Cliff: Cal press briefing (updated) Comments
The Oregon State football team begins the final third of the season this week with a Pac-10 road game at California.
Read the Cal scouting report in Tuesday’s GT here. Read my main story in the GT here on coach Mike Riley’s breakdown of the Bears.
“It’s always going to be tough,” Riley said. “It’s going to be a very good team and a tough game. We are pretty close to each other in the conference. It seems to be me, a good matchup at this point in the year for both teams.”
Check out the above video of Riley talking about Cal. The bottom video is of CB Tim Clark. He didn’t make any wild statements like he did in 2007 of stuff Cal’s top receiver. That’s too bad. That was a fun week.
Injury update
Add DE Matt LaGrone (quad) to the injury report. It’s nothing serious so he should be able to play this week. Everything else is the status quo. Check out my Sunday night blog for the full list.
Funny guy
LB Keaton Kristick joked that Boise State is leading the Pac-10 this season since it beat Oregon and Oregon has beat every on the Pac-10. That came up when the topic of being the spoiler to the Ducks this season like they were tot he Beavers last season. He hopes that’s the case.
The hot quote
RB Jacquizz Rodgers was asked about running against the 3-4 defense Cal uses instead of the typical 4-3. He broke it down basically saying it doesn’t matter. Then he gave us this:
“The 3-4, they have to switch out of that,” he said. Why? “Last year they didn’t do to well (against OSU).”
Fumble talk
Media folks started asking Rodgers about that he never fumbled in his two seasons with OSU. He didn’t give away any secrets but said it was a focus every day. As the questions kept coming he cut in and said:
“I don’t like talking about fumbles,” he said. “My mom read a story about how we (brother James, too) haven’t fumbled and she called us and said they are trying to make you fumble. That was before the USC game and James fumbled.”
Waiting on UW TV
OSU doesn’t want to wait until Sunday to determine when the UW kickoff time. If the Beavers waited for TV to decide, that’s how long they have to wait. They are, however, trying to work something out to know something today or at least soon as possible.
Canfield numbers
QB Sean Canfield is still on pace to shatter the OSU record for completion percentage in a season. He has completed 68.9 percent (188-for-273). The record is held by Matt Moore in 2006 at 60.8 percent (229-for-378).
Canfield is third in the nation for completion percentage, trailing Texas’ Colt McCoy (72.0) and Florida State’s Christian Ponder (69.4). He averages 68 pass attempts per interception this season after entering the year with an interception every 22 pass attempts.
He also is fifth all-time at OSU with 4,738 passing yards and for touchdown passes with 28. One more touchdown pass and he ties Moore for fourth.
Canfield is averaging a conference-leading 254.9 yards per game passing and has not thrown an interception in his last 117 attempts. The last was in the third quarter at Arizona State on Oct. 3.
The last OSU player to lead the conference for passing is Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson in 2004 at 301.2 yards a game.
Quizz numbers
Sophomore RB Jacquizz Rodgers is on record pace for the most points for a season by an OSU player, held by Steven Jackson in 2003 with 132. Rodgers has 90 with four regular season games to play. His 15 total touchdowns are tied for second in the nation, trailing the 16 by Ricky Dobbs of Navy.
For career rushing yards he is sixth at OSU with 2,175 yards and if he gains 59 Saturday he will move into fifth place. He needs five rushing scores to tie for the single-season school record of 19 by Jackson in 2003 and Ken Simonton in 1999 and 2000.
James numbers
Junior WR James Rodgers averages 187.4 yards per game for all-purpose yards, which ranks first in the Pac-10 and fifth in the nation. At his current pace, he would set the school record for all-purpose yards with 2,436 held by Jackson in 2003 with 2,015.
He also leads the Pac-10 for receptions per game at 7.5 and for receiving yards per game at 88.2.
Limited turnovers
The Beavers have lost five turnovers this season, second in the nation, trailing the four committed by Cincinnati. They are also tied for second with Colorado State for fumbles lost with one. Cincinnati has lost none.
However, the Beavers are tired for 114th in the nation with eight turnovers forced. Only Fresno State with seven and Georgia with six have fewer.
Red zone offense
The Beavers are second in the Pac-10 for red zone scoring percentage at 94.1 percent behind Oregon at 94.3, and tied for eighth in the nation. OSU has scored on 32 of 34 attempts, 23 touchdowns and nine field goals.
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