Cliff Kirkpatrick

The Oregon State football team hopes to break its two-game losing streak in cursed Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday when the Beavers face Arizona State in a Pacific-10 Conference game.

OSU has lost 16 straight to the Sun Devils in Tempe. The last win was in 1969. The Beavers were victorious their the first three times in the stadium, and haven’t won since.

An asterisk to that note is that the Beavers won the 2001 Fiesta Bowl there over Notre Dame.

“I know our record down there hasn’t been very good,” coach Mike Riley said. “The old saying is we are due.”

Here’s a link to the ASU scouting report in Tuesday’s GT. Here’s a link to the main story on the state of the Beavers, and Riley had some strong words. As he did in my Monday GT story, if you missed it.

Arizona homecoming
There are six Beavers from the Valley of the Sun. They are LB Keaton Kristick (Fountain Hills) OT  Geoff Garner (Mesa), DT  Mitchel Hunt (Chandler), LB Rueben Robinson (Chandler), OG Rory Ross (Phoenix) and WR Marcus Wheaton (Chandler). RB  Jovan Stevenson is from Tucson.

Rodgers numbers
WR James Rodgers leads the Pacific-10 Conference in all-purpose yards with 181.5 yards a game, and is ninth in the nation. His brother, RB Jacquizz Rodgers, is second in the conference with a 153.3-yard average and 23rd nationally. He also leads the Pac-10 in receptions with an average of 8.0 a game. James Rodgers leads the conference in receiving yards per game at 88.0.

Top dogs
The Beavers lead the conference in passing with 255.8 yards a game. Arizona State has the best pass defense, allowing 136.7 yards a game. The Sun Devils also lead the Pac-10 in total defense at 211.0 yards a game. Both teams share the conference lead in red zone efficiency. They are 15-for-16 when reaching inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

More team numbers
The Beavers lead the Pac-10 in first downs with 87 first downs. They are last in third-down percentage defense at 43.1 percent (22-for-51), punt return average (3.4 yards), sacks against (15) and tied for last in sacks with Arizona State with two.

New Mexico punch
The New Mexico coach has been in the news for punching an assistant coach. That was brought up to Riley and he laughed about it.

“We’ve had our moments, but not in the last 10 years,” Riley said. “I’ve never seen it come that close. I heard more about that, probably from the old days when my dad was coaching. I have to pick out the right guy on our staff to do that. It won’t be Joe (Seumalo). And it wouldn’t hurt (Mike) Cavanaugh.”

Kjos update
WR Casey Kjos (back) feels better. As long as he’s still OK at the end of the week he’ll take Darrell Catchings‘ spot on the travel squad. Catchings is out two-three games with an ankle injury.

Video report
The above video is of Riley talking with the media Tuesday about his team and Arizona State. The below video is of CB Tim Clark.

Tweet This Post 

Related posts:

1. Cliff: Arizona press briefing (updated)
2. Cliff: USC press briefing (updated)
3. Cliff: UCLA press briefing (updated)
4. Cliff: Cal press briefing (updated)
5. Cliff: Stanford press briefing (updated)