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.
17 comments
COBever04 says:
Nov 3, 2009
Cliff, Thanks for all the work you do in covering Beaver Football. I do have a question looking to the Civil War… Why don't the defensive coordinators assign one linebacker to solely pick up Masoli? If there was one person who's job was only to watch Masoli and get to him and let the rest of the defense do their job it might work. Every defense that i have watched against UofO runs a zone like defense and the ducks pick it apart. I bring this up because the way our defense is running I am concerned.
Any thoughts? Also i heard a rumor that Riley is going to give up a timeout and wear home colors to the civil war because the ducks are going to dress in black. Can you confirm this?
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 3, 2009
If you like the scheme or not, that's not what OSU does. It doesn't put one person on one person. When the time comes, I'll bring it up when the coaches are game planning. Who knows, maybe they'll change.
Running a zone is not good against the spread because it wants you in space. The Beavers stopped the Ducks in 2007 in Autzen because they did what they do in man with very good athletes.
I don't think Riley would want to give up a timeout in the Civil War. And he wouldn't think about it until that week. And there's no way two teams will wear black, for the obvious reasons. OSU might use orange.
EugeneBeaver says:
Nov 3, 2009
Cliff, didn't the NCAA pass a new rule this year that as long as both teams agree on it and the colors don't match (black/black) that the away team could wear 'home' colors for road games?
I believe this was started because UCLA/USC agreed to start wearing home jerseys for all their games now.
mxpx5678 says:
Nov 3, 2009
I was curious if you had seen these rankings of the Cal vs OSU national rankings.
A Cal blogger came away with this impression and I am shocked at his findings from the rankings.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/11/2/11…
Couple of fun things to notice
OSU has the same number of yards per game passing on offense and defense.
Cal's and OSU's defense are ranked right next to each other in both passing and rushing.
OSU's scoring offense is ranked the same as Cal's scoring defense.
OSU's rushing offense is quietly not doing that well. What happened to 'Quizz? Is the OSU line terrible or something?
Looks like there is going to be lots and lots and lots of passing in this game.
———————————-
I know James and Quizz are both doing really well in yards per game, is this an issue of them being really balanced on passing/rushing so neither stat pops nationally? Also many of the Passes are actually short dump offs that are the same as a rush.
Anyways, I didnt think the Beavs were dong this poorly in the national category rankings, what are your thoughts?
ean says:
Nov 3, 2009
Hey Cliff,
I understand that Tim Clark took a shot to the dome verse UCLA. Has he been checked out for signs of a concussion? That is not something you want to take any risks on. Thanks for the good reporting and timely feedback… you do a great job.
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 3, 2009
On Tim Clark, I thought I put that on the blog. I guess it was only on twitter.com/clffgt. Anyway, he went helmet-to-helmet with Paea. Bell was rung. He's expected to play this week.
I don't remember the jersey ruling. If someone can link something that, that would be great.
As for national rankings, James and Quizz are doing fine. There's more passing to Quizz this year. That was the plan. Yes, they are dump offs. They want to get him the ball and let him run. These are things to work around with a young line.
Comparing OSU and Cal, they are very similar. I just got an e-mail from Cal fan saying I underestimate Cal and the Bears are going run all over the Beavers. I don't see either team running over either team. It's going to be close no matter who wins.
The matchups favore OSU slightly, but Cal is favored by Las Vegas.
mxpx5678 says:
Nov 3, 2009
I also think it is pretty funny to see cal fan underestimate Quizz. They really must not be watching any OSU football this year.
EugeneBeaver says:
Nov 3, 2009
http://www2.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/NCAA/Medi…
"Approved a request to allow teams, when approved by the conference office and agreed to by both teams, to wear colored jerseys as long as they are clearly contrasting in color. When agreement is unable to be reached, the visiting team shall wear white."
aaron_ says:
Nov 4, 2009
any word on the Washington game as far as start time?
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 4, 2009
OSU is in negotiations. The hang up is ABC/ESPN is waiting until Sunday to announced the time of that game. OSU doesn't want to play at the same time as the Ducks because that a major problem for both sets of fans traveling in the area.
OSU also doesn't want to play at 7 p.m. OSU hopes to settle on a time ASAP, and not wait until Sunday.
aaron_ says:
Nov 4, 2009
the UW game is going to be a ABC/ESPN game? Damn that stinks. that will mean regional coverage and i wiont get the game. I will have to watch on the computer.
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 4, 2009
I think OSU is trying to work out when FSN NW can show the game.
mckalk says:
Nov 4, 2009
Cliff,
Off topic, but what the heck happened to Jeremy Perry? Were his injuries career ending? I was cleaning out some '08 college football magazines and he was an NFL can't miss. Just seems like he has fallen off of the map.
Thanks
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 4, 2009
I saw Perry walking his dog around town in the late spring/early summer. I also saw him at the UNLV game. He tried to go work out for the NFL and couldn't get any interest. So, yes, the injuries were career-ending.
aaron_ says:
Nov 4, 2009
That is really too bad about Perry. He had awesome potential for the next level, but the injuries got the best of him. Too bad. I heard he stopped taking classes and didnt graduate, is that true?
ckirkpatrick says:
Nov 4, 2009
He was OSU's first 2-2 casualty. That means he wasn't eligible and dropped out at the time. Since he stayed around so long he may have went back to class.
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