Cliff Kirkpatrick

Beavers LB Keaton Kristick has a lot to say about the defense.

The media and fans talk about this all the time: the Oregon State football team has trouble starting seasons fast. And in turn the coaches hear about it.

The Beavers are 1-7 in nonconference road games since the beginning of the 2003 season. All the losses came in the first month of the season.

It also bothers players such as seniors LB Keaton Kristick and CB Tim Clark who have lived through those slow starts.

“Since I’ve been here we haven’t won games away at the beginning of the season, so it’s going to be important to get that win (Saturday) and go 2-0,” Kristick said. “It killed us the last couple years, and we don’t notice it until the end. But it would really help us if we win 2 of 3 or 3 of 4 and go into conference play with a solid record.”

You can explain the problem with the big-time programs they played on the road, how it takes the defense time to develop or just unlucky breaks.

There’s no mysterious jinx at work. The team takes each road trip as its own event.

“We are just concerned about going on our first road game and generating our own energy, and keeping each other motivated through the whole experience,” Clark said.

What will help this week is UNLV is not a powerhouse program the Beavers visited in recent years such as Louisiana State, Penn State or even Boise State.

Being able to win here would give them momentum to face last year’s Big East Conference champion, Cincinnati, next week.

“It’s a different atmosphere,” S Lance Mitchell said of road games. “I think it’s fun to go to someone else’s stadium and play. I’m looking forward to it. We just have to execute the game plan and make plays.”

The game plan

Kristick says the defense will be more intense in this game because of a recent experience facing the spread offense.

The last time the Beavers did it, it was against Oregon and the Ducks put up 65 points and 694 yards on them.

“We just need to attack them,” Kristick said. “They are going to put up some yards, getting tick tack yards. So we just have to attack them and push them back, establish the line of scrimmage. Sitting back and seeing if they are going left or right can really hurt you. That hurt us against Oregon last year.”

Getting to know Peat
Here’s a link to my off-beat Q&A with OG Gregg Peat in Thursday’s GT. For a tease, brown recluse spiders are his childhood fear.

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