Game 1 went about as well as expected for the Oregon State football team, opening the season with an easy 34-7 nonconference victory over Portland State.
The Beavers faced someone other than teammates, countered the unknown and gained confidence with experience.
In my game notes in Sunday’s GT, I questioned if playing the Vikings would prepare the Beavers for the tougher Pacific-10 Conference. They won’t, but what will is the escalating difficulty of nonconference opponents.
Next up is a road trip to UNLV on Saturday night. The Rebels were a lower level midmajor last year but appear to be better this season. They started well this season with a 38-3 victory over Sacramento State. Read about it here.
How the Beavers elevate their game this week is vital. They need another win, gain more confidence and then be ready to do the same the following week in a home game against Cincinnati.
The Bearcats are one of the better teams in the Big East Conference. They reached the first-time heights of a conference title and a trip to the Orange Bowl last year. There’s an expectation of success in Cincinnati and a fear of falling flat being a one-hit wonder. Those are strong motivating factors.
OSU didn’t show much against the Vikings in terms of going deep into the playbook on offense or defense. A basic game plan was enough.
Expect to see a little more diversity in the calls on offense and blitzes on defense against UNLV.
If the Beavers can improved each week of the nonconference portion of the season and win all three, then the season could be interesting.
Sunday night updates
There are no long-term injuries to come out of the Portland State game, coach Mike Riley said Sunday night. CB James Dockery (bruised arm) won’t miss time. People have asked me about DE Ben Terry, but there’s nothing wrong with him.
DT Brennan Olander (knee) and CB Keynan Parker (shoulder) should be back to practice this week.
WR Darrell Catchings (wrist) and RB Ryan McCants (knee) are still expected back next week for Cincinnati.
QB Lyle Moevao (shoulder) was out last week anyway, but he missed two days of practices due to the shingles (rash). Riley hopes to take him to UNLV as the emergency No. 3 QB.
WR Damola Adeniji has been awarded the scholarship vacated by OT Brent McNeil, who quit the team last week.
Monday’s GT
Here’s a link to the PSU follow story in Monday’s edition of the GT. It contains quotes from my Riley interview from Sunday night with an injury update. Here’s a link to a story on Adeniji getting a scholarship.
5 comments
TAMatrix says:
Sep 6, 2009
Cliff – any word on Ben Terry? He limped off on a play and can't remember if I saw him later or not….any updates would be great!
ckirkpatrick says:
Sep 6, 2009
Check back later tonight, after 7 p.m. That's when I'll have all sorts of update.
ckirkpatrick says:
Sep 6, 2009
Check back after 7 p.m. That's when I'll have all sorts of updates.
73GradMike says:
Sep 7, 2009
Thanks for the nice coverage, Cliff.
Nice job, Beavs. Keep improving.
Note to NCAA: "FBS" and "FCS" … too cumbersome as labels … please think again.
I'm watching Cincy vs. Rutgers now. Cincy's offense looks strong, especially their passing game (ruhh-rohhhh?). Their defense looks suspect (take the over?). We'll see in 2 weeks.
Is the UNLV game on Comcast TV?
Go BEAVS!
ckirkpatrick says:
Sep 7, 2009
The UNLV game is on CSTC or CBS Sports. They initials for the same thing. If you live in Corvallis and have Comcast, it's on channel 412. You need a high-end cable package to get the game.