Cliff: USC postgame Comments
LOS ANGELES – You can say the predictable happened when the Oregon State football team lost to Southern California 42-36 on Saturday night, but what was surprising was how tough the Beavers were for the No. 4-ranked team in the country to put away.
The offense did a great job, even with RB Jacquizz Rodgers missing the second quarter due to an ankle injury. You can read the details about the injury and more on the running game in Sunday’s GT here.
There were a ton of little things that hurt the Beavers. You can read about them and how they piled up in my main story in Sunday’s GT.
“We didn’t come here to play a close game,” S Lance Mitchell said. “We came here to win. We didn’t do that. So it don’t feel good right now.”
Here’s a link to the report card. QB Sean Canfield takes the highest grade for a big-time performance. Listen to him and TE Joe Halahuni after the game in the above video. Here’s a link to the notes.
Halahuni had a big game with nine catches for 127 yards. He was open over the middle a lot. That’s what has been missing for OSU since Joe Newton graduated.
“We have play makers on our offense, and they were worried about them,” Halahuni said. “Our offense allowed me to get open.”
What hurt the Beavers was the defense not being able to make the big stop at the end. They did pretty good overall, but are just not at the top-25 level, yet.
“The defense has to do better,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t do what we had to do to win. They made more plays than we did, and got the win.”
There were no sacks, but two INTs. The coverage was good at times, but gave up some plays. You can see they are getting better. USC is just that good.
“They were pretty good,” coach Mike Riley said of USC’s offense. “They made the plays and we didn’t. It comes down to things like that in games. They made key plays that sealed it.”
“I think it was hard sledding,” Riley said. “We loaded up on the running game, and then we had to cover them, too. This group will continue to improve.”
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