15 yards a clip???

So instead of throwing it, we should have just run the ball three more times and gotten the SAME RESULT???

Folks, we were gonna score no matter what. Riley figured why give the RB’s more stats. Let Canfield try out his arm.

Plus we’re talking about a play with over 7 minutes left. GIMME A BREAK!!!!! It’s not like we could have run the clock out if wanted to. Should we take a knee and punt???

I am ashamed of Beaver fans that are taking the side of a VERY disgruntled few. I guess that’s what happens when so many of our locals are soccer fans. Freaking clueless.

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cv3000 says:

October 12, 2008 at 7:03 pm

I just wanted to point out to the person who was talking about Tim Clark that Tim Clark was chasing his guy because his guy was Jeshua Anderson, one of the fastest players in the entire nation.

Anderson was the NCAA champion in the 400M hurdles as a freshman last year, and set the National record for 300M hurdles in high school. Saying that Anderson is incredibly fast is like saying Steven Jackson is hard to tackle.

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JuneauJim says:

October 13, 2008 at 10:47 am

Second and third string guys don’t run up the score. Leaving the first string in to score points to impress pollsters is running up the score.

I sat through enough blowouts back in the day and can only remember one time that I thought our opponent was running up the score. Rodney Pete stayed in the game in 1988 and was scoring points late in the fourth quarter in what turned into a 41-20 win the for Trojans. USC could have taken a knee and won by 14 but instead scored another TD inside 1 minute to play to win by 21. That’s running up the score.

But in 1981, Marcus Allen rushed for 200+yards in the first half and sat out the second half in a USC rout of OSU, 56-22. Did USC run up the score? No way. They just kept playing. The game was over at halftime, but teams have to keep playing. USC scored 56 against a bad OSU team.

WSU is a bad team. They’ll get better, but unless they want to forfeit at the end of the third quarter and end the game, points will be scored.

We saw what happens when the team stops competing….it was the second quarter of the WSU game.

McCants and Francis would easily be the best running backs at WSU. Give them some carries, keep them focused. If Quizz gets hurt, we need guys with game speed experience. They don’t get that running to the sideline and taking a knee to let the clock run out.

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another beaver fan says:

October 13, 2008 at 12:44 pm

Couldn’t agree more with Jim… leaving the starters in, to score points is running up the score. Asking 2nd and 3rd stringers to take a knee is cruel. Any 2nd stringer is one play from being a starter. They have to be prepared. WSU had their first string defense in. Seems like a good opportunity to get the second string offense some quality work. Logically, this makes sense… but when one lets emotions take control of the gray matter, logic takes a back seat.

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Vic Perry says:

October 13, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Nobody has suggested that Riley was running up the score handing the ball off to Jeremy and Ryan. Of course you expect the 2nd and 3rd team guys to play hard, they’ve earned the chance. What people are questioning is the pass play that appeared to be piling on. Shouldn’t have done it. Hand off the ball and nobody can question you for running it up, but a long pass, that late, with that score? Poor judgement.

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JuneauJim says:

October 13, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Canfield’s pass came halfway through the 4th quarter. At what point do you stop playing? At the end of three quarters it was 45-13.

If not for a terrible second quarter, we would have scored 70 or 80 points. WSU is that bad.

I also thought early on that WSU’s qb would be lucky to make it through the game…and I hate seeing anyone get hurt. But the Huskies qb next Saturday and Rudy Carpenter the week after will be lucky to escape uninjured. But do you tell the defense to stop rushing the passer?

We have three weeks of three of the worst teams in the conference. The guys have to play full speed all the time if they’re going to be ready for Cal and Oregon.

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